Nehemiah 1:4-11

The prayer of Nehemiah. He was moved to prayer because of the reports about Jerusalem. It is a confession that parallels the prayer of Ezra. Isn't it amazing the two different individuals in two different places are moved by the hand of God to pray for the same thing. God's merciful hand at work through His people. And, of course, let us understand that more could be and would be done through prayer if more people were given to the Lord to pray, listen and wait upon Him. Too many Christians make no time for prayer and have no understanding of what the Spirit is saying or leading them to do. So we muddle around in our own direction and our own thoughts and our own ways, which is the sin of self. A vessel yielded to God will be led of the Spirit to accomplish God's good pleasure. Now God's good pleasure was toward the children of Israel. They had sinned grossly against Him until 'there was no rememdy' found for them. God had removed them from the promised land, the temple had been destroyed and His people was servants. Note the comparison of our sin in America and that with theirs and count His mercy dear and precious that we are no different than them. And realizing that He is moving His people today to pray and seek His face should tell us God is up to something. Being before the Lord like Ezra and Nehemiah makes you a part of it. To be absent from His presence means you miss the opportunity and being used by Him.
Continue. . .

Ezra 9:5-15

The prayer of Ezra for the people and himself. This is a prayer to go step by step through it and learn how to pray. And by praying it I do not mean just memorize and repeat it. Heart felt and openness to understand the condition and the response as led by the Holy Spirit. Continue. . .

v. 5, "And at the evening sacrifice. . ." The day time is filled with chores, routines, work and other 'busy' things. There must be a set time within a Christians life to meet God. to be still before Him and worship Him. How many Chrisitans know nothing of this and refuse to heed the warning, that you cannot live in this life and be happy and holy without being with God. An entire day fills us with worldliness and causes us to sin and become weak in the flesh. Only time spent with God can refresh, renew and energize us. Now for most Christians it is the morning watch that they make time to meet God. and I whole heartedly agree that it is most needful to have morning time with the Lord in Bible reading and prayer and devotions. It is a rare thing to find among God's children those that make use of morning and evening time. Ezra had been compelled to mourn and agonize over the sins of the people all day. Now it was time to do something about it.
v. 5, "I arose up from my heaviness;" he had contemplated and filled his thoughts about sin and the punishment of it. he had considered God's mercy and graciousness. All aspects of sin had filled his mind and heart. when was the last time you sat and considered your sins and the sins of the people? You will find a heaviness fill you and break the will and heart with in you, for you know that no good thing dwells in the flesh. What grief and sorrow came upon Ezra, and here we see only a glimpse of the heaviness that Christ bore when He took the sins of the world upon His shoulders. Consider it, dear child of God, the awesome sight of sin and what it has cost us! Continue. . . .

Ezra 7:27-28

"Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, which hath put such a thing as this in the king's heart, to beautify the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem: And hath extended mercy unto me before the king, and his counsellors, and before all the king's mighty princes. And I was strengthed as the hand of the Lord my God was upon me, and I gathered together out of Israel chief men to go up with me."

Isn't it amazing that a book named after you, Ezra is not mentioned till the last portion here in chapter 7? And in one chapter we learn much about him and his walk with the Lord. After God moves the king to help and aid inthe rebuilding of the temple, he gives Ezra a blessing to go with him to help in it. Upon reading this account agagin I was wondering how the intristics of Ezra influencing the king came about. We never know how our witness, actions, behavior will be used by the Lord. With this blessing from the king, Ezra gives thanks because he knows its true giver, the Lord. And he offers a prayer of thanksgiving and praise unto Him Who is worthy. He recognizes the Lord puts desires in the hearts of men to accomplish His good favor toward His children. When we consider ourselves to be outcasts, abandoned and forgotten, may we remember this account in Ezra that God moves men and actions to benefit and help us. And even though the king would take credit for this desire, know that God did it. Hudson Taylor practiced this theme, "Is it possible to move man by God's hand through prayer alone?" Over and over again it has been proven, that our God is a God that watches over us and for us. Give rejoicing praise for such things and if you say that you have not known of such things then pray for God to open up your eyes to behold His good mercy. But pick up the next part of this verse, "for the house of the Lord". This was not for the king, it was not even for Ezra it was for the purpose of the kingdom of the LOrd's. He had said to the prophets, "Rebuild My house"; it had come to a standstill and the work was not done. But then God moves men to accomplish this work. It is never about the individual even though they may be able to rejoice in it, it is always about the will of the Father being done. As Jesus prayed in the garden, "not my will be done, by Thy will be done". The kingdom is what gives glory and honor unto Him. V. 28 - He gives praise for the 'extended mercy' among the sons of men. Favor can be granted and such should be recognized and given thanks for. We realize that in our own sinful plight nothing good is going to happen. But the Lord is able to do all things and do them well. How many a person do I know that is struggling and drowning because they bear their own grief and sorrow. They know little if any thing about "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. . .and ye shall find rest." They struggle through life trying it on their own and thinking they have to do it on their own. They know nothing of the pwoer of God to command the lives of His saints. This again is recognizing the power of God that He is creator of all things and sustainer of all things. He holds our breath and life in His wonderful hand. Trust not in yourself but see His 'extended mercy' as it is poured out on you and those around you. "And I was strengthed" are we not weak? are we not frail? and left to our ownselves we would quickly crumble underneath the weight of life and its sorrows. If I was asked to explain the health issues today, I would quickly say that depression, anxiety, fears, high blood pressure from stress and all the other issues caused by a life spent in sorrow and frustration. They know not how to wait upon the Lord to renew their strength. They was handed a baptismal certificate and Bible and sent out with the motto, "Do the best that you can" They know nothing of waiting in His presence and feeling His gracious hand laid upon a sinful man or woman, who cries out for help. "A smoking flax will He not quench;" His hand is laid upon us when we come to Him and ask. The same hand that made the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the leper to be cleansed; the same nail pierced hand that bleed so that His precious blood might cleanse us from all unrighteousness. There is none like Him Who is able to save, heal, restore, strengthen and love. And we in our fraility get discouraged, depressed, angered, lose sight of His plan and work, and we lose hope. But resting in God, He restores hope and gives back what only He can maintain and accomplish. Are you willing to let your selfish ambitions go so He might do what He wants to do? And if that was not enough of a gift from God, and it is enough, God adds more to ezra. It is a hard road to go alone in this life. Some are called to it, some have no choice but to walk alone. Tozer, Ravenhill and Havner, some of our more recent prophets and saints declared that the prophet road is a lonely one, without friend and without family. It is always a blessing when God gives "chief men to go with me". There is strength in numbers we are told and God gives us companions for the journey. Some for a brief time and others for a lifetime. David had Jonathan because the sons of Zeruiah were too hard for him; Elijah gained Elisha after his fall with Jezebel; Jesus had the three companions to learn of Him; and so God in His 'extended mercy' sends people our way for such times to strengthen and encourage. Are you able to see the mercies of God? Do you know the blessing of the Lord as He imparts it to us.

II Chronicles 30:27

"Then the priests the Levites arose and blessed the people: and their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to his holy dwelling place, even unto heaven."

They were rejoicing, confessing and worshipping. Hezekiah had become a new time for Judah to be the people of God. He had called a solemn assembly; he had made the people to cast away their sins; and he made the people to worship the Lord. This is a needed must for the church today. True worship to the Lord is a lost place among believers. Prayers are offered up continually, but I truly believe that for most if they was to be asked, "Did your prayers get heard?" The people would not know how to answer. The false belief among Christians today is that God hears all prayers. The Bible repeats over and over that this is not true. Sin keeps our prayers from being heard and answered. Unbelief keeps our prayers from Him. But people have been told to pray and they do. What they was not told was whether they can know if their prayers were heard or not. Now God is omnipotent and omnipresent and omniscient and no doubt He sees and hears all prayers. But God has said of His own self that He will not hear some prayers because of these sins and failures on our part. We fail to make sure our prayers are heard, not God, so keep the focus on the real problem - us. But here in this verse, there is success in praying. And if there is success for them, then what did they do; how did they do it and I want to learn from them on how my prayers can be heard. One of the first things to consider is the people were gathered together. We ought to learn about assemblies again. We have such an individual idea about praying. Now don't get me wrong, pray in the secret closet is a must, but everytime God sent revival to the church it was when the people of God were assembled together. 2. the people were blest; you cannot bless sin or iniquity among the people of God. they had offered sacrifices, made the wrongs right and confessed their sins before the people. Hezekiah had asked earlier for mercy upon the people that were not right and God honored that. Open confession and corporate confession among the people of God is unrecognized by many. They pray the general prayer, "Lord, forgive me of all my sins" and they go on. But I am sure the Lord says, "Which sins do you want me to forgive?" Get specific in recognizing that which is wrong. Probe, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to search out the things which keep our prayers from being heard. And because the people made things right and prepared themselves to worship God, God honored this. Their prayers were heard because they did it right. God knows the heart, and because a person may not know all the ins and outs of praying (and who truly knows all the mysteries of prayer) He honors the intent of the heart. And old drunk throws himself down and cries for mercy finds his prayer being ansswered because God knows the heart of sincerity. But the self-righteous hypocrite who prays every Sunday in church but has no heart for the things of God finds their prayers unheard. Check the heart and know the power of prayer is to be found in what God has told us in His blessed Word. 3. the prayers went up - how much more is revealed to us in the New Testament about prayers going up before the Lord. One reference is that the prayrs of the saints are offered in a censer before the Lord to be heard and answered according to the will of the Lord. Another place we learn that our prayers are coupled together with Jesus and the Holy Spirit making intercession for us and with us. How divine, this thing called prayer. When I fail to pray right and to beleive and ask right, God Himself helps me. But I must make sure my sin is found out and confessed and forsaken; I must make sure my heart is right and praying according to what God has instructed and not of religious patterns and vain repetitions. Then the prayer goes up and enters into the presence of God Almighty. Examine today, dear believer, how your prayer life is; how your prayers are declared; what your heart believes and yearns for; what sin is with you and in you; "If I regard inquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me" Psalm 66. "Thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words." Daniel 10 Know and understand that there are prayers heard and not heard and seek for your prayers to be heard and come up into His holy dwelling place in heaven.

