Partnering in Prayer - A Lenten Devotion - Day 24 - Living Stones

-->Day 24 – Saturday

Living Stones

First, let me say – yes, I missed yesterday’s message on prayer. Had my prayer time, but never wrote about it. Somehow the day got away from me, and I got distracted. But 22 out of 23 ain’t bad! Please forgive, and with your grace, we’ll proceed to day 24. ___________________________

On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he drew up for them decrees and laws. And Joshua recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak near the holy place of the LORD (verses 25-26).

We all need standing stones—marker points in our lives—to remind us of important events and decisions we have made. This stone was erected at an ancient sacred spot. As God grows our faith, He doesn’t start from scratch, but builds upon our previous experience.

"See!" he said to all the people. "This stone will be a witness against us. It has heard all the words the LORD has said to us. It will be a witness against you if you are untrue to your God ( v. 27)."

Now, this seems pretty strange to us, the idea of stones hearing the oaths made by the people, and standing as witnesses to the fact. But these aren’t the only “living stones” in scripture. 1 Peter 2:5 says, “You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

God wants us to be like the rock that Moses struck, out of which flowed rivers of living water (Exodus 17:6; 1 Corinthians 10:4). God wants us to be like the living stones, that Jesus said are capable of crying out His praise at every moment (Luke 19:40). God wants us to be living standing stones to those around us—markers of faith in the middle of a desert.

You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts (2 Corinthians 3:3).

Who have been the standing stones in your life, those faith-markers who have been influential to you? As you pray today, ask God to show you whose life He wants you to influence. You are a living stone, a witness of, and to, someone else’s life. Live in such a way that your testimony is sure, like a covenant chiseled in the rock. And God, who is our Rock, will give you strength.