Praying to please God.

I Chron. 4:10  He was the one who prayed to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and extend my lands!  Please be with me in all that I do, and keep me from all trouble and pain!”  And God granted him his request.

While I believe that we need to be careful about how we latch onto prayers and promises that are directed to a specific people in a specific time and place, I do believe that there are things we can glean from them that can certainly benefit us in our walk with the Lord.

It is good to desire blessings from the Lord so that we can better serve Him and reach more people for Him.  I shy away from asking the Lord to bless me for my sake so that my life will be easier, more comfortable, or more pleasurable to me.  I don’t hesitate in asking the Lord to bless me if it means more people are touched by my life.

I want the Lord to be with me in all that I do.  When we live on our own and neglect to ask the Lord to be with us, we are opening the door to all kinds of trouble and pain in our lives.  I want to know that the Lord is with me.  If He is with me, I can face anything and do anything through Him because He enables me to do it.

I don’t like trouble or pain.  They are a part of life, but I don’t like them.  I especially don’t want to be the cause of it.  We need to ask the Lord to help us to not be a pain in the neck to others.  Some trouble and pain we bring on ourselves because of wrong choices we make.  We need to constantly be on guard against them by bathing in prayer the daily choices we make. 

May our heart’s prayer be like Jabez’s.  Let us pray not for personal gain, but that our gain may be used to be a blessing to others.  Let us pray that the Lord will keep us away from trouble caused by our own bad choices and the ensuing pain it causes us and others.  Let us pray that the Lord will be with us always in all we do.

When we pray like this, the Lord will grant us our requests.

Judging By Appearances

I Chron. 4:9  There was a man named Jabez who was more distinguished than any of his brothers.  His mother named him Jabez because his birth had been so painful.

Jabez was more distinguished than any of his brothers.  We can only speculate, but I wonder what made him more distinguished than his brothers.  Certainly it would not be the nature of his birth, because it was a very painful experience for his mother.  Was it his good looks, his size, his personality, his achievements in life, his influence?  There are many things that cause one to stand out amongst his peers and family.

What do you look at when you evaluate a person’s life and worth?  Do you deem a person worthy of your attention by your first impression of him?  Do you see others through the lens of your own notions of what makes a person worthy of attention?  Do you treat others based on your perception of them without bothering to get to know them?  

How often have you misjudged a person because of your initial reaction to them?  We are not very good at judging one’s character based upon what we see and hear.  We don’t know why people act the way they do in front of us.  We don’t know why someone may be dressed the way they are or why their personal hygiene may be bad.  We don’t know what others think of themselves.  And, we will never know these things unless we allow ourselves to get close enough to them to discover what is behind the mask they portray.

Let us never forget that no matter what we see, there is a person behind the appearance.  There is someone who has feelings about themselves, life, God and others.  There is someone who has experienced life in ways that may be different than us and it may have scarred them deeply.  There may be someone who is able to put on a good front to hide who they really are.  There may be diamonds in the rough just waiting for us to discover them.

Be careful.  Don’t dismiss others just because of who they may appear to be or not to be.  The needs of everyone for love and acceptance are the same.  Everyone needs someone to know them and care about them.  Everyone needs a friend, just like you do.  Ask the Lord to help you to be slow to judge others by who they appear to be.

Does God's Word really matter?

II Kings 22:13  “Go to the Temple and speak to the LORD for me and for the people and for all Judah.  Ask him about the words written in this scroll that has been found.  The LORD’s anger is burning against us because our ancestors have not obeyed the words in this scroll.  We have not been doing what this scroll says we must do.”

Hilkiah, the high priest in Judah at the time, found the Word of God hidden in the Temple and went and told King Josiah about it.  Josiah was a godly man and had maintained his godliness under the direction of the priests.  Even though he did not have the Word of God at his disposal, he was able to discern right from wrong and chose to do what was right before God.  When the Word was brought to him, he eagerly devoured it.  He wanted to know what God had said, because he had a real heart for God.

We notice a few things about what Josiah discovered and how he responded to it.  The nation of Israel had been given clear direction on how they were to live life.  There was no confusion on the matter for God had it written down for all to see.  However, it was obvious that they had ignored God and lived life the way they wanted to.  Even though they often had declared their allegiance to God, their lives told a different story. 

