OT DAY 555 - Hold Fast to God, God with You, Successful in All Areas (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

       Turn away from evil and do good;
          seek peace and pursue it.

         The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous

           and his ears toward their cry.

        The face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
           to cut off the memory of them from the earth.

        

                                     Psalm 34:14-16

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 18:1-12)

English(ESV): https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=列+王+紀+下+18&version=ESV

 In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah. 3 And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done. 4 He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan). 5 He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. 6 For he held fast to the Lord. He did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses. 7 And the Lord was with him; wherever he went out, he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him. 8 He struck down the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city.

9 In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it, 10 and at the end of three years he took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken.11 The king of Assyria carried the Israelites away to Assyria and put them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, 12 because they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded. They neither listened nor obeyed.

                                           2 Kings 18:1-12

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

           What a big difference it is between yesterday's falling of Israel and today's standing firm of Judah. What is the difference actually to make servants of God to be successful in whatever they undertake?

        Let's see how Professor John Goldingay tells us: 

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

             Hezekiah is more radical in his commitment to Yahweh than any other Judahite king so far. He is the first king to close down the high places as well as to destroy the pillars(associated with Canaanite-style worship) and the Asherah. You can read about the origin of the bronze snake in Numbers 21; it had started off as a sacramental means of God's healing people, but it had become something more like an idol for people.
             As well as being wise in religious matters, Hezekiah was also initially successful in military and political affairs. 

   

John Goldingay. 1 and 2 Kings for Everyone. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011, p.165.

       The secret is very simple: listen and obey to God.
       The knowing is simple, but the doing is seemingly impossible because as it is described in the Bible that King Hezekiah is the first king to listen and obey to God totally like that. 
       I think the real secret is "God with Hezekiah". When we have the "being with God" each day then it is possible to have the "doing" God's command a reality because we as human are very, very weak! 

       Hold fast to God, God with you, successful in all areas! 
       Do you believe that? I do!
       But, wait, success may not mean what you think if you have a worldly view, success as in God's way. The greatest success of a human being on earth in the history of mankind is the time when Jesus was on the cross sacrificing His life to all of us! Jesus was truly successful in all areas!

    Dear Lord Jesus,
    Help us to hold fast to you each day that we can be with you and that we can taste the sweetness of true success.  In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Reflect on these questions:

     1. How do you feel about the big difference of those kings of Israel and this King of Judah?

2. How can you live a successful life in the eyes of God and His people?

    3. What have you got from Jesus today?

10,000 Reasons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXDGE_lRI0E

四十天的"破. 立"靈修:

http://www.breakbuild.blogspot.ca/

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:

Discipler123: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ideal.rec.app

破.立 Break.Build: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ideal.bb.app

Welcome to use my first blog: Read one chapter of Bible a day 

     http://bishopsilas.blogspot.ca/2009/08/day-1-i-am-blind.html

Today is our 306 days (All Saints Day Eucharist) 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!

Pictures of today's Time with Abba at 6:30a.m.! Praise the Lord!