• About Us
  • Weekly Devotion Blog
  • Misson Videos
  • Schedule Bridgette for an Event
THREE THINGS WILL LAST FOREVER—FAITH, HOPE, AND LOVE—AND THE GREATEST OF THESE IS LOVE.
1 Corinthians 13:13

Do What is Right

2/13/2015

1 Comment

 
This week has been one of blatant disobedience to the Bible.  I have heard more scripture quoted on Facebook than ever before.  Some made good points; some had no idea what their scripture meant because it was out of context, randomly chosen for their cause.  I honestly really don’t even like to debate.  The Bible is very clear on the way we should live our life.  I am going to ask you to read a lengthy scripture today, one you may not have read in a while.  Let it resonate in your mind what the Lord is saying, not only for them, but also for the World today.

2 Chronicles 14: 2 [b] And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God. 3 He took away the foreign altars and the high places and broke down the pillars and cut down the Asherim 4 and commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, and to keep the law and the commandment. 5 He also took out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the incense altars. And the kingdom had rest under him. 6 He built fortified cities in Judah, for the land had rest. He had no war in those years, for the Lord gave him peace. 7 And he said to Judah, “Let us build these cities and surround them with walls and towers, gates and bars. The land is still ours, because we have sought the Lord our God. We have sought him, and he has given us peace on every side.” So they built and prospered. 8 And Asa had an army of 300,000 from Judah, armed with large shields and spears, and 280,000 men from Benjamin that carried shields and drew bows. All these were mighty men of valor.9 Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and 300 chariots, and came as far as Mareshah. 10 And Asa went out to meet him, and they drew up their lines of battle in the Valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. 11 And Asa cried to the Lord his God, “O Lord, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. O Lord, you are our God; let not man prevail against you.” 12 So the Lord defeated the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. 13 Asa and the people who were with him pursued them as far as Gerar, and the Ethiopians fell until none remained alive, for they were broken before the Lord and his army.

Chapter 15 The Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded, 2 and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: The Lord is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. 3 For a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without law, 4 but when in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them. 5 In those times there was no peace to him who went out or to him who came in, for great disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands. 6 They were broken in pieces. Nation was crushed by nation and city by city, for God troubled them with every sort of distress. 7 But you, take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded.” 8 As soon as Asa heard these words, the prophecy of Azariah the son of Oded, he took courage and put away the detestable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities that he had taken in the hill country of Ephraim, and he repaired the altar of the Lord that was in front of the vestibule of the house of the Lord.[d] 9 And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and those from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were residing with them, for great numbers had deserted to him from Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with him. 10 They were gathered at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. 11 They sacrificed to the Lord on that day from the spoil that they had brought 700 oxen and 7,000 sheep. 12 And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul, 13 but that whoever would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman. 14 They swore an oath to the Lord with a loud voice and with shouting and with trumpets and with horns. 15 And all Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and had sought him with their whole desire, and he was found by them, and the Lord gave them rest all around.16 Even Maacah, his mother, King Asa removed from being queen mother because she had made a detestable image for Asherah. Asa cut down her image, crushed it, and burned it at the brook Kidron. 17 But the high places were not taken out of Israel. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was wholly true all his days. 18 And he brought into the house of God the sacred gifts of his father and his own sacred gifts, silver, and gold, and vessels. 19 And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.

God makes the message so clear, just like he does today.  “The Lord is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.”  Asa did not have peace because he was a great ruler on his own merit but because he sought God and his will.  He gave all the things that were rightly God’s to him, and dismissed those things that were not. The men had taken great plunder when they won the battle.  So when the third month rolled around (which would be feast of Pentecost) they sacrificed elaborately to the Lord seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep. They could have kept those animals but by sacrificing them, they were recognizing God had delivered them from the Ethiopians.  Not only did they make great sacrifices but took a national oath, “12 And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul, 13 but that whoever would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman.”  Asa recognizes it is only God’s judgment that matters.  He recognizes the clear message that life is not about what he wants, but God's commandments.  Better yet, he is taking godly responsibility for the people he leads. The lives of Asa's people are literally in his hands based on the decisions he makes.

Fast forward to 2015.  If you think the United States has enjoyed freedom on our own merit, think again.  Our forefathers established this country on God and honored him. Little by little we have squeezed him out, and now are doing so with a speedy progression.  I have been amazed at what I have seen and heard in just one week.  Oh how dangerously we live when we openly and willfully defy the commands of God in any capacity.  The Lord is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.”  I am afraid we are rapidly moving toward a time when God with lift his hand of protection from us all together.  As I was talking to a group of friends about what is to come, I am encouraged by what the Lord said to Asa. “7 But you, take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded.”  I encourage you today do not let your beliefs be fickle, but take courage in God and in the things that are right.  Let us say as Christians “O Lord, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. O Lord, you are our God; let not man prevail against you.”  God does not make things complicated--Keep my commandments, recognize me before others, and I will recognize you before my Father.

Christian friends the time is at hand where your beliefs matter.  Now is the time to make sure you know what you believe, why you believe it, and how you can stand firm on those beliefs. And now more than ever your life has to be a living testimony to what you say you believe.

