Prayer for the Day

Father in Heaven,
I come before you with my heart filled with so many different thoughts and feelings. I am tense and uncertain about what I should be doing and where I should go. I feel weak and helpless. Powerless. I am worried about what happens next and whether I have the strength to handle it. Deep down I wonder, how long will I be here? Will I be stuck in this place of waiting forever? And why am I here to begin with? What's happening, Lord? But most of all, I wonder, where are you? Why haven't you responded to my cries for help?
But even as I pray that, I know you are right where you've always said you would be. You've never left me and you will never forsake me. You are not deaf to my cries. In fact, you know the thoughts in my heart before I even think them. You know exactly what is happening, why I am here, and what is going to happen next. All things are in your sovereign care and control. Nothing happens outside your knowledge and will. Not even a hair falls from my head without your willing it to happen. Nothing surprises you or takes you off guard. Including this issue right here, right now. You know why I am here waiting and you have promised to use it for your glory and my good.
Forgive me for all my doubts, worries, and fears. Forgive me for my impatience as I wait in this place. Forgive me for questioning the story you've written for me. Forgive me for not seeking your face and allowing the struggles before me to seem greater and stronger than your grace and mercy for me. Cleanse my heart of all that keeps me from you. Help me to see the ways I have tried to be my own god and my own savior. Help me to see the false idols I have erected to worship and serve instead of you. Help me to see the things I am clinging to right now that I think I must have to make me happy and help me to repent and turn from them.
I believe, help me in my unbelief! Help me to remember that it is good to wait for you. As the prophet wrote in Lamentations, "It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord" (3:26). As I wait, help me to remember and dwell on the salvation you've provided for me through Christ. Help me to remember that the same grace that saved me at the cross is the same grace that sustains me today. And that same grace is at work in me even now, shaping me into the image of your Son. And no matter what happens, no matter my current circumstances, I am safe in the shelter of your wings. There is nothing that can separate me from your love. Nothing and no one can snatch me from your hands.
Grant me the joy that comes from knowing you and being known by you. Fill my heart with gospel joy. Strengthen me by your word. May the words of the Psalmist be true of me, "I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope" (Psalm 130:5).
Help me to remain faithful in this place of waiting. Help me to serve you and live for you even in this crossroad of my life. Help me to wait as long as it takes.
I pray all these things because of Jesus and in his name,
Amen.

How To Understand the Bible: A Simple Guide: Mel Lawrenz: 9780692300848: Amazon.com: Books

How To Understand the Bible: A Simple Guide: Mel Lawrenz: 9780692300848: Amazon.com: Books:



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WHAT IS IMPORTANT ABOUT THE ERA OF THE KINGS?

[This week is the beginning of Lent. See Knowing Him: Devotional Readings for the Easter Season for a new way to draw closer to Christ.]

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I remember when I first read the Old Testament books that recount the stories of the kings of Israel and Judah. David’s and Solomon’s reigns are epic. But then begins the long and oftentimes sordid story of about 40 successive kings, most of whom were “evil.” I remember thinking: This is hardly encouraging reading! Yet buried in the history is the story of God, and we must understand it.

In the middle of the story of the Old Testament is an era spanning five centuries in which we hear about the checkered history of the kings of Judah and Israel, the high points and low points of the people of God, and many lessons about integrity and faithfulness, sin and destruction. This is the era of the kings, a complicated narrative that is an important part of the word of God because it is describes the crooked pathway that eventually led to the coming of the Messiah.

The era of the kings began with the people saying it wasn’t enough for God to be their king—they wanted a man to rule them, just like all the other nations. They did indeed become like all the other nations—but not for the good.

The era of the kings stretches from the reign of Saul, a thousand years before Christ, to the destruction of Judah and the exile of the last king in 586 B.C.

Before there was a king, the Israelite tribes lived in scattered, small settlements with judges like Gideon, Deborah, and Jephthah providing a degree of leadership. Then the period of the kings, as told in the books of 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles, is divided into two parts. The first three kings—Saul, David, and Solomon—spanned more than 100 years in what is sometimes called the “golden age” or “the united monarchy.” After Solomon there was civil war, and the 12 tribes of Israel divided themselves into a northern kingdom, called “Israel,” which included 10 of the tribes, and a southern kingdom made up of the remaining two tribes, called “Judah.”

