OT DAY 556 - No Way Out, Where Is God? (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 18:13-37)

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

 19 And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours? 20 Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me? 21 Behold, you are trusting now in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. 22 But if you say to me, “We trust in the Lord our God,” is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem”?

31 Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, 32 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey, that you may live, and not die. And do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” 33 Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 34 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? 35 Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”

                                           2 Kings 18:19-22, 31-35

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

           The lieutenants of the King of Assyria, Sennacherib used the most terrible and calamitous words to King Hezekiah and the people of Judah. But, what can they do? Where is God in that situation when they had no way out?

        Let's see how Professor John Goldingay tells us: 

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

             In the lieutenants' argument, the word "trust" or "rely" plays a key role. The question "What are you relying on?" is a telling one…
           Suppose the Judahites are doing what we know they are supposed to do and are relying on God. The Assyrians' argument is then rather clever. What about the fact the Hezekiah has destroyed so many of God's sanctuaries in Judah (that is, the high places)? Does that mean he can still rely on God? Their next argument is even cleverer. It was God who sent the Assyrians on this expedition. They are God's agents…
           So far they have not made a single error, but then they make a calamitous mistake. Even if God wanted to rescue Judah from Sennacherib, would he be able to do so? Have the gods of any other nations rescued them from Assyria? It is a calamitous mistake because it reveals that Sennacherib uses God-talk only as a way of trying to manipulate people. He doesn't actually believe that God is active in the world in a way that could affect him. At least, he doesn't believe this about Yahweh the God of Israel.

   

John Goldingay. 1 and 2 Kings for Everyone. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011, p.167.

       So, if you were King Hezekiah, what would you do?
       When you really have no way out, what can you do?

    Dear Lord Jesus,
    Open our eyes so that we are able to see things in your eyes and that in you we will never have no way out.  In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Reflect on these questions:

    1. How would you feel the frightening situation if you were King Hezekiah?

2. What would be the next step when you heard this kind of horrible words from your enemy?

    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 308 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!

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