But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.  For it is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.  1 Peter 3:15

 

1 Comment

Jesus Calls Us to Him

2/6/2015

1 Comment

 
Recently we have been studying Mark in CBS.  In our reading from this past week I read these words in Mark 3, “13 And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. 14 And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach 15 and have authority to cast out demons. 16 He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); 17 James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); 18 Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot,[b] 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

 This verse states Jesus went up to the mountaintop.  In Luke chapter 6 he gives us the detail of Jesus going on the mountaintop to pray all night. He also said he called His disciples to himself; and from those he chose twelve to become Apostles.  This is very interesting to me because Jesus felt the need to pray all night about this decision.  No one could have been closer to God already because he was the Word made flesh, but yet he prayed all night.  Think about the last time you had to make an important decision, did you spend your time in prayer, or getting opinions from all your friends?  When we are faced with hard decisions we must face them with prayer.  God convicted me sharply of this about a year ago.  A man from the Southern Baptist Convention called and ask if I would meet him at Starbucks, and I agreed.  I knew who he was but had no idea what he wanted with me.  The next few minutes of conversation would rock my world.  He ask me if I would consider running the BCM on the campus of University of South Alabama.  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing this had been my dream job.  I had kept my resume updated for the past 10 years because this particular type of job is rare.  There are only about 25 positions in the state.  I was so excited until the reality hit me of why now. We were settled, my kids were happy, I was happy.  As we began that decision making process we talked and talked and talked and talked some more.  One night in the stillness I said, “God if I turn down this job I may never get another opportunity.  However, we are so torn about leaving, and uprooting our children.  I just don’t know what to do!”  Immediately I was convicted that I had been so busy talking, I had not taken the time to ask him.  I had not taken the time to “be with him”.  After much prayer I felt that although it would be one of the toughest decisions I had made, God was not calling our family there at this point in our life.  After this entire worrying and stressing episode, God gave the clear and decisive decision when we asked him, and we have never looked back. What a simple thought, just ask, but how often we try to figure it out and then when we have exhausted all other measures then we look up.

 Another interesting part of the passage is the use of disciples and apostles.
“The word disciple comes from the Latin word for pupil or learner. In ancient times, there were few higher learning institutions. Instead, those who wanted to learn a skill or a philosophy attached themselves to a journeyman or a teacher and spent significant time with them to learn the trade. In the case of those learning a philosophy, the student would follow the teacher for years, traveling wherever they would go, and the teacher would expound as they walked, teaching the intricacies of the faith. The disciples of Jesus did just that. Wherever Jesus went, the disciples would follow, and Jesus would teach them as they moved across the land.  The twelve disciples, as they were so named in Matthew's gospel-John's gospel simply calls them "the twelve"-were specially chosen from the rest of the disciples to be specifically mentored as Jesus' closest associates. These twelve disciples would later be sent out by Jesus to become the first church planters of the Christian church.  Which is what the word "apostle" means. The stem of the word apostle means to send out, and that's exactly what Jesus did. In Mark and Luke's gospels, Jesus chooses twelve from his band of disciples.” http://www.hcna.us/columns/apostle-disciple.htm


I find it so interesting who Jesus chose to call. These men were not scholars of their day just average men.  There was a questioned asked this week -why these men?  Al I could answer is why not these men?  The religious leaders  were so blinded by pride they would have never been able to serve.  I love that Jesus called the ordinary because it show us that he can also call us to great works.  I am reminded by 2 Corinthians 12:9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.”  However, just because Jesus called them out there was still work to be done on their part.  Jesus wanted them to “be with Him” to know Him before he called them apostles. Sometimes I think my generation and younger get so caught up in the doing, we forget to nail down the foundation first.  You have to spend time studying the Word to be able to give a defense for your beliefs.  You have to study the Word to make sure it is not your idea, but God’s calling.  These disciples were learning tons of things just by being with Jesus. They spent many days, weeks, and years, learning the teachings of their Rabbi.  Jesus was trying his best to fully equip them before he sent them out as apostles to preach, heal the sick, and cast out demons.  Don’t misunderstand me.  In our flesh we will never feel equipped enough, worthy enough or even smart enough, but it is through us that God works.  If we have spent time in the Word, when we open our mouth it is the Lord’s words not our own!

Where are you in your walk with the Lord today?  How many days, weeks, years have you spent allowing God’s Word to pour into you?

Have you ask him what he wants for your life, or are you busy asking everybody else what is best?  Are you studying hard in the Word trying to know your Savior better?  Has God urged you to be an apostle for him?  No matter where you are in your walk there is one common denominator.  Jesus wants us to call upon his name, and seek his face so we may know the will of God.  


Matthew 7:7-8 ESV
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

 

 

1 Comment

    Author 

    My name is Bridgette Guest. I am a wife, mom, children's minister, as well as women's conference speaker.  I love the Lord, and want to share his word with as many people as I can.






    ​

    Archives  

    December 2022
    August 2022
    June 2020
    March 2020
    May 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    August 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013

    Archives

    December 2022
    August 2022
    June 2020
    March 2020
    May 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    August 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.