Day 85 – For 3 hours darkness fell upon the earth, Our Great King was ripped off His Throne and Nailed to a Cross because He found us Worthy of His Light!

Today’s Reading: 1 Kings 9 – 11

1 Kings 11:36 “Yet to his son I will give one tribe, that David my servant may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where I have chosen to put my name.”

Even though Solomon walked away from his God for the love of 1000 wives, 1000 gods, 1000 sins, God never forgot His love for David. God promised a son would always be over Jerusalem so there was always a light before His people. And that light stayed lit until Jesus was ripped from the earth and nailed to the cross. Darkness fell in the 6th hour for 3 hours, and then Our King declared it was Finished. It was in the darkness that all of our sins were brought to light and when light returned our sins were buried never to be seen again…as long as we have this Light in within our heart.

Thousands of years ago we were found worthy! Our Savior was willing to give up His life for us to take our sins away, the 1000’s of sins we commit like the 1000 wives of Solomon. He is worth our worship; He is worth us walking in His way, staying Faithful to Him, and being found Righteous before Him.

1 Kings 9:4 “And as for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my rules,” We should be walking in the ways of David, a man after God’s own heart. He is worth it because we were worth it to Him!

Day 84 – No matter how hard we try or how big we make it, there is no way possible to confine God to any one place.

Today’s Reading: 1 Kings 6 – 8

1 Kings 8:27 “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!”

Solomon had the privilege of building the House of the Lord since there was no blood on his hands. Yet Solomon realized that not even the Heavens or the Earth could confine God to one place. Solomon built this house as a place to worship, a place to house His Word, a place to pray together, but not a place for God to live. The house of the Lord was to bring about Unity within their community, to lift up prayers to Our Father in Heaven. And Solomon asked God to always keep His eyes on this house to hear the pleas of all those who love Him and walk according to His ways.

The people were to bring every need to God in this house, it was an open door policy for all people. These pleas could be for forgiveness, foreigners, freedom, compassion, and anything else to be heard by God.

Solomon knew that God was always with them, He had been with their fathers before them, and He would never leave them. If only Solomon knew that now we have an even better promise.

God in all of His Greatness, who can not be contained in Heaven or on Earth, cannot be confined by Death, but actually sent His Son to live on Earth with us, to overtake Death, and to give us Eternal Life. He gave us His body and He gave us His blood, so that we could be the body and He lives in our blood.

We have all of Him, but we cannot contain Him, and Solomon in his wisdom knew then what we know now. We, as a people, have changed what He originally meant for the church, but it can be changed back, it just needs you.

I pray that you find a House of Prayer and that you pray and that you take His offering to Live in you and through you. Don’t let another day go by. Don’t try to confine Him in a box, but we can Live with Him. Choose this day Life and take up your cross!

Day 83– The wise prayers of a wise man bring the Lord’s Desires to life.

Today’s Reading: 1 Kings 3 – 5

1 Kings 3:9 “Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?”

Through wisdom we know what to do, each choice to make, every answer to give, and how to pray. Jesus is Wisdom personified and Godified (my word).

Jesus taught us how to pray, when to pray, and why to pray. God’s will be done!

Through Solomon’s example we see that the humble and honest prayer will be heard. God would give Solomon his heart’s desire because his heart’s desire was one with God. Jesus would eventually pray in this same manner, asking His father to take the cup of wrath away, but if that wasn’t what God wanted, His will be done. Jesus knew that wasn’t God’s will, He knew through wisdom He was fated to death, but He also knew through wisdom that even though the pain may last for a moment He would be in Eternity soon enough.

Today I have that same longing for Eternity. It is through fervent prayer according to God’s will that I ask Him to take away the pain but also use me for His plan for I know through wisdom that to Live is Christ and to Die is Gain. And at this time it is the Lord’s desire for me to Live even though my soul aches for the gain of Eternity.

Day 82 – When we lift ourselves up eventually we will fall hard, but when the Lord lifts up He prepares us for the fall so we will rise again.

Today’s Reading: 2 Samuel 24 – 1 Kings 2

1 Kings 1:5 “Now Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, “I will be king.” And he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him.”

Humanity insists that we must rise above our neighbors at all costs, but all that gets us is a bunch of wreckage to one day fall on.

It’s why Satan fell…he tried to lift himself above God. It’s why sin occurred and why Easter was necessary.

Today we find ourselves in the end of the Davidian era and the beginning of his family reign. As David prepares to go the way of the earth, his son Adonijah exalts himself to the throne. He brings the right people around him and the royal supplies necessary to take over the Kingdom. However, news quickly reaches Bathsheba, mother of Solomon, the promised heir to the throne. She goes to David on his deathbed and pleads for the truth…what should happen to she and her son, but David comforts her and declares Solomon as the Lord’s plan for the Kingship. Adonijah worried now whether Solomon would kill him because of his foolishness, but Solomon was compassionate and told his brother to go home. The kindness from Solomon brought out the sneakiness of Adonijah and quickly led to his death. Solomon, on the other hand, by the plans of the Lord, continued to be exalted over the Kingdom and would eventually be known as the Wisest man of all time.

