Ezekiel Ministry – Devotions

“There is no healing for your wound; your injury is fatal. All who hear of your destruction   will clap their hands for joy. Where can anyone be found who has not suffered from your continual cruelty?” Nahum 3:19 The Assyrian people had sinned and sinned and sinned. It was just a way of life for them. They were an evil people. When people want to point a finger and say that God is wrong, that God permits evil and does nothing about evil, God in Nahum is saying that I do something about evil. God is just and righteous. God is a loving God, but a loving God will not allow evil to go unpunished. He was a God of love when He destroyed Nineveh and wiped it like a clean dish. It disappeared off the face of the map and off the face of the earth and God took full responsibility. I know that this seems like a God that does not love, but God gave Nineveh more than one change to turn from their sins and repent. God wanted them to follow Him and live the life that He had in mind for them from the beginning. God wants all of us to turn from our sins and come to Him in repentance. “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

“Your guards and officials are also like swarming locusts  that crowd together in the hedges on a cold day. But like locusts that fly away when the sun comes up, all of them will fly away and disappear.” Nahum 3:17 The leadership of Assyria disintegrated to the place where they no longer attempted to lead the nation. When things got bad, the leadership was nowhere to be found.  They had left the people to fair for themselves. Our nation has come to this point. There is no leadership in our nation, our state or our cities. It has come to the point that all our leadership wants to do is line their pockets with our money. The people elect leaders that represent our views. They only represent the ones that will pay them the most. It seems the rich man is the only ones that can get elected. Abraham Lincoln would never have had a change to be elected. What God is saying in this chapter concerning Assyria fits our nation like a glove. One glove fits Assyria and that glove has been fulfilled. The other glove fits America. Are we listening to God today in America? I don’t believe we are. I know that most of the leadership is not listening. I believe that God is speaking to our nation. He is telling us that unless we repent and turn to Him we will end up like Assyria. I know that at this time that most people don’t believe that God will destroy America. They are blinded by Satan and living in a world that is made by man and not by God. Please pray that we will seek God and repent of our sins. “Many will be purified, cleansed, and refined by these trials. But the wicked will […]

“What sorrow awaits Nineveh, the city of murder and lies! She is crammed with wealth and is never without victims.” Nahum 3:1 We are given here a picture of the city of Nineveh. This was a city of crime, murder and lies. Every night on the nightly news I hear them say, “breaking news” there has been a shooting. This is not breaking news. It happens daily in our nation, at times more than once. I was raised that if you give someone your word, it was as good as a written contract. This is not true anymore. If you want to hold someone to their word, you better get it in writing. To me this is sad. We live in a nation that it wealthy beyond any nation in the world. My son spent time in Africa a few years ago. He came back telling me that we all need to go to Africa to realize how blessed we are in America. It seems that nobody is satisfied with the money they have. They want more and more. I worked for a company one time that we were doing good, but it was never enough. We were always told that we needed to do more. This was the main reason I quite. At some point we need to realize that money is not everything. Your wealth will not get you to heaven or give you peace. “The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.” (Haggai 2:8) The book of Nahum can be a description of our nation. God judged Nineveh so why do you think that God will not judge America?

“I am your enemy!” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “Your chariots will soon go up in smoke. Your young men will be killed in battle. Never again will you plunder conquered nations. The voices of your proud messengers will be heard no more.”Nahum 2:13 God is telling the people of Nineveh that He was their enemy. The people of Nineveh were some of the most evil people of the world. They had a personal messager from God. Jonah had warned the people of God’s judgmnet against them, but they had gone back to their evil ways greater than before Jonah. They were blind to God’s judgment. When you have the light and reject it, you are in more darkness. “But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!” (Matthew 6:23) If the light is shining right into your eyes and you say you connot see, you are blind. You are in darkness. There is a story of a man that was in a mine explosion together with other men. The rescurers got to them as quickly as they could, taking away all the wreckage and debris between those on the outside and the trapped miners. When they got to them, the first thing they did was turn on a light. But this man stood there after the light came on and said, “Why don’t you turn on the light?” Everyone looked at him in amazement because they knew that the explosion had blinded him. He could not tell it himself because he thought the lights were still out. This is the picture that Nahum gives us. The Assyrians had had light, but they rejected it; and when you reject […]

“Nineveh is like a leaking water reservoir! The people are slipping away. “Stop, stop!” someone shouts, but no one even looks back.” Nahum 2:8 Nineveh was under attack and what were the people doing; they were either running or they just did not care. “I will search with lanterns in Jerusalem’s darkest corners to punish those who sit complacent in their sins. They think the Lord will do nothing to them, either good or bad.” (Zephaniah 1:12) Our nation is in trouble and we are under attack. If we are to have the victory over our enemies, we must fight. It is not a physical battle that we are fighting; it is a spiritual battle. God’s challenge to us is to abandon our comfort zones. To rise to a new level in our walk with God. God desires that we live in faith. To God it is not important what we know, but that we have a spirit that is teachable and open to hearing God and what He is telling us. I believe that in these last days God is moving. He is trying to teach us His ways and we are just not listening. We want an easy gospel. We want to hear a gospel that does not make us responsible. We want a gospel that makes life easier. There is nothing easy about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14) Which road are you going to choose? The road to life and life more abundant or the road to […]

“Your enemy is coming to crush you, Nineveh. Man the ramparts! Watch the roads! Prepare your defenses! Call out your forces!” Nahum 2:1 “The burden of the Lord” is the statement often used by prophets in the Old Testament age. They were men of God who were aware of the circumstances round about them, of the condition of their people; and they also knew the justice of the Almighty God. Therefore, they were aware that the nation which was departing from the truth of God would come under divine judgment. As a result they were deeply burdened, and by the inspiration of God’s Spirit they were to cry out against the sins of the people and for true penitence toward God.” (Leonard Ravenhill) Today we do not hear from our pulpits that our preachers have a burden of the Lord. The enemy is at our gates. They are closing in fast and what are we doing about it? We must man the ramparts, watch the roads, prepare our defenses and call out the forces. I don’t enjoy the battles that we must fight, but I feel that I cannot sit by and allow our nation to be destroyed. “My heart is at rest, but I am restless for revival. I have peace, but I war against principalities and powers and against everything in the Church that clutters up the blocked channel through which revival could come.” (Leonard Ravenhill) I feel the same, let’s wake up and fight the enemy at our gates.

