Ezra 8:21, “Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava…” As I was reading through the Book of Ezra, I came across this passage of scripture where Ezra was in charge of leading a large group of Jews from Babylon back to Jerusalem. Before leaving Babylon, Ezra had everyone spend three days resting, organizing, and rendering vows in preparation to go to Jerusalem; but it was then that Ezra realized that something even more important was needed before they could leave the land. “Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from Him the right way for us and our little ones and all our possessions.” Ezra knew that even though they were prepared physically, mentally, and materialistically, they were not prepared spiritually for this journey; and so he had everyone fast and pray so that the Lord would direct their paths and protect them on their journey. The portion of this verse that really jumped out to me was when Ezra said, “to seek from Him the right way for us and our little ones…”Notice that Ezra had the people seek the Lord so that they would know how to lead their children, and so that the Lord would protect their children as well. I was extremely convicted when I read this, we have yet to fast and pray, we have yet to humble ourselves before our God, and really seek from Him the right way for our life and the little once in our families. Throwing up a prayer every now and then is not going to get this mission done. We need to deny self for the sake of the people we are responsible for, fast, pray, and seek the Lord so that He might lead us in the right way for them. This also is so much more than just providing the necessities of life such as food, water, shelter, clothing, hugs, kisses, toys, etc., for whom we care for. We have to battle for them in prayer because our enemy is their enemy, and he “walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” 1 Peter 5:8 “Father, thank You that if we seek You we will find You. Please lead us and those whom we care for in the right way and protect us from all things.” Be blessed for He is God!
Posted on: Fri, 10 Oct 2014 00:32:21 +0000
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