II Chronicles 26:21; 27:2; 28:24; 29:3

26:21, ". . .for he was cut off from the house of the Lord. . ."
27:2, ". . .Howbeit, he entered not into the temple of the Lord. And the people did yet corruptly."
28:24, ". . .and shut up the doors of the house of the Lord."
29:3, ". . .opened the doors of the house of th Lord, and repaired them."

Four different verses, all one them; four different kings, a lesson to be learned from each. In reading the kings of Israel, I know that their testimony is, "and they did evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the sins of Jeroboam." In reading of the kings of Judah, it is a flip flop from one to the next and rarely two follow each other in 'doing that which is right in the sight of the Lord as David their father." For the one it is Jeroboam, who made Israel to sin; for the other, it is David, a man after God's own heart. As the leader is so is the people usually. And mark here in these four verses the mesage of truth about the house of the Lord in direct relation to how their kingdoms prospered or fell. We start with Uzziah, who did do that which is right, until by the mercies of God is was strengthed and then fell into sin. Pride raised up in his life and he entered into the temple to offer sacrifice. This was not his job nor did he have a right to do it, it was the priest, and he knew this. then why? Because pride can blind and lead astray. Pride is one of the most hurtful sins in the church today. We really think we are something in the America church, and God has blest us but we only have this because of God's merciful hand. the attitude of 'look what I have done; look what I can do" is pride and does not give glory to God. uzziah learned a hard lesson here because God smote him when he tried to offer and refused to listen to the priests. I know that there is a lack of true men of God today in the pulpits and we need one to stand up and lead in a holy man ner, but when the man of God speaks it should be obedience from the people. Uzziah, in his pride, raised himself above the priests and God dealt with him, he was filled with leprousy and they drove him from the house of the Lord. Now Uzziah had been doing right in serving the Lord, his sin costs him and we read because of his sin, that he was kept fromattending the house of the Lord, he was cut off no more to enter. Now many people today say, 'That is my choice whether I attend the services or not; I am not hurting anyone by not going or attending." Oh, what a lie this is! Because the next king, Uzziah's son, knew of his father's sin and because of this act on this father he avoided and idd not attend to the house of the Lord at all in his time as king. the verse, 27:2, tells us that as a direct result of the house of the Lord being forsaken, the people did corruptly. Do say that an individual choice does not affect the next generation is ridiculous. Because of Uzziah being plagued in the temple, Jotham refused to enter. One of two reasons perhaps: 1. he was afraid that what happend to his father may happen to him; so his decision was to avoid it all together; many a person will not enter the church because of a bad experienc and that even remote and a rarity they hold it for life; 2. he blamed God for his father's plague; which it was the Lord's hand that did it, but it was Uzziah's action of sin that prompted it. many people like to blame God for death, sickness, problems, this gets them out of knowing where the real blame is, upon their own selves for their own sins. Now notice the snowball affect here: uzziah is walking with the Lord as well the chidlrfen of Judah; uzziah is cut off from the house of the Lord, his son responds to this by refusing ot enter the house of the Lord and the people corrupt themselves; now comes Ahaz and all his sins and he goes further away from God and shuts up the doors of the house of the Lord. So now it is not just an individual leaving the house of the Lord, now the people are forbidden from entering. Worship of God is now ceased, and what will a people do when God is absent fromtheir midst? They will perish! Don't tell me that it doesn't matter about church; it doesn't matter whether you attend all the time; it does matter and there is a huge price to pay for the shutting of the doors of the church in America. I have lost count of the churches that are closing their doors and how limited the services are today. Sunday evening church servcies are cut for the call of individuals who want selfish time to themsevles. go ahead and cut them out, but learn the lessons of the kings, there is a price to pay. When God moves among His people and shows mercy, despite our waywardness, sinfulness and unfaithfulness the people return to the house of the Lord. Ahaz is gone and Hezekiah begins and what is the first act of his kingdom - he opens the doors of the house of the Lord. Now compare the Lord's hand upon Hezekiah and Uzziah before his pride caused him to fall, the Lord blessed the chidlren of Judah and watch over them in Divine protection. Now look at Jotham and Ahaz and how the children of Judah fell out of favor with God and the destruction that followed. This has been demonstrated over and over in nations and empires, that when the people of God forsook the house of the Lord so fell the people. But when the gathered to worship God honored their worship of Him. If the church doesn't wake up soon we will learn the lesson of Jotham and Ahaz quicker than we want. The four things that should be in our life daily that I have seen that God honors as faithful obedience: 1. being in the Word, the Bible daily; 2. being in prayer "a prayerless man is a Godless man"; 3. being a faithful witness to the lost; and 4. being in the house of the Lord every time the doors are opened. You show me a person, family, or nation that is doing that and I will show you the blessed of the Lord in our midst. You show me a person, family or nation that refuses to do these things and I will show you a people that do corruptly, are sinful and vile and face the wrath of God upon them and their loved ones. Choose the righteous way dear brethern and learn the lessons of the kings!

II Chronicles 12:8

"Neverthelss they shall be his servants; that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countires."

Judah had been preserved becasue of David. Rehoboam had to bear the brunt of Solomon's sins. I don't think it is ever easy for the children to have to deal with the parents sins. And most of the time resentment mounts up. And there are many pictures of this round about us and most of the time we don't even want to recognize it. The issue of abuse is ever present now in our society, almost all homes have experienced it and it continues to mount. But the children are paying a price for the action of the parents, a life time price. This is just one example and Rehoboam was paying for Solomons disobedience and idolatry. He no doubt had been influenced by it as well. But every man is responsible for his own actions. Rehoboam knew enough of the ways of the Lord to do right. For it says earlier in this chapter that for the first three years they sought the Lord, even though idols were round about them. Then after this period they went to he ways of the world. How often is this acted out in the church today? "Oh, so and so is here they must be in trouble again." They only time they start serving the Lord is when they are in trouble, but as quickly as they start they resign. May we never forget that their is a price to pay for such actions. Rehoboam was getting ready to be destroyed by Egypt and when the man of God spoke to them that their sins was why they was facing this, they humbled themselves. I don't recall a time when humility was true and pure that God continued with judgment and punishment. As a merciful Father, He withdraws the punishment, although it was not removed completely here He stays Rehoboams execution. I wonder if he realized just how close he came to death here? I wonder if we realize our life is a gift from God and He preserves our ways despite our rebellion and sinfulness? And so the man of God tells the king and the leaders you shall learn service, "you shall be his servants'. This is humility forced on the person. I perceive pride to be one of the most horrific sins of mankind. I know there are many others, and others of greater magnitude but look at the damage of pride in the life of so many. And as I said yesterday, I don't know that i have heard any one speak or teach on how to be humble. I sure enough hear about how to take pride in your work; be proud to be an American; be proud of your family. But at what difference is there between pride and humility, where do they intersect? The pride of life is horrible and the downfall of the church today. We need a good lesson of humility and the price to pay for that is to be brought low. Jesus was humble and became as a servant, "As I have done, so likewise do ye". "That they may know my service"; so God punished them to be servants to the king of Egypt that they may be taught to know the service of God. For God raises one, exalts one and abases and lowers another. God sets up rulers and leaders and God removes leaders and rulers. The learn lesson of life that God controls all and dictates all. Let the politicians and leaders run their tongues but they have not been humbled yet to learn the service of God. "And the service of the kingdoms of the countries"; God has directed the path of life for every person, family name and nation. There is none outside of God's infinite plan. Every action has a reaction and God knows it. Every discovery and motion on this planet is to accomplish what God has seen fit. A person is raised up and another is removed to accomplish the will of God. Countries wealth and advancement is for the future developments of God's plan for His kingdom. When we learn this lesson our faith is not on what we can do but what He can do. Trusting in Him that all the negative headlines is taking is to accomplish His will. Peter rebuked the Lord when Jesus mentioned that He would be killed because He did not accept the will of the Lord. Jesus prayed in the garden, Thy will be done. we must humble ourselves and learn the lesson that God controls and rules and reigns and we must yield to His will no matter how much it hurts and what it costs.

II Chronicles 5:13-14

". . .and praised the Lord, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled witha cloud, even the house of the Lord; So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God."

