2 KINGS
MOMENT – (29APR19) King Josiah did what was right before God. When he heard the
Law of Moses read to him, he immediately went into action. He had all the
people to gather at the Lord’s temple so that he would read the Covenant to
them. He destroyed all the detestable altars, place of worship, idols, male
prostitution shrines, altars made to Molech for child sacrifice, and even
killed the priests who served as idol worshipers. Josiah did a total cleansing
of the Land, so that it could be returned to God. Unfortunately, Judah’s sin
had gone too far with what they did with Manasseh, and God had determined that He
was going cast Judah away from His presence. Yet, he honored what Josiah had
done and considered him as being faithful to him more than his predecessors and
successors.
We see once
again that in order to rid the land of sin, it is not good enough to do a partial
cleansing, but a total cleansing is needed across the land. Many Christians are
celebrating the fact the states are implementing the Heartbeat Bill when it comes
to abortion. Do they seriously think that God is pleased with this? Life does
NOT begin when the heart starts to pump. Life begins at the moment of
conception because God is weaving that baby into His image even before the heart
takes shape. When we settle for serving and obeying God halfway, we anger God
in the process. He wants us to serve and obey Him completely. This is why Jesus
told the Laodiceans that if they were lukewarm, He was going to spew them out
of His mouth. Lukewarm represents being halfway in Christ – not wanting to
fully commit to being cold, nor being hot. If we cannot commit to living for God
100%, then we are doing Him no favor by throwing Him out a few crumbs every now
and then. Something to ponder…
QUESTION OF
THE DAY – (29APR19) Nebuchadnezzar took hold of Jerusalem and took everything
from inside the temple. All of the temple’s artifacts where now in possession of
Babylon. The people were no longer free to live as they chose with the exception
of the very poor whom he left in Judah. They had to pay a high price for their
disobedience and the temple could not save them because they were not loyal to
the One whose Name was on it. Why is it that we often have to learn the hard
way when it comes to obedience? Why are we as humans determined to do things
our own way instead of following God’s way? The enemy tends to make his way more
enticing than serving God. Unfortunately, when we fail to follow God’s way, we
will always get the short end of the stick when it comes to the enemy’s
deceptive tactics. It is best to trust God completely and be obedient to His
will rather than living our own way and following our fleshly desires. Something
to ponder…
2 KINGS
MOMENT – (29APR19) God allowed Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, to overtake
Judah and all that was within the city walls. Babylon was a foreign nation who
worshiped foreign gods, and yet, they are given access to Judah by the Lord
himself. Many may ask the question as to how God could let a nation more wicked
than Israel and Judah overtake them as a nation. The answer is that God expect
more from those He blesses and makes covenants with. Israel was to be a beacon of
light to the rest of the world and show them by example the greatness and
goodness of God. Yet, they fell into doing the same things that their heathen neighbors
did which did not set them apart from the rest. Similarly, we are living the
same way.
We are to be
lighthouses for Christ so that the lost world can see Him through us. It is
important that we remain separate and yet be close enough to witness about His
salvation. Time is of the essence and is quickly running out. There is no
return for the nation of America, because she will fulfill Bible prophecy, but
there is still hope for lost souls to receive salvation. Something to ponder…
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