After the disappointing narrative of the reign of Saul, the mostly optimistic accounts of the golden era under David and his son Solomon describe Israel as a rapidly expanding empire that eventually enjoyed a period of peace and stability. David established Jerusalem as the capital, and the center point of the spiritual life of the nation. Solomon advanced that with the building of the temple.

But faithfulness to God is a fragile thing. After Solomon’s reign, civil war split the kingdom in two, and for hundreds of years the bitter fruit of unfaithfulness shaped life in Israel and Judah. As we read the books of Kings and 2 Chronicles, we are struck with almost monotonous patterns: bad kings, good kings who become bad kings, a few good kings who kept their integrity and even introduced reform and revival to the people.

We also learn about the spiritual dynamics behind these movements. Those kings who “did evil in the sight of the Lord” and brought bad times on the people were guilty of the worship of foreign gods, of sacrificing outside the rules defined in the law, and sometimes of stooping to the low level of the foreign religions, including human sacrifice. Whole generations lived in complete violation of the Ten Commandments. They forgot their heritage and their God, and they didn’t even know there were Scriptures that had defined them as a people.

So the stories of revival and reform under kings like Hezekiah and Josiah are like sunbursts breaking through a heavy overcast sky. Josiah smashed the sites of idolatrous worship and removed the illegal shrines and priests, mediums, and spiritists. He removed pagan statues that previous kings had put at the entrance to the temple, of all places. And he reinstituted the celebration of Passover for all the people of Judah, which had been neglected for centuries.

Here is the sum of it:

“Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.” (2 Kings 23:25)

And in this narrative we have one more proof of the power of the word of God in Holy Scripture: Josiah’s revival began after his officials discovered the long-lost and forgotten Book of the Law while carrying out Josiah’s orders to repair the temple of the Lord. This was the turning point. When Josiah heard the words read to him, everything suddenly made sense. Generations of corruption. Spiritual confusion. Aimlessness. Josiah tore his robes in repentance. This is one more example of the power of the written word to release people from longstanding spiritual paralysis. It is a lesson for us.

So how should we understand the era of the kings? We must read these books as history, but not just political history. These narratives show us spiritual movements downward and upward. Most of the prophets fit into this story by interpreting how God’s people could sink low, but also where there was restoration.

We must not artificially lift verses out of context and claim them as our own. These are the stories of real people in a real place. History does offer lessons. History tells us what happened in the past so we can understand what happens in our world, because human nature remains a constant, for good and for ill.

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Resurrection of Jesus Christ - Bible Story Summary

Scripture References:

Matthew 28:1-20; Mark 16:1-20; Luke 24:1-49; John 20:1-21:25.

Resurrection of Jesus Christ - Story Summary:

After Jesus was crucified, Joseph of Arimathea had Christ's body placed in his own tomb. A large stone covered the entrance and soldiers guarded the sealed tomb. On the third day, a Sunday, several women (Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Joanna and Salome are all mentioned in the gospel accounts) went to the tomb at dawn to anoint the body of Jesus.

A violent earthquake took place as an angel from heaven rolled back the stone. The guards shook in fear as the angel, dressed in bright white, sat upon the stone. The angel announced to the women that Jesus who was crucified was no longer in the tomb, "He is risen, just as he said." Then he instructed the women to inspect the tomb and see for themselves. Next he told them to go inform the disciples.

With a mixture of fear and joy they ran to obey the angel's command, but suddenly Jesus met them on their way. They fell at his feet and worshiped him. Jesus then said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee. There they will see me."

When the guards reported what had happened to the chief priests, they bribed the soldiers with a large sum of money, telling them to lie and say that the disciples had stolen the body in the night.

After his resurrection, Jesus appeared to the women near the tomb and later at least twice to the disciples while they were gathered at a house in prayer. He visited two of the disciples on the road to Emmaus and he also appeared at the Sea of Galilee while several of the disciples were fishing.

Points of Interest from the Resurrection of Jesus Christ Story:

• There are at least 12 different appearances of Christ in the resurrection accounts, beginning with Mary and ending with Paul. They were physical, tangible experiences with Christ eating, speaking and allowing himself to be touched.

• Jesus' resurrected body was different from his physical body. It was no longer subject to the same laws of nature. He could transcend locked doors, and yet he could still be touched and he could eat. 

• Before Jesus ascended into heaven he gave the Great Commission, telling his followers to go and make disciples of all nations. 

• The stone was not rolled away from the tomb so Jesus could get out. He was able to walk through walls (John 20:19) in his resurrected body. The stone was rolled away so that everyone could see that he was risen.

