Today’s Reading:
Ezekiel 20
Psalm 23
Ezekiel 20:33-36, 40-44
Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement on the Hebraic calendar. It is the day of repentance and submitting ones’ self to the Lord for inspection and renewal: https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/177886/jewish/What-Is-Yom-Kippur.htm
The inspection of the Lord is portrayed in scripture as passing under the shepherd’s rod:
https://www.bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Topical.show/RTD/cgg/ID/6452/Rod-Passing-under-the.htm
‘You have been scattered into many different nations and lands. But with a strong hand and my mighty power and outpoured wrath, I will bring you back. I will bring you into the desert of many nations, and there I will enter into judgment with you face-to-face! Just as I entered into judgment with your ancestors in the wilderness of Sinai, so I now judge you. I am Lord Yahweh, and I declare this to you. I will make you pass under the shepherd’s rod and take note of you, as a shepherd sorts his sheep. And I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. I will purge out the rebels from among you, those who sin against me. I will remove them from the land where they are exiled, but they will not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am Yahweh. And now, you people of Israel, Lord Yahweh says: Go ahead, all of you, worship your foul idols, if that’s what you want to do. But later you will have to listen and obey me! Then you will no longer dishonor my holy name by worshiping your foul idols and bringing your offerings to them.’ ” “ ‘Lord Yahweh says: On the high mountain of Israel set apart for me, all the people of Israel—everyone in the land—will worship me. I will be pleased with you and accept your sacrifices to me. And there I will require your best offerings, all your best gifts dedicated to me, and your holy sacrifices. I will take you out from among the nations and lands where you have been scattered and gather you together. Then I will be pleased with you just as I am pleased with the sweet aroma of burning sacrifices. And I will put my holiness on display through you before the nations. And when I bring you back to the soil of Israel, the land that I pledged my word to give to your ancestors, you will know that I am Yahweh. You will remember your ways and all the vile actions by which you have defiled yourselves, and you will be disgusted with yourselves for all the evil things you did. And when I deal with you, not as you deserve because of your wickedness, but in a way that brings honor to my name, then you, the people of Israel, will recognize that I am God. I, Yahweh, have spoken.’
Ezekiel 20:34-44 TPT
I heard the Spirit of the Living God say,
I’m fitting you for service. I’m equipping you with grace for the battle ahead. This is a war equipping. You can’t go into battle wounded. You can’t go into battle carrying loads of baggage that has no place in war. You can’t go into battle wearing the old clothes under your armor. No. You must be stripped bare. You must be changed from the very foundation. You must be fresh and cleansed. Your foundation must be clean and pure and fresh. Your armor must be fitted for you, and what you take must be necessary and for the purposes of the war into which I am sending you.
This is a day of stripping you down to complete nakedness, washing you clean and beginning again with fresh foundational garments, getting that armor on, and fitting you properly for service. This is a day of cleansing, discarding the old and equipping and fitting you for battle. You will leave this day a new man, a new woman, fully prepared and fit for battle.
How to Respond
- Set aside your day to align with the purposes for the Lord.
- Allow Him to lead you in repentance and cleansing, discarding the old and being redressed and fitted with the new, so you are ready for the battle ahead.
- Pray, Holy Spirit guide me. Help me to leave no corner of my life, mind or heart unsearched today. I want to bring everything before you, so I can walk in purity into the new Hebraic year – 5785. Thank You for Your promise to cleanse me, equip me and fit me for battle as I submit my life for inspection by You today.
- Declare, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. His rod and staff are my comfort.
- Decree, I will humbly and fully submit every aspect of my life to the Lord for inspection today. I will not hold onto anything. I will not hold back anything. I want to be fully consecrated for use, fully cleansed, fitted and equipped for battle.
For more encouragement from Glory & the New Wine, check out the post from this day in years past:
2023: The Engine of the Lord’s Grace Is Implanted in Your Heart
2022: Truth and Justice Are Rising As Mighty Towers
2021: The All-Sufficient God Is Here
