Saturday Blogpost (7/12/14)

Saturday, July 12, 2014 [All You Had To Do Was Ask]

10 So David asked God, "Should I go out to fight the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?"

The Lord replied, "Yes, go ahead. I will hand them over to you."

11 So David and his troops went up to Baal-perazim and defeated the Philistines there. "God did it!" David exclaimed…

13 But after a while the Philistines returned and raided the valley again. 14 And once again David asked God what to do… 

(1 Chronicles 14:10, 11, 13, NLT)

David was an amazing warrior, general, and king!  He is the only person in the Bible who has the honor of being known as "a man after God's own heart" (Acts 13:22).  

What does that really mean?  

A person "after God's own heart" does what God wants them to do.

How do you know what God wants you to do?

Ask.

1 Chronicles 14 is one of my favorite accounts of the history of Israel with David as their king.  When faced with the huge Philistine army in the Rephaim Valley, David doesn't just go out to fight them, nor does he strategize with his officers about the best plan of attack.  David asked God, "Should I go out to fight the Philistines?"  After getting the okay from the Lord, David and his men go out to fight them and win.  What's David's reply?  "God did it!"  And, this is not just false humility, either.  David really means this - God really did do it.  It was God who handed the battle over to David and made him victorious.  So, when they reassemble and come back to fight David again, David does what he did before - he asks the Lord what to do.  And, again, David is victorious.

Obedience is hard for us.  Asking, sometimes, is even harder.  Why is this so?

I think that we don't ask because we are afraid that He will actually give us His answer…and, even more, His answer may be different from what we have already made up in our minds to do.  

Notice, David wasn't forced to ask the Lord what to do about the Philistines. The Lord doesn't force us to ask Him.  However, He waits, longingly, until we do.  He is so "for us" that He actually wants to tell us how to overcome the difficulties that we face.  We will not always like to hear His answer, but faith calls us to trust that His answer will bring victory.

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Questions

(1) What is that thing that you have already decided you won't pray about?

(2) What fear are you facing that keeps you from receiving God's answer?

Prayer

Father, we love You and want to please You, but we struggle with doing what You say.  Sometimes we don't even want to ask You what to do for fear that You may actually tell us something we don't want to hear.  Help us to release our need to control things and accept Your heart for our lives.  In Jesus' Name.  Amen 

  

"The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace" (Numbers 6:24-26)

Kenny Sullivan

(203) 803-7478

שלום

July 11th

July 11th
David's Mightiest Warriors

10These are the leaders of David's mighty warriors. Together with all Israel, they decided to make David their king, just as the Lord had promised concerning Israel.

I love the account of David's mighty men. These guys were elite. They were the best of the best. These guys had earned their stripes in fierce battle. This tells us something about David. David was not a loner. He surrounded himself with greatness, so that when he was weak, they were strong. They had fought many battles together, and been relentlessly sought after by Saul, but they stood strong. They were built up of the right stuff. And they made David, the man after God's own heart, their King. David led this elite team with The Lord Of Heaven's Armies as his Leader. God is why they were so mighty. God made them powerful, and they turned to Him for guidance. 

We can learn a few things from this passage: surround yourself with great people, and second, take your guidance from The Lord. The Lord is the key. Every one of David's mighty men were fighting for The Lord. They recognized where David's power came from and they wanted to be a part of that.

Thursday, July 10

THURSDAY, JULY 10, 2014

1 Chronicles 5:18–6:81

Acts 27:21–44

Psalm 8:1–9

Proverbs 18:23,24

 

 

“When I consider your heavens,

    the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars,

    which you have set in place,

what is mankind that you are mindful of them,

    human beings that you care for them?” (Psalms 8:3,4)

 

 

David explores the greatness of God – “how majestic is your name in all the earth!” – and the humility of man.  Truly God has shown favor to us by granting dominion to man, to act as God’s representatives.  Made in His image, people were to rule both justly and mercifully over the creation and one another.

 

While God has “made” us “a little lower than the angels,” we also recognize our frailty and humility in looking towards a sovereign, holy, and majestic God.  Our beloved song, “I Am a Friend of God,” repeats that line:  “Who am I that You are mindful of me?  That You love me?  That You hear me/ when I call?”  In His awesomeness, God still wishes to draw near to His children.  Both wholly Other and personally intimate!  Amazing!

 

In his book on the “heart” conversation within the Psalms, Alfred Edersheim, a 19th-century writer, noted:  “However low I may sink, there is not a depth but grace goes still deeper.”  In His grace, God has crafted us in His image and intervened on our behalf through Christ as we fell short of that calling.

 

Romans 5:6–8 explains:  “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.  Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.  But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  Let us rejoice in His overabundant grace that brings us into His presence through the blood of Christ.