The Lord will raise up who He will raise up, but when we try to raise ourselves up we will surely fall. Sometimes the Lord’s plan for us is to fall like the setting sun so that we can rise again in the morning, just like His Son on the 3rd Day.

See, Jesus had to fall and be buried so that our sins could be wiped away, and yet God already knew He would raise Him up to give us Eternal life, wiping us clean of our sins.

Let God lift you up to the place He wants you to be. It might not be what you thought, but it is what God had planned and more than you could ever imagine. And just think if you fall from the Lord’s placement He will catch you and put you back on your feet.

Day 81 – On His Word we can stand firm because He is Our Rock and His way is Perfect!

Today’s Reading: 2 Samuel 21 – 23

2 Samuel 22:31 “This God—his way is perfect;the word of the Lord proves true;he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.”

The Word of God goes with me everywhere. It is what I stand on, what I walk by, and what I sit to read first daily. I feel so strongly about His Word because it is the lamp for my life. He has delivered my through it, He has humbled me by it, and He has Saved me with it. The Word is the spoken truth of God.

In John 1:1, it says the Word was with God in the beginning, It was God! Jesus is this Word. He lives in my heart and is written across the pages of my favorite Book. I can’t do life without it. I’ve cried over the Word, I’ve been strengthened by the Word, I want the Word even more than I need it, if that’s even possible! And King David felt the same way!

When God had delivered David from all of His enemies he declared his adoration most eloquently in his song of deliverance in 2 Samuel 22 and his last words penned in 2 Samuel 23.

During this week, as you may begin to prepare for Easter or continue on your walk in Lent, consider reading His Word daily. Let it seep into your soul.

Don’t just BE saved, LIVE saved.

Walk out your faith by what you feed your mind, what you order your days by, what your life looks like to others, and who your life is lived for. This is Momentous, this is Our Savior. Let Him be your Rock and Your Salvation. His Way is Perfect!

Day 80– Those we love we may not always like, but we still love them.

Today’s Reading: 2 Samuel 16:1 – 20:26.

2 Samuel 18:33 “And the king was deeply moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. And as he went, he said, “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!”

King David’s son, Absalom, completely abandoned his father’s kingdom and in doing so tried to bring the people of Israel along with him. Many followed Absalom and abandoned the king, and knowing how someone we love can really hurt us, David deeply upset over this.

No matter how angry David was with his son, when it came down to it he loved Absalom deeply. He wanted the kingdom to be united once again and he knew war would be necessary, but he didn’t want his son killed in the process. He just wanted his son back in his life.

We won’t always be happy with the ones we love the most and honestly we may not like them very much at some points, but if it’s true love, we will never not have love in our hearts for them.

I truly get disgusted when someone says I fell out of love with you. You can’t fall out of love! Love is a condition, a process created by a loving God. I truly believe this is how God feels about us. He loves us all dearly because He created us, but when we sin and walk away from Him, He really may not like what we are doing and be extremely hurt, but He still loves us and just wants us back in His hands. The good thing is, even when we walk out on God, He will never walk out on us, and once we enter His kingdom we can never leave. We are His and He loves us like David loved Absalom. His kingdom is built by His eternal Love which can never be moved or taken away. This is Love! King David exemplified it, our God has it for us, it’s not shifting sand, but firm Ground for which we can stand.

Day 79- You may not go looking for trouble when it finds you.

Today’s Reading: 2 Samuel 11 – 15

2 Samuel 11:2-3 “It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”

Today’s study is a very difficult study. It shows the sinful side of a man after God’s own heart. It reveals to us even though we may follow God faithfully we can still sin against Him. Sometimes our sins, however, may not come from our own choosing but because sin finds us.

Bathsheba must have been a beautiful woman and already caught the eye of many men, but she was officially already married to Uriah. King David, however, must have needed a reprieve from his work when he went for a walk around the roof and caught a glimpse of this beautiful woman bathing bedside his home. She wasn’t looking for trouble but actually trying to do her ritual cleansing from being impure. The king called for her and it would’ve meant her life if she didn’t go, but instead of standing her ground she laid with the king. We don’t know how it exactly went down, but we know she got pregnant. If only she could’ve made a better decision, but maybe she wasn’t in the place to be able to.

Later in this reading we see how Tamar, the daughter of David was abused by her brother. She begged him not to, but he refused to listen because he was so overtaken by her Beauty. In both situations, neither girl was looking for trouble, but their natural beauty caught the eye of some very influential men.

