by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
II Kings 17-18
A turning point for Israel finally comes. The turning point is that they are totally ravaged by Assyria and they are taken into captivity.
The Lord had dealt with this nation for many years. He had sent prophets to them warning them. But they “did not listen, but stiffened their neck like their fathers, who did not believe in the Lord their God.”(17:14)
If they would just believe Him and trust Him and be faithful to Him, their lives would be blessed. But no. They “followed vanity and became vain, and went after the nations which surrounded them, concerning which the Lord had commanded them not to do like.”(17:15)
Now it’s becoming clear why the Lord was so adamant about His people not mingling with the nations around them. It’s just human nature for people to begin to accept whatever they see others doing. When the Jews saw those around them worshipping other gods and partaking of other customs, they too began to participate.
You can see that today. No one ever says to himself, “I think I will be a drug addict or alcoholic.” But people do become that. They begin to hang out with others who are doing such, and the behavior begins to seem normal. So they try it, again and again, and they too are hooked.
The Israelites were no different. They began to hang out with the other cultures and intermarry with them. Eventually they began to follow the customs of the heathens – and it seemed perfectly normal.
This is the reason that the Bible is so important. Just think if we had no Bible, and we had to make our judgments based on what we see and hear. Our beliefs would be totally different. We would be unable to determine the right course on many occasions.
I am so thankful for God’s Word. It explains to us the way to go, and the underlying principles. His Word is indeed a “lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.”(Ps. 119:105)
Back to the Israelis, they wouldn’t turn around and finally they nullified their covenant with God. A just God couldn’t continue to give special protection and consideration to people who wouldn’t be faithful to Him. So the Jews in Israel were taken into Assyria.
In the meantime, Hezekiah, king of Judah, tried to restore some faithfulness there. There’s a lot to say here, so we’ll take up that more tomorrow.
John 3: 19-38
“And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than the light; for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”(V. 19-21).
This passage really explains a lot. Do you wonder why Christians are hated by some people? This is it.
Of course, the people who are hating and mocking don’t realize who is pushing them to do it. Demonic forces behind the scenes who hate Jesus are influencing individuals to have this aversion.
Sometimes there are those who know what they are doing is wrong – and their conscience hurts them. Therefore, they avoid the “light.” They don’t want to be exposed.
The good thing about our Savior, however, is that when people want to turn from the darkness, He is always there – ready and waiting. Jesus is not judging them, but bringing them forgivenenss and empowerment to overcome the darkness which has invaded their lives.
Every individual judges himself by loving the darkness or the light.
I pray that our savior will enlighten our darkness, so that we can repent, receive forgiveness, and walk in the freedom of the light.
I want the brightest light, don’t you?
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
II Kings 15-16
I don’t know about you, but I had to write down two columns with lists of names to keep up with the kings of Israel and Judah and their transitions. There were so many.
One thing, though, is clear. There were no good kings of Israel. Over and over, it’s certain that the kings “did evil in the sight of God.” It’s also clear that eventually the culture created by Israel and its rebellion caused the king of Judah to turn also.
And what caused them to be evil kings? Instead of remembering their history with God and heeding to the age-old traditions of His Word, they were influenced by the culture around them. They gave heed to the heathenish cultures and turned from the true God.
As we are reading this, I hope that all of us stop and think about what is happening in our world today. People are doing the same thing. They are allowing all of the humanistic and heathenish ideas to infiltrate the church and the lives of Christians. The standards are being lowered at an overwhelming rate.
There is a haughtiness which goes with this rebellion. People who are turning from God and who are holding to the societal whims consider themselves to be more sophisticated than those who are holding steadfast.
I’m sure that this was true in the days of these evil kings. Human nature has remained the same – even though traditions my change. So I’m sure that these kings who did evil just thought they were smarter than those who didn’t.
Another thing is also certain. As they turned away from God, the people were denying their covenant with Him. He had promised protection and provision as long as they remained faithful to Him. He gave them many years to repent, but the evil got worse and worse.
The kings of Israel had gone too far. Their land began to be peeled off by the Assyrians. While Pekah was king, the Assyrians captured all of the land of Naphtali and carried those people off into captivity. Judgment has begun.
So instead of taking notice, Ahaz gets pulled into the ploy also. As king of Judah, in order to please the king of Assyria, he gives him the treasures out of the temple. And beyond that, he goes to Damascus and admires an altar they use for their gods. He decides to redesign the temple in Jerusalem to be more “modern.” He copies the altar of the Damascun god.
What an abomination! After they had lived their years as chosen ones, the special seed of Abraham, God’s people, they decided that the rest of the world had something better to offer.
Sadly, the same abominations are happening today in the church of Jesus.
John 3:1-18
We come to the most famous verse in the Bible. John 3:16 has been printed on T-shirts and signs, painted on faces, and displayed on bumper stickers.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever should believe in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.
This is the gospel in a nutshell. There are many other religions, but only one truth. All other religions have rules and regulations which are supposed to give you entrance into the blessings from that god, and entrance into heaven after death.
