Building ruined places

"I the LORD build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate:" (Ezekiel 36:36)

You have destructive forces working within you. You cannot build the Kingdom of God. When you come to Christ, He will teach you to be humble and to cleanse your heart. You may confess your sins. But that is not enough. Sundar Singh used to say that salvation is not just forgiveness of sins but freedom from sin. Many of us go as far as receiving forgiveness. But we do not go further - as far as to get freedom from sin. Prayer is a process by which we rise higher and higher. You are lifted above temptation after temptation until one day you are crucified with Christ. The love of money completely dies in you. The love of the flesh also dies. "If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world" (I John 2:14-16).

If you stop with the forgiveness of sins, you will not get the greater blessing. You must meditate on the Word of God. There is also cleansing power in the Word of God which eradicates our evil nature. "This book of the law .... thou shalt meditate therein day and night,..." (Joshua 1:8). Meditate on it day and night! Then you will get the mind of God. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life will be removed completely from you. Christians are ruined by vanity. They appear to be very good but there is a lot of vanity in them. You must examine and set right your heart often. Then you will get creative power. Can you build the ruined places? Ezekiel 36:35. God will build the ruined places. There was a man called Lot. He was not a creative force. He had the love of money within him. He was with Abraham but he did not learn the secret of life. He took his family to a destructive place. We must have the light of Heaven in us. A Christian builds the ruined places wherever he goes and makes them like Eden.

You may live in a village. Why did God put you there? To build that place. First of all, you should sow the Word of God there. If you do not, that place will become wicked. Children will become wicked. Lot went to Sodom. Did he change it? Did he sow God's Word there? No! He went to earn money. He himself was not a bad man. He had been with Abraham. He was sad when those around him talked wickedly. But he had nothing positive to pass on to them. When God wanted to destroy Sodom, God saved him for the sake of Abraham. He could not be saved with his family. His wife died. His children became wicked. If people do not know God as they ought to know, their end will be like this.