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| Bear Picnic here in Yancey County - from WTOE website yesterday - near Mt. Celo Church |
My Lessons and Applications from Today’s Readings
(Ellipses are mine
and are used for contemplation)
Encouragement and
Discouragement – Isaiah 35 and 36 (What It Says – Summarized) – in Chapter
35 we have the clarion call to the righteous – to gird each other up…remind
each other…especially the weak and discouraged…that God is coming…with
vengeance…with the recompense of God…He will come and save. “Strengthen
the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.
Say to those who are fearful-hearted, ‘Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance,
with the recompense of God; He will come and save you!” This is the perfect prelude to the terror of
Chapter 26 when King Hezekiah and Judah are being traumatized by the Rabshakeh
of Assyria, the dominant world power.
The people on the walls are taunted by their enemies. They are being told that Hezekiah has falsely trusted in
Egypt and in a God who does not exist, that no god has been able to withstand the mighty
Assyrians. The people remain silent per
orders of the king; the Judean leaders go before King Hezekiah with their
clothes torn in terror and sorrow; godly King Hezekiah goes before God in
prayer for His counsel in the continuing saga in tomorrow's reading.
Ruling One’s Own
Spirit / Glory Given to God Only – Proverbs 25:27-28 (What It Says –
Summarized) The boasting Assyrians would have done well to have heeded today’s
reading in the Proverbs. “ It is not
good to eat much honey; so to seek one’s own glory is not glory.” The following is also testament to the wisdom of
the Judeans in maintaining silence in
the face of terror, and of the foolishness of the Assyrians to trust in their
own strength: “Whoever has no rule over
his own spirit is like a city broken down, without walls."
Edification and
Encouragement – 2 Corinthians 13:1-14 (What It Says – Summarized) Paul is
still trying to deal with the unruliness of the church at Corinth, of their
reluctance to accept Paul’s apostolic authority. Paul then exhorts them to: “examine yourselves to see if you are in the
faith…test yourselves…do you not know, yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in
you…unless indeed you are disqualified?”
The church is further encouraged by Paul to “do no evil…do what is
honorable…be made complete…I write these things according to the authority the
Lord has given me for edification and not for destruction…become complete…be of
good comfort…be of one mind…live in peace…and the God of love and peace will be
with you.” Then he leaves them this prayer of encouragement: “The grace of
the Lord Jesus Christ…the love of God…the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all."
My Lessons and Applications - How can we endure the constant onslaught of
the world’s evil without constant encouragement? Our encouragement comes from our study, our
meditation of the Word of God, in prayer and communion with God, by following
the leading of the Holy Spirit within us, by our close daily walk with
Jesus. This is...the grace...the love...the communion...that completes us in the Holy Trinity. Encouragement should also come from our
fellowship with other believers, both in giving and in receiving. Does
it? Do I leave church uplifted by
sitting under the Ministry of the Word, by the praise and worship with other
believers? What is the spirit that
exists within that body of believers during the various gatherings for
meetings? (Have you noticed the Bible's description of many different types of spirits?) Is it the Spirit of the Lord
Jesus walking among His lampstands? Is the gathering for the glory of God, or are there
other agendas taking precedence? Am I
seeking my own, or being an encourager of others in the name of Christ, for His
glory, for His kingdom work? When others
try to discourage…torment…taunt…deceive me, am I able – through God’s power
within me – to rule my own spirit, to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit
within me against all the other masked spirits that might come against me or
His presence within me? Like the Judeans
and King Hezekiah, am I able to maintain silence before the liars and deceivers
and then hasten to the throne of God where I lay them before Him and await His
counsel? This strength comes from the strong knowledge of God and His promises through study of His Word, through listening to the Ministry of His Word, through communion with Him in prayer and a constant walk with Him through the leading of His Holy Spirit within us. Am I an encourager to those who
are becoming faint in the fight, “saying to those who are faint-hearted, ‘Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance,
with the recompense of God; He will come and save you!” Am I standing by other believers and with them in their
valley experience?
“And the parched ground shall become a pool.” Isaiah 35:7
We always have
visions, before a thing is made real…God gives us the vision, then He takes us
down to the valley to batter us into the shape of the vision, and it is in the
valley that so many of us faint and give way.
Every vision will be made real if we will have patience. Think of the enormous leisure of God! He is never in a hurry. We are always in such a frantic hurry…The
vision is not a castle in the air, but a vision of what God wants you to
be. Let Him put you on His wheel and
whirl you as He likes, and as sure as God is God and you are you, you will turn
out exactly in accordance with the vision. Don’t lose heart in the process.
Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest
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