*2 Chronicles 15-16
we are reminded here through this scripture that our trust and our reliance should always only be in The Lord our God!! As the Bible says “some trust in chariots and horses but we will trust in the name of the Lord”. We may ask the question “Why should we trust in the Lord?” Its because He is “reliable”, “consistent” and “dependable”. King Asa of Judah was warned by God through Azariah the Prophet to seek God & desire Him and that if He did The Lord would not forsake Him but would help him as King, like He did when Israel forsook God in the past. He also encouraged Asa to be strong and that God would reward him. Asa seemed to have started well, he made sacrifices to God with the whole of Judah, Benjamin and attracted people from Israel to join in this sacrifice and oath to God. He even removed his mother as Queen mother as she promoted idol worship.
Things started going wrong with Asa when he looked to other Kings for help instead of seeking God’s help like he had done in the past. When Hanani the seer told him his mistake he wasn’t repentant and he actually threw him in prison. He also oppressed the people too. When Asa fell ill he also made another mistake by seeking the help of just physicians and not God…he later died of his illness.
A big lesson for us to learn here…it is not just in starting well that matters but in ending well. Also no matter how successful we become we must never fall for the trap of trusting in men but we must always remember to love and trust in God always.
*1 Kings 16
it is so so sad to read how this chapter list all the Kings of Israel who despite all God had done for them still did so much evil and worshiped other gods!! We can see how all of them ended. All I can say here is we must be careful not to fall for the same mistake too. Although we may not have the same temptation with worshipping physical idols, we could give more attention to things of this world over serving and living for God. Other things could become idols in our lives and God could take a back sit. We could, like the world, end up prioritising “other things” over God and those “other things” could become our “idols” like the Kings of Israel in this chapter
*Philemon 1
When I read the book of Philemon the manifestation of the love of Christ amongst the early Christians seems so tangible and fills me with joy. One reads about the personal brotherly relationship Paul had with the other brethren and it just makes the Christian faith so beautiful. I honestly could not imagine myself and my life without Christ because when I’m in the mist of or when I communicate either physically or virtually with other brethren I feel that bond of love too. Please let us value the love of God that is shared abroad in our hearts for regardless of which country we live in we have the blood of Christ running in our spiritual veins and we are all one in the spirit too🙏🏽
In Christ
BM
Sixty-six books in a year 