Scripture: Ezra 7.  

OBSERVATION
(What is God saying here?)

Ezra 7:6-10 (NLT)

6 This Ezra was a scribe who was well versed in the Law of Moses, which the Lord, the God of Israel, had given to the people of Israel. He came up to Jerusalem from Babylon, and the king gave him everything he asked for, because the gracious hand of the Lord his God was on him.

7 Some of the people of Israel, as well as some of the priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, and Temple servants, traveled up to Jerusalem with him in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes’ reign.

8 Ezra arrived in Jerusalem in August of that year. 9 He had arranged to leave Babylon on April 8, the first day of the new year, and he arrived at Jerusalem on August 4, for the gracious hand of his God was on him. 10 This was because Ezra had determined to study and obey the Law of the Lord and to teach those decrees and regulations to the people of Israel.

APPLICATION
(How Can I apply what God is saying here to my circumstances today?)

Ezra demonstrates how a gifted Bible teacher can move God’s people forward. He was effective because he was a well-versed student of the law of the Lord and because he was determined to obey those laws. He taught through both his speaking and his example. Like Ezra, we should determine both to study and to obey God’s Word. I don’t believe that there is anything more effective than an obedient teacher/leader/pastor and/or followers. Too often I believe that we shrug off the truths of the Word by saying that it applied to a people and time way back when. As I read God’s Word I can see where the same truths that applied back in the day of Ezra and other prophets, still apply today. In verse 10, just as Ezra was so determined to study, obey and teach the Law of the Lord, I believe that church leaders, teachers and pastors should do the same today and I believe that this will result in a revival where God’s hand will be busy at work in and through His people so that the lost of our towns can be influenced for, and won to Christ. God must find worthy vessels through whom He can work.

PRAYER
(With God’s help, what am I going to do differently today because He said it?)

Father, I believe that this passage speaks directly to me, my church and the people of the community in which I live. We must stop playing church, and become a people who not only opens Your Word and preaches or teaches from the highlights, but who truly studies the Word in detail and obeys it. I believe that You will then find us worthy of carrying Your Word out to a lost and dying world. Please begin this revival in me today, and please touch the other leaders in the church so that we may be more committed to the real purpose of Your church. Our city is lost and in need of our Savior, may we be found worthy of carrying the Word out to them and seeing them won to the Lord.

 

àWords underlined may be a hyperlink to a song that God laid on my heart while sharing this devotional this morning. Click it and be blessed by the song, like I was when I listened to it! …… I would be overjoyed to have the opportunity to pray with you about a need in your life that may, or may not have been highlighted by this Nugget today. Why not drop me a note and tell me about it? You may email me at:
nuggetsfromgodsword@yahoo.com.
ß