When Insecurity Turn Evil

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Today God Is First By Os Hillman

Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.Romans 12:15

Saul was the King of Israel. David was in Saul’s army and beginning to build a reputation as a great warrior. One day when David came back from a battle, the women danced and sang: ” ‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands’ ” (1 Sam. 18:7).

Saul was very angry; this refrain galled him. “They have credited David with tens of thousands,” he thought, “but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?” (1 Samuel 18:8)

This statement caused something to snap in King Saul. From this point on, Saul was never the leader God intended him to be. He allowed insecurity to drive his every decision. Insecurity leads to the need to control people and circumstances. The need to control leads to anger once we realize we are unable to control the circumstance. King Saul could not accept, much less rejoice, over David’s success. David’s life would never be the same, because Saul sought to kill David every chance he had. Saul had a choice; he could have seen David as an up-and-coming general in his army who could have become an important part of his team and made the kingdom of Israel even stronger. Instead, he looked at him as a threat. When you hear good news about fellow workers or associates, do you rejoice with them? If you find yourself comparing your life’s circumstances to others and don’t feel you measure up, recognize that this is one of satan’s greatest ploys to destroy you.

Christ has given you all things in Him. He has a unique plan for you that cannot be compared to another. He alone is your security. Trust in the purposes He has for your life. And remember, “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus“ (Phil. 4:19 KJV).

The God of The Valley

 Today God Is First By Os Hillman

“The man of God came up and told the king of Israel, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Because the Arameans think the Lord is a god of the hills and not a god of the valleys, I will deliver this vast army into your hands, and you will know that I am the Lord’.” 1 Kings 20:28

Whenever we stand on the mountain, we are able to see clearly. It is the best vantage point to see what lies ahead. Wouldn’t it be great to live on the mountain all the time in order to anticipate what is ahead? God allows us to experience the mountaintop at times. Joseph‘s first mountaintop experience was as a young man. He had the favor of his father, Jacob. He was given a fine coat and even had a dream about his future. As a young man, Joseph had a sense of destiny about his life. God often gives us a picture of our future so that we will remember this picture when we are being tested to trust Him in the valley. This picture usually does not reveal how God intends to bring about the visions for our life.

However, none of us really derive the character qualities God desires for our lives while we are on the mountain. It is in the valley where the fruit is planted and harvested. It cannot grow on the mountain; it must grow in the valley. God is a God of the mountain, but he is even more a God of the valley. In the valley, it is more difficult to see ahead; the clouds often cover the valley and limit our sight. Joseph was thrust into a deep valley that left him wondering if the God of his father had forsaken him. Jesus hoped that He might be able to avoid the valley that caused Him to sweat blood. There is a valley that each of us must enter, usually unwillingly, in order to experience the God of the valley-and to experience His faithfulness in the valley. Once we have spent time in this valley, we come out with something we would have never gained if we had not entered it. The valley brings much fruit into our lives so that we might plant seeds into the lives of others. God does not waste valley experiences. If we are faithful in the valley, we will enter a new dimension with God that we never thought possible. There is a harvest of wisdom and virtue that can only be grown in the valley.

Has God brought you into the valley? Know that the valley is a place of fruitfulness; it is a place of testing. It is where God brings what you know in your head into your heart. The only value of knowledge is when it becomes part of your heart. Look for God in the valley today.

Becoming a Mighty Man

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Today God Is First  By Os Hillman

“All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him.”- 1 Samuel 22:2

Have you ever felt that you could accomplish a whole lot more if you had more talented people around you? Perhaps you are in an office and think that some of your fellow workers don’t quite measure up. Imagine what David must have thought in the years following his anointing by the prophet Samuel as the next king of Israel. He spent the next many years running from King Saul. Now God was beginning to bring men to support David. But what kind of men? The down-and-out. God gave David not the elite or the sophisticated; He gave him those who were in debt and discontented with life. David turned those men into the best fighting men of their day. In fact, David never lost a battle during his entire reign as king of Israel-quite a feat for a bunch of no-name, lowlifes! Some of those men became an elite group known as David’s Mighty Men. These were the elite of the elite, the Navy Seals, the Few Good Men, the Green Berets. Whatever you call them, they were exceptional warriors.

Jesus took a few men who weren’t exactly the cream of the crop either. He built His life into these men, which resulted in 12 men who turned the world upside down. Are you one of God’s mighty men or women? Are you investing your life to build other mighty men or women? David and Jesus set the example of what can be done when we invest in others. God does extraordinary things through men who have an extraordinary God. Ask God to use your life to be a mighty man or woman for a cause greater than yourself. He delights in such prayers.

The Lord Is Thy Keeper

David Wilkerson Today

A thrilling Old Testament story in 2 King 6 best illustrates what it means to
be kept by the power of God.

Ben-hadad, King of Syria, declared war on Israel and marched against them with
a great army. As his forces advanced, he often called his war counsel into his
private chambers to plan the next day’s strategy. But the prophet Elisha kept
sending word to the King of Israel, detailing every move of the enemy troops.
In fact, on several occasions, the Israelites escaped defeat because of
Elisha’s warnings.