Josiah discovered that God had also made it clear that there were consequences for ignoring Him.  God promised to bless those who lived obedient lives and punish those who didn’t.  It was obvious that the nation of Israel was in serious trouble with God.  Josiah believed what he read and took it to heart.  We find ourselves in the same position as Josiah.  We have a choice to make. Do we believe what we read in God’s Word or do we dismiss it?  If we truly believe that all Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for our faith and living, then does it not make sense for us to take it seriously?  Yet, it is obvious that most who claim to believe the Word is true do not seriously endeavor to live by it. 

Josiah was overcome by fear when he read what God had to say.  He knew that serious trouble was just around the corner unless they repented of their sins.  He believed that God was holy and would indeed deal with sin.  He feared the wrath of God.  We would do well to have the same sense of fear in our hearts.  Most of us do not fear the wrath of God.  We hide behind the cloak of God’s love and grace and figure that there is nothing to fear when we disobey God.  I believe there is a great deterrent in believing that God deals with sin.  A proper understanding of God’s view of sin helps us to think twice before we decide to jump into it.  God is holy and must deal with sin wherever it is found.  He is just and will judge the heart.  He knows the intent of the heart and when it is set on sinning against Him, He will hold the sinner accountable for it.

"He did not turn aside from doing what was right."

II Kings 22:1-2  Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years.  His mother was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath.  He did what was pleasing in the LORD’s sight and followed the example of his ancestor David.  He did not turn aside from doing what was right.

When King Josiah was 26 years old, we discover that things weren’t going very well in Judah.  The people were without the written Word.  The people of Judah had ignored God’s Word for so long that it was deemed to be no longer relevant to their lives.  The Word was stashed away in the Temple.  It was out of sight and out of mind.  Josiah had instructed the Temple servants to restore the house of God back to a functional state.  He wanted people to once again include God in their lives.

As the Temple was being cleaned up, the Word of God was found amongst all the long forgotten relics of the Temple.  It was brought to Josiah and upon hearing it read, he repented (11).  He repented of his own sins and then the sins of his people.  He then set the example for his people and began obeying the Word (23:3) by leading his people into reform.

We must be careful that we don’t ever neglect God’s Word.  It is our lifeline to God.  We can never put it on a shelf and forget about it and expect to be right with God.  Our love for God is directly related to the time we spend in the Word.  Daily we need to be reading the Word.  We reap what we sow and if we are not feeding our souls with the Word, it shows up in how we live and think.

We can see in the public arena what happens when the Word of God is neglected.  It soon leads to it being ignored and scorned.   A public display of sin becomes the norm.  We see it in public and we see it in the church.  Many churches are leaving the Word out of their lives.  Many who are including it do not treat the Word as God’s authoritative voice.  Many distort it or adapt it to their liking.   Many use it for their own purposes and do not listen to what it says.  God is no longer deemed to be its author and it no longer is deemed to be relative to our living by many.

We reap what we sow.  When God’s Word loses its hold on us, we are going to live in sin.  Our only hope is to return to the Word, believe what it says, repent of our sins, and change our ways.  God blesses those who cherish highly His Word and live by it.  Certain disaster happens to those who don’t. 

Let us be very diligent in keeping the Scriptures at the center of our lives.  Read and meditate upon it daily.  Don’t let the busyness or concerns of life crowd them out of your life.  The life of your soul depends on it. 

"The Lord himself told us"

II Kings 18:25  “What’s more, do you think we have invaded your land without the LORD’s direction?  The LORD himself told us, “Go and destroy it!”

Not all who claim to speak for the Lord does.  Hear me again, “Not all who claim to speak for the Lord does!”  There are many, many voices who claim to be speaking for the Lord.  Listen closely to what they are saying and you will soon discover that many are proclaiming different messages.  There are many different spins on the truth and some messages are not the truth at all.  So many claim to be proclaiming truth; yet their messages conflict with each other.  There is a constant battle amongst professing believers as to who is really speaking the truth.  The problem is that everyone cannot be right.  Sincere people sincerely proclaiming what they believe to be truth do not make it true. 

Who can we trust to be telling us the truth?  How do we know that what we hear is truly what God said?  In order to be able to discern that which is true from that which is false we must do a couple of things.  First of all, we must make sure that we are staying properly connected to the Lord.  In order to know it is God speaking to us, we must stay close to Him.  We must be diligently seeking Him with sincere and humble hearts.  We must have a longing in our hearts to know God above everything else.

