Bible League: Living His Word As they began to sing and to praise God, the LORD set an ambush for the army from Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir who had come to attack Judah. The enemy was defeated! The Ammonites and the Moabites started to fight the men from Mount Seir. After they killed them, the Ammonites and Moabites turned on themselves and killed each other.King Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah were invaded by a large army of Moabites, Ammonites, and Meunites. Deeply worried, the King led the people in fasting and prayer before the Lord. At the meeting, Jahaziel prophesied that the Lord himself would fight the battle for them. When the Judeans went out to meet the invading army, Jehoshaphat put the Temple singers in front of his forces. They sang, "Give thanks to the Lord! His faithful love will last forever." At the very moment they began to sing and praise the Lord the events of our verses for today came to pass. One of the many interesting details of this story is that Jehoshaphat put the Temple singers at the head of the Judeans and the invading armies started to destroy themselves when they began their songs of praise. The apparent point of this detail is that it was the priority the Judeans placed on praise which moved God to fight on their behalf. This detail reminds us of another story on the priority of praise. Acts 16 tells the story of Paul and Silas in prison. Although they had been beaten severely, they prayed and sang songs to God. At that very moment an earthquake shook the prison. The doors of the prison opened up and the chains on all the prisoners fell off. Praise moved God to act once again. So, have we finally discovered the religious ritual that will move the heavens on our behalf? Get some singers, crank up the band, and watch the trouble melt away! God, of course, cannot be controlled or manipulated – even with praise. He is the sovereign Lord over all. You can't force Him to do anything. Nevertheless, the point of these stories is that praise and worship should have a place of priority in the midst of our troubles. Before we do anything else, we should give praise and worship to the Lord. God is pleased with those who turn to Him first. There is great power in praise and worship. They are not mere formalities. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingPsalm 68, 69 Psalm 68 -- Let God arise! Let his enemies be scattered! NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Psalm 69 -- Save me, God, for the waters have come up to my neck! NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Romans 3 Romans 3 -- All Have Sinned and are Justified by faith NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion He took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me.”Insight Jesus asked the disciples to eat the broken bread “to remember me.” He wanted them to remember his sacrifice, the basis for forgiveness of sins, and also his friendship that they could continue to enjoy through the work of the Holy Spirit. Although the exact meaning of Communion has been strongly debated throughout church history, Christians still take bread and wine in remembrance of their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Challenge Do not neglect participating in the Lord's Supper. Let it remind you of what Christ did for you. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Ephesians 1:11 Who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.Our belief in God's wisdom supposes and necessitates that he has a settled purpose and plan in the work of salvation. What would creation have been without his design? Is there a fish in the sea, or a fowl in the air, which was left to chance for its formation? Nay, in every bone, joint, and muscle, sinew, gland, and blood-vessel, you mark the presence of a God working everything according to the design of infinite wisdom. And shall God be present in creation, ruling over all, and not in grace? Shall the new creation have the fickle genius of free will to preside over it when divine counsel rules the old creation? Look at Providence! Who knoweth not that not a sparrow falleth to the ground without your Father? Even the hairs of your head are all numbered. God weighs the mountains of our grief in scales, and the hills of our tribulation in balances. And shall there be a God in providence and not in grace? Shall the shell be ordained by wisdom and the kernel be left to blind chance? No; he knows the end from the beginning. He sees in its appointed place, not merely the corner-stone which he has laid in fair colours, in the blood of his dear Son, but he beholds in their ordained position each of the chosen stones taken out of the quarry of nature, and polished by his grace; he sees the whole from corner to cornice, from base to roof, from foundation to pinnacle. He hath in his mind a clear knowledge of every stone which shall be laid in its prepared space, and how vast the edifice shall be, and when the top-stone shall be brought forth with shoutings of "Grace! Grace! unto it." At the last it shall be clearly seen that in every chosen vessel of mercy, Jehovah did as he willed with his own; and that in every part of the work of grace he accomplished his purpose, and glorified his own name. Daily Light on the Daily Path Revelation 13:8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.Exodus 12:5-7,13 'Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. • 'You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight. • 'Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. • The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. Hebrews 12:24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel. 1 Corinthians 5:7 Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Acts 2:23 this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. 2 Timothy 1:9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, Ephesians 1:7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace 1 Peter 4:1,2 Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, • so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |
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