Sonlight Devotional

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Scripture reading: Ezekiel 8:2-6

Ezekiel 8:2 says, “Then I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of his loins even downward, fire; and from his loins even upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the colour of amber.”

Ezekiel 8:2 tells us something very specific: the appearance from the “loins” down – “fire;” and the appearance from the “loins” up – “brightness.” That means that God is showing you a picture of the problems that beset humanity from the very beginning until now. Believe me, sexuality is a human problem; it is one of the chief areas in which God is bringing a people to overcome! If this people do not overcome it, we are not going to make it! There is no way that the image of jealousy can stand in the temple of God at the north gate, saith the Lord, and provoke God to jealousy, and then Jesus Christ descend in the same temple! No, Sir! The “image of jealousy” is standing in the exact spot where Jesus Christ should be!

Let us read about it in Ezekiel 8:3, “And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy.” There is a provocation in us that is provoking God to jealousy.

Verses 4-5, “And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I saw in the plain. Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry.”

Ezekiel saw this image of jealousy sitting in the entry gate of the temple so that God couldn’t get in. Our bodies are the temple of God. Do we understand that? I am saying, brethren, that there is a block in us as a people. Those who are not married want to be married, because they want to have a good time and they think of it in this way. Those who are married, are married and have this as number-one in their minds. Very few of us have Jesus Christ as number-one. Believe you me, most of us have this number-one thing that would crop upon us night and day! Night and day! It is like worship! We worship “Tammuz!” But, wait, I am running ahead.

Verse 6, “He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, seest thou what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? but turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations.”

You see, this image that stands in the doorway is preventing the Christ from coming into His temple. When we were young, we married young, God began to deal with us when we were young, and we got rid of that devil when we were young. Somebody says, “Oh, that is an old man talking to us!” You have never been an old man and you do not know how old men feel, but let me tell you how old men feel. Old men are worse than young men are, because they cannot control it! What you do not overcome in your youth, you will not overcome in your old age. If you never learned how to let the Spirit of God stand over your spirit, your spirit over your soul, and your soul over your body—you are a loser! Because man was made to control himself!

I used to do animal husbandry. One thing you notice about animals is that they have a “time.” They have a time when they come on heat; that is the time in the cycle that God has provided for them for the procreation of their species. Man has no time. His time comes in his mind. He controls his body, his life, and his movement by his mind. If you let your mind loose and do not control it, you will be a person out of control! You will be taken by every wind of doctrine! Every devil that comes along will blow you his way!

You ask me, “But, how do I control?” You control by suffering. Did you know that? You control by suffering. You see the food, and you say, “I am not going to eat! I am dying of hunger, but I will not eat because my mind says, ‘I must not eat.’” When I was a young man, this is the way I was trained by God—to not eat sometimes. Any young man that does not fast and train his body to obey his spirit and his mind, is a person who is heading for trouble! You must be trained! There is no way around it! You must have food and refuse to eat.

It is not every time that you feel for something that you must have it. You must tell this body, “You must obey me!” For God has put you in a position to control your body. If you are a glutton, the Bible says in Proverbs 23:1-2 that when you get to the king’s table, you should take the knife and put it to your throat.” Let us have a funeral. Oh, yes! Do not eat when you get to the king’s table! Behave yourself! Let that mind control that body, for this body is a servant and this servant must obey its master.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, July 2000, pg. 32-34)

Thought for today: See to it that you train your body to fully submit to your mind as your mind submits to the Spirit of God that rules in your spirit.