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Tuesday Devotional

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Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 47:1-12

Title: Living Water vs. Stagnant Pools

Key Verse: Ezekiel 47:11 (ESV) ~ But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they are to be left for salt.

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Devotional:

A park maintenance worker once told a story about the two ponds in his care. One had a small stream flowing through it—water constantly entering and leaving. Fish thrived there, the water stayed clear, and families loved to visit. The other pond had no flow. Despite his best efforts to treat it, algae bloomed, mosquitoes bred, and eventually it had to be drained and refilled.

Ezekiel's vision of the temple river reveals this same principle in our spiritual lives. The prophet saw water flowing from God's temple, growing deeper and more powerful as it moved, bringing life wherever it went. Trees flourished along its banks, bearing fruit monthly and leaves that never withered. But notice verse 11—the marshes and swamps that refused the river's flow remained salty and lifeless.

Our spiritual lives mirror these water systems. When we actively engage with God through prayer, Scripture, worship, and service, His life flows through us. We bear fruit, find refreshment, and become sources of blessing to others. But when we disconnect from this flow—going through religious motions without genuine engagement—we become like those stagnant marshes, accumulating spiritual "salt" that makes us barren.

The beautiful promise in this passage is that God's river keeps flowing. Even if we've become spiritually stagnant, we can choose to reconnect with His life-giving stream today.

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Additional Passages for Reflection:

• John 7:37-39 (Rivers of living water)
• Jeremiah 2:13 (Broken cisterns vs. living water)

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