January 6, 2013 – Ezekiel 13 – 14

A warning against those that say they are prophesying the words of God, but are in fact only preaching their own thoughts and following their own spirit.  That would never happen, right?  And it is not a bad message that they were spreading.  They preached a message of peace, saying that everything was going to be alright, that we are in no real danger and we should go about living our lives like we are.  Those are the ones we are still listening to today.  The ones that say we need to change our way, that life requires sacrifice, that whatever feels good may not be good, those are the ones that are thrown to the curb and laughed down.  If your prophet, your preacher, is preaching to you that we are in a time of peace, that we are on the right track, that the way we are living is a good and Godly way, read these verses with care.  God’s true prophets aren’t in the habit of promoting the ways of the world.  If they are, they are likely preaching from their own spirit and not God’s. 

“these men keep the memory of their idols in their hearts”.  I thought this was a very interesting way of looking at it.  These men came and sat at the feet of the Prophet, but their hearts weren’t in it.  Down deep they were still holding on to the past, to their idols, to the worldly things that kept them from God.  How often do we go and sit with God and, even though we are physically there, our hearts are somewhere else, attached to something else.  We must make every effort to give God our entirety when we are there with Him.  He knows what we are thinking and feeling during those moments even more than we do.  Do not keep the memory of idols in your hearts when sitting at the feet of a prophet.