However, this one is different. Instead of rules and regulations, with Christianity we get a Savior who paid the price for our sins. Then He actually gives us a new life. He actually comes to live in our hearts by the power of His Holy Spirit.
This supernatural life allows us to talk to God and to listen to Him speak to us. His Word becomes alive like never before. He explains it from within our hearts.
The Greek word which is used for “life” is a different kind of word. It doesn’t mean just ordinary life, and it doesn’t mean just an everlasting life. This word is zoe and it means “God’s life.”
Zoe is described in Strong’s concordance as “the absolute fulness of life, both essential and ethical, which belongs to God, and through Him both to the hypostatic “logos” and to Christ in whom the “logos” put on human nature” (Strong’s 2222)
Do you get that? The absolute fulness of God’s life has been given to us when we get born again by receiving our Savior.
Absolutely amazing! If we can ever grasp the truth of this, we will never be the same.
I pray that you and I can delve more deeply into this truth and truly understand what our God has done for us. It’s huge!
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible, Uncategorized
II KIngs 13-14
Right in the middle of all of this kings – up- and- kings – down business, the Lord inserts a zinger. It’s a word for us when we are engaging the enemy on behalf of ourselves or our loved ones.
Elisha is about to die, and the king of Israel knows that he will miss the prophet’s ability to protect the nation.
So Elisha goes to him and demonstrates a principle he will need.
He tells the king to put his hand on the bow, and then Elisha puts his hands on the king’s hands. He says, “Open the window toward the east and shoot.”(13:17) Then Elisha tells the king to strike the ground with the arrows. The king strikes three times and stops. At that, the prophet is angry. He says, “You should have struck the ground five or six times, then you would have struck Aram until you would have destroyed it. But now you shall strike Aram only three times.”(V.19)
So what is the big deal? First of all, the prophet opens the east window, and the east is the sign of new beginnings. He is saying that this is a new day. A new beginning.
Then when the king is to strike the earth, he is to do it until his job is complete.
That’s a big sign to us. Do you have a problem with which you have dealt for many years? Maybe there have been times when you have thought you would never win this victory.
Take a cue from Elisha: open the east window – a new beginning – and don’t stop striking until you see the victory. So many of us give up – we are not persistent.
Be persistent. The lord is on your side, but sometimes the promises He has made to us take time. Especially when others are involved.
Maybe you are praying for your marriage, or your health, or your children. You have seen in the Word of God that certain things are His will, but you don’t see them with your eyes in your life. Don’t stop striking the earth with the Word of God. Don’t stop believing that His will is coming to pass. Keep it up and you will see the victory.
In the words of Winston Churchill, “Never give up. Never give up. Never, never, never give up!”
John 2
Do you feel that your life is tasteless and colorless – like water? Do you feel that you are unimportant to God or to others? Do you feel that you have nothing to offer others which will benefit them?
If so, you may be standing there like one of the pots of water at the wedding feast. When they ran out of wine, Jesus had the waiters fill the pots with water – and then He turned the water into wine.
On the first level, this is a miracle – much like we have been seeing in Elisha’s life. Jesus brings provision when there is none.
On a deeper level, this is symbolic of the influence Jesus can have over our lives if we let Him. He can turn the tasteless water into wine.
He can turn our colorless lives into lives of great joy. He can give us a fresh start and a fresh purpose.
Sometimes we can be encountering difficulties which seem too hard to bear. He will give us strength and He will give us the ability to see beyond the present. He will cause us to love our lives just as they are, and faith for a better future. He will bring comfort to the dry places.
Ask Him, and He will show you in a magnificent way that you are important to Him.
He can turn the water into wine.
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
II Kings 10-12
The two nations, Israel and Judah, continue to put down and set up kings.
In Israel, Jehu finally gets rid of the house of Ahab and Jezebel, the darkest rulers in a nation which should have known God.
As usual during these times, everything seems so gory. And as usual, I relate these things to our current day battle against demons and forces of darkness in heavenly places.
Jehu cut off the heads of all the heirs of the evil king. I think of totally destroying the influence demonic forces have over me.
If there is an area in our lives where we once had trouble keeping holy, we should totally eradicate that influence from us. For instance, if you once had trouble with alcohol or drugs, then certainly don’t partake of them at all – and even stay away from those who may influence you to do so.
If pornography was a problem, then don’t even look at the magazines in the grocery line. If you once had trouble with gossiping, stay away from gossipers. That’s what I call “cutting off the head of the king”” in our lives. Not allowing the devil to bring temptation to us in areas that were once weak.
Even though Jehu eradicated the Baals, “he still didn’t walk in the law of the Lord with all of his heart; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam.”(10:31) So from that time, the Lord began to cut off portions from Israel.
After the evil Athaliah tried to usurp the throne of Judah, a holy child, Joash, was hidden from her. When he was seven years old, this young boy became king of Israel.
He had a mentor, however, who told him what to do. Jehoida the priest “made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people, that they should be the Lord’s people, also between the king and the people.”(11:17)
They definitely weren’t perfect, but some at least were trying to be God’s people.
