Day 4 January 5th 2019
FOCUS: to set the desire of your heart
Psalm 27:4: One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.
Psalm 37:4: Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
When it comes to setting our hearts in the proper place, there may be no better example outside of Jesus than an obscure often forgotten figure in the Old Testament named Ezra.
He didn’t lead the first wave of exiles back to Jerusalem; he led the second.
He wasn’t a powerful military leader, just a scribe. He didn’t even show up in the book that bore his name until chapter 7 (out of only 10).
But once Ezra arrived on the scene, he arrived in force. We learn that the hand of God was all over this man (Ezra 7:6,9,28).
That he successfully led 5,000 people with 30 tons of precious metals on a four month, 900 mile journey from Babylon to Jerusalem (Ezra)
That he was supremely concerned about holiness and the purity of God’s people (Ezra 9).
And that he ultimately led God’s people to repentance like few other scenes we read in scripture (Ezra 10).
So what’s the point?
The point is that all of Ezra’s success can be Biblically directed back to the place where he set his heart. This is the key to Ezra’s life of leadership and a clear guide to success with God in our own lives.
Set your heart to the study of God’s word. Set your heart to doing God’s word. And set your heart to giving God’s word away.
REFLECT:The world needs more people like Ezra. Where will you set your heart? • According to Matthew 6:33, what should you seek first?
PRAYER:Lord I want You to be the top priority of my life with nothing even close in second place. Help me, Father, to love You more than I ever have before. I want You to fill my heart, all of it, so Your love and grace can flow richly through me to everyone I come in contact with.
When it comes to setting our hearts in the proper place, there may be no better example outside of Jesus than an obscure often forgotten figure in the Old Testament named Ezra.
