Back to God….
Feeling far from God. Well it’s not him hiding from you.
2 Chronicles 30:9“For if you return to the Lord, your relatives and your children will be treated mercifully by their captors, and they will be able to return to this land. For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful. If you return to him, he will not continue to turn his face from you.”
Want Success?
According to today’s ready, success comes when you seek God wholeheartedly. Next….find out God’s definition of wholeheartedly and where I’m falling short.
2 Chronicles 31:21 In all that he did in the service of the Temple of God and in his efforts to follow God’s laws and commands, Hezekiah sought his God wholeheartedly. As a result, he was very successful.
Feeling Far From God?
If so, it’s probably not God’s fault.
2 Chronicles 30:9 “For if you return to the Lord, your relatives and your children will be treated mercifully by their captors, and they will be able to return to this land. For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful. If you return to him, he will not continue to turn his face from you.”
Fully Commit
To fully commit to God, we must actively tear down every monument to sin in our lives, which takes the form of little things we know we should do, but we deem them to insignificant on the sin scale to concern ourselves with stopping. It could also take the form of dwelling on thoughts of our sinful past. For some people, it could even take the form of holding on to items that represent our “achievements” in something that either represented or was heavily involved in sin. If we hold on to any little bit of sin, we are not fully committed, and we are leaving ourselves open to attack from the enemy. Read the rest of this entry »
Only God Sets Religious Standards
A lot of people call themselves “spiritual” but refuse to adhere to any religion. While religious codes are not the end all be all, we as humans with a moral compass corrupted by sin still need some sort of hard measuring rod of absolutes to gauge our perceived morality. And that moral compass must be set by the only arbitrator of morality, that being the creator of the definition, God himself. We cannot start making our own religious rules any more than a basketball player can start running with the ball and demand the ref doesn’t penalize him with traveling because he’s decided to change the rules. He cannot change the rules of basketball, because that can only be done by a governing body authorized to do so. Here is an ancient example of people trying to do this within the context of religion. Read the rest of this entry »
Menelik
Today we see the encounter between Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, who was apparently quite swoon by Big King Sol…..While the bible doesn’t have a record of it, there are other stories about a child he fathered with her, named Menelik, to whom Rasta Farians make some claim.
2 Chronicles 2
8 Solomon replied to God, “You showed faithful love to David, my father, and now you have made me king in his place. 9 O Lord God, please continue to keep your promise to David my father, for you have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth! 10 Give me the wisdom and knowledge to lead them properly, for who could possibly govern this great people of yours?” Read the rest of this entry »
Solomon’s Treasure
Today we read the famous story of Solomon’s most valuable treasure – His wisdom. When being presented with the opportunity to ask something of God, he asked not for riches or fame or prestige, but for wisdom; and not just any wisdom, but wisdom to succeed in his calling to be king of Israel. We should also ask God for wisdom in our calling.
Perhaps he’ll reward us with just 1% of 1% of 1% of the wealth he blessed Solomon with for having his priorities straight….
2 Chronicles 1: 8 Solomon replied to God, “You showed faithful love to David, my father, and now you have made me king in his place. 9 O Lord God, please continue to keep your promise to David my father, for you have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth! 10 Give me the wisdom and knowledge to lead them properly, for who could possibly govern this great people of yours?” 11 God said to Solomon, “Because your greatest desire is to help your people, and you did not ask for wealth, riches, fame, or even the death of your enemies or a long life, but rather you asked for wisdom and knowledge to properly govern my people— 12 I will certainly give you the wisdom and knowledge you requested. But I will also give you wealth, riches, and fame such as no other king has had before you or will ever have in the future!”
Now That’s an Offering!
1 Chronicles 29
3 “And now, because of my devotion to the Temple of my God, I am giving all of my own private treasures of gold and silver to help in the construction. This is in addition to the building materials I have already collected for his holy Temple. 4 I am donating more than 112 tons of gold from Ophir and 262 tons of refined silver to be used for overlaying the walls of the buildings 5 and for the other gold and silver work to be done by the craftsmen. Now then, who will follow my example and give offerings to the Lord today?” Read the rest of this entry »
Preparation for the Next Generation
We should prepare our children for their calling, not matter what it is. It is not good to just send them out in the world with no guidance as it pertains to their calling in life. I believe parents should encourage their children to find their calling, and support the realization of that calling through prayer for the child. In the case of David, God showed him what the calling of his son Solomon would be, so David prepared by gathering everything Solomon would need to complete the Lord’s Temple. Read the rest of this entry »
Prince Pants
This reminds me of that time Prince came on stage to perform on global television wearing those yellow pants with the booty cheeks cut out. Maybe this was where he got his wardrobe inspiration from, but I doubt it.
1 Chronicles 19:4 So Hanun seized David’s ambassadors and shaved them, cut off their robes at the buttocks, and sent them back to David in shame.
