Keep Your Heart And Mind Through Christ

King James Bible Study – [Mark 8:34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.]

Date: Thursday, June 15, 2023
Chapters: I KINGS 9, II CHRONICLES 8
Study: Keep Your Heart And Mind Through Christ

Hello My Brother/Sister/Friend,

Well, after two years of living in the community that we are purchasing our house from the HOA is under new management and needless to say, it looks like we are going to be moving again. We thought that this would be the permanent place that we would live until God brings us home, but then again, this is God’s plan and not ours. How do you know when you are in God’s will? One; The devil tries to tempt you with doubt and fear. Two; while there are some challenges, things fall right into place. And three; You have an unbelievable peace within you that surpasses any understanding that we have, [Philippians 4:4-7 Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. 5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. 6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.]

Yesterday we read Matthews account of the Lord’s prayer, Luke, words it a little different, [Luke 11:2-4 And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. 3 Give us day by day our daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.] Why did Jesus ask us to hollow our Father’s name when we pray? Well, the word hallowed means, [Consecrated to a sacred use, or to religious exercises; treated as sacred; reverenced.]

Anyone can pray to God, but that does not mean that one; He hears them, and two; they are His Father. First of all, in order for God to hear our prayers we must be saved, meaning that we have accepted His Son, Jesus Christ as their Saviour. The only way to the Father is through the Son, [Matthew 11:27 All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.]

The other thing that we need to be sincere in our prayers is that we must have no doubts in what we are asking Him for and we must also be wise in what we are asking Him for. And as we continue in the reading of 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, 1 Kings, also gives an account to God responding to Solomon’s thousand word prayer.

[1 Kings 9:1-5 And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the LORD, and the king’s house, and all Solomon’s desire which he was pleased to do, 2 That the LORD appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared unto him at Gibeon. 3 And the LORD said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually. 4 And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments: 5 Then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel for ever, as I promised to David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel.]

[and all Solomon’s desire which he was pleased to do,] Did you notice that God waited until Solomon had finished everything, including his heart’s desire, to speak with him? Of course, that thousand word prayer might have had something to do with it. Let me tell you, we do not even need to say two words to Him, as long as we are sincere, He will hear and answer us. Vain prayers will never get God’s attention, [James 4:2-3 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. 3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.]

[I have hallowed this house,] God, Himself consecrated and set the temple aside for His use, and vowed to put His name there, but there was one condition. God, promises to be there for us through thick and thin, He will hear and answer every prayer, including establishing us in His kingdom, but we must first listen to Him.

[1 Kings 9:6-9 But if ye shall at all turn from following me, ye or your children, and will not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them: 7 Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people: 8 And at this house, which is high, every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, Why hath the LORD done thus unto this land, and to this house? 9 And they shall answer, Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken hold upon other gods, and have worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath the LORD brought upon them all this evil.]

[will I cast out of my sight;] Do you think that God enjoys watching His children living more corrupt that the world? Although the world is truly getting out of control, many saved, born again Christians are following similar paths and He will cast them out of His sight, [Matthew 5:13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.]

[therefore hath the LORD brought upon them all this evil.] Let me tell you, as wretched and sinful as I am, there are some things that God will not allow me to fall into, and has stopped me in my tracks. However, that too is under one condition too, our heart must be right and if it is not, we will fall. And He will step back and allow us to fend for ourselves for a while until we repent, [James 1:13-14 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.]

Now, it had been twenty years since Solomon built the Temple for God, and it has been a successful and prosperous twenty years too. After the Temple was built he accomplished several more things with the help of Hiram, to pay Hiram for his services Solomon gave him some land, it was actually land that none of the Jews dwelt on, but the Canaanites. However, Hiram was not pleased at all with what he got so he Solomon bought the land back, then proceeded to tax the people in order to pay for it.