Question for Reflection About the Resurrection of Jesus Christ::

When Jesus appeared to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, they didn't recognize him (Luke 24:13-33). They even talked in great length about Jesus, but they didn't know they were in his very presence. Has Jesus, the resurrected Savior visited you, but you didn't recognize him?

Who was Elijah?

Elijah was an important Israelite prophet whose name in Hebrew means “my Lord is Jehovah.” Accounts of Elijah’s life and actions are recorded through 1 and 2 Kings. Aside from coming from the village of Tosabe in Gilead (about which nothing is known), nothing is recorded about his background before he appears suddenly to promote traditional, orthodox Jewish beliefs.

When did Elijah live?

Elijah is described as having lived during the reigns of Israelite kings Ahab, Ahaziah, and Jehoram, so during the first half of the 9th century BCE. His first appearance is about half way through the reign of king Ahab, son of Omri (who founded the northern kingdom in Samaria), which would put him at about 864 BCE.

Where did Elijah live?:

Elijah’s activities were confined to the northern kingdom of Israel. At times he is recorded as having to flee from Ahab’s wrath, taking refuge in a Phoenician city for example.

What did Elijah do?:

Stories about Elijah are primarily about his battles against the foreign god Baal and Baal's various priestly representatives. King Ahab had formed strong ties with Phoenician states and, in the process, had become lax in maintaining strict religious purity. He even went so far as to marry Jezebel, daughter of the king of Sidon and worshipper of foreign gods. He allowed her to promote her religion and this led to Ahab being treated as one of the worst of the Israelite kings.

Why was Elijah important?:

Elijah is regarded as a “reformer” prophet — his purpose was to call the Israelites back to the worship of Yahweh and away from the evil pagan religious cults that were growing in popularity. The conflicts between Elijah and the priests of Baal are struggles to see which is stronger: Hebrew monotheism or pagan polytheism.

According to 2 Kings, Elijah was taken up to heaven in a chariot of fire. Jewish tradition has it, then, that Elijah is not really dead — he continues to wander the earth and will reappear once again when it is time to announce the arrival of the Messiah. For this reason many early Christians identified John the Baptist with Elijah because John announced the arrival of Jesus.

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The Work of Grace

Heretofore, I have written extensively on the extraordinary depth and breadth of the atonement. What Christ accomplished for us on the cross opened the door for God’s grace to become operative in our lives.

At Calvary, Christ paid the penalty for our past sin and terminated the law as a means of achieving righteousness. He settled Satan’s claims against us, thus delivering us from Satan’s dominion. Christ also put away sin, and in Him our carnal nature was executed.

To understand how this grace operates in our lives, we must examine the difference between law and grace. The apostle Paul gave us a key in 2 Corinthians 3 when he wrote: “Clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart. And we have such trust through Christ toward God.

“Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?

“For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious. Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech—unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away” (vv. 3-13, NKJV).

Basically, the difference between the two covenants can be summarized in this statement: Law commands the old man from the outside; grace writes upon the heart of the new man from within.

Internal Transformation
Law is external; grace is internal. Law is outside me—something I can point to and say, “That’s what I’ve got to do.” Grace is inside me and changes me in such a way that it becomes natural for me to act the way God wants.

In 2 Corinthians 3:18, Paul sums it up this way: “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

The veil Paul refers to that has been lifted from our faces is our carnal understanding, from which we are delivered through the cross (see Rom. 8:7; 1 Cor. 2:14; Gal. 5:24).

The “mirror” is God’s Word (James 1:23). When we look into this mirror with faith, the Holy Spirit reveals to us the glory of Christ and our inheritance in Him. As long as we continue looking in this way, the Holy Spirit progressively changes us into the likeness of what we see—”from glory to glory.” However, if we turn our eyes away from the mirror of the Word—to ourselves, perhaps, and our own ability—the Holy Spirit is no longer able to continue His transforming work.

By His grace, God desires to produce within us the kind of love that is not based on emotionalism or sentimentality. It is not expressed primarily by religious clichés or religious activities. Rather, it is a way of life, affecting every relationship and situation in which we find ourselves.

To the Christians at Philippi, Paul wrote, “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment” (Phil. 1:9). This love continually leads us on into a clearer and clearer perception of God’s will for every detail of our lives.

