Kopp Disclosure
(John 3:19-21)
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Scratching
the Surface of 1 & 2 kings
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These two books
continue a dominant theme throughout Holy Scripture.
God is the King of kings.
Prosperity is the
experience and inheritance of people who esteem Him as Source, Starter,
Sovereign, and Savior; conversely, poverty is the experience and inheritance of
those who do not: "If you follow this path, you will be successful in everything
you do no matter where you are."
Among David's
last words was this consistently conclusive promise from God: "For as long
as your sons are devoted to Me and live by My truth and embrace it with all
their being, your offspring will always sit upon Israel's throne."
We might say,
"As long as we remain one nation under
God, we will continue in His favor."
Or as we'll read
in the next two books chronicling the axiom of our relationship with God:
"If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and
pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from
heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
Solomon
epitomized this deference when God asked what he wanted most as the crown
passed from his father David to him: "You have allowed me to serve as my
father David served, but I am still young and inexperienced. I don't know
much about anything, yet I am supposed to lead...Please give Your servant a
listening heart for judging Your people and for knowing the difference between
what is good and what is evil."
God
"delighted" in Solomon's request: "Since you have asked for
wisdom and not for an extended lifetime or for personal wealth or for the
annihilation of your enemies, since you have instead asked for the ability to
understand justice, I will honor your request."
Solomon taught us
how to pray effectively; begging God's enabling for service above self.
Like David before
him, Solomon had a heart for God.
He wanted to
honor God through his kingship under His Kingship: or as he's quoted in the
book containing all of his wise proverbial counsel: "People go about
making their plans, but God has the final word...He knows your heart...your
real motives...Whatever you do, do it as service to Him, and He will guarantee
your success."
Paul put it this
way: "Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God!"
Again, believers
behave like they believe in God; and that includes service above self.
Solomon's prayer
was effective because he wanted to help people to honor God - selflessly not
selfishly.
That's a main
ingredient in effective prayer.
Truly, as Jesus
said, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and
the door will be opened."
Yet the motive in
asking, seeking, and knocking must be to honor God; or as Jesus explained,
"Seek first the
Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and then all these things will be given
to you too."
James understood
effective prayer: "When you ask, you do not get because your motives are
wrong. You focus on self-indulgence...Come close to God and He will come
close to You...Your prayers are powerful when they are rooted in a righteous
life."
That's why people
who truly love God cannot separate devotion to the Kingdom of God from lesser
kingdoms.
Indeed, the big
ten like all of Holy Scripture insists there are no gods before God; meaning no
one nor no thing deserves the allegiance and affection due Him alone.
So if a choice
must be made, God must always prevail in our deeds as well as creeds.
When tested to
forsake His Kingdom for a lesser kingdom, the apostles got it/Him right:
"We must obey God not man."
And whenever the
lesser kingdom is chosen over the greater Kingdom, prayer becomes ineffective
along with the experience and inheritance of prosperity being forfeited.
Aside from
personal empathies, these two books contain a story highlighting the
consequences of choosing the lesser over the greater: "Elisha traveled to
Bethel...On his way there, a large group of young boys came out of the city and
began making fun of him: 'Keep going, baldy! Keep going, baldy!'
When Elisha looked back at them, he spoke against them with the authority of
God. Almost immediately, two female bears walked out of the forest and
ripped up forty-two of the young boys."
God never looks
kindly upon anyone or any nation assaulting those anointed to call everyone to
honor Him: "From your first breath to the last one, God will keep you safe
from evil...All who have faith in God will stand as Mount Zion: unmoved,
enduring, eternal...God will send all the wicked away along with those who
pervert what's good and twist it in their own crooked way."
I'm reminded of
how Martin Luther King, Jr. warned America of the consequences of becoming less
than one nation under God:
"God has a way of...putting nations in their place. The God that I
worship has a way of saying,...'Don't play with Me, Israel. Don't play
with Me, Babylon. Be still and know that I'm God...And if you don't stop
your reckless course, I'll rise up and break the backbone of your power."
Anointed and wise
kings like David and Solomon understood and heeded that/Him.
Anointed and wise
prophets like Elijah and Elisha understood and heeded that/Him.
Prosperity was
their experience and inheritance.
History - His story - has a way of
repeating itself/Himself.
Each chapter
begins with a choice.
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...to be continued...
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Blessings and Love!
1 comment:
BINGO! Be still and know that I am God. If so many of us would try this first before anything else. Can you imagine what a difference that would make?
Thank you!
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