Author: David Short

2 Chronicles 14:10 (2 Chronicles 14:11)

And Asa cried out to the Lord his God and said, “Lord, with You it is not impossible, whether with the many or with the few. Strengthen us, Lord our God, for we trust in You. And in Your name we go against this multitude. Lord our God, do not let man prevail against You!”

Encouraging Words

Life is very tough at times. When we strive to live godly lives for our Lord, things get even tougher because the world is at odds with God. Here we have king Asa getting ready to go into battle against his his enemy. Asa’s army is comprised of about 550,000 soldiers while they enemy’s army is over a million. That is when he makes this proclamation. This is how we must think and believe as we confront the challenges in this world and the temptations that come our way. With out God, all things are possible against all odds. Glory be to God!

Sirach 28:2-3

Mark 13:31

Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.

Encouraging Words

Jesus is eternal. He has always been and always will be. In the Old Testament, He is encapsulated in the wisdom writings because He is the source of all wisdom. In the New Testament, He is proclaimed as the Living Word of God. His words are given both by speaking and by His actions. They have been recorded and are still being manifested and not recorded. His words, that which we can put our hope and trust in, will never pass away. Glory be to God!

2 Chronicles 7:14

if My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will be merciful to their sins and heal their land.

Personal Challenge

Solomon had just finished building the spectacular temple for God. God visited Him and this verse is part of His conversation with Solomon. God will hear our prayers from heaven and He will be merciful to us in our sins and He will heal our land…IF. We must humble ourselves before Him and our neighbor. We must pray and seek His face. And we must turn from our evil ways. It is His people who must turn to Him. Is it no wonder that a people, a nation that calls themselves Christian, are not seeing His hand at work? Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Mark 12:29-31

Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Personal Challenge

The whole expectation of what God wants us to do is in these three verses. If one ever has a doubt or a concern about how to live a truly righteous and godly life, it is here. Jesus summed everything up in two commandments for us to live our lives by. We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength. And we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. There is nothing in here about how many services we should attend, or how many theological books we should read, or how well we keep the fast. If we do not do those things, and everything else that we do, out of love for God and love of others, then it doesn’t matter. If we jeer at the person who returns from a hiatus from church, then we have failed. If we demand an explanation before we let them back in, then we have failed. If we engage in the gossip mill about another without reaching out to them with encouragement and love, then we have failed. If we pride ourselves on how “godly” our church is at the exclusion of those who disagree with us without focusing on reconciliation and unity then we have failed. Woe to us if we act pharisaical in our piety and not show love to one another. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

2 Chronicles 1:10-12

Mark 12:27

He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. You are therefore greatly mistaken.

Encouraging Words

In the passage before this, the leaders of the synagogue were trying to trap Jesus with an argument related to life after death. They were leveraging a disagreement with the different factions in the Jewish leadership. As usual, Jesus did not take the bait, but instead seized upon the opportunity to proclaim that our God is the God of the living, that those who have gone before us, living for God are continuing to live for Him even after their departure from this worldly realm. We can claim these encouraging words and hold on to the promise that we too will be spending eternity with Him. Glory be to God!

1 Chronicles 28:9

“And now, my son Solomon, know the God of your fathers, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing soul; for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every thought. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you forever.”

Personal Challenge

God seeks us, His blessed creation. He created us to be in fellowship with Him. He does not need us, but He loves us deeply. He desires that we be in unity with Him through His Son. So why are we instructed to seek Him. It is because in our ability to have free will and in our prosperity to sin, we turn away from Him and attempt to elevate ourselves as the god’s of our own lives. We must be constantly reminded that He is the God of our fathers as well as our God. He knows the true depths of our hearts and the breadth of our thoughts. We need to seek Him out of the mire that we get ourselves into in order to find that He has always been there for us. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Love, have mercy!