The Open Word: Fresh Insights for Daily Living

MONDAY, 29 SEPTEMBER 2025

TEXT: Zechariah 13:1-9

1: “On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.

2: “On that day, I will banish the names of the idols from the land, and they will be remembered no more,” declares the Lord Almighty. “I will remove both the prophets and the spirit of impurity from the land.

3: And if anyone still prophesies, their father and mother, to whom they were born, will say to them, ‘You must die, because you have told lies in the Lord’s name.’ Then their own parents will stab the one who prophesies.

4: “On that day every prophet will be ashamed of their prophetic vision. They will not put on a prophet’s garment of hair in order to deceive.

5: Each will say, ‘I am not a prophet. I am a farmer; the land has been my livelihood since my youth.’

6: If someone asks, ‘What are these wounds on your body?’ they will answer, ‘The wounds I was given at the house of my friends.’

7: “Awake, sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is close to me!” declares the Lord Almighty. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn my hand against the little ones.

8: In the whole land,” declares the Lord, “two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it.

9: This third I will put into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them;

I will say, ‘They are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’”

(New International Version Holy Bible)

TOPIC: RESTORATION

We started talking about God’s desire to restore His people to their proper place of fellowship with Him because of the great desire He has to meet with them.

This fellowship was destroyed by the Fall in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3). Mankind continued in disobedience and sin which separated them from God.

The people of Judah also indulged in this same disobedience but God brought them back through the fountain He opened which cleansed them from all sins and impurities.

He spoke through the prophet that He would banish all the idols that took their minds away from Him as well as punish the prophets that deceived them.

This will make the remnants re-established a sound relationship with Him again.

QUESTION: Which idols and false prophets led you away from God?

PRAYER: God, please open my eyes to the deceptions of false prophets and grant me the grace to run away from any idols that may draw my heart away from You, in Jesus’ name. Amen.