Category Archives: Conviction

Advocate, Authority, Bible, Conviction, Eyes, God's Will, Hiding, Scripture, Seeing

EYES EVERYWHERE

ZECHARIAH 3:9

“‘“For behold, the stone that I have put before Joshua; on one stone are seven eyes. Behold, I am going to engrave an inscription on it,” declares the LORD of armies, “and I will remove the guilt of that land in one day.”’”

You have probably heard the expression that someone “has eyes in the back of their head.” I accused a lot of my teachers of having those eyes. I couldn’t get away with anything in the classroom. They would be at the chalkboard (yes, we had chalkboards, not whiteboards) and call me down for misbehaving. How did they do that?

Here in today’s verse, we have a stone with seven eyes. What in the world does that mean? Well look at a similar verse in Revelation 5:6. “And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slaughtered, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.” Do you think there is some connection? This stone in Zechariah represented the all-seeing God.

APPLICATION

The application today is obvious. God is all-seeing. You cannot hide from Him. There is no place to hide. Look at the words of David in Psalm 139:7-10. “7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. 9 If I take up the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, 10 Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will take hold of me.”

So, why are you still running? Why do you doubt God’s presence? There is no escape. You may have been running from God for decades. You may think you can just ignore Him and He will go away. Ask Jonah how that turned out? Lol. Instead of running from Him, try running towards Him. He will open His arms and welcome you.

My problem was I did not even know I was running. I attended church but didn’t really follow Him. I was pursuing all the pleasures of this life I could get. I was running in the wrong direction. I learned what I was missing when I stopped pursuing those things and started pursuing God. What a difference!

I run to You, Lord. I want to pursue those things Paul mentioned to Timothy – righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.

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Accountability, Bible, Blameless, Conviction, Discipline, God's Will, Modeling, Obedience, Perseverance, Scripture

ACCURATE

ZECHARIAH 1:7

“On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, that is, the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah the prophet, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, as follows:” 

For many years I oversaw the Quality Assurance programs for the children’s homes ministries where I served. You have to be kind of accurate when you do that. Many times funding sources depended on the accuracy of my data. I enjoyed that work and learned little secrets to keeping accurate data. Those who worked with me knew I expected them to work with excellence. That’s what the Lord expects from us.

So, when I read today’s verse in Zechariah, I thought to myself that God wanted Zechariah to make sure he was accurate in putting down this information. When you read the verse, you may wonder how this applies to you. Well, I go back to our basic premise about Scripture – every word is inspired by God. Therefore, it was important to Him that the twenty-fourth day of Shebat in Darius’ second year be noted. Don’t miss that.

APPLICATION

Application time! How accurate are you? What do you let slide in your walk with Christ? I am not saying you need to be legalistic and do things out of rote habit. No! What I am saying is you need to do everything you do with excellence. Immediately, I think of Colossians 3:23-24. “23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord and not for people, 24 knowing that it is from the Lord that you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.”

Did you catch that? It is the Lord Christ whom you serve! You do not represent just your family, your employer or your church. You represent Jesus. I promise if you are working to please Him, everything else will be covered. If there are things you are doing to “cut corners,” examine them. Don’t do anything that would reflect bad on our Lord.

My dad always taught me to do things right the first time. I watched him meticulously hang wallpaper and wall murals. He would painstakingly smooth out every wrinkle and make sure the pattern was matched perfectly. I want to do the same with my life. I want my life to match up perfectly with Jesus. I want to show others how to live their lives surrendered to Him. And you?

Thank You, Lord, for showing me how to walk perfectly on this earth. Help me model Your lifestyle to others.

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Abiding, Bible, Conviction, Correction, Corruption, Discipline, Passion, Scripture

RISING EARLY

ZEPHANIAH 3:7

“‘I said, “You will certainly revere Me, you will accept discipline.” So her dwelling will not be eliminated in accordance with everything that I have stipulated for her. Instead, they were eager to corrupt all their deeds.’”

I am typically an early riser. Sleeping to 6 a.m. is late for me. Normally I am up between 4:30 and 5:30 most days. I just can’t sleep late. The first thing I do after getting dressed is head upstairs to my office and have my Quiet Time. I love spending the first moments of my day in prayer and then in the Word. It sets me on the right course for the day.

In today’s verse the Lord is rebuking those in Jerusalem for doing just the opposite. “They were eager” is better translated “they rose early.” The got up early to corrupt all their deeds. The word “corrupt” actually means “to put to ruin.” Wow! They got up early to mess stuff up. Hmmm. Sounds like the world today, doesn’t it?

APPLICATION

I pray you have the Lord on your mind when you arise. Psalm 3:5 says, “I lie down and sleep; I awake again because the Lord sustains me.” Isn’t that awesome? Even while I am sleeping, the Lord is ready to wake me up and sustain me. Why shouldn’t we have Him on our minds first thing?

Don’t wake up and think What can I get away with today. As believers, we are to strive to be holy as He is holy. He commands that. And if God commands something of us, it is possible. He will never ask you to do something which He will not enable you to do. Do you believe that? You should. So, don’t succumb to the schemes of the evil one. He wants to lead you astray.

My practice of getting up early and having my Quiet Time is a skill I have developed. It wasn’t something I just started doing. I had to discipline myself to do it. Every Man A Warrior helped me to do that. Check it out at everymanawarrior.com. This material was written for men, but women are also taking advantage of the skills it helps develop. Welcome to the journey.

Father, I long to please You. I do not want to do those things anymore that feed my flesh. I want to feed my spirit.

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Accountability, Advice, Bible, Conviction, Correction, Forgiveness, Guilt, Judgment, Messages, Scripture

GETTING PERS0NAL

ZEPHANIAH 1:4

“‘So I will stretch out My hand against Judah and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And I will eliminate the remnant of Baal from this place, and the names of the idolatrous priests along with the other priests.’”

Have you ever been in a conversation with someone who was complaining about people? You may actually agree with them and name a few people you have issues with. But then that person begins to name things about you that bother them. Whoa, wait a minute. Now they are getting personal. They are meddling too much, right?

I am sure those who heard Zephaniah’s message agreed with the first few verses, but now he’s getting personal. Now he is naming Judah and Jerusalem. But Zephaniah isn’t pulling any punches because he is delivering God’s message to the people. He is calling a spade a spade. Those in Judah and Jerusalem who have bowed to Baal and all those priests will be eliminated.

APPLICATION

How do you handle your Pastor’s sermons? As long as he is preaching on someone else’s sins, he’s fine. But when he starts naming yours, well…that’s a different story. How dare he get personal. How did he know about that sin? Was he watching me? Who told him about that?

I have preached a lot of sermons in my ministry, but I have never preached one pointed at one person. No one has divulged a sin of someone I needed to nail from the pulpit. But there have been numerous times when people came up to me after a message and told me how I had really spoken to them that day about their life. God’s Word will penetrate the hardest heart.

If you are a Pastor or have the ear of your Pastor, tell them to just preach the Word. Don’t get fancy with all your eloquence. Just preach the Truth. Let it convict those who hear the message and draw them to point of repentance. Our job is to simply deliver the message, like Zephaniah. It isn’t to judge.

Father, thank You for entrusting me with Your Truth. Help me deliver it faithfully.

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