2 Kings 6:16

So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are greater in number than those who are with them.”

Encouraging Words

I have always loved this story in the old testament. Elisha, a prophet of God, and his servant have been pursued by the Syrian army. When his servant looks out of the place of refuge that they have been staying at he sees thousands of soldiers surrounding them and calls out to Elisha in fear and trepidation. Elisha responds with this statement. Elisha sees his world, the servant’s world, our world through different eyes, spiritual eyes. What Elisha sees is a host of heavenly soldiers that far outnumbers the physical soldiers. His eyes have been opened to the realm that surrounds us all every moment of every day. My desire in life is to be able to live my life in such a way that my eyes are opened as Elisha’s were, to be able to see, and hear, and smell, and touch the spiritual realm around me. This is part of the destination through the journey through life towards theosis. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have Mercy on me, the sinner for I do deserve to be called, a child of God.

Mark 1:35

Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.

Personal Challenge

Here we have the example of Jesus taking time out to do what was most important to Him, isolating Himself from the busy-ness of life and spending time with His Father in meditation and prayer. How can this be? He was fully God and fully man, If He was fully God was He not always in fellowship and communion with the Father? Yes, He was! Then why the need to go off to a solitary place and pay? Because Jesus was also fully man, and that man lived in a fallen world, Jesus still needed to discipline His body to yield to His spirit. Jesus dwells within us when we receive Him and are anointed with the holy oil through our baptism and Chrismation. However, we still have a fleshly body that lives in a fallen world and is driven by the free will that God has created us with. We need these times alone with God in order to commune and fellowship with Him. I regret that I have allowed, and often create, so much busy-ness in my life that I do not spend this kind of time with my Father. I need to make this a priority in my life. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner?

Psalms 37:3-5 (36:3-5 LXX)

Hope in the Lord, and work goodness;
Dwell in the land, and you shall be nurtured by its riches.
Delight in the Lord,
And He will give you the requests of your heart.
Reveal your way to the Lord,
And hope in Him; and He will do it.

Commands with Promise

Sometimes we are given things to do in the scriptures that also tell us what we can expect to see God do if we are obedient. If we put our hope in our Lord, and through that hope permeating us to the point where the things that we do are His works of goodness, all the while doing this in the land that He has given us to dwell in, then we will be nurtured by the riches of that land. This nurturing by the riches of the land does not necessarily mean wealth and prosperity. It may mean peace and joy in our lives. It may mean that our basic needs are being met by God taking care of us. The psalmist goes on. If we put our delight in the Lord, then He will give us the requests of hearts. Once again, though, if I am truly centered and focused on Him then my requests will be for those things that He would want me to have. Finally, if I reveal my desires, my hopes, my wants to Him, then He will guide me on my journey through life to be more like His son. Glory be to God!

1 Kings 22:5

Also Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Ask the Lord today.”

Personal Challenge

So, who is this Jehoshaphat and why is he important to me? At this time the people of God had been split into two separate and sometimes warring nations, Israel and Judah. Jehoshaphat was the king of Israel and Ahab was the king of Judah. Bottom line, Ahab was not a good guy. He was a really mean leader. At this point in time, the two kings have come together to join forces against common enemies. Jehoshaphat starts this relationship off by suggesting that Ahab should inquire of God on whether or not they should enter into the battle. Ahab has surrounded himself with a host of prophets that all say what he wants to hear. They would never give him advice that might displease and consequently anger him. These are the guys that he used to inquire of God. And of course, they agreed with Ahab’s desire to go to war. There was, however, one prophet whom Ahab hated who told them that they would lose the battle and to not go. He was immediately thrown into jail, they went into battle, and Ahab was eventually killed. It does us no good to only listen to those who would always affirm us, especially when we are making bad decisions. This is not asking the Lord! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Matthew 28:19-20

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.

Personal Challenge

Go! Make! Baptize! Teach! These are not passive, couch-potato words. Our Lord finishes His time here on earth with a command to be actively pursuing those who do not know Him before He returns. Jesus came so that all might be saved, He gave up His life so that mankind would be able to live their lives fully as we were meant to. Now for those of us who have chosen to follow Him, He is giving us the charter on how to live our lives. We are to be actively going outside of the walls of our churches and homes, sometimes outside of our own countries, and strive to spread His gospel and make disciples of those who do not know Him. We are to lead them to the foot of the cross and baptize than when they come to their senses of who they are and why they need Him. And we are to teach them how to grow in the likeness of Christ and to do these same things. Jesus then promises to us that He will be there with us as we do His work. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have many on me, the sinner!

Psalms 36:7 (35:8 LXX)

How You multiply Your mercy, O God!
The sons of men shall hope under the shelter of Your wings.

Encouraging Words

I am so thankful that I have been freed from the doctrine that our God is an angry, vengeful, judgmental God. We still believe that scripture teaches that we will all stand before our God at the day of judgment and we will know of our sins that have separated us from our God. As a matter of fact, we also believe that this is already an ever present part of our everyday journey of theosis. As we learn more about God and grow more in the image of His son, the more we realise just how undeserving of we are of His mercy and grace, This all makes this verse read so much more alive as the psalmist proclaims how much God multiplies His mercy upon His children and how much His children can hope for and live under the wings of shelter of on Land. Glory be to God!

1 Kings 8:22-24 (3 Kingdoms 8:22-24 LXX)
You have kept what You promised Your servant David my father; You have both spoken with Your mouth, and fulfilled it with Your hand, as today. Now, O Lord God of Israel, keep what You promised Your servant David my father, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man sit before Me on the throne of Israel, so long as your people guard and keep their ways to walk before Me, as you walked before Me.’ So now, O Lord God of Israel, let the word be confirmed You spoke to Your servant David my father.

Encouraging Words

Solomon, the son of David, had probably grown up with many stories from his father about all of the things that his God had done throughout his life. Now it is Solomon’s turn to begin engaging with his father’s God, and now, his God. Solomon starts by reminding his God of the promises that had been made to David, Isn’t this the same for all of us? I still teach high school students at my church and love it dearly. One of the things that I often tell them is that God does not have any grandchildren. Even though they may have spent their entire life coming to church on Sundays in tow behind their parents, their relationship with God does not come to fruition through someone else, even their parents. We all must come to the place like Solomon where we reach out to our God and build our relationship with Him. God always keeps His promises especially when we grow into them. Glory be to God!

Matthew 26:41

Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Personal Challenge

Intentions are always a great thing, but unless my intentions are followed up by actions they really mean nothing. Jesus points this out when He reminds His disciples that their spirit may be willing to follow Him, but that their flesh is weak. In His last moments of physical life here on earth, He is in the Garden of Gethsemane praying to His father to lead Him through the final steps of His journey to the cross. It is obviously a difficult time and He knows that His own physical flesh is pulling at His spirit to turn away from the path that He is on. He is demonstrating to His disciple how to watch for and pray to His Father for the support that He needs. And what are the disciples doing? Falling asleep. They have spirits that desire to follow their Lord. They have demonstrated that for the past three years. But they are still being driven by their weak flesh. Aren’t we all? Here is where we can learn much from our Lord. The times that we need to keep the most watch out for our Lord and seek Him in pray are those times when we are the weakest. Praying without ceasing, even if it is only, “Jesus!’,’ helps us through these times. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!