"For His mercy endureth for ever" There is such a drawing of this phrase in prayers as of late. The depths of it I cannot truly appreciate it. When you consider what we deserve as vile, vain sinners, but we receive from the Lord, His mercy. "No', crys out one, "there must be justice; there must be punishment." And he is right who would say so, but Christ has borne that punishment on Calvary for us. And God in His mightiness shows forth mercy and grace. How good is He and full in pardoning and redeeming us. And oh, we only begin to see part of how much He has done for us and we recognize how much He is willing to do for us. But that is part of this phrase, 'it endures for ever'. It never ceases to be; it never runs out; it never wastes away. God has seen fit to provide that which He knew we would need in this life, His mercy. Could we make this our prayer today? Can we worship Him for Who He is and how He is described in this verse alone? "He is good"; can we count how many times He has said He loved us? How many answered prayers? How many times He has provided? How many souls He has saved from the tears and prayers of a saint? "He is good and His mercy endrueth forever"; Why would He do such a thing? It is vastly beyond us to comprehend all the aspects of His mercy and goodness. But He is God and this is His Divine nature. Read or do a word study of how many times this phrase is used and how God honors this phrase over and over. It would do us well if we added it unto our worship time and remind ourselves of His goodness and mercy. And see what happens when the people utter these words, the glory of the Lord filled the house. Oh, what would we do today to see the glory fill the land and the church? A rare glimpse of this is shared throughout the church's histroy. Pentecost, Great Awakenings, revivals that changed the landscape and the nations are witnesses of the glory coming down. And it seems one of the traits of revival is that when the land was most vilest and offensive to God that His judgment was forgone for His mercy been displayed. Could anyone fault God for judging such sin? But He chose mercy because that is Who He is. What will He say to us today? Will you seek for and wait upon Him for His mercy and pray that His glory may be manifest again? I see here that all the people were gathered together and worshipping as Solomon sacrificed and prayed. It is another factor that when God's people are gathered together that revival of God's glory have come. It is not on the individual, except in rare occasions, it is upon the people gathered together. Thsi is the Lord's day and His people are assembled. No doubt, I fear that many will gather for wrong reasons but look at every gathering as a possible moment for His mercy to descend. For His glory to fill the people and the house and that we would say, 'There has never been a day like this'. How would we rejoice if I came back to sit and write at the close of the day and say, 'He has come'. may we worship Him in prayer and thoughts and meditations, "For He is good and Hismercy endureth for ever." may we pray for and seek with watchful eyes when He shall show forth His mighty hand and send His glory to fill the place.

I Chronicles 21:1

"And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel."

Not much has been mentioned throughout the Bible in our last several books about Satan. We are introduced to him in Genesis, in the garden. But since then we see his hand at work but little reference to him. Now we have Israel fulfilling the two aspects of the covenant that God made with Abraham, Issac and Jacob. 1. Their children will be as the stars of the sky or the sand on the seashore; 2. The promised land , this has been fulfilled under David. No wonder Satan now arises to thwart the blessings of God. He comes to attack David, the man after God's own heart. And to attack Israel, the people of God. Don't ever think you are safe from his hand. Remember I Peter 5:8, "your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour." Christians walk around as if they have nothing to worry about because they are nestled in a safe haven of grace and salvation. And I do believe in eternal security and the power of God to keep us. However, I also am fully aware of Satan's desire when he cannot have us is to limiit and disarm us for service to God. All of us, sinner's saved by grace, are unworthy to be used and led by God and Satan wants to make the most of that. In the other account of this story, we learned that Israel had sinned and God moved to judge them through David's action of counting the people. I thnk there ismuch to consider here and weigh in regards to a nation, the act of sin and the consquences and how God allows and permits Satan to move against the Lord's own. Here is the way of man: God's people had sinned, what was their sin? It was a nation not a person, how much greater the weight of sin and the repercussions of sin? God cannot be present when sin is, we know this, "He will not look upon sin"; So when we have sin, we are replacing God from ruling and reigning over our life. This is the law of the universe, when something vacates a position or place it must be filled with something else, there cannot be a vacum of emptiness. Therefore, if God is removed from first priority then who replaces Him, either Satan or self. Now when Satan is in control he will tempt us to sin and work vigorously to cause us to sin. Unless we abide in Christ moment by moment then we are allowing for Satan to be present. If Israel sinned, then God was removed from His Divine provision and protection as any nation is once they crosss the threshhold of abominations against His Divine will and plan. Now Satan is allowed by God (for God cannot tempt us) to come against His people. He came against David and led David to rise up and count the people knowing that this would provoke God to judge the sin of David and Israel. How many times in history has God been withdrawn because of the sin of the people and the leaders and Satan exploded the sin so that God would have to judge the actions. Every empire that has existed throughout history is a demonstration of this. There is the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians and the Romans. I hestitate to put the US in this realm for the simple cause of these empires were weighed in the balances and found wanting and God destoryed them. The US has not been destroyed yet, even though, we are closely getting ready to cross the line of abomination. And then what will we do? We should learn the lesson of David here, he repented and waited upon the Lord for His mercy. Judgment on the sin - yes; price to be paid - yes; mercy and restoration for the people of God - yes. we should learn through this passage that Satan will always being coming against us. Therefore, we should never make a path or means for him to tempt and allure us away from the Lord. Guard against the sins of the flesh, the eyes, the pride in the heart, selfish ambitions, unbelief, lack of compassion, lack of prayer and on and on it goes for he will use any one of our sins to lead us to where David went. And what about our leaders and the nation, we must pray and speak the truth of their actions for they do not know about this spiritual world that goes on daily. When you look at Scripture and you see the times Satan was mentioned it is a constant place of him accusing and tempting us. We will never be safe until home in heaven. But we are here right now, for such a time as this. So that as Satan accuses the US before the Lord he has much toa ccuse us of, but may we pray and fight against the workers of hell and labor for righteousness in Christ our blessed Redeemer. So that when God hears our prayers and shows mercy upon us and revival falls, all the works of Satan will be washed away by the b lood of the Lamb. We get so busy and distracted by the world that we forget what is really going on, remember and ask the Lord for direction and protection against such times.

I Chronicles 17:23

"Therefore now, Lord, let the thing that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant and concerning his house be established for ever, and do as thou hast said."

What can I say of this verse and this praise of David, it makes the heart and soul explode with worship of God. Look at what God has said in this passage of promise to David and how David responds to the Lord with adoration and praise and thanksgiving. Oh, what wonders God can do and as David said, 'this was a small thing' to Him, Who is wondrous. And my fear and aggravation in the midst of God's people comes on the heels of prayer. I do not hear or know a lot of people who truly worship the Lord. In the last few years of 'going deeper' in the prayer life, only now do I begin to understand what it is to worship in prayer. Only now do I begin to appreciate the worship of the angelic hosts around the throne of God in Revelations. And little I was taught and demonstrated on worship of God. how I pray constantly for God to teach me how to pray and worship Him. For He is worthy and how little it is done. But let us look first at this passage and how this develops and opens an opportunity to us to see in our own life God at work. David was moved in his spirit to do something for the Lord. After all God had been faithful to him and he recognized God's hand in his life. Do you see God's hand in your life? How He has provided, saved, moved and watched over you? It is everywhere but how little we see or appreciated what God has done. I believe it was a holy desire breathed into him to build the house of the Lord. As he sat on his throne and considered the wondrous works of God, he noticed the kings house he dwelt in and he knew the Lord was greater than him. But the Lord's place was a temple of tents and animal skins and cloth. At that moment David wanted to build a great house for the Lord above man's homes and make it something great in all the earth. Nathan the prophet gives permission without seeking the counsel of the Lord. that night the Lord speaks to Nathan and tells him to go and tell David that he cannot build Him a house. And even though it was a great idea David would not be the one to build it. I can almost imagine that David upon getting the word from Nathan to go ahead that David being very industrious stayed up all night, laying at the plans and dimensions of this temple. Only in the morning to find out he could not build it. How his heart must have sank when he learned that the blood on his hands prohibited this deed to be done. His life was now brought before him. But then something greater from the Lord is promised and spoke of, his future generations. David's children will be blest by the Lord and his son will build the temple. And David will always have a promise from God about future generations. I wonder how many really think upon this. Some parents are awed at the birth of the child and they consider a life is now their responsibility, others think nothing but a chore has been added to them. but dear Christian, consider what God can do not only in our life time but future generations. I do not think much of our energy should be laid to this, for what if the Lord returns tomorrow? But I think it should be surrendered unto Him that His holy will be done for the next generations. In this life, most live for today and for themselves. This is a sin that has greater repercussions than we really want to consider. But David wasn't seeking for it but God gave it. This is the greatness of God. I not only surrender my life but lives of my chidlren and all my future generation that the will of the Lord be done in them even though I will never know them. This is a work of faith to trust God and believe in God that He will do as He hast said. For God cannot lie and He is faithful to His promises. David knew this and anchored himself in what God had said about his life and the life of his family. How many parents get involved to 'fix the problem'; rule and dictate the lives of their chidlren and never consider to let the Lord 'do as He hast said'. Do we really believe the will of the Lord can be done if we control and arrange? Somebody will say, what if they are lost? David already answered this in II Samuel 23:5, and even though I will not write it all out now, know that David believed God to have His perfect will done, 'even though they be not so with God'. Yet 'God hast said' and that is enough for any child of God. Now back to my heart desire with this. If this does not fill your heart with wonder that God know our future generations and that a faith trusts God for those things not seen. It overloads my mind and heart with the goodness of God. That despite my sins, my failures as a husband, as a father, as a son, God has said, 'Trust Me"; and I will answer, "In You will I trust; for there is none like You, O God." Count the ways of the Lord, know His promises, consider His wondrous works and let worship flow from your soul and heart. Howlittle this is done and practiced in the church life and in the individual mediatation time. I have watched and listened to many a prayer leader and how they forced some method of prayer in worship. And not that the method was bad, a matter of fact, it was good. But the leader was only giving lip service and not truly considering the wondrous works of God. True worhsip comes from the heart that is over running, "My cup runneth over". Now when was the last time you saw and experienced a Christian speak or pray or sing or preach or teach and their cup was running over. In most cases, tears of joy come with that. They cannot speak enough of how good God is to them, this was what David felt and was expressing here in this passage. And I believe that there are very few Christians today who know nothing of this. And even though many if not all Christians will say, "He is worthy of our praise", they do not know how to express it or experience it. First, 'Consider the wondrous works of God'; name them and spell them out; second, recognize we deserve none of this blessings; third, express to God what He has saide about Himself and what He has promised from the Scriptures, "Thou hast said it"; lastly, ask God to give you a spirit of praise and worship from Him, His Holy Spirit, not your own feelings or the leadings of some textbook on worship, let it come fromthe heart and soul of a truly thankful servant of the Lord. Help me, O God, to honor You for 'Thou hast said it' and You are wothy of all praise and glory in this life and in the generations to come may they be faithful unto You; all that I am and all that I ever shall be You know, and I surrender all unto You, Who is worthy.

