2 Chronicles 27-29

"In his time of trouble King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the LORD. He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus, who had defeated him; for he thought, "Since the gods of the kings of Aram have helped them, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me, " But they were his downfall and the downfall of all Israel.

Ahaz gathered together the furnishings from the temple of God and took them away. He shut the doors of the LORD's temple and set up altars at every street corner in Jerusalem. In every town in Judah he built high places to burn sacrifices to other gods and provoked the LORD, the God of his fathers, to anger."

As I read this passage this morning, I was reminded of the message we heard at the bible study last night about the importance of having a heavenly perspective in our lives.

I think we can all agree that we live in a crazy world. And the Lord our God is the only one that can give us true peace.

If we are honest, I think we've all, at one point or other, responded to our difficulties the way Ahaz did. We'll look to pretty much all other things rather then turning to God. We may, like Ahaz, look at other people's "success" and try to learn from them. I mean, what Ahaz did took a lot of effort setting up all those altars. Definitely more effort than just simply humbling himself and turning to God. But isn't that how we act so often?...

Let's be reminded this day that we serve a living God. Christianity is not religion or philosophy. The only reason many of us have experienced real change in our lives, when we know that it's impossible to really change people, is because God is alive and active. He is our true comforter and our true joy giver. And the thing is God wants to bless us with all these great things! If we'd only humble ourselves and turn to him.

God wants us to be free. Free from our pride, lust, depression, fear, bitterness, etc. And he has made this possible through Jesus. Let's praise God this day, look upon him, and live in freedom:)

Jeremiah 1-3

"'Return, faithless Israel,' declares the LORD, 'I will frown on you no longer, for I am merciful,' declares the LORD, 'I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt - you have rebelled against the LORD your God, you have scattered your favors to foreign gods under every spreading tree, and have not obeyed me,'" declares the LORD."

The passage talks about how God is ever so faithful and merciful toward the Israelites. Although they kept sinning against God, God is telling them to turn from their idols and come to him because he does not want to condemn them. The bible says God is patient. He is patient even when we rebel, sin, and disobey him. However, he is not forever patient. Jesus will come back to this earth to judge everyone.

Let us not harden our hearts when we hear God's voice today but acknowledge our guilt and ask God for forgiveness. He desires us to be forgiven and restored.

2 Chronicles 20-22

"He said: 'Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the LORD says to you: 'Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God's. tomorrow march down against them. They will be climbing up by the Pass of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the gorge in the Desert of Jeruel. You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the LORD will give you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the LORD will be with you.''

Jehoshaphat bowed with his face to the ground, and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down in worship before the LORD. Then some Levites from the Kohathites and Korahites stood up and praised the LORd, the God of Israel, with very loud voice."

Jehoshaphat faced an imminent battle against a vast army that he knew he could not defeat. The moment he felt alarmed by the perilous circumstance, he proclaimed fast for all Judah. Then he gathered people from every town of Judah to the temple of the LORD so they can seek God together. Then Jehoshaphat prayed in front of the whole assembly, saying that, "For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you."

It was after this humble prayer that God promised them to not be afraid because this battle is not theirs but God's.

This passage was another reminder I desperately needed that God is always searching for those with a true heart for him.

What a great and humble king Jehoshaphat was. He could have cried out to God in private, but he chose to gather all the people of Judah and pretty much admitted his incapacity to beat the enemy. Yet, what was truly touching was that there was no revolt in response to this, but everyone else followed and sought God with him. He must have been a great king to gain that much trust from his people. I'm humbled by his testimony.

God is our strength and our confidence. That is the beauty of God. He is more than willing to become our strength when we humble ourselves before him. So whatever circumstances we may find ourselves in, let us cry out to God and keep our eyes upon him. "Give thanks to the LORD, for his love endures forever."

Isaiah 64-66

"But as for you who forsake the LORD and forget my holy mountain, who spread a table for Fortune and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny, I will destine you for the sword, and you will all bend down for the slaughter; for I called you but you did not answer, I spoke but you did not listen. You did evil in my sight and chose what displeases me."

"This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word... For when I called,, no one answered, when I spoke, no one listened. They did evil in my sight and chose what displeases me."

As we go about each day as a Christian, we fall and sin before God. It's one thing to sin because of our weakness but whole another thing when we deliberately sin. The passage talks about how God's people had no regard for His word and chose to sin against Him.

As I was reading and praying, God revealed to me that I've been deliberately sinning before God in two different areas. I knew that I need to repent and forsake it but I just haven't done that until now. I prayed that God will help me so that I won't go back to the same sin over and over again. I am so thankful that God does not give up on me even though I am a sinner who continues to fail Him. His mercy and grace is so amazing.

Just you have mentioned before, everyday is a gift from God and today is indeed a new day. Let us choose to be holy in our thought, speech, and action with God's help.

2 Chronicles 14-16

"At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him; 'Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. Were not the Cushites and Liban a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen? Yet when you relied on the LORD, he delivered them into your hand. 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 things, and from now on you will be at war.'

Asa was angry with the seer because of this; he was so enraged that he put him in prison. At the same time Asa brutally oppressed some of the people."

The story of Asa confirmed the message we heard on Sunday about how God is always searching for "those who's hearts are fully committed to him."

Asa had a heart for God in the beginning of his reign as king. He won a battle against the Cushites and Liban by seeking God. And he went through great efforts to get rid of all the idol. It says that he even removed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother, because she had made a repulsive Asherah pole. In response to Asa's obedience, God gave him peace from war.

I think the lesson God is teaching me today is from the words, "always searching". Do I realize that at any given moment, God is searching my heart? Even, right now. He is looking to see how I respond to every situation. Would I look to God or would I look else where?

It is very challenging for us to be aware of God all the time. We had conversations before about how we would be so blessed when we do our quiet time, but it's hard to carry on that blessing for the rest of the day. This happens when we hear a good message on Sundays or during bible studies. I think it's because when we get blessed and are feeling good, we rely on that moment to last the rest of the day. But God is searching our hearts every moment. We need to be reminded of that and start seeking him, again, the moment right after we receive his blessing. May we be willing to let God teach us the wisdom on how to never stop seeking him.

And let us humble ourselves this day when God confronts us about our mistakes. We have experienced that it is not worth it at all for us to be stubborn. When we don't repent of our sins as the Spirit reveals them to us, it will cause us to remove our eyes from God. And nothing good can ever come of us removing our eyes from God...

So let's be encourage this day, for God is looking "throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him." Let's allow God to strengthen us this day by seeking him in all we do:)

Isaiah 57-59

"Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt. Your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters wicked things."

"...the LORD looked and was displeased that there was no justice. He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm worked salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him."

We are very familiar with what our sins do to us. They hinder our relationship with God and people around us. Because the Holy Spirit lives inside of us, we just know there is something wrong when we sin. But what's more important is that what we do about our sin. This is what Pastor Sam talked about yesterday - repentance. I think often times we are very reluctant to ask for forgiveness to God and others because we are prideful.

Let us humble ourselves and ask God for forgiveness. He is always willing to forgive and restore us. How great is our God!