“I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it. I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them” (Ezekiel 36:36a,37b).
The above quotation of Scripture highlights the living and workable relationship between the promises of God and our prayers regarding the fulfillment of those promises. The principle governing the way God likes to dispense His promises to us is clearly seen. God’s Word is full of promises, but God chooses to activate them by your prayers!
Ezekiel 36 is especially loaded with God’s wonderful promises. Here are some outstanding samples. God says,
“I am for you…” (Ezekiel 36:9m).
“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them… and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. I will also save you from all your uncleanness…” (Ezekiel 36:26,27,28b,29a).
When God offers you something, you need to actively receive it, you need to take what God is giving you. How? By prayer! Who says so? God does! Observe how, after a long list of things God promised to give, God emphatically declared, “I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it.” Well, if that is so, let us sit down and just wait for Him to do it. What will be will be, right? Wrong! God does not desire your passivity; He expects your active receptivity by the voicing of your prayers. Praying is necessary for receiving.
Let us read the scripture again in its immediate context and it will become as clear as daylight to you. “I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it. Thus says the Lord God; I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them…”
Dear reader, I invite you to pray with me as follows:
“Thank You, Father, that it pleases You to reveal Your ways to us in Your Word. Thank You that You are for us! Thank You that You give me a new heart and You put a new spirit, the Holy Spirit, inside of me. Thank You that You take the stony heart out of me and give me a tender heart that responds to You. Thank You that You put Your Holy Spirit inside of me. Thank You that You cause me to walk in Your statutes and keep Your judgments and do them. Thank You that I have become one of Your people and You have become my God. Thank You that You will save me from all my uncleanness. Thank You that You have spoken it, and You will do it! Wow! But I also remember, Heavenly Father, that You said that You will yet for this be inquired of by me, to do it for me. I realize I need to receive what You give. So I stretch out my open hand of faith to lay hold of what You are giving me. I hereby inquire of You, I pray, I ask You to give me what You have so graciously promised me. Thank You, dearest Father. Wow! I RECEIVE.“
From Talking with God – Chapter 5