WALK IN OBEDIENCE TO KEEP HIS PRESENCE

-

2 Kings 24:3-4,9,20

These disasters happened to Judah because of the Lord’s command. He had decided to banish Judah from his presence because of the many sins of Manasseh,

who had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood. The Lord would not forgive this.

Jehoiachin did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, just as his father had done.

These things happened because of the Lord’s anger against the people of Jerusalem and Judah, until he finally banished them from his presence and sent them into exile.


God chose the people of Israel as His people, the link to bring the world back to Him. Abraham was the first link:


Genesis 17:1-2,8-9

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the lord appeared to him and said, “I am El-Shaddai—‘God Almighty.’ Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life.

I will make a covenant with you, by which I will guarantee to give you countless descendants.”

And I will give the entire land of Canaan, where you now live as a foreigner, to you and your descendants. It will be their possession forever, and I will be their God.”

Then God said to Abraham, “Your responsibility is to obey the terms of the covenant. You and all your descendants have this continual responsibility.


The relationship was based on obedience!


The covenant was passed down through Isaac then Jacob and from him came the twelve tribes of Israel.


As prophesied they people of Israel went in captivity for more than four centuries then the Lord brought them out using Moses and they began a journey of laws.


God wanted to relate directly with the people, he was raising a family, however, the people couldn't stand this:


Exodus 20:18-20

When the people heard the thunder and the loud blast of the ram’s horn, and when they saw the flashes of lightning and the smoke billowing from the mountain, they stood at a distance, trembling with fear.

And they said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen. But don’t let God speak directly to us, or we will die!”

“Don’t be afraid,” Moses answered them, “for God has come in this way to test you, and so that your fear of him will keep you from sinning!”


The covenant was given and right there they already began to rebel, they went ahead to make a calf as an idol to worship!


Recall that even when they were in the wilderness they had already began to revolt and God wanted to wipe them out but for the plea of Moses.


The rebellion of the people continued after Moses and Joshua had gone to rest.


It continued while they had judges and even after the demanded a king they kept rebelling this continued till the nation was divided into Israel and Judah.


After this they just kept doing evil. All the kings of Israel after Solomon fell, all worked in evil, they sinned against God. Judah seemed to be doing okay till after the passing of Hezekiah, Manasseh chose to walk in evil.


Israel was the first to get judgment, they went into captivity, then finally Judah was taken captive by Babylon.


What happened?


God wanted them out of His presence thus they became open prey for the enemy.


Can we learn from this?


Can we not play the harlot like they did?


It is a terrible thing to be removed from God's presence.


Christ said while He was here:


John 8:29

And the one who sent me is with me—he has not deserted me. For I always do what pleases him.”


The criteria for His presence is obedience.


Walk in obedience.


Help us Good Lord.


PRAYER

Loving Father keep me in Your presence, may I please You always. I cannot live without You Lord. Glory to Your name Lord forevermore.


He calls us blessed.


Love

@the watcher.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

DO YOU STILL SEE?

-
Habakkuk 2:3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, it will not tarry. It may have been easy when we first believed, to visualize the promises. We reach out with zeal, loving God, seeking to do exploits. That was when we first believed, just as Jesus said: John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." When we become born again we see God's kingdom, our spirit man is reborn and we count the flesh as nothing. Then time passes by, we are in the world, all its distractions, temptations, responsibilities, challenges and so on begin to reveal themselves. The question then is: * Can we still see heaven? John 3:3 * Are we still zealous? John 2:17 * Are we continuing in those things? Acts 2:42 * Are we walking in love? 1John 4:7 or Has the cares and worries of life and service ta
Read more

DO UNTO OTHERS . . .

-
Matthew 7:12 "Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. It is hypocritical of us to expect people to stand with us when we are experiencing challenges yet when we see others face their own challenges, we begin to imagine what they must have done wrong or maybe they annoyed God or did one evil or the other instead of reaching out to help as we would desire others to do for us. The same thing goes for prosperity, when the Lord opens a door for us and we have abundance of wealth or a breakthrough we expect others to rejoice with us, more so, some would even find it hard to give to others. What is our reaction when someone else gets this breakthrough, do we get suddenly suspicious without reason. Do we expect the person to reach out to us? It is better to stay on the side of encouragement than to sit as a judge or prosecutor. Jesus said, Matthew 7:2 "For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the same
Read more

MY YEAR OF FULFILMENT

-
Psalms 57:2 I cry out to God Most High, to God who will fulfill his purpose for me. We just finished the book of 1Samuel, in this book we see the cry of Israel for a king and how God raised Saul to rule them. We also saw how Saul disobeyed God and lost kingship for himself and his generation. He did not stop there, he went on to seek for the death of David, whom he saw as the next heir of the throne. In chapter 31, the last chapter, we see how Saul and all his sons and men were killed, it was tragic, however it was as a sign of relief for David. We could go on counting all the struggles and difficulties we faced in the past year. No, we should not, we should begin to look at all the positives, remembering all the good things God has done for us. If He promised it, He will do it and that is what we hold onto as we go through this year. Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. This is the year of fulfilment, and
Read more