We must diligently be students of God’s Word.  Don’t let others determine what God says to you.  Carefully examine the Scriptures yourself with an open heart to God and let Him speak to you from it.  Don’t believe something someone says without meditating on the Word yourself and discerning whether or not it is reasonable to believe that what you hear is true.  If you are not thinking yourself over the Scriptures you will be easily led astray.  Take seriously your need to know what the Word of God says.  We must want to know the truth before we can know the truth.

Bathe what you believe to be true in prayer.  The Lord will not lead you astray.  He will cement His Word into your heart.  There is only one absolute correct understanding of God’s Word and we will never discover it without being constantly in prayer, seeking God, and listening to Him speak.  Inconsistencies in messages come from man, not God.  Different messages come from man’s flawed relationship with God.

Be careful what you believe to be true coming from the lips of man.  Spend much time in the presence of the Lord and He will guide you into all that which is true.

Greed destroys the soul.

II Kings 14:10  You have indeed destroyed Edom and are very proud about it.  Be content with your victory and stay at home!  Why stir up trouble that will bring disaster on you and the people of Judah?

Amaziah was king of Judah and he had just come back from a successful military campaign in Edom.  He was feeling pretty good about himself and issued a challenge to King Jehoash of Israel.  He wanted to go to war with the Israelites, believing, I am sure, that no one could stop him.  He probably thought that this was an ideal time to reunite the tribes of Israel into one like they used to be under David and Solomon’s rule.  Scripture goes on to tell us that they did indeed go to war and that Judah was defeated by the tribes of Israel.

How many times do we get ourselves into trouble because we are not satisfied with how things are in our lives?  The soul craves for more than what we have.  Having enough is never enough.  We are driven by greed. 

Yet, we are forewarned by God over and over again that greed destroys the soul.  No matter how much or little we may have, we should be grateful for it.  There is nothing wrong with trying to improve ourselves or our lot in life, but if we do it because we are not satisfied with what God has provided, we have a problem in our soul.  Gratitude is an attitude that supersedes all circumstances.  

We should accept with gratitude whatever we have been blessed with and be willing to accept it if we never are blessed with more.  There will never be enough of more if we are not grateful for what we do have.  There will never be peace with God if we are always bent on getting more. 

We don’t know how having more may affect our souls.  It may very well be disastrous for us, causing us to lose our connection with God.   Blessed is he who knows how to be grateful each day for what the Lord provides and is satisfied with it.  Blessed is he who wisely lets the Lord have ownership of what he has and uses it for His good purposes. 

Is your heart right with God?

II Kings 1:10  But Elijah replied to the captain, “If I am a man of God, let a fire come down from heaven and destroy you and your fifty men!”  Then fire fell from heaven and killed them all.

James tells us that Elijah was a man just like us (James 5:17).  Wait a minute!  A man just like us?!!  Elijah was a prophet of God who did some amazing things in his life.  He was used by God to perform many miracles.  He was a man of tremendous faith.  Read about his life and you are amazed by how God used him.  I am not like him!  I don’t go around doing the things he did.  I don’t have the faith to believe that God would use me like he did Elijah. 

We don’t know anything about Elijah’s life prior to his showing up to visit with King Ahab and telling him there would be no rain in the land until further notice.  All we can do is speculate as to how he was raised and came to be the mighty man of God he was.  Whatever his background was, as an adult Elijah was a usual man of God used by God in unusual ways.

The issue I want us to consider today is the status of our own hearts before God.  Before God can do anything through us, He has to do a work in us.  Faith exercised is faith developed.  We must take seriously the condition of our hearts before God.  This means taking care of our soul is our number one priority in life. 

We deliberately and consistently feed our souls with God’s Word.  We listen to God speak to us through it.  We humbly accept and embrace it.  It takes time and effort to hear from God in His Word.  You will never have a proper understanding of faith until you do.  You need to have a reading plan and stick to it.  Quantity time is just as important as quality time when it comes to spending time in the Word.

We deliberately spend time alone with God.  This means we set aside the time it takes to wait on God.  Prayer takes precedence over all other activities.  If we find ourselves too busy and something has to go, it is never our prayer time.  We develop an attitude of prayer that draws us to the Lord throughout our daily living.  The Lord is always on our mind.

We deliberately seek out fellowship with those who love the Lord and are striving to live for Him.  We need to be around and influenced by the people of God. 

We may never be used by God in the way Elijah was, but we can have the faith of Elijah.  In fact, we must if we are going to be of any use at all in the work God is doing on earth. A living faith is a growing faith and a growing faith is a glowing faith.  You will be used by God in your own miraculous ways if you take care of your soul and let Jesus be Lord of your life.