OT DAY 559 - Your Prayers in Tears Might Change God's Mind (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

       When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears
           and delivers them out of all their troubles.

        The Lord is near to the brokenhearted

           and saves the crushed in spirit.

        

                                     Psalm 34:17-18

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 20:1-7)

English(ESV): https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=列+王+紀+下+20&version=ESV

In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord,‘Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.’” 2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, 3 “Now, O Lord, please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart,and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. 4 And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him:5 “Turn back, and say to Hezekiah the leader of my people, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord, 6 and I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David's sake.” 7 And Isaiah said, “Bring a cake of figs. And let them take and lay it on the boil, that he may recover.”

                                           2 Kings 20:1-7

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

           Yesterday's passage tells us about how mighty and powerful God is to take out 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. If you were King Hezekiah, what would you feel? You must feel God makes you so powerful and you are top of the world, right?

           Then, suddenly, today's passage tells you that you are going to die soon. Wow! What happened? If God is so good, why after such big crisis and you have to die so soon? Hezekiah should be around 40 years old! What would you feel if you were King Hezekiah? What would you do if you were him? Go to the temple to pray again like last time to beg for your life? 

    Let's see how Professor John Goldingay tells us: 

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

            Hezekiah proved that prayer can change God. It's typical that a prophet such as Isaiah tells you what is going to happen as if it's fixed, but the way stories then unfold indicate that it's not fixed at all. That can be bad news. When God wants to do something good for you but you don't respond with trust and commitment, that response may change God's mind. The good news is that when God tells you that thing are going to turn out badly for you, your response may change God's mind. Hezekial's story shows that when bad things threaten us, it may not relate to what we deserve. Hezekiah has an illness that looks as if it will kill him, but the story doesn't say that it was a punishment for his sin…

        But he can appeal to his life of commitment to Yahweh in appealing for Yahweh to heal him, and it looks as if this is something Yahweh takes into account in answering his prayers, though it is explicitly the tears that move God. 

   

John Goldingay. 1 and 2 Kings for Everyone. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011, p.173.

     How often have your prayed in tears begging God to change something bad to good? Do you think He will listen? This passage confirms that He will listen, your tears would move God!

    Dear Lord Jesus,
    Help us to understand and to experience the power of our prayers in tears.  In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

 Reflect on these questions:

     1. Do you think God really would listen to your prayers in tears? Have you experienced that? 

2. Do you know why your tears work?

    3. What have you got from Jesus today?

10,000 Reasons

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

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