 

This song video provides beautiful imagery of God’s handiwork and a remembrance of His amazing grace for all peoples:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAdhDGaEHZ.

 

 

Lord God, thank You for sending Your Son to take the place we rightfully deserved.  Thank You for being mindful of us, in both our humility and greatness as made in Your image.  We know that You are the Father of heavenly lights and that every good and perfect gift comes from You.  We thank You for the gifts with which You have blessed us.  Help us to see Your power and goodness on a moment-by-moment basis as we interact with the world You have made.  We praise You for Your awesome power and Your personal intimacy with each of us.  You are the Holy One of Israel.  We worship You, Father.  In Jesus’s Name, amen.

 

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Tuesday July 8

I am sick at heart. How long, O LORD, until you restore me? Return, O LORD, and rescue me. Save me because of your unfailing love.
I am worn out from sobbing. All night I flood my bed with weeping, drenching it with my tears.
The LORD has heard my plea; the LORD will answer my prayer.
(‭Psalm‬ ‭6‬:‭3-4, 6, 9‬ NLT)

When you are in the middle of a trial, it can be easy to fall into despair. Our natural response can be to feel sorry for ourselves and ask "why me?"

The psalmist wondered these same things. How long before the Lord will restore him? He was in so much despair, he said his bed was filled with tears.

This psalm ends by saying the Lord heard his prayer and He will answer. He didn't say when, but he believes that God will, in His timing.

Please keep Eloise Knight and Valerie Johnson in prayer. They are in a lot of pain and need God to deliver them. Pray that He will restore them with His unfailing love.

July 7: But I want it now!!!

1 Chronicles 4:5-5:17

Acts 25:1-27

Psalm 5:1-12

Proverbs 18:19

"In the morning, Lord, You hear my voice,

     In the morning I lay my requests before You and wait expectantly."

Ps 5:3

I didn't always used to pray in the mornings, when I got up.  I used to get out of bed and get my day started - no time to waste!  Up, shower, brush teeth (for those who know me, a shave is rarely, if ever, necessary), in the car and off to school or work or wherever the day needed me.  It took a long time, a LOT of prayer on my parents' part, and not an insignificant amount of painful instruction before I began to pray in the morning.  And it was tough to build the habit...I'd get a few days going, then I'd easily fall away.  

Now, with thanks to God, my parents, my wife and our church, it has become, and remains (for the most part!) a daily morning habit.  And I thought that was all that was required.  Come to God, present your requests...little did I know the harder part was yet to come.

"...and wait expectantly."

Not just wait - which is difficult enough for me, the 48 year old epitome of a five year old crying "I want it NOW!!!", but wait EXPECTANTLY.  Which, as I take it, is to say with the certainty that your prayer has been heard and is, even then, though you might not see how, is ALREADY BEING ANSWERED.  Someone tried to tell me that God's seeming inaction in and of itself was an answer to my prayer...even today, when I hear that, I listen politely but my head and my heart are saying - you guessed it - "but I want it NOW!!!".  

Waiting is difficult.  The truth is, waiting expectantly should be easier, because to wait without expectation is to wait not knowing whether or not your prayer has been answered, if it is going to be answered, or if it has even been heard.  To wait expectantly one has to know not only that God has heard your prayer, but has already answered it, an answer that will become apparent, will come to fruition in HIS time, not yours.   I like to think that the best evidence we wait expectantly are peace and joy, regardless of the circumstances we face, because the overriding circumstance at that time is that God has heard and answered our prayers.

But whatever I said above, expectant waiting is still difficult, particularly in the instant gratification society in which we live.  But it works, and it is wonderful to see - today, for example, we finally saw God's answer to the prayers with which our church stormed heaven, in behalf of our pastor.  We saw it months ago with two other congregants, one who finally got a new heart, the other one brought back from her coma at death's door.  So if it is such a good trait, perhaps we should ask God for it.  And trust that He will already have given it to us.

Saturday BlogPost (7/5/14)

Saturday, July 5, 2014 [Seeing vs. Believing]

Psalm 3

It was on a late Saturday afternoon when I asked my pastor and one of the ministers if I could join them on a hospital visit. One of the guys from the congregation was facing the possible amputation of all of his toes on his right foot. I had no idea how to speak to his situation. I was going just to support him and be with these two men of God that I respected a great deal. 

We arrived at the hospital and saw our friend. He was troubled, but calm. As a result of his bout with diabetes, his toes were not getting enough blood flow. He was told that if the situation didn't change over the next 12 hours his doctor would have to amputate. Although he had heard the diagnosis and understood the gravity of the situation, his faith said that the Lord could turn it all around. We prayed and believed that God would restore a healthy blood flow to his toes...and, by His mercy, God did. The surgery was cancelled.

