Date:
Wednesday,
May 06, 2015
Chapters: 2 Chronicles 3-5
Message Title: Fizzled Faith
Hello My Friend,
Many Christians have a great relationship with God, but their love and faithfulness to God kind of fizzles as they become prosperous. Sometimes I wonder why God keeps me at a point to where I am always asking Him for funds, not for something I want, but things I desperately need. I come to the realization that God wants to give me, day by day my daily bread, to keep my love for Him going every day. I have times when I get discouraged and my faith does fizzle, but knowing that God always supplies me with what I need, gives me the strength to keep going because I know one day all my waiting will pay off. “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.” - 1 John 3:18-22.
While God chose the Jews as the people that would represent Him as His people, He did not stop any of the people from other nations from wanting to be His people. Solomon not only used Jews to help build the temple he used Gentiles as well, in fact, they built everything that was going to be in the temple. “Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the LORD appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite. And he began to build in the second day of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign. Now these are the things wherein Solomon was instructed for the building of the house of God. The length by cubits after the first measure was threescore cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits. And he made the most holy house, the length whereof was according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits: and he overlaid it with fine gold, amounting to six hundred talents.” - 2 Chronicles 3:1-3,8.
The threshing floor of Ornan was the place that David built the first altar to God outside of a tent, he built it when he wanted to reconcile with God and stop the plague that killed seventy thousand people after he sinned by ordering a census of the people. We need an altar to come to God when we mess up, sometimes the things we do need to be addressed other than saying, “Forgive me, God.”, we need to be at the altar. It's the only way we can find peace and reconciliation with God when we truly want to be forgiven of our sins, and see Him blessing our lives again. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” - 1 John 1:8-10.
It took about seven and a half years for the temple to be completed, but every detail was precise, everything that went into the temple was pure and only of the best quality. The furniture and amount of items in the temple, compared with that of the Tabernacle, showed that God's church would be enlarged and multiplied greatly. “Thus Solomon made all these vessels in great abundance: for the weight of the brass could not be found out. And Solomon made all the vessels that were for the house of God, the golden altar also, and the tables whereon the shewbread was set; Moreover the candlesticks with their lamps, that they should burn after the manner before the oracle, of pure gold; And the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs, made he of gold, and that perfect gold; And the snuffers, and the basons, and the spoons, and the censers, of pure gold: and the entry of the house, the inner doors thereof for the most holy place, and the doors of the house of the temple, were of gold.” - 2 Chronicles 4:18-22.
Every thing that comes into God's temple needs to be pure and of the best quality, God's temple is no longer in a building made with walls, it is within every saved, born again Christian. The second a person believes in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, and accept Him as the only one who can save them from their sins, God enters their soul. We are His temple, and believe it or not, as filthy as we think we are, and rightfully should, God does not see our sin, He sees His Son, the blood of His Son, and that is what makes us pure and of great quality to Him. If we do not have Christ, we are filthy rags, but He cleans us up, and makes us stand before God spotless. “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” - Isaiah 1:18.
Now after the temple was complete it was time to bring the Ark of God to it's final resting place. Solomon gathered the priests and Levites together and put the Ark and all the holy vessels in their place. The Ark was a token of the presence of God, when the people saw the Ark they knew that God was with them. There was nothing in the Ark except for the two tablets of stone with the first Ten Commandments that God wrote Himself. These were to be a constant reminder of God's Covenant with Israel and to make them a holy nation. With praise, thanksgiving, music, and singing all the people were gathered together as one to see this wonderful event take place. As soon as the Ark was in it's place God took possession of the temple.
“And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place: (for all the priests that were present were sanctified, and did not then wait by course: Also the Levites which were the singers, all of them of Asaph, of Heman, of Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, being arrayed in white linen, having cymbals and psalteries and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them an hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets:) It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of musick, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD; So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God.” - 2 Chronicles 5:11-14.
The glory of the Lord, God shines through those of us who are living with Christ in our lives daily, He should be able to be seen in every Christian, but He is not. He is seen in those who follow Him, and allow Him to be Lord of their lives. God blesses us when we keep His temple clean, and if we do get it dirty, confess it and clean it up. “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.” - 1 Corinthians 6:9-11,19,20.
