Time with Abba, Singing Praising 親親爸父，唱詩歌頌 : OT DAY 547 - Forget God's Grace, A Waste of God's Act (Please click here for English podcast)

Monday, October 17, 2016

OT DAY 547 - Forget God's Grace, A Waste of God's Act (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

This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him
and saved him out of all his troubles.

The angel of the Lord encamps

around those who fear him, and delivers them.

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!
Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

Psalm 34:6-8

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 Kings 13:1-9)

English(ESV): https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=列+王+紀+下+13&version=ESV

In the twenty-third year of Joash the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned seventeen years. 2 He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin; he did not depart from them. 3 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them continually into the hand of Hazael king of Syria and into the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael. 4 Then Jehoahaz sought the favor of the Lord, and the Lord listened to him, for he saw the oppression of Israel, how the king of Syria oppressed them. 5 (Therefore the Lord gave Israel a savior, so that they escaped from the hand of the Syrians, and the people of Israel lived in their homes as formerly. 6 Nevertheless, they did not depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, which he made Israel to sin, but walked in them; and the Asherah also remained in Samaria.) 7 For there was not left to Jehoahaz an army of more than fifty horsemen and ten chariots and ten thousand footmen, for the king of Syria had destroyed them and made them like the dust at threshing. 8 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz and all that he did, and his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 9 So Jehoahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria, and Joash his son reigned in his place.
2 Kings 13:1-9

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

King Jehoahaz was a bad king doing things against God's standard and led the Israelites into worshiping idols and sins which made God to pour down His anger on them. Then he "sought the Lord's favor" and God sent "a deliverer" to save them from the army of Aram.

What would you do and change after you experienced God's saving act?King Jehoahaz did not change and went back to his old sinful pattern of life. What would God do? God took off His saving hand to let the king of Aram to destroy the Israelites. Then, Jehoahaz was finished!

I really do not understand why human beings always act like that, forget God's gracious saving act and do not return to God!

I really do not understand why human beings always act like that, forget the gracious saving help from God's servants and do not return to God or even act against God and His servants!

Actually King Jehoahaz experienced what it says in Psalm 34:6-8. He tasted how sweet God is, but he wasted God's grace! When people have that kind of terrible behaviour, it is such a waste to God's mercy and salvation!

Dear Lord Jesus,
Help us not to belong to those people who tends to forget your gracious act but to give thanks to you each day and be willing to change to be more Christlike. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Reflect on these questions:

1. Do you know people act like that to forget God's gracious act? Were you or are you one of those people?

2. How can we be more careful so that we won't become those people?

3. What have you got from Jesus today?