I Chronicles 9:20

"And Phinehas the son of Elezar was the ruler over them in time past, and the Lord was with him."

Coming through the first 10 chapters of I Chronicles has always been a complaint among the church. The 'so and so begat' section seems dry and boring to most. Therefore, it is needful to see what God wants us to see upon every page, upon evey line and in every word. We are retold in this section of the chidlren of Levi. Now the priests and the teachers of the law had failed in their duties and responsiblities and the children of Israel sinned. Had they done their job there would have been mentioned those that stood as the prophets to declare the truth and the right way, but little is mentioned on this at all. It seems from Scripture you could argue that the Levites fell into sin with the rest of Israel, like Aaron when he made the golden calf but worshipped the Lord. This is a double standard that still plagues God's people. We will serve the Lord, but we will also serve the world and our selves. This standard is not acceptable unto the Lord. The world is enemity against God and no good thing dwells in our flesh. When a man steps out to decry the world of its sin and separate himself for the work of the Lord there is a mark God places upon him. God knows the heart of those that believe and those that will stand up for His standards. And during the days of Israel being int he wilderness under Aaron and Moses, Phinehas steps up as one of those and we read of God's blessing upon him in Exodus as well as here again in I Chronicles. Who is the Lord with? Many would answer, "those that are saved"; and that would be true enough, accept this means something more deeper than the Lord knows His own. For most the Lord is known to many but He is not with them as we read here. The Lord is with them that fear Him and love Him and are serving Him. Many christians today are trapped in sin and live like the devil, I am sorry to say. The Lord cannot be with them that are astray from Him. The sin must be corrected and purged and then the Lord will return upon them. The church today has not understood this. When sin is openly practiced in the church the Lord isnot with them, He has departed and the church is like Ichabod. Searching inside ourselves today, let us see what is present that quenches, grieves, and resists His Holy Spirit. Is He with me or not? Am I with Him? The Lord was with Phinehas because Phinehas was with Him. A nation, a church, a family, or an individual person comes to the place of being for Hima or against Him. Phinehas made up his mind to serve and know the Lord and we must follow that example if the Lord is to be with us. There are clear sights that the Lord is with a person. There is answer to prayers. There is constant growing in the things of God (produced by the Holy Spirit). There is a state of perpetual yearning for the Spirit of God to be active and present in our thoughts, actions and plans of daily activities. A danger to consider is when the Lord is not with us but we justify our position because of the promise "i will never leave thee or forsake thee'. God is omnipresent and God is constant in every fiber of time and existence ( our minds cannot comprehend this). So is with us in presence but do not confuse Him being present with us with Him being 'with him' in blessings, strength, teaching, filling and the other gifts from God out of His promise to 'draw nigh to Him and He will draw nigh to us'.

II Kings 23:25

"And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according ot all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him."

What shall we say? Just a few chapters ago we were agonizing over the sin of Israel and the destruction that befell them and now we have a wonderful example of righteous and faithful in Josiah. Knowing that when you are coming through your Bible readings and you come to the king Josiah you will say to yourselve, "This is a man that loves the Lord". What a testimony of him, 'there was none like him before or after'. Oh, that we may find such men today that will consecrate themselves unto the Lord. Josiah having an example of evil before him with his father and all the sins of Manaseh lingering around, but look what God does in the midst of this evil. He brings a child into the world for such a time as this to cleanse the land before the judgment falls. Now whether there is any significance inthat, that Josiah cleansed the land of Israel and Judah before God destroyed and carried them off, we could spend quite a while in discussion over that. But let us focus on Josiah and his labor of love for the Lord. He imparted himself to serve and obey the Lord. It began when the book of the law was found in the temple, the priests brought it to him and they read it. Upon hearing the Word of the Lord, he humbled himself and knew what anger the Lord had toward the people. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of the Lord. Some hear the Word but there is no response and no follow through to make things right in the sight of the Lord. Josiah put ot work the people to make things right. Everybody discusses what is wrong with our nation, but have you ever sat still and considered what it would look like if a people cleaned everything up and restored the things of God to priority? The work would be vast but must be thorough. God honored Josiah because he not only humbled himself but he resolved to do something about it. There are many that confess and their heart is broken but never does the course of life change for them. There may even be repentance in a few things but never the whole man. the old phrase used to be, "Sold out for Jesus'. the leading of confession to consecration is necessary. And when consecration is at hand, the Spirit filled life is not far behind. Great things can be done by the workers of God when they yield themselves to the work as Josiah did. It could be said of us,'there was none like him before or after'. Here we are O Lord, cleanse us, impart the fullness of Thy Holy Spirit and let us be the vessels You want us to be for Your glory.

II Kings 17:14

"Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe inthe Lord their God."

When you become familar with the Bible in reading it, you will learn to have great joy over some passages and learn to yearn over others. This chapter 17 of II Kings is one that when you come to it, it causes fears and tears. For it is the account of the desturction of Israel and being taken away to captivity. God, Who had been so merciful and worked wondrously on their behalf in bringing them up from Egypt, now worked wondrously in their destruction. It should make us stop and consider where we are in our own life and the life of our nation. WE should put our hands over our mouth because we gasp at that which was and that which shall be. Those that cry day and night of God's intercessors, blessed be the intercessor who pours out all they are for the chidlren of men. When you consider the road that led to the destruction of Israel you see we are on the same road and headed in the same path. The only difference is that here in chapter 17 they were removed from the land, we have not been, yet. But no doubt if the Lord severs us out of this land of prosperity and comfort how shall the people live? If war ever comes to this land or collapse of the moderinzation which we enjoy, I believe people will collapse into chaos and frail under the weight of it. But why will such destruction come? In the verse, see the path of their destruciton - "they would not hear - they hardened their necks - they would not believe"; these three traits are found in mass quanity today among us. I will not refer to these three traits among the lost, even though, that be true of them. But the worst of this truth is that it is among the church today. I witness it among my own and hear it constantly from others of all different denominations of the proof of these among Christians. Young people have developed a paticular ear to what they want to hear and what they choose to hear. I think it has been consistent throughout the ages of young people wanting to learn and do for themselves. But I think this society creates such a fraction between parents and children and between authority and those growing up. There is a wave arising of those that refuse to listen to anything. Chidlren do not obey their parents. And again, you might say that is to be expected, but not among the brethern. Lack of discipline and routine in lives creates this chaos among families. It is hard enough when a family is divided, one saved and the other lost, but when all are supposedly saved and they have worse problems than the lost. It is because they will not hear. Those that come to seek counsel from pastors and the spiritual laity, and they listen but they stiffen their necks against the truth and reject. They only sought after someone to listen to them complain and agree with them that they have a right to sin and do what they are compelled today. The Word of God is not to be juggled at convenience but to be lived daily. Pride and vanity of self is the root cause of such hardening of the necks. Without a spirit of revival to humble the saints and sinners no change will come. This is one of the biggest problems among us, pride and vanity is dominate. And lastly, 'they will not believe'; I believe more and more this is taught among the brethern. Self preservation and worldly means to secure our existence and sustaining our way has taken away from having faith in the Lord. There is a remnant that has not fallen prey to this sin of disobedience. But when you press people what they want from the Lord and what they do in their lives they have no faith and the promises of the Bible from God are like fairy tales to them. They have abandoned the God Who is all to the child of God, and He has become the God of troublous times. Oh, we are so close to the destruction of Israel patterned in our daily life, may God's mercy be extended that we may see revival and a change in the church to save the lost of this generation and the genreations to come if He tarries.

II Kings10:4

"How then shall we stand?"

