Words of Encouragement and Thoughts (6)

“Keep thy heart more than anything that is guarded; for out of it are the issues of life.” (Proverbs 4:23 DBY)

WHO ARE YOU LISTENING TO?

Joash was hidden in the house of the LORD for six years from the face of Athaliah so that he would not be destroyed with other royal heirs. But, when Joash was seven years old Jehoiada the priest brought him out, put the crown on him, gave him the Testimony and anointed him as the King of Judah in the place of Athaliah.

Afterwards, Jehoiada commanded that Athaliah, the wicked usurper, be killed by the guards. Jehoiada also made a covenant between himself, the people and the king that they should be God’s people (2 Kings 11:1-21).

King Joash, though very young, naïve and inexperienced, yet he did what was right in the sight of God all the days of Jehoiada the priest who counselled, instructed, taught, and guided him in the way of the LORD. (2 Chro. 24:2).

Unfortunately today, many of our political leaders don’t have men like Jehoiada as their counselors or advisers to guide and influence them to do what is right in God’s sight.

All the days of Jehoiada the priest the Scripture testifies that King Joash listened to him and thus walked in the ways of the LORD and did mighty exploits.

Joash mobilized all the priests and the Levites and all the people of Judah to repair the house of the LORD. At the king’s command, they made a chest and set it outside at the gate of the house of the LORD, and all the people gave willingly and generously towards the repair of the house of the LORD.

The Scripture records: “Then all the leaders and all the people rejoiced, brought their contributions, and put them into the chest until all had given… So the workmen labored, and the work was completed by them; they restored the house of God to its original condition and reinforced it.” (2 Chro. 24:10-13 NKJV).

However, immediately after the death of Jehoiada, the leaders or princes of Judah came to King Joash to coax and lure him into idolatry, and sadly, he listened to them.

The Scripture testifies, “Therefore they left the house of the LORD God of their fathers, and served wooden images and idols; and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem because of their trespass.” (2 Chro. 24:18 NKJV).

Even when God sent Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest to Joash and the people of Judah, they conspired against him, and “at the command of the king they stoned him with stones in the court of the house of the LORD.” (2 Chro. 24:21 NKJV).

While Joash was listening to Jehoiada the priest, he was walking in the ways of the LORD. On the contrary, when Joash began to listen to the evil and idolatrous princes of Judah, he became evil and idolatrous like them.

The truth is this; who you constantly, continuously, or consistently listen to will eventually mould, determine, control, influence and shape your motives, thoughts, actions, values, perceptions, passions, and pursuits in life.

Whoever you give your attention to in life will ultimately give direction to your life!

The Scripture warns:
“Do not be deceived: "Evil company corrupts good habits." (1 Cor. 15:33 NKJV).

“The righteous should choose his friends carefully, for the way of the wicked leads them astray.” (Prov. 12:26 NKJV).

Many gullible believers today, like Josiah, have been swayed and led astray into doctrines of men and demons, vain worship of saints, spirits or angels, apostasy, heresies, and empty philosophies and traditions of men by listening to false teachers and prophets, carnal and ungodly counselors and philosophers.

Beloved, it is very dangerous to incline your ears and open your heart to any word, teaching, doctrine, advice or counsel that does not conform wholly to the word, teaching or doctrine of Jesus Christ and His early apostles in the New Testament.

King Joash, who once mobilized the people of Judah to repair and restore the house of God to its original condition, forsook the same house of God to serve wooden images and idols when he inclined his ears to listen to ungodly men.

Although Joash started well with God, his end was terrible. He was severely wounded in the battle and his servants conspired against him and killed him on his bed, and he was not buried in the tombs of the kings (2 Chro. 24:25).

What a sad ending to a good starting!

We are now in perilous times when seducing spirits are actively at work in the lives and ministries of many so-called servants of God, thereby influencing them to propagate and broadcast false doctrines and destructive heresies (1 Tim. 4:1-3).

Many carnal ministers of God today are "teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain." (Tit 1:11 NKJV).

Therefore, you must be careful who you listen to!

You will do well to listen to John’s admonition in 2 John 1:
9 Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son.
10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him;
11 for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds. (NKJV).

Friend, you need to guard your heart by minding who and what you are listening to lest you end up like Joash, departing from the right path, becoming corrupt, and losing your inheritance and place in God’s kingdom.