Some people say that "seeing is believing." For my friend in the hospital and David this was not the case. They acknowledged the very visible challenges in their lives (Psalm 3:1-2), but they believed the Lord to be greater than the challenge (Ps. 3:.3-6). They didn't allow what they saw (their circumstances) to be greater than what they believed (the power of God). Instead, what they believed caused them to pray faith-filled and desperate prayers: "Arise, O LORD! Save me, O my God...Salvation belongs to the LORD" (vv. 7-8). What I'm learning is that, for the follower of Jesus, there is a stark difference between what we see and what we believe. A situation that looks impossible is no match for a God who specializes in doing the impossible.

"But Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (Matthew 19:26)

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Kenny Sullivan

soli Deo gloria

Thursday, July 3

THURSDAY, JULY 3, 2014

2 Kings 22:3–23:30

Acts 21:37–22:16

Psalm 1:1–6

Proverbs 18:11,12

 

 

“Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.  He went up to the temple of the Lord with the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, the priests, and the prophets – all the people from the least to the greatest.  He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the Lord.  The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant ion the presence of the Lord – to follow the Lord and keep his commands, regulations, and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book.  Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant….

 

“Furthermore, Josiah got rid of the mediums and spiritists, the household gods, the idols, and all the other detestable things seen in Judah and Jerusalem.  This he did to fulfill the requirements of the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the temple of the Lord.  Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did – with all this heart and with all this soul and with all his strength, in according with all the Law of Moses.” (2 Kings 23:1–3,24,25)

 

“Before his downfall, a man’s heart is proud,

                but humility comes before honor.” (Proverbs 18:12)

 

 

King Josiah wisely and intentionally rid the land of Judah of those idols and individuals that had drawn the people’s hearts away from following God.  God had clearly communicated His sovereign choice to support His people as long as they remained faithful to Him, but, in worshipping other gods and pursuing practices detestable to the One Living God, the people had clearly broken their end of the covenant.  The exile of Israel and later Judah clearly indicates the people’s violation and their reaping of what they had sown.

 

Yet, for this period of King Josiah’s reign, we see the effects of studying God’s Word and taking the appropriate action.  The king does not waver in unbelief, but rather he exercises his faith through carrying out what God desired.  The leadership of Israel and Judah had previously failed the people, abandoning God’s wisdom after becoming enticed with foreign gods and women.  Even King Solomon had fallen short of his father David’s example of looking only to God Himself.

 

King Josiah acted out of humility, which teaches us our correct standing before God and others.  Humility explains that we are created in God’s image and would do well to look to His wisdom above our own.  False humility argues that we are worthless pieces of dust, but true humility recognizes the value of each person, bearing the image of the eternal God, but also the tendency to fall short and pursue our own selfish ends.  For Josiah, we definitely find that the rightful commendation that he receives stemmed from his treatment of humility and pride:  “…  humility comes before honor.” (Proverbs 18:12)

 

For us on this Independence Day, we may rejoice in the freedom granted to us by the hard labor and sacrifice of generations that have come before us.  The First Amendment grants five freedoms (exercise of religion and no established religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition of grievances):  “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”  Let’s consider what the “free exercise [of religion]” means for us today.

 

We have the great privilege of exercising our faith on a daily basis.  We may celebrate what God has done in our lives, praise Him, pray to Him, seek Him out through His Word, and love Him without fear.

 

In Romans 6:15–18, Paul argues that, in light of our freedom, we ought to become “slaves to righteousness”:  “What then?  Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace?  By no means!   Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey — whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?  But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance.  You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.”

 

We may believe that true freedom comes from being free to pursue our own best interests.  Yet, we understand from this passage and others that this selfishness ultimately leads to becoming bound to sin.  Freedom descends into slavery.

 

Real freedom comes through loving and serving God and His people, the purposes for which we were created.  Paul continues in this passage to explain that slavery to sin leads to death, while committing ourselves to righteousness (God’s purposes for us) through faith yields the gift of eternal life.

 

May we cherish the opportunity we have to choose true, lasting freedom through Jesus Christ, Who has bought this liberty with His blood.

 

 

Lord Jesus, we rejoice in Your sure salvation today.  Thank You for the many convincing proofs that You did indeed rise from the grave and that we may trust You for eternal life and the day-to-day struggle of exercising our faith.  Thank You for the freedom that we have in the United States to serve and love You and Your people and to gather together with our spiritual family to study Your Word.  Help us to cherish true freedom and to understand the depths of its implications for our lives.  Point out to us where we may destroy idols and distractions in our lives, so that we may drink deeply from Your real freedom.  In Your Name, amen.

 

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