Kingdom-First Praying

Posted on 2014/04/15 by Shawn Thomas

In I Kings 3:9, David’s son Solomon, told by the Lord to ask whatever he wished God to give him, prayed his famous prayer asking God to give him an understanding heart to judge His people. In :11, God commended Solomon’s selfless, kingdom-centered prayer: “Because you have asked THIS thing and have not asked for YOURSELF …”.

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The Evidence of Love

Posted on 2014/04/14 by Shawn Thomas

I Kings 3:3 says: “Now Solomon loved YHWH, walking in the statutes of his father David …”. Solomon really did love God (at least at first). What was the evidence of it?

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Don’t Make Your First Step A Misstep

Posted on 2014/04/11 by Shawn Thomas

I Kings 3 describes King Solomon’s first steps after he was established as king over Israel. Verse 1 tells us “Then Solomon formed a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her to the city of David.” Was Solomon’s very first step as king as mis-step?

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A Balanced Ministry Goal

Posted on 2014/04/10 by Shawn Thomas

In Colossians 1:28 Paul wrote, “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.” Here he states his goal for ministry, which we would do well to imitate:

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An Unfamiliar Wonder

Posted on 2014/04/09 by Shawn Thomas

In Psalm 8:4, David marvels at the attentiveness of God to man, asking: “What is man, that You take thought of him, or the son of man, that You attend him?” The gravity of his statement is increased when one realizes that the Hebrew for “man” the first time in the verse is “enosh”, which means “all human beings, man, mankind”. So it is not just that we should marvel that God would pay attention to any one individual among us, but that He would do so for all of mankind together! This is a significant distinction!

Unfortunately, this kind of amazement at the attentiveness of God is foreign to our modern sensitivities.

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The Heavens Are His

Posted on 2014/04/08 by Shawn Thomas

Psalm 8:3 says, “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers; the moon and the stars which You have ordained …”. Notice all the YOU’s here, which refer to God: “YOUR heavens … work of YOUR fingers … moon and stars which YOU have ordained …”. These teach us much about creation, and who it belongs to:

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Servants, Not Lords

Posted on 2014/04/07 by Shawn Thomas

In Colossians 1:23 the Apostle Paul writes about “the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a servant.” The description Paul gave of himself here is significant:

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The Hole He Dug

Posted on 2014/04/04 by Shawn Thomas

Psalm 7:15 says: “He dug a pit and hollowed it out, and has fallen into the hole which he made.” Here David describes the irony of the downfall of the wicked who oppressed him: they fell into the very pit which they themselves made in order to harm others.

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Pregnant With Trouble

Posted on 2014/04/03 by Shawn Thomas

Psalm 7:14 has a word for the wicked — and for those of us who fear that they are going to “get away with it.” They won’t! The verse reads: “Behold, he travails with wickedness, and he conceives mischief and brings forth falsehood.” In Hebrew the first part is literally: “Behold, he is pregnant (travails as in labor) with (looming) disaster, trouble, sorrow …”.
What a picturesque description of the impending judgment of the wicked this verse contains:

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Before Him

Posted on 2014/04/02 by Shawn Thomas

Colossians 1:22 says: “Yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach”. This verse teaches us that now, because of what Jesus has done, we who were formerly alienated and in evil (:21) are “holy, and blameless and above reproach” BEFORE HIM. Continue reading →

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