Day 110: 1 Kings 16:1 - 18:29

I love this part of 1 Kings because we finally start to see some hope coming back to the people of Israel. They had spent alot of time wallowing in their sin and it was starting to look like they would be stuck there forever. But then God sent a real man of God to come in and clean house. There are two ways to look at this story - #1: We've been living in a society going down, but God is faithful and will provide someone to help us; or #2: I've seen this society wallowing and writhing in sin long enough and I know that God has called me personally to step up and turn things around. Personally, I feel more drawn to the 2nd one. Who knows how many people God called before Elijah finally stood up. The people of Israel were going downhill for a really long time and it's entirely possible that there may have been hundreds of God-fearing people who ended up fearing men more than God. I don't want to be one of those people. I want to be an Elijah. This man so clearly had the anointing on him and we've seen in these verses and will continue to see that it takes a believer who's not afraid or intimidated to step up and turn it all around.

- Lord, I want to be like Elijah and not like all of the others who were too scared. I want to stand on the mountain challenging the gods of this society not so I can show how smart or powerful I am, but so I can bring glory to Your name and bring the people around me to their knees in worship. -

Day 109: 1 Kings 13:17 - 15:34

Although there's alot in the passage to talk about, I primarily want to focus on the prophet from Judah. God told him straight up that he was not allowed to eat or drink anything in Israel but that he was supposed to deliver his message and then get back to Judah. Everything was going fine until the prophet from Israel came and lied to him about God saying that he was supposed to stick around and have a quick meal in Israel. Sadly enough, this kind of thing happens in the church all of the time and the people of God need to learn how to recognize it and stay away from it. As a general rule, God's not going to just suddenly change His mind and tell you to do the exact opposite of what He originally told you to do. We must always be careful not to listen to those people who say they hear God, but have no fruit or anything in their lives to show that they are Godly people. If we're not careful, we could find ourselves like the prophet from Judah - dead, alone, and he didn't even get his real name mentioned in the story.

- Lord, help me to guard myself against the false prophets who go around telling people that God told them certain things just so they can get ahead in life. Give me discernment so that I can see through those lies and protect myself from being fooled like our dear friend, "the Prophet from Judah." -

Day 108: 1 Kings 11:1 - 13:16

Well, I must say the moral behind this story is pretty obvious. It's such a shame that Solomon, as powerful and wealthy as he was, just couldn't stay faithful forever. But no matter what, we can always go back to the story of the people of Israel telling God that they wanted a kind. God warned them that regardless of who the man was who became king, as long as it was a man ruling the nation, he would always end up messing something up. The most tragic part of all of this is that not only was the majority of the kingdom taken away, but it was taken away from Solomon's son who had yet to personally do anything to deserve it. It's a pretty heavy reminder that if we're not on our toes following everything that God asks of us, not only will we fall flat on our faces, but those that we love and support can end up getting hurt just as bad, if not worse. 

- Father, I want to stay faithful to You. I know I'm a human and humans have the tendency to become selfish and self-centered and not follow You, but I know that You can work through me and help me to become the kind of man who will stay faithful to You and not fall flat on my face. -

Day 107: 1 Kings 8:46 - 10:29

It's hard to read the story of Solomon and not take the shallow humanistic view of how cool, albeit pointless, of him to have all of that stuff. But we can see in the part about the Queen of Sheba that the blessing was more than just show and it was more than something for Solomon to use just between himself and God, it was a way for him to attract people from far and wide so they could come and be ministered to by the man of God that he was. It would have been so easy with all of that money and power and influence for Solomon to just take all of the credit and have people worship him, but he was strong enough and faithful enough to give God all the credit and stay true to the call that God put on his life by leading and judging and ministering to people according to the wisdom that God put in his heart.

- Lord, I know that one day, I too will be blessed beyond measure and I pray that You give me strength and help me to remember that You're the one who gave it all to me and it's my job not to worship myself or my accomplishments, but to worship You and spread You word to the far corners of the earth. -

Day 106: 1 Kings 7:1 - 8:45

An important thing to note about the life and blessings of Solomon is the reason why God blessed Solomon the way that he did. At first glance, one would probably assume that God blessed Solomon because he was a good guy and God wanted him to have alot of stuff. As nice as that may sound, God would never be so shallow as to just give people stuff so that other people will think it's cool. The reason God was so open and willing to blessing Solomon was because God knew full well that once Solomon had all of the blessings and all of the wealth and all of the power, he would turn around and show honor to God by offering it all back up to Him as a sacrifice. There's no question that Solomon himself was able to enjoy the enormous blessings that God had to offer him, but the reason he was able to enjoy them was because his heart was open and willing to do whatever was required of him to bring honor and glory to God.

- Father, help me not to strive for selfish humanistic desires, but help me to strive after the things that will help me reach the lost and change my world. I know that to some extent, "stuff" may be required to get to that point, but Your Word says that if we will put our eyes upon You, You'll be faithful to supply all of the "stuff" that we need. -

Day 105: 1 Kings 4:1 - 6:38

You know, this group of Scripture is a perfect example of the fact that God desires for us to prosper and be successful in all that we do. I know there are some who could possibly read this and disagree saying that this is the Old Testament and everything is totally different now, but I disagree. It's obvious that the reason Solomon was such a blessed man was not because he tried and tried to get rich, it was because he had a passion for doing what God called him to do and leading the people that God called him to reach. You know, we normally see Solomon as a king and not much of a minister, but we can see here that the call on Solomon's life was to be a minister to God's people. If we'll be faithful and adjust our hearts to be more like Solomon's, there's no telling what God can do for us and through us.

- Father, help me to keep my priorities straight and keep my focus on You. It's easy to read passages like this and get all excited about all of the stuff I could get from You if I'm a good boy, but I realize that that isn't it at all. Help me to keep my focus serving You and helping people and I know if I will do that, You'll be faithful to take care of all of the rest. -

Day 104: 1 Kings 1:53 - 3:28

You know, the first part of this passage is a good picture of what God does with our hearts whenever we finally decide to give the control back to Him. Alot of times, we see people who used to live for God turn away from  Him and decide to start living for themselves and doing things their own way. But just like Solomon did once he was in power, once God is given back the rule in our lives, there's always a bit of house cleaning required to get us back on the right track. And it's so encouraging to note that once Solomon had gone through the kingdom and taken care of the un-dealt with problems that his father had left behind, God was able to come in and offer to give Solomon the opportunity to be blessed beyond measure. And I believe with all my heart that if we'll be obedient to God and get rid of the things in our lives that are polluting our hearts, He will then be able to bless us and allow us to see the desires that He has given us come to pass.

- Lord,  forgive me for trying to make my own way and do my own thing. Please take this life back from me so You can have control. I don't just want You to take the wheel so I can get my precious little blessing, I want You to be in charge so that I can do what You have called me to do so I can bring others closer to You. -