Now this isn’t only for women, I know men have this issue as well. The thing is, we can’t always decide which situation we are going to be found in, but we can make a choice of how each situation ends. First, we need to try and place ourselves in situations that are good, and second if we find ourselves in a not so good place, we need to see how we can get out of it. Third, and most important, when we do find ourselves in sin, like David, we can confess our sin, repent, and be forgiven because of Jesus. This is all up to us because God gives us a choice. What’s yours?

Day 78- Face each battle with courage; we may not know the outcome but we know the One who comes out before us, with us, and after us.

Today’s Reading: 2 Samuel 8 – 10

2 Samuel 10:12 “Be of good courage, and let us be courageous for our people, and for the cities of our God, and may the Lord do what seems good to him.”

We are all going to face battles at one point or another, it’s just the nature of evil and the strengthening of each created being. There’s no telling what the outcome of each of these battles may be…we may win some and we may lose some, but no matter the outcome we must face it with courage. As we walk through battles it isn’t the battle that brings others to the Lord or keeps others comforted, it’s how we walk through the battle that brings others to Him. It’s what we say and do that leads our brothers and sisters in Christ closer to Him.

It is to Grow our Faith that we walk out each battle with Courage.

Our courage comes from the presence of Our Savior. It is a mix of His Peace and Strength and Comfort. It is a trusting belief that He is with us at every turn. And the losses, as we see them aren’t the same as God sees them, He sees them as a Win for His Kingdom because they have brought others to Him. Physically and spiritually, losses build us and grow us into what He has created, and they have made His name Widely known.

During David’s reign there were many battles. His men saw the strength within him and fought each battle with courage because they knew no matter if they won or lost, it was for the people and cities of their God and they were fighting for Him.

Soon in our readings we will meet Daniel’s friends who confirm this same belief when they were being thrown into the fiery furnace. Daniel 3:17-18 “If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

Whether you are in a battle, coming out, or heading into one, fight with the courage that God gives you because He is with you.

Day 77 – Such a HUGE thing to us can be so small in the eyes of our Beholder.

Today’s Reading: 2 Samuel 5 – 7

2 Samuel 7:18-20 “Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord God. You have spoken also of your servant’s house for a great while to come, and this is instruction for mankind, O Lord God! And what more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Lord God!”

Have you ever climbed a massive Grandfather Oak or swung from its branches? Have you ever made a fort in the highest parts or imagined you were Fritz from the Swiss Family Robinson making a tree your home? For years and years and hours upon hours these massive oaks have entertained me, amazed me, grew me, and grew with me. But have you ever seen what the oak tree started as? A little acorn. Bursting forth from this acorn is a sprout of a future massive tree.

David was just like an acorn in the eyes of our Father in Heaven, a small vessel to be used in a mighty way for the Glory of the Lord.

Things that seem so HUGE to us like the Oak, are like the little acorn in the eyes of our God. The might of the oak comes from the Power He provides. The cancer we have, the divorce that is on the verge, the bankruptcy that awaits, the death that knocks at our door, the Acceptance into the perfect college, the long awaited Job, the clear scan…all of these are HUGE to us, but just so small to God.

It is by His power and under His control. As we watch the acorn grow into the mighty tree, shouldn’t we too trust Him with every Small and BIG thing in our path because to Him, nothing is impossible…Give Him the thanks He deserves for looking at our Big thing and making it no big deal.

Day 76 – Compromise may bring unity in the moment, but only one moment will bring peace for eternity.

Today’s Reading: 2 Samuel 2 – 4

2 Samuel 3:21 “And Abner said to David, “I will arise and go and will gather all Israel to my lord the king, that they may make a covenant with you, and that you may reign over all that your heart desires.” So David sent Abner away, and he went in peace.”

In war, one side always looks for a compromise before fighting the battle and ending the lives of the other side. Yet, even when a compromise is found and unity begins, there is still division within individuals hearts and full peace seems impossible here on earth.

David had been fighting Saul for years and now that Saul had passed away David was taking over as the reigning King. However, some of Saul’s followers placed Ish-Bosheth, Saul’s only surviving son as King over Israel. The presence of 2 kings brought division to the Israelite people and war between them began.

Abner, leader of Saul’s army disagreed with Saul’s son and turned to David promising to join forces with him so the Israelites could be one again. Peace seemed to be coming to Israel, and King David was thrilled to be One Nation. However, all the hearts of the people weren’t as happy. Joab, one of David’s military leaders killed Abner bringing unsettlement and disruption again.

There has been peace and unity in moments, but total peace and unity has never come through our own hands. The reason we are without peace….Sin. The reason we desire peace….God has put Eternity in our hearts and Peace and Unity are found there.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”

God created peace on earth, yet Satan brought sin and division.

So, God brought peace to earth, through a baby, His Son Jesus.

We have this Peace available to us when we are saved. We may not always feel it, but it is always available. We have access through Emmanuel, God with Us.