Tag: Baals

2.y. Because he ordered his ways before the Lord his God.

2 Chronicles 27:1 Jotham was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jerushah the daughter of Zadok. And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord according to all that his father Uzziah had done, except he did not enter the temple of the Lord. But the people still followed corrupt practices. He built the upper gate of the house of the Lord and did much building on the wall of Ophel. Moreover, he built cities in the hill country of Judah, and forts and towers on the wooded hills. He fought with the king of the Ammonites and prevailed against them. And the Ammonites gave him that year 100 talents of silver, and 10,000 cors of wheat and 10,000 of barley. The Ammonites paid him the same amount in the second and the third years. So Jotham became mighty, because he ordered his ways before the Lord his God.

2 Chronicles 17:3-6    The LORD was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the earlier ways of his father David. He did not seek the Baals,  but sought the God of his father and walked in his commandments, and not according to the practices of Israel.  Therefore the LORD established the kingdom in his hand. And all Judah brought tribute to Jehoshaphat, and he had great riches and honor.  His heart was courageous in the ways of the LORD

2 Chronicles 12:12    And when he humbled himself the wrath of the LORD turned from him, so as not to make a complete destruction. Moreover, conditions were good in Judah.

Ezra 7:10    For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.

Having God with us, guiding us, leading us, and helping us for good does not happen by chance or good luck.  It does not happen because we earned it as if God is in debt to us and owes us something.  He created us for His glory and honor and praise.  In this creation, He gave us (mankind) a free will to honor and glorify Him.  He allowed His creation to choose to do this, or not.  Not only did He create us but He also revealed Himself to us through creation, angels, prophets, works of miracles, His written word, and His Son Jesus Christ.  We have been given free will to choose to honor, glorify, follow, serve, trust, and obey Him.  He has given us words to live by so that in our life this side of eternity we demonstrate our love for Him as creator and worthy of all honor and praise.  He has given us precious promises too.  He is steadfast in His love toward us.  He blesses us and disciplines us with righteousness.

Mankind, we, were created for His honor and glory.  We are created to bring honor and glory to Him alone.  We are created to worship and praise Him above all else.  He gave us His written word so that through it we might gain wisdom, understanding, knowledge of Him and His purpose and plans and continually grow in this so that our honor and glory of Him consume and directs our every thought, word, and action.

He is worthy of so much more than lukewarm lip service from us.

158. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit

1 Kings 18:1  After many days the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, “Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth.” So Elijah went to show himself to Ahab. Now the famine was severe in Samaria. And Ahab called Obadiah, who was over the household. (Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly, and when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifties in a cave and fed them with bread and water.) And Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go through the land to all the springs of water and to all the valleys. Perhaps we may find grass and save the horses and mules alive, and not lose some of the animals.” So they divided the land between them to pass through it. Ahab went in one direction by himself, and Obadiah went in another direction by himself.

And as Obadiah was on the way, behold, Elijah met him. And Obadiah recognized him and fell on his face and said, “Is it you, my lord Elijah?” And he answered him, “It is I. Go, tell your lord, ‘Behold, Elijah is here.’” And he said, “How have I sinned, that you would give your servant into the hand of Ahab, to kill me? As the Lord your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my lord has not sent to seek you. And when they would say, ‘He is not here,’ he would take an oath of the kingdom or nation, that they had not found you. And now you say, ‘Go, tell your lord, “Behold, Elijah is here.”’ And as soon as I have gone from you, the Spirit of the Lord will carry you I know not where. And so, when I come and tell Ahab and he cannot find you, he will kill me, although I your servant have feared the Lord from my youth. Has it not been told my lord what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the Lord, how I hid a hundred men of the Lord’s prophets by fifties in a cave and fed them with bread and water? And now you say, ‘Go, tell your lord, “Behold, Elijah is here”’; and he will kill me.” And Elijah said, “As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today.” So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him. And Ahab went to meet Elijah.

When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?” And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father’s house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals. Now therefore send and gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel, and the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”

Ezekiel 3:12-14     Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great earthquake: “Blessed be the glory of the LORD from its place!”  It was the sound of the wings of the living creatures as they touched one another, and the sound of the wheels beside them, and the sound of a great earthquake.  The Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness in the heat of my spirit, the hand of the LORD being strong upon me.

