Author: admin

God refuses to be taken for granted. He will not be minimalized, trivialized, or marginalized. He is not a good luck charm. He is not a long-suffering friend who contents himself with the meager scraps of our time and attention we grudgingly extend to him.

God is the sovereign of the universe. He will not be ignored or put on hold. Those who neglect Him will discover that He is not meekly waiting to be summoned at our convenience.

That is why King Solomon prayed that God would be with his generation as He had been with their fathers. The king knew that God’s presence was unmistakable. When God was for them, it mattered not who might be against them. Yet when God forsook them, no amount of armaments could protect them. So Solomon prayed for God’s presence. He understood that the survival and prosperity of his people depended upon it.

Spiritual leaders are intended to be a blessing to their people, not a curse. Good leaders make their people better, not impoverished or divided. King Solomon began his illustrious reign by loudly blessing his people.

Too often leaders are so busy getting the most they can out of their people that they spend little time trying to pour the most they can into their followers. Yet one sign of a great leader is the growth their people experience during their leader’s tenure.

Some leaders build their reputation at the expense of their people. Others construct buildings or enlarge programs or increase revenues, but their people are left diminished.

As you lead, take every opportunity to bless those around you. Don’t be shy about expressing words of blessing on others. Don’t fixate on what kind words others are expressing about you. Rather, never pass up an opportunity to express your kindest wishes and thoughts toward those you lead.

God loves us too much to allow us to remain in our sin and alienation from Him. He will bring judgment upon us in increasing measure until we reject our sin and return to Him. God warned His people of the lengths He would go to purge them of their sin, centuries before He actually did it. He foretold that if they rejected Him, He would deliver them into captivity to their enemies. He would even allow them to be removed from the land He had graciously given to them earlier. Sure enough, a time came come when God resorted to such drastic measures.

Yet even as God increased the severity of His judgment, He was always prepared to forgive and to restore His fallen people. God did not promise to remove the consequences of their sin, but He did assure them He would forgive them of their rebellion.

You may feel like today your life is in a distant land, far removed from where God intended for you to be. Your first priority is not to get your life back into the activities you ought to be doing, but into the relationship with God you are missing. In due time, God will re-order your life, but He always begins with your relationship with Him. He will go to any length to assure you are walking closely with Him. He will remove anything from your life that hinders your walk with Him.

God’s intention is that He will work so powerfully through His people that others will come from far and wide to experience Him in the same manner. Our churches ought to be magnets for people who need God to work powerfully in their lives. The church’s reputation ought to extend far beyond its borders because of the mighty things God does in it.

God promised that when His people obeyed Him, He would work powerfully in their midst. Yet if His people rejected Him, God would turn His back on them. As a result, instead of foreign nations coming to worship God in His temple, they pillaged, looted, and razed it to the ground because it appeared that there was no power contained within it.

Do those outside your church respect your God? Do they recognize that something powerful happens in your midst because of the God you serve? Are unbelievers drawn to your God?

God desires for His people to be holy. He delights in cleansing His creatures from their sin. At times we mistakenly assume we have other issues to deal with that are more pressing than our unrighteous living. Perhaps we need a job, or finances, or to sell our house. Yet God knows that nothing is as crucial to us as being set free from what separates us from Him.

That is why when we commune with God, the most important prayer we can utter is one of repentance. When we acknowledge the “plague” of our heart, and confess it to God, He will hear us and forgive us. God knows our hearts. As we approach Him He understands what our most pressing need is.

As we spread our hands before God in prayer, we are presenting ourselves for His holy examination. It signifies that we have nothing to hide. We are inviting His inspection. It represents our desire to be clean. Thankfully, God is always pleased to respond to our request for cleansing and forgiveness. He wants us to be forgiven of our sins more than we do! Approach Him today and be made clean and whole once more.

It is shortsighted to think that, because we are Christians, God is always on our side to help us against our enemies. One of the primary ways God disciplines His people is to allow their enemies to prevail against them. It is foolhardy to assume that we can ignore and disobey God and yet He will steadfastly grant us success in all our endeavors.

