KJB Daily Devotion – Following Jesus Through Every Chapter
Date: Sunday, June 25, 2017
Chapters: I Kings 15, II Chronicles 13-16
Message: Worship God With A Perfect Heart
Hello My Friend,
You see them everywhere, churches, I must pass about twenty on my way to church, and that is not exaggerating. The reason why there are so many churches is because the world has corrupted the church so much that those who actually believe in God view any act of worship as being a Christian. Let me tell you, being a Christian has nothing to do with church, but everything to do with Jesus Christ, hence Christ-ian. Christ is supposed to conform us to Him, not we conform Him to the world, and until we get that in our heads our nation is only going to get worse until judgment comes. “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.” – 1 John 4:4-6.
Worship; To respect; to honor; to treat with civil reverence. To believe in Christ we need a perfect heart, set solely upon Him, since they go hand in hand, if we love Christ, God loves us, if we love God, we worship Him with a perfect heart. Can Christians question God with a perfect heart? Sure they can. While Christians have always had their struggles with standing by Christ, God has always been by their side as long as they worship Him with a perfect heart. After Rehoboam died his son, Abijah (Abijam) reigned in his steed. Abijah started out Godly like David, in an attempt to bring all of Israel back together as one nation, he stood on top of mount Zemaraim, gathers Jeroboam and all of Israel together, and tries to knock some sense into them.
“And Abijah stood up upon mount Zemaraim, which is in mount Ephraim, and said, Hear me, thou Jeroboam, and all Israel; Ought ye not to know that the LORD God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt? Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, is risen up, and hath rebelled against his lord. And there are gathered unto him vain men, the children of Belial, and have strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and tenderhearted, and could not withstand them. And now ye think to withstand the kingdom of the LORD in the hand of the sons of David; and ye be a great multitude, and there are with you golden calves, which Jeroboam made you for gods. And, behold, God himself is with us for our captain, and his priests with sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you. O children of Israel, fight ye not against the LORD God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper.” – II Chronicles 13:4-8,12.
“for ye shall not prosper.” You can trust in any god you want or try to worship the Almighty the way you choose, but there is only one God, and only one way to worship Him, and that is through the LORD, Jesus Christ. Thousands of people do some kind of service in a church every week, but they are serving a false god. People cannot make God into the image they want and say they are worshiping Him, the only one prospering them is the devil and he is also bringing them straight to hell with him. “Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” – John 4:22-24.
If we allow the world to creep in, it will always take over, if we are not grounded in Christ, upon entering the world we too will be corrupted. Now, things take a turn, Abijah never removed the idols and groves that his father had built in Jerusalem, so within those three years he and all of Judah turned away from God, needless to say, God was not pleased and Judah was judged. However, not wiling go back on the promise He made with David, God brought up a new king, Asa, who got rid of the idols and wicked things that plagued the nation.
“And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father. Nevertheless for David’s sake did the LORD his God give him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem: Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. And in the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel reigned Asa over Judah. And forty and one years reigned he in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom. And Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, as did David his father. And he took away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made. And also Maachah his mother, even her he removed from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove; and Asa destroyed her idol, and burnt it by the brook Kidron.” – I Kings 15:3-5,9-13.
“And he took away the sodomites out of the land,” Do you think that Jesus condones sin? He might have died so we did not have to be punished with death and hell for our sins, but He does not condone sin. While Jesus does not condemn us for our sins, He did not give us eternal life so we can live in sin while we are here, He expects us to turn away from the sin. A sinful Christian faces the consequences of sin much more than someone who is not. “Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.” – John 5:14.
Asa did very well as king, in fact, he prospered greatly and there was rest in Jerusalem for the majority of his reign. Asa credited his success to God, and even did great things to make sure that the only law in Judah was God’s law. God sent the prophet Azariah to speak with Asa.
“And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The LORD is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you. Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law. But when they in their trouble did turn unto the LORD God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them. And in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries. And nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with all adversity. Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded.” – II Chronicles 15:2-7.
“and if ye seek him, he will be found of you;” God is not hard to find, all you have to do is look to Christ. Believe it or not, when the presence of God is noticed by the world many will flock to Him. The lost are not hopeless, many are in search of something to give them that hope they need to get through their problems, and that is when they seek God. Where many fail is to accept that they can only come to Him through His Son. He still takes care of me, but I have to be careful because I tend to get impatient with Him and end up making some wrong decisions because of that, sometimes it is out of fear, other times it is just my flesh. Asa’s dependence on God came to a screeching halt as he made a foolish decision to make allies with the king of Syria in an attempt to avoid a war with Israel. When confronted of the matter, his heart hardened and he never sought God again.
“And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the LORD thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand. Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a huge host, with very many chariots and horsemen? yet, because thou didst rely on the LORD, he delivered them into thine hand. For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars. Then Asa was wroth with the seer, and put him in a prison house; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. And Asa oppressed some of the people the same time. And, behold, the acts of Asa, first and last, lo, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the LORD, but to the physicians.” – II Chronicles 16:7-12.
“to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.” Asa refused to listen to God, and would later die prematurely, too proud to admit he did wrong. There is a reason why God did not want Asa to make a league with these people as it still causes problems today. We must have a perfect heart toward God in order for Him to keep us safe from the dangers out there. Trust me, there will be problems if we do not keep our heart perfect toward God. “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.” – Revelation 3:15,16.
Jesus Christ Magnified: Today Jesus is revealed through Asa as he removed the idols and wicked things from Judah. Jesus cleansed the temple when He saw all the wicked things going on. “And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;” – John 2:15.
Today’s Prayer: God, As much faith as I have in You, and as much as I respect You, I still find myself struggling with doubt and unbelief sometimes. It is not that I doubt that you are incapable of doing anything, I doubt myself and just how I will be able to handle things on my own. Lord, I know that You are my provision and protection all the days of my life, lead me and guide me, help my unbelief, help me to always seek You first, to keep talking to You, even when I do not have the strength to talk. Give me faith that not only moves mountains, but crushes them, help me to let go of any guilt or shame from the past that keeps me from moving closer to You and asking You for what I am in need of. And let me never stop counting my blessings because there are so many. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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