From the very beginning of our lives, we want our own way!

Unsplash photo Alexander Dummer

We all have hearts of stone until the Stonecutter comes and rescues us from ourselves. I was a spoiled child and a difficult wife, even when I was a new Christian. Here I am, angry at Steve for his long hours as an intern, something he had no control over. He took me out for dinner when he finally had a free night, but I was complaining to him when a photographer came to the table, so I refused to smile. Was I happy? No. And I was making everyone else miserable. The stone of selfishness in my heart was big, and I couldn’t see Steve’s plight. It wasn’t until the day he called me from the hospital, having seen that he was working every single holiday, and told me he was going to quit, to give up his dream of being a doctor (after 8 years of schooling) that I woke up. I didn’t want him to quit — I suddenly saw my stone of selfishness and submitted to The Stonecutter. 

The irony is that we think resisting will make us happy, when it makes us miserable. In “Washed and Waiting,” Wesley Hill, who struggles with same-sex attraction, explains what helped him to submit his desires to The Stonecutter and live a life of joyful celibacy. He was reading C. S. Lewis, who said that the lie of the devil is that if we submit to God, we will be miserable, when the truth is that submission to God leads to joy. It is counterintuitive, but it’s true.

Our enemy whispers to us that we are unloved, worthless, and without hope. That is when we must take our souls in hand and speak the truth of God to them. Please listen to this, a song Steve and I found helped us so much, even in the hardest time of our lives, when he was dying of cancer. You may need to download it first.

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Sunday:

1. How have you experienced the presence, power, or love of God this week?

2. Share a time when you submitted to “The Stonecutter” and found joy.

Monday: Ezekiel Saw The Wheel

2. Read Ezekiel 11:14-25

A. According to verses 14-15, what were the Israelites in Jerusalem saying about their brothers who had been scattered to other nations?

B. According to verse 16, what is the first thing God tells Ezekiel to tell those in Jerusalem about their scattered brothers?

C. Share a time when you were facing distress, yet God was a sanctuary to you.

D. What promise is given to those who will listen to the “Stonecutter” in verses 17-20?

E. What is a divided heart? James also calls it double-minded. How have the Israelites been serving multiple gods? How do we?

F. What will God do to those who resist according to Ezekiel 10:21?

G. Describe what happens in verses 22-24.

The wheel in Ezekiel symbolizes God’s omnipresence and mobility.

Tuesday: Water, Blood, Spirit

Recently, in telling an atheist friend at pickleball about the fantastic success of the prison ministry of Discipleship Unlimited, she said, “You could accomplish the same thing without God.” I shook my head. She insisted, “Yes, you could.” You and I know that the power comes from the Spirit, the water, and the blood.

3. What does Jesus tell Nicodemus in John 3:5?

4. I was always puzzled about what the water represented. The first birth? Baptism? No. Don Carson says the answer can be found in Ezekiel 36:25. Read that and explain what “the water” represents.

Robert Chisholm Jr. says Ezekiel is using the image of ritual cleansing. There was a scene from The Chosen in which Peter’s wife did ritual cleansing in the hopes of curing her barrenness. We need to be cleansed of our sins. The blood does the same, in paying for our sin — but God uses both water and blood to represent our great need. Then He gives power through His Spirit. 

5. According to the above, what is something that God’s divine water can cleanse us from?

6. Give an example from your life of an idol from which God is cleansing you, perhaps often!

7. Meditate on Ezekiel 36:26-27 and describe the promise to the Israelites and to us.

8. Share a time when His Spirit spoke truth to you and helped you obey.

Wednesday: Two Steps in Replacing Stones with Flesh

9. Why isn’t it enough to just repent according to Matthew 12:43-45?

10. What two things must the liar do according to Ephesians 4:25?

11. What two things must the angry person do according to Ephesians 4:26?

12. What two things must the thief do according to Ephesians 4:27?

13. What two things must the trash-talking person do according to Ephesians 4:28?

14. In all of the above, how does this call for dependence on God instead of ourselves? What must we believe about Him according to Hebrews 11:6?

Thursday: Replace Lies with Speaking Truth to Your Soul

Our enemy is a liar who wants to bring us down — it isn’t enough not to listen, we must replace His lies with truth. I’m going to give you a few of his lies and you replace them with a scriptural truth.

15. No one truly cares for you.

16. God has abandoned you.

17. God will not help you with the problem you are facing, whether it is finances, your marriage, or your children.

18. Your body is falling apart, death, is a disease, and there’s no hope. (Two lies and a truth – -the way Satan tricks us.)

Friday: Addressing Your Idols

19. What is a “stone” in your heart that keeps popping up? What have you learned from this lesson that might be helpful in overcoming it?

Saturday: 

20. What is your takeaway and why?