[1 Kings 9:10-15 And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, when Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the LORD, and the king’s house, 11 (Now Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar trees and fir trees, and with gold, according to all his desire,) that then king Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. 12 And Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him; and they pleased him not. 13 And he said, What cities are these which thou hast given me, my brother? And he called them the land of Cabul unto this day. 14 And Hiram sent to the king sixscore talents of gold. 15 And this is the reason of the levy which king Solomon raised; for to build the house of the LORD, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer.]

[And this is the reason of the levy which king Solomon raised;] Solomon, heavily taxed the people in order to rebuild the broken cities that he had purchased back from Hiram. However, this would cause problems later, not for him, but his son when he took over. When we follow Jesus, it is natural to want to make things right with people if they feel they have been wronged, but we must not oppress others in order to do that, [Matthew 23:13-15 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. 14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. 15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.]

In the beginning, Solomon was Godly, and followed in his fathers footsteps, but all it took was one wrong decision for him to start allowing the world to creep in his life and it would eventually overtake him, his first mistake, marrying the Pharaoh’s daughter. 2 Chronicles 8, also accounts for the accomplishments that Solomon had made in the first twenty years of his reign, and even he knew that his wife did not belong in Jerusalem.

[2 Chronicles 8:1-3,7-8,11 And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, wherein Solomon had built the house of the LORD, and his own house, 2 That the cities which Huram had restored to Solomon, Solomon built them, and caused the children of Israel to dwell there. 3 And Solomon went to Hamathzobah, and prevailed against it. 7 As for all the people that were left of the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which were not of Israel, 8 But of their children, who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel consumed not, them did Solomon make to pay tribute until this day. 11 And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David unto the house that he had built for her: for he said, My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places are holy, whereunto the ark of the LORD hath come.]

[because the places are holy,] [Holy; Hallowed; consecrated or set apart to a sacred use, or to the service or worship of God.] There is that word, Hallowed again, which is why Solomon saw fit to move his Egyptian wife out of the house of his father’s and place her were she would not influence anyone any other god or idol that she worshiped. Sometimes it requires more wisdom to raise a family in the fear of God, than it does to work in the world. The difficulty is increased, when a man has a hindrance as a help meet instead of an encouragement in his wife. Nevertheless, Solomon did keep up the holy sacrifices for a while.

[2 Chronicles 8:13-16 Even after a certain rate every day, offering according to the commandment of Moses, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts, three times in the year, even in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles. 14 And he appointed, according to the order of David his father, the courses of the priests to their service, and the Levites to their charges, to praise and minister before the priests, as the duty of every day required: the porters also by their courses at every gate: for so had David the man of God commanded. 15 And they departed not from the commandment of the king unto the priests and Levites concerning any matter, or concerning the treasures. 16 Now all the work of Solomon was prepared unto the day of the foundation of the house of the LORD, and until it was finished. So the house of the LORD was perfected.]

[So the house of the LORD was perfected.] If there is one thing I have learned over the years since dedicating my life to Christ, other than just how merciful God is, it is that God will do whatever it takes to keep us faithful to Him. That means if He has to remove some things and people from our lives, even family and friends, that could turn us away from Him then He will do it. How then do so many Christians fall away from God? They stop walking with Jesus. Serving God is not what makes one a Christian, it is walking with Jesus every day that does that, the more we get around Him, the more we become like Him, [1 Timothy 1:15-16 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. 16 Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.]

Today’s Prayer: Jesus, It truly is amazing what You have done in my life since the day I got baptized and dedicated my life to You. The walk has not always been easy, I have been tempted and tried, and even walked into some dangerous territory, but You have always kept me from falling completely, even pulling me out of the fire more times that I care to admit. Lord, let me never lose sight of Your faithfulness to me, and Your willingness to give me the things I need and desire through my faithfulness to You. Keep my heart tender, never let it harden to the point that walking in sin is more important than walking with You. You are my strength, my guide, my comfort, my hope, and my foundation, I am nothing without You, and never want a day without You. I love You Lord, and pray this in Your name, Jesus, Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,

Christina

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