We can be certain of this: if God turns His ear away from us, our failure is certain. We cannot afford to be careless in our walk with Him. It is foolhardy to wait until we are in the midst of a difficult conflict before we try and correct our walk with God. The midst of a battlefield is not the venue for returning to God. We need to enter into battle already confident that God goes with us.

Why does God allow us to face enemies? In part, it is so we are continually reminded of our need for Him. Times of peace and prosperity tend to make us lethargic or self-confident. But attacks from our enemies drive us back to dependence upon Him.

King Solomon had just constructed the most magnificent worship facility on earth. Yet he did not assume God would always listen to his prayers. The wise king understood that every time he prayed, God would look first at his heart before considering his request. Solomon could have built a thousand marvelous edifices to his God, but that would not exempt him from the penetrating, holy, divine gaze.

We can mistakenly assume that God stands at our beck and call, regardless of how we have been conducting ourselves. We can live recklessly without abiding in Christ, and then desperately lift up a cry for help when we begin to reap what we have sown! Yet if we choose to live without a constant reliance upon God’s presence in our lives, we should not assume He stands ready to rush to our aid when we need Him to clean up the mess we have made.

King Solomon was the most exalted king in his nation’s history, yet he did not presume upon God. He did not assume that because he was the top leader of the land, or the son of King David, that he had any special exemptions from God for his conduct. Solomon knew that to whom much is given, much is required. Do you want God to walk closely with you in times of trouble? If you do, cultivate your walk with him now.

One of the greatest mistakes God’s people make is to underestimate Him. We are continually trying to downsize Him to be the kind of God we can manage and fit into a box of our making. Solomon built a grand temple for his God, but he was fully cognizant that no building, of any size, could accommodate the Creator of the universe. It was ludicrous to assume that, if it was overlaid with gold and highlighted with precious metals, God would be enticed to be encapsulated into a man-made building.

Yet the great temptation for people throughout the ages has been to reduce God down to a size that could be controlled and dictated to. We can limit Him through our language when we do not talk to Him as if He is almighty God. We can limit Him by our neglect, simply ignoring Him and acting as if our life does not depend upon Him for its every breath. We can also limit Him by our worship, when we behave as if worship is more about us than Him.

Solomon knew well how big his God was. He would later begin to minimize Him by doing the above. But at this point in his life, Solomon had a clear idea of the magnitude of his God. Do you?

King Solomon knew God’s word. He had his own private copy of Scripture at his disposal at all times (Dt. 17:18-19). And, he knew he had a vested interest in God’s word being performed in his generation. God had promised that David’s descendants would sit upon his throne. Solomon particularly wanted that word to be fulfilled! The fact is; Solomon greatly benefited from God’s word coming to pass in his life.

It behooves us to regularly search the Scriptures to find divine promises that could be applied to our life and situation. Some promises must be claimed. They lie dormant until a child of God claims them for his own life. Some promises are conditional. We must meet certain requirements for them to be released into our life. And some promises must be recognized That is, we may have promises being implemented in our life all the time that we do not even recognize. We can miss God’s blessings because we do not recognize them for what they are.

Solomon was determined to see God’s word fulfilled in his life. What about you? Are you as keen to study the Scriptures and then to claim the promises God has uttered? Don’t be satisfied until what you see in Scripture is a reality in your life!

God acts lovingly toward us all the time, but He does not promise to bless us unconditionally. To many Americans today, “God Bless America!” is a mantra that is often repeated. It is certainly an attractive desire. But it is not based on a solid foundation. God does not bless us merely because we ask Him to. He blesses us when we meet His requirements.

God promised David that he would have descendants always sitting upon the throne as long as they walked with God in the same manner David had. David was certainly far from perfect, but he loved God. When he sinned, he always humbly returned to God in repentance. As a result, God was pleased to bless him and his family.

The kings who followed David often counted on God’s blessing but neglected God’s provision. They assumed that God would support them and protect their nation regardless of how they led God’s people. They eventually learned the painful truth, that when they turned their back on God, He would withdraw His presence from them as well.

Have you been assuming God would bless you? Is your love for God like that of King David’s?