The flame was dim, but at least there was in the earth a flame of God’s purpose to eventually bring His Son. I’m thankful for that.
John 1: 29-51
John the Baptist was Jesus’ cousin, so surely he had seen Him as they were growing up. However, John obviously didn’t realize that He was the Son of God until the day He was baptized.
God had told John that “He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.”(v.33) So when the Spirit descended like a dove and remained on Jesus, John recognized Him as the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”(v.29)
All of those centuries when the Jews were sacrificing animals God was teaching them that some day He would provide a perfect Lamb to be sacrificed. John recognized that the time had come. Jesus was the Lamb of God. It gives you chills, doesn’t it?
Jesus deals with lots of imagery. When Nathanael comes to Jesus, amazed that He has seen Him under the fig tree, Jesus has quite a reply. He says, “You shall see the heavens open and angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”(V.51)
Do you recognize what He is saying? Do you remember when Jacob had the dream of a ladder into heaven with angels ascending and descending? He said this is truly the “House of God and the gate of heaven.”(Gen. 28:17) It’s a portal into heaven – a ladder with angels ascending and descending.
Jesus says that He is the ladder into heaven. He is the portal. He is the Way that we can get there. And he is the way that we can partake of God’s presence while we are here on earth.
Meditate on this for a while. Jesus is the only ladder set up by God for us to partake of His presence and power.
It’s so significant to get this. I pray that you do.
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
II Kings 7-9
These times in history seem far removed from what we think about today. The societies were much less sophisticated, and most people seem to be just be seeking survival. Very dark times, indeed.
In fact, it seems that the only people who are truly committed to the Lord are the prophets and a few kings.
These times are similar to the dark ages of the Christian church. Roughly from the 6th century to the 15th century, the Christian church went into great darkness. There was a lot of corruption in the church, and lots of heretical teachings which took away the true power of God. In fact, the lay people were not allowed to read the scriptural texts for themselves; they had to have the priests tell them what they said.
People were taught that they had to go through the priest to reach God, and much advantage was taken of the people – large sums of money to “pay” for their sins.
In the 16th century, Martin Luther, a German monk was reading the scriptures when he realized that people are saved by faith and not by works. He wrote 95 Theses stating arguments against the Catholic Church and nailed them to the door of the monastery at Wittenburg. Of course, he came under great persecution, but Luther set a fire in the hearts of men which led to the Protestant Reformation.
Throughout the Dark Ages, God still had people who truly believed him and kept the fire in their hearts, even though it wasn’t reflected in society as a whole. It was the same during these days of Jewish history in II Kings. It seemed that only the prophets were believers, but God spoke to Elijah and said, “There are 7,000 who have not bowed their knee to Baal.”
We are to learn lessons from these scriptures. First we are to see how easy it is for each succeeding king to go with the flow of culture and leave God out of the story. (That’s a warning to us). Then next it is easy to see that God is a rewarder of those who truly seek Him – even in the darkest of times. Right in the middle of the darkness, we see miracles and His hand working on behalf of those who honor Him and believe Him.
We also see that, even though they seemed far removed from Him, God still had His hand on his covenant people. Our God never forsakes a covenant He has made.
He does the same with us.
John 1:1-28
John’s gospel is my favorite. The three gospels we have read so far are called the “synoptic” gospels. They are similar in that they all cover the natural accounts of what Jesus did and said as He ministered on the earth. They recount His miracles and His teachings. Yet they make very little mention of what these things might mean.
John’s gospel is different. He shares an understanding of the deeper revelation of just who Jesus is.
John starts by saying that Jesus was the Word – and all things which came into being came through Him. This may be hard to understand, but if you and I will ask our teacher, the Holy Spirit, He will help clarify the concepts we are going to learn.
This concept reflects back to the beginning of the Bible when we see that God said this and that to create (or recreate) the world. He literally spoke the world into existence. Jesus was the One who spoke the Word. The Word of God is the most powerful thing on the earth. It has the power to create!
Then, too, when Gabriel came to Mary and spoke the Word to her, saying that she would give birth to the Son of God, she said “Be it done to me according to your Word.”(Luke 1:38). The Word spoken to Mary became flesh within her womb and Jesus was born into the earth.
I can hear the Star Wars music going off in your ears right now, but hang in there. This is good – and this is true!
Then Jesus is called the “light.” He came to shine in darkness. As the light, Jesus came to set off the light bulb within each of us. That ah-ha moment, when we realize that He really is the Son of God …that God really does love us …and that God really did send Jesus to die for our sins.
So all the healings and all the teachings Jesus did were to turn on the light in the hearts of people to let them know that God is on their side – if they will get on His.
Yet The gospel says that “He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to be called the children of God.”(v.11-12) “Those who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God”(v.13).
This second birth – the born again experience – is truly the greatest occasion of anyone’s life.
We’ll be reading more about this as we continue with the book of John. In the meantime, meditate on these things as you go about your day. When you truly grasp what is being said here, your life will be changed forever.
