Friday 20, 2011

A matter of perspective 

"'The LORD declares to you that the LORD himself will establish a house for you:¹²When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom.¹³He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

¹⁴ I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands.¹⁵But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you.¹⁶ Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me^[b]; your throne will be established forever.'" 2 Samuel 7:11-16 

Tuesday: Zephaniah 3:17 -Restoration of Israel's Remmant

Wednesday:2 Samuel 1:14-16 - David Hears of Saul's Death

Thursday: 2 Samuel 2:1 - David Anointed King Over Judah

Friday: 2 Samuel 7:11-16 -God's promise to David 

Did you know that David never pulled out the victim card?

Why did the Lord give such a great promise to David and his descendants? Verse 1 and two is the reason why:

¹ After the king was settled in his palace and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him, ² he said to Nathan the prophet, "Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent."

 He desired to build a house for the Lord to dwell in and that pleased God very much. The Lord never asked him or any other king to build him a temple but David's heart felt the need to do so. The Lord will remove our enemies and he will give us rest of those who persecute us. The Lord will bring justice to our lives. Maybe today our circumstances make us feel abandoned and forsaken yet God is with us. the oppression we feel is the darkness of the world we are called to lighten up. The Lord never failed to listen to his servant David, not even when he sinned; and God is still listening to his children. It was not the temple that pleased God but David's heart that thirsted for an honorable place for the ark of God. How can we honor God? By building a temple in our hearts for him, not because it is a duty but because it should be our joy. The word of God says this about our enemies:

Verse 20 shows how cold our enemies behave: 

Verse 21-22 shows how we must treat them in return:

 ²¹ If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat;
   if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.
²² In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head,
   and the LORD will reward you.

Proverbs 25:20-22 

Every day the sun comes up, whether we are ready or not. In a day we take many decisions and the time frame to evaluate each one is very short. It is my conviction that we always have enough choices but that it is more important to know what the consequences are of each action and decisions we make. Every day I write a journal entry on the topics that I personally struggle with. I share my challenges, trials, joy, sorrow and the lessons learned with my friends. Not one day goes by without praising my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for his wisdom and grace. My messages are to honor my Lord and be a witness of his endless love. This love is available for all of us.

Today I celebrate God's grace.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9  

All verses used in this emails are from the NIV 2010