19/05/12

Want peace all around you?

2 Chronicles 15:15 - And all Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and the LORD gave them rest round about.


We read in these records of Asa the righteous king who harkened to the words of Azariah the son of the Prophet Oded. The Lord spoke through Azariah and warned the people that if they seek Him with all their hearts they will find Him, but if they forsake the Lord then the Lord also will forsake them. The cost of forsaking the Lord was that countries will go against countries and cities against cities and in all this they will be consumed.

If you read today's papers what we see is the result of people forsaking the Lord. It is sad that nations who call themselves Christian nations, who were once blessed abundantly by the Lord now have a change of heart and have turned their hearts far from God. The Christians among them just keep blaming anything and everything around them for their woes. They have lost their hold on basic principles of Christianity and all seek blessings like instant coffee. They want riches of the world and spiritual blessing to be given unto them instantly. They expect the Fruits of the Holy Spirit be dropped unto their bosom; they do not have the patience to be a vine that grows the Fruits. Their hearts are for things from the Lord but not for the Lord or His righteous ways.

In today's scripture the Lord shows when His people circumcised their hearts and sought Him with their whole desire He was found by them. And when they found God we can see a total change in their lives. It is written the Lord gave them rest all around. This small sentence tells us great, great things.

We all have problems in our lives all because our hearts are far from God and we are not honestly seeking Him.

Let me take an example:- it is very common to see people posting messages like
'one who bends his knees before God stands before the world',
'A man is powerful on his knees',
'The men who have done the most for God in this world have been early on their knees',
'Satan trembles when he sees the weakest Christian on his knees' etc...

Let me get it clear, even if we spend many hours of a day on our knees but then going back to the ways of the world is just hypocrisy. It is better not to be on our knees and pray but to circumcise our hearts and seek Him throughout the day even when we are doing our daily chores. Bending of knees or being on one's knees is a symbolic gesture of what inside one's heart. If this gesture does not synchronize with what's within but become an external practice or tradition then it symbolizes a hardened heart. And we know how God gets angry against a hardened heart; He hardens it further and leads it to destructions.

Today the Lord is telling us we cannot fool God by our vain symbolism, the only people we are fooling is ourselves and it is time we stop fooling ourselves and do the right meaningful things which will bring change in us from the inside. It is only when we seek God with all our heart will we see peace in our lives. This peace will not be just in one area of our lives but in all areas of our lives. There may be problems or disasters happening all around us but they will not affect us, the world may plan things against us but none of them will be successful. Like the Lord promised we will search for our enemies and will not find them.


[ Prayer Starter ]
Lord, as your grace is abundant on your people today yet they have harden their hearts more against You, therefore we see more and more disasters happening around us. Lord, let there be a change of heart amongst your people. Let them seek You not in rituals and practices but in spirit and Truth. Let them circumcise their hearts, cutting off their personal pleasures of the flesh and seek You with everything within them...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.


[ Reference Scriptures ]
2 Chronicles 15:1-15
1 And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded:
2 And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The LORD is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.
3 Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.
4 But when they in their trouble did turn unto the LORD God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them.
5 And in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries.
6 And nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with all adversity.
7 Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded.
8 And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the LORD, that was before the porch of the LORD.
9 And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the LORD his God was with him.
10 So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.
11 And they offered unto the LORD the same time, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep.
12 And they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul;
13 That whosoever would not seek the LORD God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.
14 And they sware unto the LORD with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets.
15 And all Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and the LORD gave them rest round about.

Proverbs 1:23-33
23 Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
24 Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
25 But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
27 When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
28 Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
29 For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
30 They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
31 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
32 For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
33 But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.

The Word of God was given free to us, therefore we should also share it freely with others. (All rights are with God)