Time with Abba, Singing Praising 親親爸父，唱詩歌頌 : OT DAY 484 - I Am King (Please click here for English podcast)

Thursday, May 19, 2016

OT DAY 484 - I Am King (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

May we shout for joy over your salvation,
and in the name of our God set up our banners!

Psalm 20:5

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 7:1-8)

English(ESV): https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=列+王+紀+上+6&version=ESV

Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished his entire house.

2 He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon. Its length was a hundred cubits and its breadth fifty cubits and its height thirty cubits, and it was built on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on the pillars. 3 And it was covered with cedar above the chambers that were on the forty-five pillars, fifteen in each row.4 There were window frames in three rows, and window opposite window in three tiers. 5 All the doorways and windows had square frames, and window was opposite window in three tiers.

6 And he made the Hall of Pillars; its length was fifty cubits, and its breadth thirty cubits. There was a porch in front with pillars, and a canopy in front of them.

7 And he made the Hall of the Throne where he was to pronounce judgment, even the Hall of Judgment. It was finished with cedar from floor to rafters.

8 His own house where he was to dwell, in the other court back of the hall, was of like workmanship. Solomon also made a house like this hall for Pharaoh's daughter whom he had taken in marriage.

1 Kings 7:1-8

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"

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

My Listening

Do you know why Solomon spent more time in building his own palace, his wife's palace and other state buildings than God's temple? Did he put himself more important than God? Did he hail himself as king and not God as King?

Let's see how Professor John Goldingay tells us:

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

Solomon spends thirteen years building his house; he spent seven years building God's house. Is that a sign that God's house had priority, that he focused on the work and got it done, or that he gave rather a lot of attention to his own house? Solomon's palace is much bigger than God's. What of the other impressive state buildings he also constructed? The Lebanon Forest house is apparently so called because it had so many pillars of cedar from Lebanon that it seemed like a forest; it would be a hall to use for state occasions. What of the house for his Egyptian wife?…
At least as pressing are the questions raised by the way the temple, the royal palace, and the state buildings adjoin one another. That opens up the positive possibility that the faith celebrated in the temple can be taken seriously by the king and embodied in the way politics and economics operate. It also opens up the possibility that the faith celebrated in the temple becomes subordinate to the power of the king and the way he sees the state's political and economic needs. So eventually there will not only be a foreign queen living near the temple and sanctuaries for foreign gods located near the temple but also shrines to foreign gods within the actual temple complex because politics requires it.

John Goldingay. 1 and 2 Kings for Everyone. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011, p.27-29.

The key question for today's passage is :Who is the true King? God or Solomon? Who is your true king? God or you?

If you say God is your king then what evidence can you show me that you have put God as top No. 1 priority?

Dear Lord Jesus,

Help us to step down our throne as king and enthrone you as our King and that you are really our top No. 1 priority. In Jesus Name I pray. Amen.

Reflect on these questions:

1. Truly speaking, why God cannot be your top No. 1 priority?

2. How can you worship God as your King and that He is always your top No. 1 priority? Do you have any example to show that Jesus is your King and not you are your own king?

3. What have you got from Jesus today?