Today's Prayer: God, I admit that my whole life I had to be independent, I did not know what it meant to depend on others because I had no one to depend on. Now, that You are in my life I have had to learn to depend on others, and most of all upon You. I still struggle with this, yet You never stop showing me that no matter how low I get You are there to pick me back up. Lord, teach me to humble myself before You always, I know I would save myself a lot of tears and grief if I would just do that all the time. Give me Your strength to endure, peace and comfort to get through my struggles, and help me resist the temptation to walk in my flesh. In Jesus' name. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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Chapters: 2 Chronicles 3-5
Message Title: Fizzled Faith
Hello My Friend,
Many Christians have a great relationship with God, but their love and faithfulness to God kind of fizzles as they become prosperous. Sometimes I wonder why God keeps me at a point to where I am always asking Him for funds, not for something I want, but things I desperately need. I come to the realization that God wants to give me, day by day my daily bread, to keep my love for Him going every day. I have times when I get discouraged and my faith does fizzle, but knowing that God always supplies me with what I need, gives me the strength to keep going because I know one day all my waiting will pay off. “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.” - 1 John 3:18-22.
While God chose the Jews as the people that would represent Him as His people, He did not stop any of the people from other nations from wanting to be His people. Solomon not only used Jews to help build the temple he used Gentiles as well, in fact, they built everything that was going to be in the temple. “Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the LORD appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite. And he began to build in the second day of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign. Now these are the things wherein Solomon was instructed for the building of the house of God. The length by cubits after the first measure was threescore cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits. And he made the most holy house, the length whereof was according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits: and he overlaid it with fine gold, amounting to six hundred talents.” - 2 Chronicles 3:1-3,8.
The threshing floor of Ornan was the place that David built the first altar to God outside of a tent, he built it when he wanted to reconcile with God and stop the plague that killed seventy thousand people after he sinned by ordering a census of the people. We need an altar to come to God when we mess up, sometimes the things we do need to be addressed other than saying, “Forgive me, God.”, we need to be at the altar. It's the only way we can find peace and reconciliation with God when we truly want to be forgiven of our sins, and see Him blessing our lives again. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” - 1 John 1:8-10.
It took about seven and a half years for the temple to be completed, but every detail was precise, everything that went into the temple was pure and only of the best quality. The furniture and amount of items in the temple, compared with that of the Tabernacle, showed that God's church would be enlarged and multiplied greatly. “Thus Solomon made all these vessels in great abundance: for the weight of the brass could not be found out. And Solomon made all the vessels that were for the house of God, the golden altar also, and the tables whereon the shewbread was set; Moreover the candlesticks with their lamps, that they should burn after the manner before the oracle, of pure gold; And the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs, made he of gold, and that perfect gold; And the snuffers, and the basons, and the spoons, and the censers, of pure gold: and the entry of the house, the inner doors thereof for the most holy place, and the doors of the house of the temple, were of gold.” - 2 Chronicles 4:18-22.
Every thing that comes into God's temple needs to be pure and of the best quality, God's temple is no longer in a building made with walls, it is within every saved, born again Christian. The second a person believes in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, and accept Him as the only one who can save them from their sins, God enters their soul. We are His temple, and believe it or not, as filthy as we think we are, and rightfully should, God does not see our sin, He sees His Son, the blood of His Son, and that is what makes us pure and of great quality to Him. If we do not have Christ, we are filthy rags, but He cleans us up, and makes us stand before God spotless. “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” - Isaiah 1:18.
Now after the temple was complete it was time to bring the Ark of God to it's final resting place. Solomon gathered the priests and Levites together and put the Ark and all the holy vessels in their place. The Ark was a token of the presence of God, when the people saw the Ark they knew that God was with them. There was nothing in the Ark except for the two tablets of stone with the first Ten Commandments that God wrote Himself. These were to be a constant reminder of God's Covenant with Israel and to make them a holy nation. With praise, thanksgiving, music, and singing all the people were gathered together as one to see this wonderful event take place. As soon as the Ark was in it's place God took possession of the temple.
“And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place: (for all the priests that were present were sanctified, and did not then wait by course: Also the Levites which were the singers, all of them of Asaph, of Heman, of Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, being arrayed in white linen, having cymbals and psalteries and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them an hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets:) It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of musick, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD; So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God.” - 2 Chronicles 5:11-14.
The glory of the Lord, God shines through those of us who are living with Christ in our lives daily, He should be able to be seen in every Christian, but He is not. He is seen in those who follow Him, and allow Him to be Lord of their lives. God blesses us when we keep His temple clean, and if we do get it dirty, confess it and clean it up. “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.” - 1 Corinthians 6:9-11,19,20.
Today's Prayer: God, I admit that my whole life I had to be independent, I did not know what it meant to depend on others because I had no one to depend on. Now, that You are in my life I have had to learn to depend on others, and most of all upon You. I still struggle with this, yet You never stop showing me that no matter how low I get You are there to pick me back up. Lord, teach me to humble myself before You always, I know I would save myself a lot of tears and grief if I would just do that all the time. Give me Your strength to endure, peace and comfort to get through my struggles, and help me resist the temptation to walk in my flesh. In Jesus' name. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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Copyright © 2015 I'm Following Jesus, All rights reserved.
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