Ezekiel 28:16," By the multitude thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire." I love the book of Ezekiel, love its imagery, and their vivid portrayals. This verse right here is a verse I meditate on a lot. This verse is speaking about Lucifer. Chapter 28 speaks of the creation and fall of Lucifer. But one thing that always stuck out for me is the mention of "violence." The Bible said because of the multitude of Lucifer's "merchandise" in heaven, he became fill with violence.
Lucifer in heaven became a merchant, a seller of merchandise. What was he selling? Falsehood and deceit. He was spreading lies about the character of God and the Bible said he became filled with violence. One thing we notice immediately is the things you do impacts you, the things you do to others have a great impact on who you are and are becoming. The more Lucifer was spreading lies about God, the more violent he became. We use our words to speak, the words we speak are like seed sowing and our words will bring a sure harvest in our lives and the lives of others.
God is love ❤.The second thing I learned from meditating on this verse is that when a person choose to separate himself from the Lord, inwardly the individual becomes to be filled with violence. Therefore the lack of love in our hearts lead to a violent spirit within. Lucifer used to be a loving being, but as he began to separate himself from God and focused on himself he became violent. He became violent because his sole desire was now to exalt himself above God. He entered into competition with God, into war with God. The lack of love will always lead to competition, violence and war .
And so it is friends our world is filled with violence because our world is filled with beings with no love in the heart, desolate within. Lack of love in our hearts shows up in different ways. Do you know that some of the greatest and most successful people in our world are people who are desolate within 🤔? Lack of love will drive you to compete with others, to becone greater than others so that you can earn the praise of others. Many of the world's great conquerors, businessmen are people who were destitute of love as youngsters and strove to earn the praise of others by exalting self above others using whatever means necessary. Lack of love causes us to be insecure, ambitious and competitive.
Power struggles are evidence of lack of love. Wherever love 💔 is absent, violence and competition will exist. You see it in the family. Husband and wife fighting each other for power . A wife who doesn't feel loved will try to control her husband so as to feel safe. A husband who doesn't feel love will try to control his wife so he can feel safe. You see it in ministry. Friends fighting each other for position and power to control the narrative. You see in the church, believers fighting each other to control one another, to rule over one another. Wherever love doesn't exist, the heart will be filled with violence and a chief aim of a violent spirit is a desire to control things, people, events.
And now it makes sense that it was Cain's descendants who built great cities, make names for themselves while the children of Seth dwelt in the country side, planting gardens and living humbly. The more your heart is filled with love, the less you have to prove, the less you seek to make a name for yourself. But the more destitute our hearts is of love, the more we are filled with violence and the more we strive to be better than the next person. Our world is competitive, filled with violence because we are destitute of the merchandise that truly matters, love .
The way we fight against the violence within our hearts and the hearts of others is by sowing the seed of love. It is easy to criticize others, to bring others down but it is hard to genuinely praise and appreciate those in our lives. A word of appreciation and love can do wonders to a person's wellbeing being. A kind word can do wonder to a person's mental health. Many marriages collapse because after a while it becomes solely about what you are not doing right and less about the good being done. Many friendships collapse because we never show each other how much we loved them and care for them. We must learn to water the hearts of those around us with deeds, words of love and affection.
We must sow seeds of love in the hearts of those around us and then water them as often as we can 🚿. A person who feel genuinely loved will have a higher quality of life. And as we show love to others, our own hearts will be transformed, our own hearts will be watered with love. The violence and desolate atmosphere of our spirit will be changed into a warm and beautiful garden of love. We can begin to make a change in the world by doing our best to show love to those in our homes, our friends, our families, our co workers and anyone God put in our lives. You reap what you sowed. Show love, water the hearts of others and you will become a loving and lovable person.
The true value of a life is not found in how much money you have, but in how much you have loved others, uplift others and show the Christ in your own life. To love and be loved is the goal of life. But you can only be truly loved wheh you learn how to love others, to bring hope to others and make their lives like a watered garden, like the garden of Eden. We can have paradise on earth, we can have a piece of Eden at home, if we are willing to be like God and plant seeds of beauty, goodness and love in the hearts of those we come close to. Lord help me to water the hearts of those around me with your love ❤🙏🏾
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