Jehu had slain the king of Israel and Judah and wanted these leaders to set one of the sons of Ahab on the throne so he could fight with them. The men of city of Jezreel were fearful and knew that if these two experienced kings could not stand before him then a young king would have little or no chance, and thus the question posed in our verse. But the church and each Christian needs to ask this question and find an answer. The church today might boast of its standing but I see very little to boast about. I have heard most of my life the tales and possibilities that lie before us. That the US has enough resources, money and people alone to evangelize the world, but we don't. How are we standing? On our own merits, our own means and methods, our own strength. It can never be that we make a stand or stand in definace to the ways of the world by our own strength. But if our are to stand, it is to stand unto the Lord. Whether we fall or stand it is unto the Lord. For the only reason that I have ability to stand is because out of His mercy and power He has given me strength to do so. If God says, "let his strength cease" How then can I stand? I have no power or means. All is focused then on God. From Him is where we will learn to stand in His grace, strength and mercy. But found within the self life there is the root of the flesh that has pride, "look at what I can do"; "look at me and what I have accomplished"; self rules and self seeks glory and honor - it is the sin of pride. We understand this morning that these men could do nothing and we are no difference, we stand by the hand of the Lord. Now if we have understood this and confessed and repented of self then our faith can wax strong inHim. "Having done all to stand" to believe in Him and what He has promised unto us the wait upon Him. The miracel of walking on water isn't so despairing for us if we understand and believe that He upholds us. But in the heart of it, this is our problem, we don't believe. As Christian was walking in Pilgrim's Progress, his two friends were Great faith and Little Faith. Which do you have today? Oh, that we would learn to grown in our faith of Him Who makes us to stand. Then why do so many Christians fall and falter? Because they forget Who allows and helps them to stand. Our worship time each day must be on Him Who is worthy. Coutning His mercies and provisions that helps us to stand even though we are surrounded by the enemy. One of David's mighty men, when all else ran and fled, stood his ground and won the battle. Wherein did he find strength to stand against the multitude? The Lord gave Him courage and helped him to stand. If you would stand in the face of sin, persecution, ridicule and you are seeking for strength to stand, then look to Him. All things needful to stand in this world come from Him. How little we understand this and how little it is practiced. I believe that the great saints of old learned that they stood or fell at His choosing, they sought Him for strength, wisdom and zeal to serve Him best for His glory. There was no self promotiona or self help it was from the Lord and unto the Lord. if you would have true of you, you must learn to die to self and seek Him for it. Lay aside all false helps and lean upon Jesus.

II Kings 7:2

"Behold, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this thing be?"

The servant of the king of Israel made this comment after the man of God had prophesied as to what the Lord was going to do. Not a favorable response considering that all things are possible with God. But this servant and those with him had been cornered in this city and famine was upon the city. We can read it was so desperate that even two mothers had made a pact to eat their children. Do we know any thing of this type of hunger? Now the situation was dire and the people had not sought the Lord. The servant of the Lord, Elisha, had sought Him and received this word of hope and blessing. And upon hearing this word of hope, this servant, instead of rejoicing, slanders the word of the Lord. So he received his punishment for unbelief by saying that he would see it but not partake of it, and it came to pass exactly that way. Where is our fault today in the church and in the live of the believer? We do not believe. Our faith is weak and pathetic and we doubt God for the very things in which we ask Him for. The church today is trying every work of man and leaning away from the faith that can feed a city over night. Why do we not believe? We pray with sin in our life and wonder why our prayers are not answered. We have forgotten Psalm 66:18, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." Yet we keep on praying (saying idle words) instead of confessing and renewing our vows unto Him. People pray for a while and then they lose heart, they grow doubtful and they discern that it was a waste of time to pray for nothing happened. They have forgotten the word to be patient and not grow weary. And others have prayed amiss and asked for their own selfish needs and wants and nothing for the glory of God. They have not received and therefore conclude that God is not present and doesn't hear nor will answer them. What of you? Do you believe? Are you discouraged or lacking in faith? God is moving people, a small group, to stay before Him, day and night and they will not be silent. this small group believes that God can open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing the like of which we cannot receive. This may be that very day for His glory. And in any of this great works of answered prayer, God is the only one that could have done it. This way, man does not receive the glory only God. If at anytime we say, 'look at what I did', we take the glory away from Him. We should say, "look at what God hath done". In this story, look at what God hath done, He opened the windows of heaven and provided in abundance and He will do so for us.

I Kings 21:20

"Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee: because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord."

The story of Naboth and Jezebel and her evil work to give the pouting Ahab what he wanted. I remember earlier days of reading some of the great sermons of old and familarizing myself with them. One of those sermons was Dr. R. G. Lee from Memphis, Tenn and the sermon was entitiled, "Payday Someday". Ahab and Jezebel moved and worked and acted as if God did not see or know what was going on. I wonder how many today, move day by day through their motions of life and never consider that God is watching. would it make them act any different if they knew? No. Now to the church, would they act any different? I would like to think that the child of God does know this truth and does respond differently in their daily purusits. But needless to say, God sends Elijah to decalre the Word of the Lord to Ahab. And here is his response upon seeing Elijah, 'Hast thou found me, o mine enemy?" Was he his enemy? Yes. One of the misunderstandings among believers today is that they think the world is their best friend. We forget the Word that says the world is enemity against God. You cannot rub shoulders with the world and be holy in the presence of God. "Separate yourself"; "Come out from among them"; "What business does light and darkness have together" and on and on. But Elijah answered correctly here, "I am your enemy only because you have sought to be the enemy of God." Why was God's enemy? Because he worked evil in His sight. Identifying and understanding this principle is needful. But Elijah was the man of God and held his relationship with Ahab in proper perspective. Men of God today, preachers I am talking about, act as they need to be 'one of the boys' to win them. We have cheapened the great work of salvation to be a man made thing instead of a God empowered work. God does the saving not men and their ways. "No man can come to the Father apart from the Spririt drawing him". Can a person be saved apart from the Spirit bringing conviction, awareness of the their lostness and the need of salvation through Christ? No. The man of God is to declare the truth and live the example before the eyes of men. And know full well that when you live like God wants you to live they will say of you, your family and friends, "hast thou found me, o my enemy". I learned a verse early when the Lord was dealing with me for the ministry. Oh, how I wish that all the verses that God has given me I would have yielded and attained unto instead of sinning and failing so often. But the verse was found in Galatians 1, "For to I persuade men or God, or do i seek to please men; for if I pleaased men then I should not be the servant of God" Let the childe of God get ahold of that and not let go. We are not to be friends with the world to win the world; we are to be a friend of God and let God use us to win the world. For how can we win them unless the Spirit of God abides upon us? O God, sweep away their refuge of lies and let us live Thy holy Truth for Your glory and honor.

I Kings 13:28

"And he went and found his carcase cast in the way, and the ass and the lion standing by the carcase: the lion had not eaten the carcase, nor torn the ass."

The lion, the donkey and young prophet, all three huddled together. What does this say to us? For many a person passing by will look on and say,'This is an unusal sight'. Others may say, "Something is not right with this picture". But only to those that know the story leading up to this unusal event will say, "Look what God hath done." God had sent the young prophet, from Judah, up to Bethel to prophesy against the false altar of Jeroboam. His purpose was to prophesy against and get back to Judah, and not to stop and eat or drink water there and not to return the same way in which he went up. This young prophet, no doubt, full of zeal and passion in paying attention to the Word of the Lord fulfilled all. He came and prophesied, he put Jeroboam in his place, and left another way than that which he came. He stopped to rest but did not eat or drink. Then why this unusal scene of the lion, the mule and his dead carcase? Because another prophet, who lived in Bethel, who was old and had kept his mouth shut at the sins of Jeroboam heard from his sons what this young prophet had done. And the spirit of pride and jealousy came into him and set about to destroy him for his own guilt. He pursued after the young prophet and found him and lied to him and told him that the angel of the Lord had told him that he was to return with himto Bethel and eat and drink. The young prophet, no doubt, taught from a young age to respect his elders and give place to the grey head, listened and disobeyed the Word of the Lord. A catasrophe today in the minstry is abounding out of this same scenario. There is a minister for everything in the church. We have gotten stupid with the role of the minister. They have given every office in the church the role of minister, lest they offend someones feelings. All these roles come from vanity that people today want a title after their name or before it, and it is a sin of self-glorification. Notice that these two prophets are not mentioned by names, just referred as 'young' and 'old'. Another hazard to learn here is to whom respect is given. Now I believe in respecting your elders, but not at the cost of obeying the word of the Lord. This old prophet lied to this naive young prophet. Many a young man of God just getting into the ministry was fooled and corrupted by an old minister. Having learned the ways of the sinful they became vile themselves. It should be a prayer for the Lord to protect and keep us from sinning against Him. And today they fight over everything, old vs. young, educated vs. uneducated, rich vs. poor, talented vs. untalented, renowned name against unknown, whatever they can complain about or find fault with talk about it. It has sown a seed of disunity among the brethern and the spirit of complaining is everywhere. Don't give place ot man or their ways just to the Lord. The tragedy here is that the one who passes by this scene and knows the why, says about the lion, the mule and dead carcase, "If he only would have obeyed the word of the Lord". Not one person is alive today and going today without the hand of mercy and grace of God, we all owe Him everythings. The attacks of Satan, the world and our flesh will pull us away fromHim, Who loves us. We must vigilant in our purusit to follow on the course that He has set for us. Disobedience abounds today because of the worldly, fleshly spirit in the church. The things that would keep us pure and undefiled are forsaken and our best friend will betray us in a moment. 'Trust not in family, or a friend,b ut trust in the Lord". The old prophet did the deed of lying and betraying the young prophet, but the young prophet should have obeyed the Word of the Lord. Who are you listening to? Who are you following? The path of the Lord is right and there is no error found therein. 'As for me and my household we will serve the Lord'.

