Mon.’s Devo - The Courts of God

Read: Ezekiel 40:28-41:26; James 4:1-17; Psalm 118:19-29; Psalm 118:19-29; Proverbs 28:3-5
Reading about the inner and outer courts and all its decoration and measurements gives us a picture of God and his care about detail. Our inner court is the inner working of ourselves like our mind, emotions, will, heart and spirit. The outer court is a picture of what people can see - our outer man. God gave Ezekiel instruction about every detail of both. There was purpose in direction, size, placement, entrances and exits, and decoration.
We are the temple of the Holy Spirit and God takes that same care for our direction in life and our placement. He cares about every measurement in our lives whether it is the amount of our paycheck or the number of children we have. It is all measured in his plan. The number of our days on earth have been measured before we came here. The doors God opens for us have been chosen and they lay open for us to walk in. The ones we are to exit are also open at the right time. The doors we are not to go through are carefully locked for our protection. We can walk in God’s will if we desire to and trust the Lord. He will lead us down the right path. The way we look and every detail about us has been carefully crafted and planned. The way our body works is like the carrying on of the temple. Every vein, tendon, bone and vessel has a purpose and we are wonderfully made just like the Psalmist so aptly put in Psalm 139. We are wonderfully and fearfully made.
James talks about our inner struggles that manifest on the outside as fights and quarrels. They stem from our desires and wrong motives. He sums it up as being friends with the world. You can’t be a friend of the world and a friend of God because they are at opposite spectrums. To be a friend of the world is to be a friend of Satan’s. A friend of the world only wants what is best for his own selfish pleasure, but a friend of God’s lays down his life for his enemy for the sake of Christ. Christ was selfless where the world is selfish. That can be our litmus test to check our motives. It is like putting your flesh in the fire.
Lord, help us to walk in your will daily; open for us the gates of righteousness.