Ezekiel 9:1-11
To travail is to:
- Make a painful move.
- Make a laborious effort.
- Work hard or toil.
- Shed tears, sweat or blood; until the mind of God is established on someone or something.
- Grieve until we receive and bring forth something evident and tangible.
1. In this chapter, Ezekiel had the opportunity to
see a vision about God's dealings with both the righteous and the unrighteous
at the same time:
(a) The shift in the glory of God from its usual position.
(b) The destruction of the city by those God had given the
power to do it.
***The only distinguishing factor from the imminent
destruction was the way and manner the people prayed. What if God
chooses to use the same criteria for us in this dispensation?***
Prayer: Lord, I thank You for Your good hands upon my life. Please
help me to be sensitive to my spiritual environment at all times. Open my eyes
to Your dealings with me and carry me along with Your workings in my life and all
that concerns me.
2. The only criteria Heaven recognises as a
distinguishing factor in Ezekiel Chapter 9 is “travailing prayer attitude”. The
people set aside to receive the mark of God were those that decided to yield
to God's sorrow over a situation – those that chose to bear God's hurt/pain for
someone or for a given situation.
Prayer: Lord, please help me to recognise Your pains/hurts over
someone or something. Grant me the grace to carry these pains through. Help me
not to talk myself out of it. Let Your prayer list be my prayer list at all
times.
3. It takes a desire for the travailing Spirit of
God to operate in our lives before we can travail in the place of prayer.
Travailing in the place of prayer is to allow our spirit-man (inner man) to cry
out the burden of God – the cry that comes out through the perception of
His grief. (Paul's spiritual suffering in Colossians 1: 21-27)
Prayer: Lord, baptise me afresh with Your travailing Spirit. Please
affect my heart in a way that it will carry the burden of heaven over any given
situation, people or nations at all times.
4. The destruction started from the Sanctuary (the
Temple of God). This shows that God does not and cannot condone sin in the
lives of those that are close to Him. God commanded His Judgement right where
His Glory stood. *Be sure of your stand in God when asking for His glory
to come down.*
Prayer: Lord, help me not to miss Your touch and the reason for
Your touch in any gathering of the saints. Rid my life of anything against Your
will in my life. Help my life to attract the joy of heaven at all times.
5. In verse 4 (Ezekiel 9:4), God ordered the man He
had given the power to set His mark on only those sighing and weeping for
the sins of the land. The man was not sent to the church workers, pastors, deacons,
deaconesses, ministers, church leaders or religious christians. *Be sure
you are not named among the workers of iniquity as stated in Matthew 7:18-23*.
Prayer: Lord, please help me to come to terms with the mandate of
Heaven, so that I will not follow denomination and the doctrine of men
aimlessly. Help me to pursue the purpose of Heaven and Your will here on earth
until the end of time.
6. It is God's desire to flow, pray and cry out
through us in the place of prayers...He wants to make His burden our burden.
He is willing to grant us the privilege to travail as Heaven desires, as
Jesus did for our redemption (Garden of Gethsemane – Luke 22:41-44) and
to bring forth in our travailing prayers (Paul in Galatians 4:19).
Prayer: Lord, let my thoughts be wrapped up in Your thoughts in the
place of prayer. Please pray through me until Your burden is lifted concerning
anything or anyone.
ONLY EMOTIONS/FEELINGS THAT ARE SOUND AND ALERT CAN CARRY
GOD'S BURDEN ARIGHT. HEARTS THAT ARE STILL DRAWN TO THE WORLD OR SET ON PAST
HURTS AND PAINS CANNOT MOVE NEAR GOD'S BURDEN.
Prayer: Lord, make my heart Your Home. Sensitise my heart to Your
mind concerning me and my household. Rid me of anything that will draw my heart
away from following divine timing.
- Lord, let me not touch Your mark
upon my life. Deliver me from all the ways I have been troubling myself
unknowingly or indirectly. Cleanse my heart deeply and thoroughly inside-out.
- Lord, help me to always break
through all barriers in the place of prayer for my life and for as many You
will help me carry to Your presence.
Join this HeartCry Prayer- Every Tuesday 11.30am -1.30pm (UK time)
Join this HeartCry Prayer- Every Tuesday 11.30am -1.30pm (UK time)