I Kings 8:61

"Let your heart therefore be perfect with the Lord our God, to walk in his statues, and to keep his commandments, as at this day."

Solomon had just finished saying the prayer over the temple. He had made a prayer for the people and the Lord to be one no matter whether calamity, sin or war tried to separate them, they would always have a place to come to, or to pray to, that God would hear and see them. And after finishing praying he rises up and blesses the people and gives this word of exhortation to them. Laced throughout Scripture is this word, 'perfect'. Nobody wants to mention it, nobody wants to talk about it and nobody is interested in it, but there it is. Now one of the reasons for this lack of concern or interest is that Solomon, who makes this declaration did not live up to it. Moses, who declared it in Deuteronomy at the end of his life, did not live up to it. And Jesus, Who in Matthew 5, did live up to it. But the call and the direction is found from beginning to end. How it marvels me, the use of this word, over and and over to people who were not perfect. So maybe we need to look at the definition of the word and the use of it, rather than applying the notable meaning of 'without sin'. For most of those in the Old Testament that is said of them, "And they were perfect with the Lord", did have sin in their life. Andrew Murray did a devotional theme on this 'perfection' which does not assume to be without sin in all of one's life but to be complete in Christ. Now with that in mind we know that when salvation takes place God gives us a new heart, a new mind and the Holy spirit enters us for the work of sanctification; "Old things are passed away and all things become new". And the age old question, 'if all things become new then why do I still sin?' Old heart and old mind become quickened, made new, and this is guided by the Spirit; but the old flesh is still present and will not be made new until we enter eternity. This old flesh, born in sin, is what allows for us to sin. It is constant in weakness, lusts, selfish and compacity for evil is always in it. The inward man is made new, but the outward is still contaminated. When the outward controls the inward, you have a carnal Christian, I hate even the mention of this but the truth is before us. How can a holy church do such evil things of vanity, pride and flesh? The outward is dictating to the soul and the spirit of God. God speaks but it falls on deaf ears. God moves but there is blindness in the midst. The outward cannot percieve nor apprecaited what God is or what He is doing. Carnality is the choice of the church today. Now understand, I am not talking of the lost, they are given up to the world in all of its ways until they are born again. And if they are not born again, they die in their sins and are sentenced to punishment in hell for their active choice to reject God's perfect gift. But the church, which is saved from their sins through the blood of Christ, should know better. You may ask, what if they have not been taught? There is a lot of talk today about the absence of discipleship among the brethern. This gives place to the spirit of carnality and worldliness among the body, but there is still the Word that declares to us the truth about this call to perfection and the Holy spirit Who brings conviction upon that which is offensive and dishonoring unto the Lord. They cannot be at peace as long as sin is present. So be perfect in Him, complete in Him; for sin is present in us because of our flesh. But when a child of God is moved to prevail over the flesh, that the inward controls the outward you have a child resting, not in their own strnegth, but the power of the Holy Spirit to prevail and perfect. A child of God that gets up and seeks the Lord early; a child of God that prays in the beginning of the day, 'Let Thy will be done'; the child of God who studies the Word to gain direction and strength; the child of God who weeps over the sins of the land and their family; the child of God who longs to see souls rescued and won into the kingdom; these are the children of perfection. There may be some who read these words of mine and say, "I have it, for I do all those things'. I have observed that their be those that may do all these things and they are moving in the right direction. But it always seems their spirit of doing these is wrong. The spirit of pride, "look at what I am doing"; the spirit of self, "I do this. . .I do that" it is not about the Lord it is about them --self must die. Dear beloved, be perfect in all your ways unto the Lord, for in me (in my flesh) no good thing dwelleth. Be perfect with the Lord our God, In Christ Name, Amen.

I Kings 4:29

"And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart even as the sand that is on the sea shore."

God had come to Solomon by night and asked Solomon to ask anything he wanted from the Lord. And Solomon being overwhelmed with the responsibility of ruling the children of Israel asked for wisdom. God gave Solomon a place here on his own to see what he would truly want and Solomon did well. Have you ever considered if you were in such a place what you would have asked for? Now in response to this petition for wisdom God said He was pleased with Solomon and would grant him also riches, deliverance and long life if he walked with the Lord. Here in this verse, it is not so much the out side blessings of riches and health but the inward blessings which only God can give: wisdom, understanding and largeness of heart. Do you possess any or all these three things? We should wait before the Lord and ask for these things in our life for they are a must. And even though I would like to focus on all three I will only center in on the last one, largeness of heart. Now if you go to the doctor today and he tells you that you have an enlarged heart that is a bad thing. But when it comes to the Lord a largness of heart is a needful thing. What a difference between the physical and the spiritual. Our inner desire should be to gain this in our pursuit of the Lord. How many lack and are void of any understanding on this. Now, what is it? When you search the highways and the by ways today among Christian believers listen to what they talk about, what they have been reading and you will see the shallowness or the indepthness of their love of the Lord. A shallow Christian is one that is content for Sunday only walk with the Lord. they might read their Bible haphazardly during the week and even say a 42 second prayer each day. But this is shallow and there is no depth to it. The preacher once asked a congregation, 'Would you rather be one inch deep and one mile wide or one inch wide and one mile deep?' We know that the second one is indepthness, this is largeness of heart. There is an awareness of how little we worship, pray and seek after God and time and energy is used daily to know God. It is not in duties and service, even though, that comes out of largeness of heart. But it is focused on the quiet time of listening and waiting upon the Lord. How little this is practiced and demonstrated today. Largeness of heart is almost simultaneously working with growing faith. Faith takes root as the mustard seed and begins to grow deeper in the promises of God and experience reveals how much God is willing and able to do in daily activities. Answered prayers encourage this largeness of heart. This is not about spiritual arrogance or self righteousness but all about Who God is and what is doing in us and through us. A humble spirit recognizes the power of God over this universe and all aspects of it. You and I are known of Him and He works the details of life out of it. To believe God for more and more is growing in largeness of heart. To go deeper with a knowledge of God is largeness of heart. To glorify God more and more is largeness of heart. Until we arrive with such a largeness of heart that it is as the sands of the sea shore. Oh, for a people that would cast off the works of the flesh and the sins of the heart and know God and dwell upon His attributes and glorious deeds. Not only looking to the past and His greatness but the present day. What shall He do for me today? What shall He do for His church today? He has set into motion great things to thwart the work of hell. Do you recognize that God will save souls today? Believeing this even though we may not see it is largeness of heart. You and I will be able to rejoice in a new brother or sister in Christ by the setting of the sun today. 'All hail the power of Jesus Name' for His mercy endureth forever. And we will believe that the future years and decades, if He tarries will be governed and fill life with His presence and power. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever. O give us largeness of heart to begin to understand how great Thou art. Fill us now with a largeness of heart and keep enlarging our coasts in You.

II Samuel 24:23

"as a king, give unto the king"

David had sinned in numbering the people. And we learn that through this sin God led the events of it to secure the ground for the temple. Only problem was that a Jebusite owned the property. Now if I am not mistaken I believe that Joshua and the children of Israel were supposed to have destroyed the Jebusites and all the other -ites in the land. But we see here that the Jebusites still lived among the children of Israel. When the plague was sent to punish Israel for David numbering the people the angel came and stood over the place of Araunah. God in His mercy stayed the hand of the angel from destroying any more. He sent he prophet Gad to David to secure the land and offer an offering unto the Lord as an atonement. Now as David came to purchase the land and get ready for the offering this verse unfolds unto us, "As a king, give unto the king". There is a great similarity for us in this phrase. Are we not childre of the king? has He not made us kings and priest unto Himself? The old hymn, declares it, "I am a child of the king". But in this act Araunah acted as a king in position an dpower to provide. I would ask you today what does your actions say of you? Do you give to those less fortunate? Do you set an example that if all acted and behaved as you did the Lord would be honored and glorified? We should realize Who's we are and what we are and act accordingly. We are not of this world have no business acting as the beggars of the streets. Our conversation, thoughts, habits and motions of everyday life should reflect a 'kingly' attitude. Now in some people's minds they might look at a king as authoritative or mean. But that is not the lesson demonstrated by this Jebusite, and neither should it be ours. We are to be like our king Jesus and we should reflect Him in all our ways, not just some of our ways. the market gimmick a few years ago from Charles Sheldons book, "In His Steps", was 'what would Jesus do'. They took that and did the opposite of what Jesus would have done. They acted more like bank robbers than Christ like kings. But the question int hat book is relative to this thought, if we know about Jesus and what He did, and is doing and will do then we should be as Him. learn from Jesus and examine your life to demonstrate as a king unto our King.

II Samuel 11:27

"But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord."

