Editor's note: Enjoy today's devotion written for Devotionals Daily by Jonathan Tremaine Thomas, author of Make Straight the Path.
*
“Be careful when you go over there, it’s really dangerous. There are gangs in the area so it’s really unsafe at any time of the day or night!” This is what an Indianapolis city council member told me in 2008 after I handed her my business card which said, “EastGate Studios”. She assumed that my new non-profit organization at the time was located on the east side of Indianapolis near a once thriving but completely abandoned shopping mall named “EastGate”. Relatively new to the city, I had never heard of it or even visited that part of town, so I was immediately intrigued.
Unhindered by the warning, I left the meeting and immediately began the trek in that direction. As I moved further away from the city center, the degradation of various neighborhoods got dramatically worse. When I arrived on-site, I immediately noticed graffiti on parts of the massive building; each stroke communicating a story of ownership to the world around. Discernible only by those who are versed in the language of the underground economy that exists in communities around the world; the signs, symbols, and expressions represented the loosely organized neighborhood crews that fought with one another and larger national gangs to control the local drug and firearm trade. The marks on the property let me know that they had claimed authority over it as a part of their territory.
As I drove around the property, a verse pierced through my thoughts and disrupted my ability to keep driving. It was almost like a voice spoke and stopped me in my tracks. I put the car in park and turned to Ezekiel 43:1-2:
Then he led me to the gate, the gate facing toward the east; and behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the way of the east. And His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shone with His glory. — (NASB)
Stunned by what I just read, my mind was filled with questions. Lord, are you talking about this particular place? What is the context for this? Is it symbolic or literal? Again, the voice of the spirit cut through the whirlwind of thoughts in my head with as I perceived quite loudly “seven”.
He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell among the sons of Israel forever. And the house of Israel will not again defile My holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their harlotry and by the corpses of their kings. — Ezekiel 43:7 (NASB)
I didn’t fully understand what this meant practically, but I pulled out of that parking lot trembling in holy fear. I knew that I had just experienced a life changing moment with God in a place that people were afraid to go. Over the next several months, through this ancient prophetic promise to Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit would begin to unlock a profound promise of restoration concerning the east side of Indianapolis. He also began to release ideas and blueprints for making it happen. 18 years later, incredible transformation is taking place both on the Eastside and across the metropolitan area. Today the city is becoming nationally recognized as a model for downtown revitalization and urban renewal.
God is an urban developer, an architect who has always been in the business of giving land to His people as an inheritance, and rezoning that land for His purposes.
After the tribes of Israel entered the promised land, Joshua was given explicit instructions on how to divide the land among them. Each plot of land was set apart for a very specific purpose, including a holy district.
1“When you allot the land as an inheritance, you shall set apart for the Lord a portion of the land as a holy district, 25,000 cubits long and 20,000 cubits broad. It shall be holy throughout its whole extent.
4 It shall be the holy portion of the land. It shall be for the priests, who minister in the sanctuary and approach the Lord to minister to him, and it shall be a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary. — Ezekiel 45:1, 4 (ESV)
In my book Make Straight The Path: Following the Just One into Righteousness and PeaceMaking through Holy Activism, I mention that the average Christian has an underdeveloped theology of geography, or understanding of how God views land. Every geographic location on earth, including the communities in which we live, possesses a unique and distinctive purpose both now and in Jesus’ eternal plan for our world.
Take a minute to think of the known districts in the U.S. alone. Where is America’s financial district? Governmental district? Oil district? Entertainment district? Music district? Sin district? You win if you said: New York City (Wall Street), Washington, D.C., Houston, Hollywood, Nashville, and Las Vegas.
Each of these cities and others around the world have become well-known, being set-apart for something significant in the economy of man. But what places have been set apart for the Kingdom of Heaven? Where is America’s holy district? What if it is wherever you live? What if God is waiting on us to take His hand, walk with Him, obey His voice, and partner with Him in reclaiming the territories that have been marked by the enemies destructive reign of terror?
Psalm 24:1-2 says,
The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. — (ESV)
There are tough portions of our cities, towns, communities, and neighborhoods that are currently under siege in large part because we have failed to understand that they belong to our Father. As His children they are our inheritance.
Where might God be inviting you to join Him in His reclamation and renewal work today? Perhaps it isn’t a rough part of town, but an industry or occupation within which God desires to make for Himself a home?
As you consider where God may be calling you to step out in faith with Him, consider the promise of Joshua 1:3:
Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. — (ESV)
After giving Joshua exacting instructions in not only where to build, but how to design the holy district, He names it:
The circumference of the city shall be 18,000 cubits. And the name of the city from that time on shall be, “The Lord Is There.” — Ezekiel 48:35 (ESV)
Meditate on what would it would be like if your address, your community, your life was known as “The Lord is There”. Go on a prayer walk and tag some people and places with prayer like graffiti saying, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done here, on earth as it is in Heaven.” What He puts His Name upon becomes like Him; and where He is, there is liberty.
Watch the Video
Written for Devotionals Daily by Jonathan Tremaine Thomas, author of Make Straight the Path.
* * *
Your Turn
Where will you go on your prayer walk? What areas of your town need to be reclaimed as holy districts that have God’s name on them? ~ Devotionals Daily