Choose carefully the books you read, the music and messages you listen to, and even the preacher, teacher, instructor, counsellor or adviser you listen to.

The Bible admonishes you to “Keep thy heart more than anything that is guarded; for out of it are the issues of life.” (Prov. 4:23 DBY).

Prayer: My Dear Holy Spirit, teach and help me to constantly, continuously and consistently incline my ears and open my heart only to wholesome words, doctrines or teachings of Christ, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

RESPONDING TO GOD’S HOLINESS

Isaiah 6:1-8

A stunning sunset, a rainbow, the first blooms of spring, and many other displays of nature will elicit strong reactions. In a similar way, God’s holiness is so magnificent that it causes people to respond in various ways.

Isaiah had a vision of the Lord’s moral purity and holiness. When he saw God seated on a throne in all His glorious splendor, the prophet cried out, “Woe is me, for I am ruined!” (Isa. 6:5). A glimpse of divine perfection caused Isaiah to recognize the depths of his own sinful condition and to acknowledge the holiness of God. Peter had a similar reaction when he was in the presence of the Savior. After the Lord miraculously filled the fishing nets to overflowing, the disciple “fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, ‘Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!’” (Luke 5:8). However, the religious leaders of the day had a different attitude. The more they heard Jesus’ preaching and saw His work, the angrier they became.

We are Christ’s ambassadors to a hurting world, and we must always act with love toward others. But sometimes those who are not abiding in Christ will experience what I call “holy heat.” People who have rejected Jesus may act as if we are trying to force them to believe in Him. And Christians living in rebellion toward God may become uncomfortable around those who abide in Jesus; they may even ignore the advice of believers who have loved and advised them for years.

God wants us to live out our faith in love, regardless of others’ reactions. Has your faith permeated the many areas of your life?

InTouch Ministries daily devotional by Charles Stanley

The Nature of Reconciliation

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. —2 Corinthians 5:21

Sin is a fundamental relationship— it is not wrong doing, but wrongbeing— it is deliberate and determined independence from God. The Christian faith bases everything on the extreme, self-confident nature of sin. Other faiths deal with sins— the Bible alone deals with sin. The first thing Jesus Christ confronted in people was the heredity of sin, and it is because we have ignored this in our presentation of the gospel that the message of the gospel has lost its sting and its explosive power.

The revealed truth of the Bible is not that Jesus Christ took on Himself our fleshly sins, but that He took on Himself the heredity of sin that no man can even touch. God made His own Son “to be sin” that He might make the sinner into a saint. It is revealed throughout the Bible that our Lord took on Himself the sin of the world through identification with us, not through sympathy for us. He deliberately took on His own shoulders, and endured in His own body, the complete, cumulative sin of the human race. “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us…” and by so doing He placed salvation for the entire human race solely on the basis of redemption. Jesus Christ reconciled the human race, putting it back to where God designed it to be. And now anyone can experience that reconciliation, being brought into oneness with God, on the basis of what our Lord has done on the cross.

A man cannot redeem himself— redemption is the work of God, and is absolutely finished and complete. And its application to individual people is a matter of their own individual action or response to it. A distinction must always be made between the revealed truth of redemption and the actual conscious experience of salvation in a person’s life.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

Both nations and individuals have tried Christianity and abandoned it, because it has been found too difficult; but no man has ever gone through the crisis of deliberately making Jesus Lord and found Him to be a failure. The Love of God—The Making of a Christian, 680 R

Mu Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers

“God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has hardened himself against Him and prospered?” (Job 9:4 NKJV)

STOP MEDDLING WITH GOD

Josiah was one of the few kings of Judah who did what was right in God’s sight. He went from one city to another breaking down all the altars of Baal and wooden images. He also burned the bones of the priests of Baal on their altars and purged Judah and Jerusalem (2 Chro. 34:4-5).

Josiah also set the priests and the Levites in their duties and encouraged them for the service of the house of the LORD. Moreover, Josiah kept a Passover to the LORD in Jerusalem in a grand style.

The Scripture testifies, “There had been no Passover kept in Israel like that since the days of Samuel the prophet; and none of the kings of Israel had kept such a Passover as Josiah kept, with the priests and the Levites, all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” (2 Chro. 35:18 NKJV).

Unfortunately, Josiah died in the prime of his days because he refused to refrain from meddling with God. It is good for us today to examine how Josiah meddled with God so as to avoid such a terrible and deadly blunder.