Ben-hadad was furious and called his servants together. “Tell me who is
revealing our plans to the King of Israel! Who is this traitor?” The servants
told him, “It’s not what you think, my lord. There is no traitor in thy camp or
in thy court; we are all true [loyal] men. The man of God [Elisha) is telling
the King of Israel the words that you speak in your bedchambers” (2 Kings
6:12).

Ben-hadad immediately dispatched a host of horses, chariots, and soldiers to
capture Elisha. “Go to Dothan and bring him to me,” he demanded. They went by
night and surrounded the city, intending to take the old prophet by surprise,
but Elisha’s servant awakened early. When he saw that “an host encompassed the
city both with horses and chariots” (vs. 15), he ran to Elisha in terror and
cried, “Alas, my master, we are surrounded. What shall we do?”

Smiling confidently, Elisha replied, “Fear not: for they that be with us are
more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray
thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young
man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of
fire round about Elisha” (2 Kings 6:16-17).

Like the psalmist, Elisha could stand in the midst of crisis and say with
absolute assurance:

• “I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set
themselves against me round about” (Psalm 3:6).
• “Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear:
though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident” (Psalm 27:3).
• “He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was
against me: for there were many with me” (Psalm 55:18).

My prayer is that of Elisha: “Lord, open our eyes that we may see and behold
the mountains filled with the horses and chariots of fire—of the Lord of
hosts!”

Hard Lessons from King Asa

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Study By: Mary DeMuth

Often we start this journey called Christianity with zeal, like medal-hungry sprinters. Fueled by our passion for God, we abandon our hearts to Jesus, longing only for His glory. Our hearts beat with wholehearted devotion to God, much like that of King Asa of Judah.

King Asa started his kingly rule well (1 Kings 15:14), succeeding King Abijah, a man with fourteen wives. Asa deposed even his own grandmother who worshiped Asherah, a false goddess. He tore down pagan altars and sacred pillars, and he removed the high places. He fortified his cities and developed a shield-bearing army of three hundred thousand men. More importantly, “He commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, and to obey his law and commandments” (2 Chron. 14:4).

Asa began well.

Even when Zerah the Ethiopian threatened Judah with a vast army (v. 9), Asa sought the Lord. “Lord, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army. O Lord, you are our God; do not let man prevail against you” (v. 11). The result? “There was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign” (15:19).

Asa even continued well.

Yet something happened in year thirty-five that negatively impacted how Asa finished his life. Baasha, the king of Israel, essentially barricaded Judah, which prevented trade-a sure sign of impending invasion. And instead of seeking the Lord’s strength, Asa took the silver and gold from the treasuries of the temple and bribed a pagan to protect him from Baasha.

The Lord sent Hanani the seer to rebuke Asa. He recounted the works God had performed on Asa’s behalf and reprimanded him for relying on a human king instead of the strong arm of Almighty God. Then Hanani uttered his famous line, “For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war” (2 Chron. 16:9).

The Hebrew phrase for a committed heart here is lebab shalem, a covenantal term that means “wholeheartedly devoted.” The term appears several times in Kings and Chronicles. When Solomon prayed for the people at the temple dedication, he prayed for the people to have wholehearted devotion (1 Kings 8:61). Not much later we see a different picture-one of shifted allegiance:

“As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been” (11:4). Literally his wives bent his heart away from God.

Asa, possessing a “bent” heart, did not listen to Hanani and instead imprisoned him. Asa even began oppressing his own people. Eventually he contracted a severe foot disease (many scholars suggest it was gout), but he still did not seek God. Instead he relied only on physicians.

Asa did not finish well.

What can we learn from Asa? Regardless of age, ministry position, or status, we will leave this earth either as one who finishes well or as one who stumbles. How can we finish well, with wholehearted devotion to God?

Don’t forget God after a victory. God delivered Asa from the powerful Ethiopian army-an astonishing victory. Perhaps Asa took some of the credit himself, thinking he somehow had a hand in the victory. Perhaps he exchanged his longing for God’s fame for a delight in his own. Perhaps in his pride, he forgot God. Whatever contributed to his decision, when it came time to face another powerful foe, Asa forgot God’s past deliverance and acted out of fear.

Seek God when pain comes. Unlike Asa, Hezekiah after him would seek God in his illness. Stricken with a terminal disease, Hezekiah begged God for reprieve. He reminded God that he’d had a devoted heart (2 Kings 20:3). God heard Hezekiah’s prayer and in His sovereignty He chose to heal him, giving him another fifteen years of life. Sadly, in contrast, Asa did not seek God in his disease; instead he turned away from God’s strong support.

Train for the long journey. Oswald Chambers, remarking on Hanani’s warning to Asa, wrote, “God wants you to be entirely His, and this means that you have to watch to keep yourself fit. It takes a tremendous amount of time.”

Asa walked with God many years. It wasn’t until year thirty-five that he stopped seeking God, instead relying on a man-centered shortcut. Walking with God is a tedious marathon full of sweat and grit and a rugged determination. Running a marathon means enduring all the way to the finish line.

Even so, remember grace. The people gave Asa a fitting burial and remembered him as a man with wholehearted devotion. When we forget God in our successes, when we cease to seek God in our trials, when we fail to train for the long race, there is still grace. Yet with God’s strong support all the way to the end we can have a lebab shalem-a heart completely devoted to Him.