Adultery and murder had just be done by David, the man after God's own heart. He had sinned, grossly sinned and in much conniving. In this day and age it is nothing to hear of such evil plans and actions of deception, murder and betrayal. But we have a line drawn that we do not expect such things from God's children. What we forget is that Romans 6 is true of all, saved and unsaved, 'no good thing dwells in the flesh'. The flesh is the agressor and enemy of our walk with the Lord. The flesh is what is so often displeasing unto the Lord. Consider it, most of the sins that we confess and list come from the weakness of the flesh. The flesh is what is led away from God and the will breaks down and yields to the sin. We make an active choice to sin, we choose sin over God. David looked upon Bathsheba and lusted, and then proceeded to commit adultery then murder. He spiraled in one fell swoop away from God and plunged into the depths of displeasure unto the Lord. Listen to most Christians today and they are sinking in the ' slough of despondeceny'. That which puts them stuck in a pit of slime, usually of their own making. Oh how this displeases the Lord that instead of being delivered we are trapped and stuck in a rut. Search the ways of the church today and see if we please Him or displease Him. What would He say if spoke to us today about our worship and service? Now is God not honest, He cannot lie therefore, He will speak the truth to His people and has always done so. And at the end of our days when we stand before Him, we will hear the words of "Well done, thou hast pleased me'; but God is not going to say that to those that have not been pleasing to Him. We should strive today to make the changew while we still have time. if we know that we are displeasing Him then change, repent of it and confess it and make the needed change. Our status is normally, procrastination, 'we will attend unto that tomorrow'. To much has been lost in time and opportunity we cannot afford to lose any more. Apply yourself today to please Him in all things. Does God not see and know of your thoughts, actions and routines? Are they pleasing or displeasing unto Him? A Christian is displeasing unto the Lord when the Word is neglected, the tears are dry upon the eyes, the prayer chamber is gathering spider webs and the churches are inactive and weak with unbelief. we should search this day to acknowledge and identify the places where we displease Him and make the change. David did make the change. when nathan came and condemned him, he acknowledged his sin and confessed. God is rich in mercy forgave him and spared his life. The child of God that nevers considers whether they are pleasing to Him or displeasing is not truly a child of God. They have been deceived. For a child that is displeasing unto the Lord will have to ackowledge their sin and failure. The Holy Spirit will not leave them alone when they are displeasing. Oh, to find a people today that grieve over displeasing the Lord. They walk carefully, mindful of every turn in a day that their enenmy is waiting for them to cause them to be displeasing unto Him Who loved us. Tender is their eye towards the lost, toward the sinful plight of nations and they cry out for God to show Himself strong to redeem for they know that the earth is full of them that displease Him. How vast is the count of those that are alive today that displease Him. Let us not be named among them dear brethern!

II Samuel 10:12

"Be of good courage, and let us play the men for our people, and for the cities of our God: and the Lord do that which seemeth him good."

Joab was facing a battle unlike any that he had faced before, the enemy was before him and behind him. Many of life's difficulties come against us in such a manner. But Joab did not sink away from it nor fear to face what seemed like unsurmountable odds, he encouraged himself. Assurance in God, faith, is the means for such encouragement. Another example of great faith and encourgament for this passage is found in Foxes' Book of Matyrs. There in that book two saints were facing be burned at the stake, Dr. Ridley and Bishop Lattimer. And as they are getting ready to set them on fire the one looks at the other to encourage and says, "Let us play the men". Gasp for breath during such moment dear child of God, for there is none like it. What do we know of such faith under such circumstances? We know nothing of hazarding our lives for the sake of the Gospel. But there are brothers and sisters in other parts of this world that are surroundede before and behind and are in need of our prayers and support to "Play the man". The kingdom is under attack and evil is spreading faster than our great Gospel because we have cowards and lazy men and women that will not 'play the man'. Here we are today to consider the great God that we serve and as he delivered Joab and the men of Israel so He is able to deliver us and to succour us unto Himself. Know this statemtn today and what it should mean toyou in such times of affliction and hardships. Record it in your Bible and refer to it. Pray for the spirit of it to be bold for the Gospel's sake and to fight the Lord's battle with passion and zeal. Gather together with other brothers and sisters and do that which the Lord has saved us unto to. "play the man" in season and out of season and rest in the Lord for His mercies fail not. Where lies your courage dear brother or sister? How great a faith to you hold onto? In your own selves it will fail; faith in others will falter and fade away; but faith in the Lord is needfrula nd suffecient for the day. Oh, what a statment and a joy for my heart this day as I labor for Him in the house of the Lord.

I Samuel 25:39

"And hath kept his servant from evil"

This is a question of just what you believe about the power and ability of God. David knew that in this chapter Abigail had been sent to him to sway him away from killing Nabal. Had Abigail not come and interceded I believe David would ahve gone on and killed all of them. But God in His wondrous ways of deliverance and preserving made a way to keep David from sinning in such a manner. And note, that this is not the only place in Scripture that tells us of th epower of God to keep His children of sin. But it only need take one verse to make it absolute truth and we have multiple verses to secure this. So here we are now, with a wonderful verse of God keeping His servant from sinning and the servant recognizing that God was behind it. Do you recognize the pwoer of God in your life? I believe that God gives unusual strength to overcome temptation; I believe that God puts people in our lifes to keep us from sin; I believe that there are life experiences that shape and mold us to keep us from sin; I believe that there are Bible verses given to keep us from sin. You may see that there is not just one way that God uses or allows for us to gain strength from, but many avenues are at our disposal to keep from sinning. Now truly we should remind ourselves, God never intended for us to sin. We are to be like Him, holy and without sin. "Be ye perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect". One verse in Deuteronomy and one in Matthew tells us of God's desire for us to be without sin. However, we know that with the fall of Adam and Eve, it is now meshed into the makeup of our flesh that we have the capacity to sin. And how easy is it to sin? You don't have to do anything and you sin, just lay around in the bed all day and you have the sin of sloth. And you haven't even done anything. You don't have to believe one thing and you have sin, for believeing in nothing or anything is the sin of unbelief. It is very easy to sin. Recognizing Satan knows this adds to the hardship to keep from sinning. Hardship? Yes, hardship; for no Christian desires to sin at any point. It is a deception by people when they say things like, "Everybody sins so just get used to it"; "oh, don't let that bother you everybody sins". "You know you are going to sin but jsut don't do the bad ones". What are people saying when they think and say such things? They are saying that these verse that talk about deliverance from sin are not what they want. They want an excuse to sin. They are easing their consciousness to sin. It is God's desire to not sin and therefore He has made a way to keep us from sin. Any Christian that lowers the level of holiness to permit sin has sinned and is in great jeoparady of being rebuked by God. God's hand was upon David and is upon us as His people to keep us from sin. If we would recognize this more in our daily life things would be different. Instead of getting up in the morning and going through our activities with the thought and idea that we are going to sin don't worry about it. And think more along God's way that God is going to keep me from sinning today, He has made a way. Holiness would return unto His people and the church. We need to stop excusing sin and let these verses take us to where God wants us. May you make a daily prayer of what David recognized here, God will keep you from evil. But if you cannot believe this, then confess that unto the Lord honestly, 'God you have said' and God Who cannot lie will do all that He has promised. Believest thou this? I know that you believe or you desire to believe it, then let God do what God wants to do in your life; in you and through you for His glory.

I Samuel 23:27-28

"But there came a messenger unto Saul, saying, Haste thee, and come; for the Philistines have invaded the land. Wherefore Saul returned from pursuing after DAvid, and went against the Philistines: therethey called that place Selahammahlekoth."

Selahammahlekoth - one commentary defines it as the 'rock of division';

I do determine this to be a 'rock of division'; a rock (or divider) between good and evil and holy and unholy. Look upon this story and see our own existnece and plight found therein. David has had to run for his life from the evil spirit of Saul. David is fleeing to preserve his life and the Lord has added an army unto him of those like minded and in the same fate. Differnent places reveal that Saul learns of where David is holding up and purusues after him to kill him. Note the evil spirit of jealousy from Saul and how that has maintained and grown more uglier since David slew Goliath. You can note the evil spirits around you and in you that if you do not take care of these things before the Lord they will grow into a hideous monster. Saul's evil spirit of jealousy has grown to the place of only one resort, kill DAvid. Now the devil marks where we are and pursues after us, just as Saul did. We rest in the faith of deliverance through all such attempts. Here Saul comes on one side of the hill and David is fleeing on the other side to get away. It is not always necessary for direct offensive attack. David is fleeing; just as Joseph fled from the adulterous advances of Potiphar's wife. Peter warns us flee from warring lusts, how fast can you run? Understand as David did, your life is in danger, your very existence is hanging in the balance, flee good man, good woman and don't be a fool like Lot's wife and look behind you. I watch runners look behind them in races to see who is coming, don't ever do that! When you look back you lose momentum and direction of where you are and where you are going, it is a distraction. Look ahead and keep that, "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith'; The rock of division - division of holy and unholy; Saul was evil and an evil spirit of God was upon him; David was good and the Spirit of God was upon him. What spirit lies upon you? Which side of the rock of division are you on? There is one right and one wrong. Choose which you will be. And just because you say to me that you are on the side of good and holy does not mean that you are on that side. is there sin in your life? The spirit of lust, pride, a loose tongue, TV, secular music, secular magazines, vain conversation, sloth of time and unbelief, here in is the evil spirit. Dare not say you are holy if these things abide. To be holy is to be without sin, '"Be ye holy as God is holy". Put these things away from you by the blood of Christ and abiding in Him and let the Spirit of holiness cover you and fill you. Remember and see that there is huge difference in the rock of division, between Saul and David, from evil to good and from holy to unholy.

I Samuel 10:2

"What shall I do for my son?"

