Time with Abba, Singing Praising 親親爸父，唱詩歌頌 : OT DAY 480 - How Can We Receive God Given Wisdom to Exercise Spiritual Authority (Please click here for English podcast)

Saturday, May 14, 2016

OT DAY 480 - How Can We Receive God Given Wisdom to Exercise Spiritual Authority (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

The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

Psalm 19:1

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 Kings 3:10-28)

English(ESV): https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=列+王+紀+上+3&version=ESV

23 Then the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son that is alive, and your son is dead’; and the other says, ‘No; but your son is dead, and my son is the living one.’”24 And the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So a sword was brought before the king.25 And the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.” 26 Then the woman whose son was alive said to the king, because her heart yearned for her son, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death.” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him.” 27 Then the king answered and said, “Give the living child to the first woman, and by no means put him to death; she is his mother.” 28 And all Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered, and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.

1 Kings 3:23-28

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"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmax47l2hLU

My Listening

This is a classic example of what spiritual authority is. Do you want to have the wisdom and spiritual authority Solomon have? Or, do you think that, "Well, I am not worthy to have that. That's Solomon, I am just a little guy."

Let's see how Professor John Goldingay tells us:

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Goldingay) :

Like many a great insight, Solomon's solution to the problem is obvious was soon as he has enunciated it, yet it is a stroke of genius. It is an expression of wisdom because it is uttered in the course of his exercising authority for the community. The king's task is to see that decisions get taken in a proper way for people. His vocation does not focus on economics or international relations but on seeing that right gets done.

John Goldingay. 1 and 2 Kings for Everyone. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011, p.20.

Let's review how Solomon received this kind of spiritual authority:
1. Pray - He prayed for wisdom and not for any other thing
2. Receive - God gave him an opportunity to exercise the wisdom he just received
3. Act -Solomon acted on that proving that he had the wisdom of a genius
4. Fruit - All people were in awe

Most people stop on Step 2. They pray and God gives, but they do not have the courage or discernment to act, showing no fruit!

How about you?

Dear Lord Jesus,

Help us to be willing and able to go through all four steps so that we can use the spiritual authority you give us to do the right thing. In Jesus Name I pray. Amen.