Ezekiel 8:3   He put out the form of a hand and took me by a lock of my head, and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the gateway of the inner court that faces north, where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy.

Acts 8:39    And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.

Ezekiel 37:1    The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley;

2 Corinthians 12:2-3     I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows.  And I know that this man was caught up into paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows—

Ezekiel 11:24     And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me in the vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to the exiles. Then the vision that I had seen went up from me.

John 3:8  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

I like what Obadiah said to Elijah; “And as soon as I have gone from you, the Spirit of the Lord will carry you I know not where.” You can hear Obadiah speak out of frustration concerning how the Spirit of God just up and takes Elijah away.  You are here and then you are gone.

Having visions or being carried away happened but that does not mean they happen to everyone.  It is not as though we can put our self into a trance and will this to happen.  It is of the Spirit of God.  However, we can be used by, moved by, spoke to by, and lead by the Holy Spirit of God.  Our thought ought not to be carried away physically or by vision but rather to be used by the Holy Spirit.  When we have our heart, mind, and soul fixed on humbly serving, honoring, following, trusting, and obeying God then we are in the right footing to be moved, lead, spoken to, and used by the Holy Spirit.

It seems as though our culture of easy access to information has led us down a path where we do not have to put in the time of learning all of the ins and outs of some tasks because we can just google it or find step by step on youtube.  We don’t really have to memorize maps and how to get somewhere because we have the directions at our fingertips and spoken to us as we drive.  I think this leads many into thinking that we can take a short cut to God’s word.  Scriptures say to write His word on our heart, mind, door posts, and speak of it in the morning, during the day, and in the evening.  Yet, somehow I think we fall into the trap of thinking we can just Google it.  When something happens I will just type it into Google and find the scripture, then claim it and move on.  Just because we can type it in and find it does not mean there is a foundation for being led by the Spirit of God in this.  Where is the discipline, commitment, setting aside time, seeking, and desiring God’s Spirit to lead you so that your honor and glorify Him?   Where is the time set aside to be with God’s word?  Where is the denying self, other “Stuff” that occupies time so that we can be disciplined in His Word?

Do you want to know what I fear?  I fear that my life will be seen by others as an example of what it means to follow God with my whole heart, mind, and soul and I know that is not true.  I allow other things to occupy my time and can go hours without giving thought to God. If they pattern after my example will they even come close to catching a glimpse of God and the love of Jesus Christ?  Oh, Holy Spirit fill, lead, guide, and speak into my life for the honor and glory of God through Jesus Christ.

89. No sooner had Gideon died……

Judges 8:33   No sooner had Gideon died than the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They set up Baal-Berith as their god and did not remember the Lord their God, who had rescued them from the hands of all their enemies on every side. They also failed to show any loyalty to the family of Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) in spite of all the good things he had done for them.  Abimelek son of Jerub-Baal went to his mother’s brothers in Shechem and said to them and to all his mother’s clan, “Ask all the citizens of Shechem, ‘Which is better for you: to have all seventy of Jerub-Baal’s sons rule over you, or just one man?’ Remember, I am your flesh and blood.”  When the brothers repeated all this to the citizens of Shechem, they were inclined to follow Abimelek, for they said, “He is related to us.” They gave him seventy shekels of silver from the temple of Baal-Berith, and Abimelek used it to hire reckless scoundrels, who became his followers. He went to his father’s home in Ophrah and on one stone murdered his seventy brothers, the sons of Jerub-Baal.

There were forty years of peace from the time God used Gideon to defeat the Midianites and Gideon’s death.  The people followed Gideons lead in worship and service to God.  But, look, no sooner had Gideon died than the Israelites stopped worshiping and serving God after forty years of doing it.  You have to wonder what kind of commitment the people had toward honoring and worshiping God.  Did they just gradually lose sight of God and try to start down other paths but were held onto the path by the leadership of Gideon?   Do you ever wonder if we are any different and our commitment to God is one built on convenience to how it fits into our lives?  When we are very busy with life our commitment is almost non-existent.  If this lax commitment is during the formative years of our children it is no wonder they can so easily have no foundation to stand on and have no want or need for God.

We do well to make our commitment firm and our foundation known to our family and friends so that we are influencing them toward a relationship with Jesus Christ rather than them influencing us toward worldly wants and desires.