.. and I will move you...

Ezekiel 36:26-30

26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. 28 Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God. 29 I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and make it plentiful and will not bring famine upon you. 30 I will increase the fruit of the trees and the crops of the field, so that you will no longer suffer disgrace among the nations because of famine.

This is a wonderful promise from the Lord to His chosen people.  It is one of many references to the coming of Messiah and what the completed work would mean for believers.  The fulfillment of this word includes justification (26) and sanctification (29).  It also tells us The Lord will be our provider (29-30).  What I am really captivated by is the assertion that the Lord will move us.  The word can be 'empower' or 'cause you to.'  Whatever we do with the Hebrew, it is saying that God, from the core of our beings, will instigate our movement towards His instruction.  I love this!

Around the turn of the millennium I was discovering that it is possible that other things are moving believers.  As you do, I began gently challenging the elements that are in place to move believers.  Jesus has a similar challenge as he was questioned by the Pharisees.  John 8 is an example of such an exchange.  Jesus doesn't pull any punches or try to get onlookers on his side.  What is motivating Jesus to be so direct and seem savage?  I mean ' ...you belong to your father, the devil... '  Let's not beat around the bush huh?   

This is an example of Jesus loving the Pharisees.  He is loving them by telling them the truth.  It is brutal even when Jesus is taunted 'Where is your father?'  He just returns the jibe with truth.  Is it only Jesus who has the right to speak with such precise, almost blunt, force?   I believe the Lord can move us to speak like that when it is appropriate.  The Pharisees were hindering God in his work with His people and Jesus opposed that.  Today we are recipients of the fulfillment of the promise in Ezekiel. Is it possible we have elements that hinder this moving in our core beings?  It is possible, and has definitely been the case, that I have been moved by my own frustration.  I want it to be God who moves me... every time.  

What moves us?  What is our empowerment?   What is causing us to...?  It's the dream of all Christ-followers to be moved inwardly to follow the Lord's instructions of decrees.  I want to be like a cog that is connected to Jesus and when He moves, I move.  Today I am going to pray and think about the things, sometimes 'Christian' things, that may be a spanner in the works of God moving me from within.  

Gary Ward

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