“Your enemy is coming to crush you, Nineveh. Man the ramparts! Watch the roads! Prepare your defenses! Call out your forces!” Nahum 2:1 The fall of Nineveh is coming; their enemies are at their gates. What are we to do when the enemies are at our gates? They are ready to crush us. They are ready to compeltely destroy us. Our answer is prayer. Our answer is looking to God. It seems that we only pray and call on God when there is no other way. We try all of our worldly ways then when we feel all hope is lost we call on God. In 2 Chronicles 20, we see Jehoshaphat calling on the nation to pray and fast.  A massive army was closing in on his forces. He called on his people to pray and fast. “Jehoshaphat stood before the community of Judah and Jerusalem in front of the new courtyard at the Temple of the Lord. He prayed, “O Lord, God of our ancestors, you alone are the God who is in heaven. You are ruler of all the kingdoms of the earth. You are powerful and mighty; no one can stand against you!” (2 Chronicles 20:5-6) Then God answered their prayers. “Listen, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem! Listen, King Jehoshaphat! This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid! Don’t be discouraged by this mighty army, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.” (2 Chronicles 30:15) If we just pray and turn from our sins, God will answer our prayers and heal our nation.

“And this is what the Lord says concerning the Assyrians in Nineveh: “You will have no more children to carry on your name. I will destroy all the idols in the temples of your gods. I am preparing a grave for you because you are despicable!” Nahum 1:14 For 300 years, from 900 to 600 B.C., the Assyrian Empire expanded, conquered and ruled the Middle East, including Mesopotamia, Egypt, the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, and parts of today’s Turkey, Iran and Iraq. Since around 1250 B.C., the Assyrians had started using war chariots and iron weapons, which were far superior to bronze weapons. These tools and tactics made the Assyrian army the most powerful military force of its time, both doctrinally and technologically advanced. Ashurbanipal was the last great Assyrian king. After his reign of 42 years, the huge empire began to fall apart. It had become too large, taxes were too high and entire regions rebelled. In 612 B.C., Nineveh itself was razed by a host of Persians, Babylonians and Medes. The great Assyrian empire was over. The message of Nahum was fulfilled. They were a great empire. Jonah was sent by God 150 years before this time to call the people to repent. “The people of Nineveh believed God’s message, and from the greatest to the least, they declared a fast and put on burlap to show their sorrow.” God was going to destroy them at this time, but they repented and God spared them. The problem was that the culture only got worst. God had blessed them and they did not see what God was doing. As it always happens, the Assyrians could not see God’s blessing so they moved away from God. They wanted to do things their way, not God’s way. This was their […]

“His enemies, tangled like thornbushes and staggering like drunks, will be burned up like dry stubble in a field. Who is this wicked counselor of yours who plots evil against the Lord?” Nahum 1:10-11 Have you ever been around a drunk? If you have, you know that you cannot reason with a drunk. He is not able to think in a reasonable way. This is what Nahum is saying; the ones that do evil are like drunks; you cannot even talk to them.  These people cannot make a decision. They become tangled up in the ways that are not of God. Nahum is telling us God’s philosophy of government and His manner of dealing with individuals and nations. The point that Nahum is going to make is whether you believe it or not, whether you can understand it or not, God is just and God is good when He judges a nation or an individual. God is still the God of love. He loves the lost. Men are lost because they are sinners, and they are saved because they accept the gift of salvation that God extends to them. Unless they sober up and begin to see the warning that God is giving them, they will be as the stubble in the field. “Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! For who can know the Lord’s thoughts?  Who knows enough to give him advice?  And who has given him so much that he needs to pay it back? For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen.” (Romans 11:33-36)

“Why are you scheming against the Lord? He will destroy you with one blow; he won’t need to strike twice!” Nahum 1:9 Why in the world would anyone fight against the God? You may be the smartest business man in the world. You may be the richest man in the world. You may be as smart as Solomon. You may feel that you have it all together. All of your money will not save you. “Your silver and gold will not save you on that day of the Lord’s anger. For the whole land will be devoured by the fire of his jealousy. He will make a terrifying end of all the people on earth.” (Zephaniah 1:18) God is so powerful that He can destroy with one blow. No matter if you believe it or not, God will judge the nations. “The King of Assyria did not believe that God would bring judgment on his kingdom. “This message is for King Hezekiah of Judah. Don’t let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you with promises that Jerusalem will not be captured by the king of Assyria. You know perfectly well what the kings of Assyria have done wherever they have gone. They have completely destroyed everyone who stood in their way! Why should you be any different?” (Isaiah 37:10-11) This King of Assyria had pride. He felt that his nation and army were more powerful than God. In the end God showed him who was in controls of everything. God completely wiped out the nation of Assyria. Which Nineveh was part of this nation.