To me, coming across a verse like this hits home. I have heard and seen many a parent wondering about their child. they have left home; they have left the Lord; they are in sin. And a parent knows that trouble is coming. A phone call in the middle of the night; arrested; disease; trouble with the law or someother difficulty. This question was Saul's father, for he had left care of the sheep that he had sent Saul after and now was concerned for his son's safety and well being. I have met some parents that they do not care for their chidlren in such a manner. They allow them to face evil and surround themselves with evil and never think about it. They let them 'live life' in order to gain experience and never consider the consquences. You don't have to send chidlren out into the world to experience and learn about sin; sin comes easy enough. What shall we do for our chidlren? Pray, for God Almighty is able to do all things, and do them well. do you have enough faith, parent? Now I am not saying just pray and not control the life of your children at home. It is something else when they are grown and gone but while they are at home, you have control. Unless your home is completely chaos. turn to the Lord with a committment to teach, instruct, talk with, pray over and with and lead them into the ways of the Lord. Most parents have failed here and hoped that the one or two hours of church a week would be enough to shape them. Look at the realization of this, two hours versus almost a 100 hours of worldliness. In common sense, what has the greater weight? Now God only needs a minute to change a life for an lifetime, but the responsiblity to move and work in a person's life is or should be with the power of God. Oh, how this genreation of parents have failed in rearing their children in fear of the Lord. No wonder the latest percentages are that in the toddler ages when they become 18 years old only 4% will remain in church. We are losing an entire genereation unless parents get serious about, "What shall I do for my son?" Parents seem to weep to alte, instruct too late; seek direction too late; always after the damage is done. new parents want everything right and then 6 months into it, settle back into another way of or the old way of life and quickly depart. Maintaining the place of God in a parents life is a witness unto the child and too those round about. To seize every moment in the Lord to instruct or talk about the things of God with them is necessary. "What about my son?" We are losing them and their needs to be a change now before it is too late.

Ruth 2:12

"The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be ginven thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust."

What a promise is offered here unto the faithful servant of the Lord. May you hold the promises of God before you and remember the God Who offers these promises cannot lie. Is the Lord able to do this? Give a full reward? He is able to do all things. what kind of reward is to be given? It is enough for a child of God to hear the words, "Well done"; but oru Father in heaven and our beloved Savior is not stingy but is willing to grant rewards here in this life as well as those that shall be given in heaven. We hold little regard to rewards here because of false teachers and preachers that have tainted this message. And those that are earthly usually are only fixed on monetary reward. But there are so much more that God offers to us in this present day. We sing the old song (in some churches) 'count your many blessings" These are a portion of rewards when we consider that God has offered to us these blessings. Family, possessions to enjoy and use for His glory, answered prayers - we lose sight of that which is needful in prayer. answered prayers give to us the means of knowig the God hears us and answers us. As God speaks from His throne and declares, "So let it be granted" this is a reward to the faithful servant persistently praying for the kingdoms' work. Rewards come in health; friends, divine opportunity; moments fo consideration that God is present and near; souls to be saved; heavenly visions and speakings from God through His Holy spirit. And as quickly as they come and God grants Divine favor, so they can quickly leave and be gone. Learn to appreciate that which God is doing, has done and will do . And I consider, that if I was to receive no further rewards in this life or the one to come, what I have received thus far is sufficeint because He is faithful and wonderful to bestow on such an unworthy servant. Most of the times we need to ask God to remove the scales from our eyes to see these rewards in this present life. The ones to come are a mystery and there are saints that have speculated at such things which is marvellous to consider. but this much I know, I am kept under His holy wing and protection because I am a child of the King. Your hope of rewards and blessings is not of your own doing and making or another person, it is found only in Him. Give place that glory is given to the right place and means. I think of George Mueller, who prayerd for some souls for over 62 years until they were saved. Had he stopped at 6 months, or six years or even 60 years they would not have been saved perhaps, but because he stayed faithful God rewarded his prayers, tears and petitions for the lsot and they were saved. Two of which did not get saved until after his death. And even though he was not here to see it, the Lord is faithful to recompense.

Judges 9:5;II Chronicles 21:4

". . . and slew his brethern . . ."
"Now when Jehoram was risen up to the kingdom of his father, he strengthed himself, and slew all his brethern with the sword. . ."

This is not the only such cases of this in the Bible or in history. Family destorying their ownselves, mainly out of envy andjealousy. As I read of Gideon and all his might that he delivered the children of Israel out of by the hand of God, only for his son to rise up and destroy the family following him. To consider that our life here is so fragile and so short compared to eternity is enought for us to consider today. But consider the weight of lineage and genereational existnece. It might be a vain pursuit for me, but I consider that with eight chidlren the Biser name is preserved for a while. But how much of our existnece and future generations is based on our walk with the Lord? We read here of Jeoshophat walked with the Lord but upon his death his son rose up and slew all the brethern. Gideon served the Lord and after him fell the same plight. We begin to see where Solomon referred to this life as vanity in Ecclesiastes, for we have no control of the next generation to come apart from that which we trust in the Lord for. I consdier families around me and watch and know of three to four generations. Some I see where they have no children and the line dies, a name ceases to be in the families of the earth. Then I see a family with no sons and only daughters and the line is still existing but the name is changed through marraige and it is something to trace it and hold on to it. Then those that have sons and they are evil and wicked as their father. I know that sin is taught and rooted in such a family. Sons become just like their fathers in drink, cursing, vileness and evil. But what of those that find God's mercy? What of those that testified they was raised in an alcholics home, abusive home, sinful home and God saved them and they shun any of those things that they have been taught? Isn't it a mystery what God has done? But saved parents desire for their chidlren to know Him. Many a parent having raised their child in the fear of the Lord watches them walk away in their youth. The cry today of parents and grandparents is a horrible thing in the church today over prodigal chidlren. Why is this? What control for the next generation that passed from Gideon to his son and from Jeosphoat to his son? After we are dead and gone we leave nothing but the prayers that have been offered up with the tears and the witness that we have borne before them and around them. So with only those two things to last, how much should we make of them? We should invest time and energy to these things for the glory of God. This is not about self-preservation or vanity, this is about raising a continued generation for God's service. I consider reading somewhere of Jonathan Edwards generations. That from his death their family line has produced preachers, teachers, missionaries and other workers for the kingdom. God is able to preserve and allow to destroy an entire lineage. I see that with Gideon and these others. So I see that all things of my life cease to be when I die, but my prayers have come up before Thee. Thou that seest all things, You have seen my tears for my children and the generations to follow. If they be wicked and bring dishonor unto the Lord, Thy will be done upon them; but if, as You have shown me mercy and grace and longsuffering, show them the same so that you might have Your remnant always to stand as intercessors for the nations of this world. Is it wrong to consdier such things? Is it wrong for me to pray for my chidlren's spouses? Is it wrong for me to pray for my grand chidlren? I may die before the first one ever comes, and how foolish to leave this earth and have never prayed for them. I pray now, and trust in God's ways, for they are right. For it is not about the Bisers or any other nation or descendants, it is about the kingdom of our Lord. Preseve Thy kingdom O Lord. Set the example now for prayers offered up; set the witness now to your children and your grand children. For the day will come when you will not have the opportunity.

Judges 1:21, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33

". . .did not drive them out. . ."



Disobedience. The command from the Lord to Moses was that the children of Israel were too destroy all the -ites (Jebusites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hitities and all the other ites) from the land. For if they would not do this then they would lead the chidlren of Israel away from God to serve false idols; they would intermarry and corrupt the children of Israel; and God would withdraw His hand of power over their enemies. As I begin reading Judges, I know what is coming because of having read it so often before. But the saddness is still present when I finish Joshua and know that the children of Israel are going to fosake the Lord and that which could have been never took place. so Joshua and that generation dies and there is a new generation risen up and the Scripture tells us, "that knew not the Lord and His ways". Right there is the sign of destruction. There is no hope when God is absent from a life, from a family, from a church (yes, even from a church) and from a nation. We are losing this nation because of this same plight. There other religions, there are other ways, there is self absorbed instead of Christ exalted means and so begins the fall. And here in the above mentioned verses there is the same phrase of disobedience that marks them, "they did not drive them out" and later it will say 'and they dwell among them'. This is a clear case for a doomed future. How long? Until at the end of II Chronicles the verse declares it to us, "until there was no remedy'. Are we at today? How close are we to imitating this same way of life? It is frightening how close we are to a parallel experience. Some would say, 'i am only one person, I can't make a difference'. That is a person with no faith and they are self consumed. Because we can't make a difference, but the power of God working in one person can make the difference. It is that one that yields unto Him. Look at the generation before this fall, one man made a difference - Joshua, Caleb, Phineas, each one in their own way made a difference and impacted the nation. You and I and the remnant can make a difference in the plight that is before us if we will believe and be faithful. What must be done? follow the verse and were they failed, we must prevail - drive them out. Drive what out? All sin, self, anything questionable in our life that would bring or does bring dishonor unto Who is Holy. Check your motives of why you do what you do. Check your language and whatt words come out of it, honoring or dishonoring? Look at your thoughts and see where your mind is at. Does serving the Lord really bring you joy and peace? Is it a chore for you to read your Bible or pray? Then something is wrong and drive out all those things that would keep you from Him Who beckongs unto you. Drive out anything that would keep you from Him - a person, family, work, TV, computer, hobby whatevewr devours your time. Now understand, when you drive out these sins and ways of life, this creates a vacum in your life, there is an emptiness. That must be replaced with something, you just cannot cease to exist and live, it will be filled with something. You must make an active choice to fill it with the things of God or the flesh and the devil will help you fill it