Welcome to a group of women who's goal is to encourage each other to put down some serious roots in the Word of God. This blog is dedicated to reading through the Bible in a year. Hopefully you will find the encouragement and accountability here that you need to push through the tough parts- or when life just gets in the way. The reading plan is located at the bottom of the blog. It contains links to the passages we are reading through biblegateway.com. You can use those links or read your own Bible, whichever you prefer.
We are all members of Oak Hill Baptist Church in Griffin, Georgia and felt the need in our own life for a little bit of the Lord's splendor. Please join us!!

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

One To Stand In The Gap


Her priests do violence to my law and profane my holy things;
they do not distinguish between the holy and the common;
they teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean; and they shut their eyes to the keeping of my Sabbaths,
so that I am profaned among them. Ezekiel 22:26

The ones called to lead the people to right living were no longer fulfilling their God given duties. The part that sticks out the most to me is “they do not distinguish between the holy and the common…” Just how much are we like the world (ungodly)? Is there a distinction between you as a believer and the unbeliever you come across on a daily basis? Our walk with Christ should be our first priority but many times our daily responsibilities get in the way and we may begin to push that relationship time out of our schedule. Our prayer time is our relationship with Christ. That is what I learned this past Sunday from my pastor’s sermon. I bring this point up to say that without the relationship with Christ, anything we do for him is nothing. These Israelites no longer had a relationship. The very leaders were living ungodly lives while still claiming their position as priest or prophet. Their practices had become just some ritual. There was no true worship among them.

The Lord even searched for one to stand in the gap. One who would build up the wall. One whose heart would break for all the injustice. There was not one. The false prophets would tell the people that the Lord said these things were right when it was a lie. This reminds me of a verse from the New Testament.

For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires,
they will gather around them a great number of teachers
to say what their itching ears want to hear.
2 Timothy 4:3

I am so thankful for the one who came and stood in the gap for me! The only one who can protect me from the wrath of God is himself, in the form of his son, Jesus Christ. All my sins are covered by his own blood.
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5 comments:

  1. TerrySeptember 20, 2011 at 8:34 AM

    Amen! Ezekiel 22:12 stood out to me... "And you have forgotten me, declares the Sovereign LORD." Amy, you make a great point about our relationship time and how that can be pushed aside because of other daily activities. Lord, let me not forget you in my daily activities!

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  2. JaybrenaSeptember 20, 2011 at 8:44 AM

    I kept thinking while I was reading, "there's nothing new under the sun." All of these grievous sins listed sound uncomfortably familiar for generations. Ez 21:24: "Because you people have brought to mind your guilt by your open rebellion..." They weren't even hiding it, they were unashamed and wicked, as a people. God would hold them accountable for their sin as a nation, and still will today.

    Where did it all go wrong?? I have a feeling it went wrong in the same place it does for me today: neglecting that personal time with the Lord in worship and in prayer. God help me to protect our time together!

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  3. NatalieSeptember 20, 2011 at 9:33 AM

    Amy, great post!! The verse about standing in the gap stood out to me today as well, along with the sinful lives of the priests. I loved how you related it to our relationship with God- and that Christ himself stood in the gap for us. So much to be reminded of today- especially fighting for our relationship with God. Amen ladies! Thank you for the accountability. I remember it at 6:00am when I'm fighting to focus On Gods word and my eyelids are still heavy!

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  4. BarbaraSeptember 20, 2011 at 4:02 PM

    What a beautiful post Amy. The words "Standing in the gap" have always had special meaning for me as well - because I have had people do that for me - and probably people that I did not even know were doing it for me when I knew it not. (I'm sure my parents did.) I want to be that person for others. But, without my time with the Lord each day, I won't be a very good "gap stander" will I??

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  5. MindySeptember 20, 2011 at 10:34 PM

    Wow Amy...just a fantastic post today! The one thing that really resonated with me from your post today is that there should be a BIG difference between Christians and non-believers. Unfortunately, I do not see a lot of difference in many cases. Even though I work at a Christian school, most of the time I see VERY LITTLE difference between what goes on in our school and what goes on in the world. So this raises a few questions for me...Are these people who are claiming to be Christians really Christians??? Or did they just have a great emotional experience one day but they never really, truly accepted Jesus into their heart? Should there not be SOME fruit in the life of every true Christian? These are questions I have wrestled with God over for many years in the past.

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