Wrongs

How miniscule are the wrongs done against us in comparison to the great debt of son each one of us incurred against all-Holy God! It is as if we owed a trillion dollars and were forgiven that debt but man owed us a penny, and shall we not forgive it? But there is another aspect to this as well, for as David tells us, it is ultimately against God alone we have sinned. – Psalm 51:4 – Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.

Mouth

A shut mouth gathers no foot.

Prayer

Act_12:5  Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.

As an encouragement cheerfully to offer intercessory prayer, remember that such prayer is the sweetest God ever hears, for the prayer of Christ is of this character. His intercession must be the most acceptable of all supplications—and the more like our prayer is to Christ’s, the sweeter it will be; thus while petitions for ourselves will be accepted, our pleadings for others, having in them more of the fruits of the Spirit, more love, more faith, more brotherly kindness, will be, through the precious merits of Jesus, the sweetest oblation that we can offer to God, the very fat of our sacrifice. Remember, again, that intercessory prayer is exceedingly prevalent. What wonders it has wrought!

Drink the Word

Great Monday morning. Monday morning goes great with God.There is nothing like a cool refreshing drink from the Word of God.

Warm or Hot?

Good Friday morning. Have a God blessed day.

The World needs more warm hearts and fewer hot heads.

OBEDIENCE

Joshua 11:15; II Kings 18:6; Acts 26:19

Joshua 11:15  As the LORD commanded Moses his servant, so did Moses command Joshua, and so did Joshua; he left nothing undone of all that the LORD commanded Moses. 

Obedience. It is against the carnal nature to be obedient. Obedience must be taught. That is a problem with our children today. God gives children to adults. The adults are responsible for raising and teaching children. Part of that raising and teaching is teaching obedience. We are failing at teaching obedience because we have forgotten the purpose of the rod of correction.

Joshua learned obedience. Let me reprise the circumstances that Joshua faced. In verse one there are 4 kings that join forces. In verse 2 we have kings, plural, on the north, south and west and also the valley. Verse 3 lists the Canaanite on the east and on the west, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, the Hivite. The are describe as the sand upon the sea shore. They had horses and chariots. They pitched at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.

Joshua was called by God to defeat this great multitude of armies that gathered against the nation of Israel. Where we would shiver and shake, Joshua was obedient to the promise of God. God promised Joshua that He, God would deliver this great army to Joshua. The obedience of Joshua delivered a great victory for Israel and God.

Joshua 11:15 establishes that the obedience of Moses to God and Joshua’s obedience to Moses yielded a victory. Notice this passage says that Joshua left nothing undone of all that the LORD commanded Moses. Here we find obedience is rewarded with victory.

2Kings 18:6  For he clave to the LORD, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses. 

Hezekiah is a name that is well known by those that have read the Old Testament. We know that he is a good king. What we do not see here is that faithful kings such as Solomon, Jehoshaphat, Joash and Amaziah fall away from God in their later years. Hezekiah “clave” to the LORD. Clave to the LORD means that Hezekiah never left serving the LORD. He was faithful to the end. Now we are not saying that he was perfect. We are saying that he never quit trusting and following the LORD. He continued to worship and serve the LORD and also feared the LORD with a reverence in service. He also kept the commandments of Moses; moral, ceremonial and judicial. We see Hezekiah as obedient to the LORD and the commandments given to Moses by God.II Kings 18:5 gives this testimony – “so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him.” What a testimony to have. David was a man after God’s own heart, and Solomon the wisest and richest, but the example of the obedience of Hezekiah is extolled here and an example of obedience for us.

Act 26:19  Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: 

There is a calling. This calling Paul knew about. A deliberate attempt by Saul to destroy this new sect called “The Way,” by imprisonment and death. We find Paul’s testimony here that he responded to the call of God unto salvation and service. This call is issued to all that will respond to the call. The very thought here is to believe, to yield to the call of the LORD to salvation and then to respond in service to the call. Each person has a call to salvation. Some are obedient to the call, others are disobedient.

Here is the question that makes all the difference – ARE YOU OBEDIENT?