Monday, April 11, 2016

OT DAY 454 - How The Mighty Have Fallen! (Please click here for English podcast)

Silence

1.   Put on your “brakes” and stop for a moment of silence
2.   Wait for God. Breathe deep for God's peace and feel His presence. Exhale your worries.

Praise and Thanksgiving

1.   Think through your day, all the times that made you smile
2.   Thank God for all those moments, and for all those people
3.   Open your heart to praise the Lord

       I will sing to the Lord,
    because he has dealt bountifully with me.
                                     Psalm 13:6

Confession and Repentance (Subjective Shifting Devotion Method http://bishopsilas.blogspot.ca/2009/08/count-down-5-subject-shifting-devotion.html)

1.  Pray for the Holy Spirit to work in you:

     “Dear Holy Spirit, shine your light into the places of darkness in my life. Show me my sins, everything that blocks me from encountering God. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”

2.  Through the Holy Spirit, examine yourself for a short silence and then pray:

     "Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for our sins and being victorious over death and sin. I confess my sin to you(pause, to tell Jesus what the Holy Spirit has shown you). Forgive my sins by your blood and help me follow you. Holy Spirit, fill me that I may be able to receive your gift to love God and His people. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen."

The Word (2 Samuel 1:1-27)


       
        17 And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and Jonathan his son,18 and he said it should be taught to the people of Judah; behold, it is written in the Book of Jashar. He said:

   19 “Your glory, O Israel, is slain on your high places!
    How the mighty have fallen!                2   Samuel 1:7-19

Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage we have just read. Offer this time up to Jesus as you listen to him, while listening to "Gabriel's Oboe"

    My Listening

          David wrote a lament for the death of Saul and Jonathan. Can you imagine the anointed king could die like that? A total fail in war and then killed himself with his own sword! Then, his three sons died, including David's best friend Jonathan because of their loyalty to their father! 
          So, why the mighty died? It is all because of Saul's pride leaving God and Samuel. His jealousy, bitterness, insecure, anger, hatred killed him!
          Have you seen anyone walked into darkness like that?
          Don't leave God and His servants, you might suffer the same consequence!

Dear Lord Jesus,
    Help us to be very close to you each day and close to your servants so that we won't fall into the same dark hole as Saul did. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. 

Reflect on these questions:
   1. Have you seen anyone walked into darkness like that?

2. How can you avoid that to happen in you? What do you have to prepared? How can you help those who are in such kind of darkness?

    3. What have you got from Jesus today?

 Praise and Thanksgiving
  Silence

1.   Put on your “brakes” and stop for a moment of silence
2.   Wait for God. Breathe deep for God's peace and feel His presence. Exhale your worries.

Praise and Thanksgiving

1.   Think through your day, all the times that made you smile
2.   Thank God for all those moments, and for all those people
3.   Open your heart to praise the Lord

       And those who know your name put their trust in you,
    for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.
                                     Psalm 9:10

Confession and Repentance (Subjective Shifting Devotion Method http://bishopsilas.blogspot.ca/2009/08/count-down-5-subject-shifting-devotion.html)

1.  Pray for the Holy Spirit to work in you:

     “Dear Holy Spirit, shine your light into the places of darkness in my life. Show me my sins, everything that blocks me from encountering God. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”

2.  Through the Holy Spirit, examine yourself for a short silence and then pray:

     "Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for our sins and being victorious over death and sin. I confess my sin to you(pause, to tell Jesus what the Holy Spirit has shown you). Forgive my sins by your blood and help me follow you. Holy Spirit, fill me that I may be able to receive your gift to love God and His people. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen."

The Word (1 Samuel 29:1-11)


       
        4 But the commanders of the Philistines were angry with him. And the commanders of the Philistines said to him, “Send the man back, that he may return to the place to which you have assigned him. He shall not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he become an adversary to us. For how could this fellow reconcile himself to his lord? Would it not be with the heads of the men here? 5 Is not this David, of whom they sing to one another in dances,
‘Saul has struck down his thousands,
    and David his ten thousands’?”
6 Then Achish called David and said to him, “As the Lord lives, you have been honest, and to me it seems right that you should march out and in with me in the campaign. For I have found nothing wrong in you from the day of your coming to me to this day. Nevertheless, the lords do not approve of you. 7 So go back now; and go peaceably, that you may not displease the lords of the Philistines.” 8 And David said to Achish, “But what have I done? What have you found in your servant from the day I entered your service until now, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?”                                      1   Samuel 29:4-8

Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage we have just read. Offer this time up to Jesus as you listen to him, while listening to "Gabriel's Oboe"

    My Listening

           Do you think David really betrayed Israel and the Israelites? If not, why he followed the Philistine's city-king? 

    Let's see how Professor John Goldingay tells us: 

       David has succeeded in deceiving Achish, one of the Philistine city-kings, into believing that David really has gone over to the Philistine side, but the other Philistine city-kings are not so gullible. Like any decent double agent, David keeps a bold face and looks Achish in the eye, protesting his loyalty, though maybe Achish is also not shrewd enough to notice an ambiguity in his protest. 
         
John Goldingay. 1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011, p.112.


          So, David is a double agent! Why God leads him to do that? Well, that's God's double purposes. The first purpose is for David to get away from Saul's chasing so that David won't be killed. The second purpose according to some commentaries is for David to learn those high-tech skills of making iron weapons because if you aware there were only a few top Israelites like Saul and Jonathan had iron spear and sword. That's why that is so important for David to return the spear to Saul.

     God always has His own unusual and special way of doing things in critical situations. The question is, do you have that total trust in God to follow His lead in that unusual way? 

Dear Lord Jesus,
    Help us to trust in you totally so that we will follow your lead no matter how impossible it is.  In Jesus name I pray. Amen. 

Reflect on these questions:
    1. Do you think David intentionally make his plan to be a double agent? 

2. Are you willing to trust God totally so that God's purpose will be accomplished? 

    3. What have you got from Jesus today?

 Praise and Thanksgiving

10,000 Reasons
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXDGE_lRI0E
四十天的"破. 立"靈修:

如果你有 Android cel. 請按此處上載程式,可直接一按收聽最近之十次廣播:

破.立 Break.Build: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ideal.bb.app
歡迎你使用三年三個月讀完新舊約聖經blog: 


     http://discipler123.blogspot.com/ 
Today is our 102 days non stop Morning Prayer Monday through Friday 6:30a.m. to 7:30a.m. Saturday 8a.m. to 9:45a.m., Sunday 7:30a.m. to 8:30a.m.

The offering of our First Fruit every morning have changed lots of things: unity, lifestyle, character …and many more!

Please see pictures I took last Saturday. We had 65 people.





Prayer sheet today for our daily 6:30a.m. Copying the Bible to pray and 7a.m. Prayer Meeting:

-

不要被災難篩走了和親友的關係!

  楊平忠大主教領受 "使命113"異象之見證 Archbishop Yong’s MISSION 113 videos, October 16, 2022: https://youtu.be/Mp0-JPx4Vac https://youtu.be/MyO6...