Thoughts on 2 Samuel 7:18-29

²² “How great you are, Sovereign LORD! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears. ²³ And who is like your people Israel—the one nation on earth that God went out to redeem as a people for himself, and to make a name for himself, and to perform great and awesome wonders by driving out nations and their gods from before your people, whom you redeemed from Egypt? ²⁴ You have established your people Israel as your very own forever, and you, LORD, have become their God.

The reflection today the prayer of David found in 2 Samuel 7:18-29. When we think about praying we often get right to the point. We may start off with Dear Lord I am in need of... What is striking about this prayer is that David opens (18-21) with pointing out all the Lord as done for him, his family, and the nation of Israel.

Then in verses 22-24 he begins to praise God for His sovereignty. David is entering into a prayer of praise for the redemption of the himself, his family, and the people of Israel.  When have you prayed a prayer of praise, to God for what He is doing and going to do for you, your family, job, health, friends, church, and pastor, etc? David's prayer found here in 2 Samuel is reminder to us that we need to praise God more.

In verses 25-26 David petitions the Lord for his request. He starts first with asking the Lord to keep his promise to make His people great. Then to establish the house of David. Have you asked God to keep His promise to your family and to establish your house for Him? This is an important part seeking out the Lord's blessing to be upon your family and your house.

Last in verses 27-29 David name's the promise that God will build his house and it will forever be established. David tells God that he has found courage to pray this pray because of the promise. God has promise to establish your house when we name Him as the God of our salvation. It is through salvation that we establish courage. Do you have courage to pray a prayer to establish His name in your house?

Let your prayer be: O Lord how great you are. There is no one like you. There is no God but you. My faith has been established by Your salvation. My family will be a generation that claims your redeeming grace. Let your name be lived out in and through us. You are our God, give to us courage to represent Your name to the community, nation, and world. 

Amen...

Thoughts on Jeremiah 29:10-14

^"10 This is what the LORD says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. ¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.” 

In  a relationship with God today, there are periods that may fill like exile.I believe what causes these periods of exile, are the crises that arise in life. As we go through the crisis, we become like a barren land. During this period of crisis our hope and future may grow dim. It is here that we may fill banished and exiled.

The children of Israel were exiled for seventy years. There were at least four generations that felt this period of exile.Some never made it out of exile. However, their exile, was a period of knowing that it would not always be like this. Some knew that they would not live to see the future. However, they still had hope for their family to live to see the Lord fulfill His promise.

Like the children of Israel, we must understand that it will not always be like this. We need to pray and seek the Lord just like the children of Israel, with our whole heart. We must rely on the hope and future of God's plans to prosper us. However, many Christians today blame God for the crises that come. We forget to trust in His promise to bring us out of this period of captivity back to the place of comfort.  Just as Jeremiah encourage the children of Israel pray and seek God together, you must surround yourself with God people. For it is the gathering of His people crying out, seeking, praying to Him for deliverance. This is what makes a barren dry land an oasis of spiritual prosperity.  

Let your prayer be: O Lord in a period of crisis surround me with your people. May we focus on a hope and future with you. Carry us through this period of exile. Strengthen us as we cry out to You. Strengthen us as we seek out Your plans. May all our hearts be centered on a future peace. When the time is right Lord lead us back to that place we have known as freedom in You.

Amen...

Thoughts on Psalm 62

 ¹ My soul waits in silence for God only; From Him is my salvation. ² He only is my rock and my salvation, My stronghold; I shall not be greatly shaken. ³ How long will you assail a man, That you may murder him, all of you, Like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence? ⁴ They have counseled only to thrust him down from his high position; They delight in falsehood; They bless with their mouth, But inwardly they curse.
                        .
 ⁵ My soul, wait in silence for God only, For my hope is from Him. ⁶ He only is my rock and my salvation, My stronghold; I shall not be shaken. ⁷ On God my salvation and my glory rest; The rock of my strength, my refuge is in God. ⁸ Trust in Him at all times, O people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.
                        
 ⁹ Men of low degree are only vanity and men of rank are a lie; In the balances they go up; They are together lighter than breath. ¹⁰ Do not trust in oppression And do not vainly hope in robbery; If riches increase, do not set your heart upon them. ¹¹ Once God has spoken; Twice I have heard this: That power belongs to God; ¹² And lovingkindness is Yours, O Lord, For You recompense a man according to his work. 

The landscape of our culture today is to exploit any weakness that someone may have. We are taught to use it to our gain, even if it destroys the other person's life. We see this in politics, career jobs, sports, communities, church, clubs, etc... The cancer that is growing on our culture is now beginning to destroy all hope for so many. The irony is that we are doing this to ourselves. 

For David understood, that as a leader he would be a target for attack. But David also knew that in order to lead a nation he must be willing to wait in silence upon the Lord to guide his path. Why do we tear down someone who is rising to the top as a leader? I believe that David, in this psalm, sent a message for those who are leading and facing attacks a message that transcends reality. 