While Necho the King of Egypt was on God’s mission to fight against the house of the King of Assyria, Josiah went out against him. Necho sent messengers to Josiah, saying, "What have I to do with you, king of Judah? I have not come against you this day, but against the house with which I have war; for God commanded me to make haste. Refrain from meddling with God, who is with me, lest He destroy you." (2 Chro. 35:21 NKJV).

Unfortunately, Josiah would not stop meddling with God in spite of being warned by Necho.

The Scripture testifies to Josiah’s stubbornness and its consequence in 2 Chronicles 35:
22 Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself so that he might fight with him, and did not heed the words of Necho from the mouth of God. So he came to fight in the Valley of Megiddo.
23 And the archers shot King Josiah; and the king said to his servants, "Take me away, for I am severely wounded."
24 His servants therefore took him out of that chariot and put him in the second chariot that he had, and they brought him to Jerusalem. So he died, and was buried in one of the tombs of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. (NKJV).

Many people today, like Josiah, are meddling with God by resisting or standing in the way of someone God has sent on a specific mission. This is a dangerous thing to do!

When you seek to discourage, resist, oppose, or stand in the way of anyone God has sent on a mission, like Josiah, you are simply fighting against God, thereby setting up yourself for a sudden destruction.

The Scripture warns:
“It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Heb. 10:31 NKJV).

“If one wished to contend with Him, He could not answer Him one time out of a thousand. God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has hardened himself against Him and prospered?” (Job 9:3-4 NKJV).

Undoubtedly, one of the primary responsibilities of spiritual leaders (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers) in the Church is to equip the saints for the work of ministry (Eph. 4:11-12).

It is however disheartening that many of our spiritual leaders today are unwilling to equip and release the believers under their tutelage for the work of ministry outside their church, organization, or denomination circles or settings.

Many of our spiritual leaders today, like Josiah, are hiding under various religious guises to discourage, dissuade, oppose, or hold back mature believers in their churches, organizations or denominations from stepping outside the four walls of their churches, organizations or denominations to do the work of ministry they have equipped them for.

It is sad but true that there are many mature believers in our churches today who are just warming the church benches or seats and marking the church register every service because their pastors would not allow them to go out and fulfil their divine assignments outside their church walls or denomination settings.

God’s gifts in many believers today are lying dormant or wasting away within the four walls of our churches as a result of the spiritual manipulation, domination, or bewitchment of our spiritual leaders who would not release mature believers under their leadership for the works of the ministry outside their church, organization or denomination circles or settings.

Beloved, when you employ any means or strategies to discourage, oppose, resist, or discourage any believer who God has called to pioneer a new work or sent on a mission outside your ministry, church, organization or denomination setting; you are simply meddling with God.

You are not God’s boss who He must consult with or take permission from before He calls and sends any of His children on a mission outside your ministry, church, organization or denomination setting. The kingdom of God is infinitely greater than any ministry, church, organization or denomination.

Perhaps, Josiah was not convinced that Necho was on God’s mission to Assyria, so he sought to oppose and stop him; nevertheless he lost his life in the process.

Even when you are not convinced about the mission or assignment God has sent any of His children; it is wisdom for you not to seek to resist or oppose anyone who claims God has sent him on a mission outside your church, organization or denomination circle or setting.

Although Josiah disguised to oppose Necho who claimed to be on God’s mission, yet he was shot and severely wounded.

Many of our spiritual leaders today, like Josiah, have been severely wounded because they would not refrain from meddling with God by seeking to manipulate, discourage, or hold back the believers under their leadership from stepping out of their ministries, churches and denominations to fulfil their God-given assignments.

Friend, beware of meddling with God like Josiah!

The Bible admonishes you to mind your own business or ministry and not suffer as a busybody in other people’s matters (1 Thess. 4:11, 1 Pet. 4:15).

Refrain today from meddling with God by seeking to stop, distract, discourage, or dissuade anyone called or sent by God on a mission outside your church, organization or denomination circle or setting.

Remember the stubbornness of Josiah and its consequence!

Prayer: My Dear Heavenly Father, I choose not to meddle with You by seeking to discourage, oppose, or stop anyone under my leadership who you have called and sent on a mission outside my church setting, help me Lord, in Jesus’ name. Amen.