A MOMENT WITH TERRY JACKSON Salisbury District Christian Education Moment of Exhortation Peripheral text: 2 Kings:18-19 Focus text: 2 Kings 19:29-37This shall be a sign to you: You shall eat this year such as grows of itself, And in the second year what springs from the same; Also in the third year sow and reap, Plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them. And the remnant who have escaped of the house of Judah Shall again take root downward, And bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, And those who escape from Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.’ “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: ‘He shall not come into this city, Nor shoot an arrow there, Nor come before it with shield, Nor build a siege mound against it. By the way that he came, By the same shall he return; And he shall not come into this city,’ Says the Lord. ‘For I will defend this city, to save it For My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’ ” And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at Nineveh. Now it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the temple of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Then Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place. Straight to the Bank There is a certain prerequisite to living out fortified faith. There is no way around it...there are no shortcuts....there is only one direction; all be it by design straight forward,narrow in way and at times overwhelmingly hard,it is possible to walk in the light. These requirements dont just float out of space into ones being....these requirements cant merely be heard, pondered, and tucked away in our memory banks used for withdrawal when our tangible accounts as well as our spiritual accounts read insufficient funds. No No, we as ever growing believers must constantly work the cycle of depositing and withdrawal, while aiming to never take away anything from our Saving accounts in the Kingdom that is freely given by our Lord and Savior. We have to monopolize the conflict of human error promoted by the enemy himself with life in the Spirit that only comes from The DESTROYER of the Destroyer,who is God. Christian living is not easy....it is not a bed of roses....Christian living at times can seem on the surface overwhelming, overrated and, under compensating. When we find ourselves in crisis spiritually and concerning the troubles of this world, the enemy deceives us in thinking that all hope is gone and doubts that God isnt seeing what we are going through; our faith may be waning, we need in those moments some fortification. There are three tools at our disposal that we must use to fortify our faith when facing crisis. The believers crisis situation must look to the first responder dispatched by PRAYER. We gotta get Jesus on that main line that we sing about, approaching him boldly, not taking him for granted, but with seriousness and reverence in heart, acknowledging his Sovereignty and Omnipotence, just as Hezekiah did when he received a message of destruction from King Sennacherib and went into the temple to pray, in this weeks peripheral text. (Then Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said: “O Lord God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. (II Kings 19:15 NKJV) In order for God to work it out we must know without a doubt who he is and what he can do!!! Even though He is Omniscient and knows our issues before they are our issues,He wants to hear from us.. Paul says that we should in the Spirit pray on ALL occasions with ALL KINDS of prayers and REQUEST. He then goes on to say with this in mind, we should be alert and always keep praying for the Lords people. Hezekiah was surrounded by people who was obedient and faithful, and we should take note from him and do the same. Intercession is more important than praying for ourselves. Just think on Jesus....even at the pinnacle of his own suffering he had you and me on his mind. Surrounding ourselves with those that know how to pray for others,even if but a remnant, has the power to pull us out of the valleys of despair, doubt and the shadow of death.#deposit Next we have to always keep a heads up on the enemy with PRAISE. Praise confuses the enemy....not just that snaggle tooth devil but our earthly enemies as well. In the mist of persecution theres praise...when someone is questioning your faith and devotion.....theres praise.....when the raging seas have reached new heights, dont you know praise has the ability to raise you above the storm and the test. Hezekiah was the King of praise(Judah) and although flawed like us, he offered up praise by remaining obedient in an overwhelming and oppressive situation. I look at it like this....praise proves our purpose is more pertinent then our problems. Thats what I love about Hezekiah, he understood what was required of him; to revolt and reform, and that unyielding dependence on God can produce amazing results.#withdrawal Lastly in our focus text we see the PROPHET Isaiah offering a prophetic word after hearing Hezekiahs prayer, The Lord speaks to him to confirm Hezekiahs request and exhorts him to remain faithful and obedient and in DUE TIME Judah would reap a harvest and his enemy would too reap what they had sown. Paul says faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the word of God. I dont know about you, but I need a word whenever I can get it...I need a prophet that hears from God to speak life into my life..I need a prophet to speak of glad tidings of Good things. I need a prophet that tells me that I am more than a conquerer......I need a prophet to tell me that the battle is not mine, but The Lords, when Im tempted to wrestle against flesh and blood....WE NEED A WORD!!! #depositedinsavings. Father in Heaven, Creator of the earth and sea and all there in, we your people call upon your limitless power to help us Fortify our Faith through depositing our petitions unto Jesus...by withdrawing your mercy and protection in the toughest of times through praise. Help us O Lord to be anxious for your teachings, preachings and reaching by our prophets so that we can go from faith to faith through your Word depositing confidence and confirmation in our Saving accounts of the Kingdom mindset. Help us to save imperishable things for eternity Father. Some of us have allowed the enemy to reduce our faith to but a spark, so father we ask you now in the Name of Jesus to rekindle that blazing flame of faith in our hearts. Amen. Every Christian a Worker, Every Worker Trained, a Worker needeth not be ashamed, this we ask in Jesus name. #Amen Again.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 12:41:40 +0000
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