You noticed that verses 1 and 2 are also like verses 5 and 6 with a play on words. In verse 1 the words from and salvation are used. In verse 5 the words for and hope are used. I would contend that David was saying that Salvation comes from God, but his hope is from knowing he is saved by God. The next set of word changes are greatly shaken in verse 2 and just shaken in verse 6. Here I believe that David was driving home the point that because he was on a firm foundation and a defensive (stronghold) position he felt safe even under attack.

Today are you feeling under attack from those around you? Do you feel that you are on a solid foundation ready to face the attacks? David spoke to the people and encouraged the people to trust God not men. Verse 8 is the key to this whole passage. If you are facing attacks from those around you and you cannot understand why. Trust in Him at all times, O people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. When faced with attacks from those who desire to destroy you or to make you fall. We must trust God more when under attack. Second, we must pour out our soul to Him for He will be a fortress of protection  for our spirit.

Let your prayer be: O Lord, when I am under attack, may I find protection in Your strength. Help me wait for your voice to speak to my soul on how to handle the situation. Help me to respond with lovingkindness towards those that seek to destroy my faith. May I always trust in You.

Thought on Deuteronomy 13:1-5

¹ “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, ² and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,’ ³ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God is testing you to find out if you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁴ You shall follow the LORD your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him. ⁵ But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has counseled rebellion against the LORD your God who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to seduce you from the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from among you. 

In the day of technology the advances we have made to make life easier is overwhelming. This past week Steve Jobs died of pancreatic cancer. His speech in 2005 at Stanford, almost rings out in his passing.  In that speech he said "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” He will be seen as one of the most creative entrepreneurs in my day for sure. My only question to you is this, Do you believe if you live each day as if it was your last for God then someday you will live eternally?

Cartoon copied from: http://www.kurzweilai.net/cartoon-what-is-the-meaning-of-life.

The above scripture speaks about listening to a dreamer or a prophet whom you have not known and losing sight of God's purpose for your life. When we allowing the things in this world to distract us from God, were being tested concerning our love of the world or our love of God. 

You see it is not the things of this world that will provide life. We are drawn to technology for a better life, and treatment of illnesses or even to make life easier. But the fact is that we cannot rely on technology for eternity. Real life comes from 6 things, following, fearing, obedience, listening, serving, and clinging to Christ. Those who seek the world will in effect be put to death in the end. But those who seek to apply these six things (following, fearing, obedience, listening, serving, and clinging to Christ)  will be given eternal life.

God brought us out of bondage from the advances of human innovation. Go back and look at why the children of Israel were enslaved. What He is offering to us is divine intervention from losing sight of living each day to the fullest for Him. Egypt was seeking to create a better nation and world. God's plan was to create a world in harmony with Him. Are you in tune with the world or in tune with God the ultimate creator? The answer to that question will determine your outcome in the end.

Let your prayer be: O Lord, guard my heart from being distracted from following You. Teach me to respect the things of this world but fear losing You. Keep me accountable to Your commands. Open my ears that I may hear Your voice over the prophets of this world. Guide me to sever You as I minister to those around me. Help my mind to cling to Your Holiness. For these things will help me to live each day to the fullest in You.  

A Story of God's Creatures in the Sea

When you think about God's creation beauty, you may think about a sunset, waterfall, or a mountain in the fall of the year. These are the things we see most every day, but take for granted. Today my wife and I were able to spend some time seeing God's creation under the sea. We were fortunate to see a small eel. He began to chase me, when I tried to get his picture. We were only in about two foot of water. I took this picture by sticking the camera into the water and snapping his photo I believe he was a little camera shy.

We at times are a little shy towards allowing God into our life. We allow the outside world to distract us from His desires for us and a better life. But just like this eel seeks to hide into the clef of the coral. We are just like that with God. We can try to hide from God, but as you can see the eel has not been able to hide completely from our sight. God sees all of us even when we are seeking to hide from Him. What is different is that we use sin to hide from God, while the eel is only using the clef of the coral. We must come out from the clef of our sins and allow God to guide us towards real life.

We were also able to see a new fish that we never saw before. He is called a flatfish. He swims on his side and both eyes are on the same side. He looks very odd. At first I thought it was a stingray. I wonder if the other fish view him as an odd fish.

Today, in our culture we hear about kids bullying each other. Making fun of fellow students because of differences of appearances, handicaps, special need students, financially challenged students, etc... You know we treat God like He is the one that is odd. We attack Him for no reason. We make fun of His followers. We laugh at His appearance.

You know God does not care about your outward appearances, nor your brain power. He cares about your soul. However, he will not mistreat you because of your actions towards Him. He instead offers forgivness towards you. If you are reading this and have children I ask that you talk with your children to stop the bullying and mistreatment of those who are different or those who are not apart of a certain crowd. Encourage your children to be leaders by not getting caught up in cliques that seek to oppress others but instead welcomes them with friendship as one of God's children.

Last, I want to show you a picture of one of the prettiest fish that God created. This is the state fish of Hawaii and his name is: Humuhumunukunukuapua'a or just humuhumu: it is a hard name to learn to say and I am sure that he did not pass the fish school SAT's. But his colors are beautiful, bright and eye catching. Just like the humuhumu we too can be eye catching. When we are in tune with God's spirit the colors of His beauty will shine through. Today, let God's spirit shine through and lift the spirits of those around you.