TOPIC: Transforming A Flawed Vessel (DCLM Daily Manna 6 November 2022)
TEXT: Ezekiel 36:24-33 (KJV)
24 For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.
25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
28 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
29 I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you.
30 And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen.
31 Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.
32 Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel.
33 Thus saith the Lord God; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded.
KEY VERSE: “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you” (EZEKIEL 36:25).
DCLM Daily Manna For Today MESSAGE:
When people deliberately ignore all that God has provided to help guide and keep them from being eternally lost but they choose to do otherwise, one may wonder why God, in His infinite mercy, still finds a way to rescue them.
Israel was a favoured nation but the sin of the people defiled their land and rendered it abominable to God and uncomfortable to themselves. Though they were given precious promises, they failed God repeatedly and defiled themselves through spiritual whoredom. Nevertheless, the faithful God had to fulfil His promises by transforming the defiled vessel called Israel. He had to cleanse the nation, restore her people and raise them to the level where they could be identified as the heritage through whom the Saviour would be born into the world in fulfilment of heaven’s promise.
God would set apart for His use only those He washes clean, so it would be a perfect work without the input of imperfect man. Born again believers enjoy a transition from a murky world that previously disqualified them from the Lord’s presence. God washes them with the blood of His beloved Son in order to be fit for use.
The Christian who indeed has been to Calvary for the Lord’s promised cleansing is God’s perfect handiwork. He is the image of the restored Israel, whom the Lord took from among the polluted heathen to sanctify for use in His kingdom. Believers must rejoice in the faithfulness of a loving Father who has promised to keep us so that we shall “receive no more reproach”.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Through Christ, we are transformed from trash to treasure.
THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
1 Kings 11-12
DCLM Daily Manna was written by Pastor W. F. Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.