There is always more to learn. As we see each detail revealed in the mirror of the Word, the Holy Spirit applies it and works it out experientially in our lives. Thus we are ever more and more closely conformed to the pattern of Christ Himself (see Rom. 8:29). All this is the result of a continuing inner work of the Holy Spirit, not an external religious system of rules and regulations.

Another passage that points out the difference between the old covenant of law and the new covenant of grace is Hebrews 8:10-12. This passage is actually a quotation from Jeremiah 31:33-34: “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

“None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

In these verses, we see three ways in which the new covenant differs from the old: (1) The Holy Spirit writes the laws of God on our hearts and minds; (2) every believer can know God directly; and (3) by one final sufficient offering, the very memory of our sins is blotted out.

Grace is transmitted only by the working of the Holy Spirit, who writes spiritual truths on our hearts. We do not read these with our eyes, but they are absorbed inwardly and thus redirect the way we live.

Outward Obedience
Grace operates in our lives by a continuing, supernatural operation of the Holy Spirit. Grace never works on the plane of our natural abilities. When we start to think we’ve got it made, that we can do it by ourselves, we are no longer operating in grace.

The distinction between the law and grace can also be illustrated as two alternative ways of making a journey across unfamiliar territory to an unknown destination. Law offers a map; grace provides a personal Guide, the Holy Spirit. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God” (Rom. 8:14).

Imagine a traveler, who sets out on a journey and says, “Give me the map; I can make it on my own.”

“All right,” God replies. “Here’s the map—correct and complete in every detail.”

Our traveler starts off with the map in his hand. Before long, it gets dark and cold, and he finds himself on the brink of a precipice. He has no idea whether he’s facing north, south, east or west. He’s miserable and lonely.

Finally, he cries out, “God, I need you.”

In a moment the Holy Spirit is right there beside him, and He says, “Take My hand; I’ll lead you.” And soon the traveler is back on the highway.

The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and he begins to think it wasn’t so bad after all; he could have made it on his own. So he turns to the Holy Spirit and says, “I started out with a good map, and I think if I just take a little time, I can find out where I am. If I know where I am on the map, I’ll be able to make it.” So he pulls out the map again and starts poring over it.

“I see you no longer need Me,” the Holy Spirit gently says, but the traveler is too busy reading the map to hear Him. When he is finally finished with the map, he looks up again, but the Holy Spirit has withdrawn Himself. He is nowhere to be found.

That is the danger in the Christian walk. We acknowledge our need of the Holy Spirit, but when we begin to make good progress, we decide we can make it with the map. At that point, grace ceases to operate in our life. We have to make a choice—either the map or the Guide. One excludes the other. If it’s going to be the Guide, it has to be the Guide all the time, all the way. In this new life we are 100 percent dependent upon the Holy Spirit.

Total Dependence

The first eight chapters of the book of Romans expose the transition from dependence on the law to dependence on the Spirit. Chapter eight depicts the liberty and joy of the Spirit-filled life. The preceding seven chapters deal with various obstacles that we have to overcome on our way into this life.

The law is the last and greatest obstacle to overcome in order to experience the Spirit-filled life fully. Only when we have renounced legalism once and for all as a means of achieving righteousness can we enter into, and abide in, the Spirit-filled life of Romans 8.

In this matter of dependence upon the Holy Spirit, Jesus has left us the perfect pattern. He was totally dependent upon the Holy Spirit, not only in His earthly walk, but also in His death. Paul wrote: “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4).

Christ was raised up by “the glory of the Father.” That is the Holy Spirit. This is brought out in the J.B. Phillips’ translation of Romans 1:4, where it states that Jesus was “marked out as the Son of God by the power of that Spirit of holiness which raised him to life again from the dead.” The “Spirit of holiness” is the Hebrew way of saying the Holy Spirit.

The lesson is this: Jesus did not raise Himself from the dead. He was totally dependent upon the Father to raise Him by the Spirit. And just as Jesus depended upon the Holy Spirit for the resurrection, so totally do we have to depend on the Holy Spirit for the ability to walk in this new life.

The law as a means of righteousness strengthens the basic motivation of sin—the desire to be independent of God. Grace does the opposite. It lays the only enduring foundation of righteousness—total dependence upon God. Grace operates in our lives only by the continuing, supernatural presence and power of the Holy Spirit. We are to live in total dependence upon Him every day, every hour, every moment.

Derek Prince (1915-2003) gained worldwide recognition as one of the most gifted Bible teachers of the 20th century. His simple yet thorough approach made his teaching equally relevant and helpful to people from all racial and religious backgrounds.