WHOLEHEARTED
Suggested Reading: 2 Chronicles 31
Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).
From the region of the Qumran caves in Israel, you can see the Dead Sea with the mountains of Moab in the background. Though the Jordan Rift Valley is one of the most uninhabitable desert locations on earth, there is much agriculture.
GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.
Key Verse: 2 Chronicles 31:21
“And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, in the law and in the commandment, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart. So he prospered.”
There were three elements for successful living demonstrated by Hezekiah. (1) He was obedient to God. (2) He sought God. (3) He worked wholeheartedly. These are vital principles for us to follow in order to live successfully as Christians. The word “prosperity” has been distorted in our time by some to mean almost exclusively financial success. Let us not be fooled by those who seek material gain for themselves by manipulating others. The prosperity God offers us may indeed include human comforts here in the west, but primarily God’s prosperity results in peace, contentment, and a joyful heart with or without money and the things it can buy.
Jesus taught us to “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (click Matthew 6:25-34 to understand what “these things” are). We may want to add to this reading 1 Timothy 6:3-11, and let us serve God WHOLEHEARTEDLY!
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Lord God, most of all I pray for grace to keep the greatest commandment, which is to love You with all my heart, with all my soul, and with all my mind. Also, Lord, grant that I may keep today the second greatest commandment, which is to love my neighbour as myself. Thank You for helping me to watch for the opportunities to direct my love for You into loving others. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen!!!
100 PERSONAL WORDS:
One of my grandchildren, Eric David Mainse, is between his second and third years at Bible College…the same school from which I graduated in 1959 (Eastern Pentecostal Bible College, now known as Masters College and Seminary). He showed me one of his recent assignment papers, for which he received a good grade. It was a sermon based in 2 Chronicles 20:15-17. Although we’ve just passed that portion a few days ago, I thought I’d include a few excerpts from Eric’s sermon for you:
It took a lot of faith for King Jehoshaphat to believe that the words Jahaziel claimed to be from God were true. Jehoshaphat chose to believe. Faith is a choice. If you choose to believe, then don’t hide it. BE BOLD and OBEY!…Jehoshaphat proved himself to be humble before God and showed that he had great humility by bowing his face to the ground in worship along with all of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Once he had heard about the promised victory and chose to believe it, he immediately began to worship…Looking back to verse 15 where it says, “For the battle is not yours, but God’s,” we can see that the real battle is a spiritual one and sending in the worshippers first (verse 21) acknowledged that God was sovereign over their lives and prepared the ground for victory! We must do the same, otherwise we are only fighting on the ‘human level’. Praise and worship tear down strongholds of the enemy.
Thank you, Eric, for giving your Grandpa permission to use your work!
Yours for wholeheartedly supporting the next generation,
David
Panoramic view showing more agriculture in the desert of the Jordan Rift Valley by the Dead Sea.
What an amazing photo, thank you! I ask The Father to bless you and your beautiful family, that the seeds that were planted in you through generations past will continue to be fruitful for the generations to come. What a blessing to have entire families, generations worshiping our Creator.
Eric thank you so much for that insight and it is so true Faith comes by hearing and hearing from the word of God and He alone can provide all we need if we stand on His word.
God Bless.
Mary.
Thank you Eric. It serves us well to place our complete faith in God under impossibly appearing circumstances. It amazed me in this scripture how the the opposing armies appeared to turn against each other … “And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another.” Who would have guessed this kind of outcome under such extreme opposition! Thank you for your reminder of holding out faith under apparently impossible odds. Have a great day (as we all dry out here after natures storms!)
Good morning David and fellow bloggers. This past month was a very busy time
for me and my family. I fell behind in my daily walk through the bible on this blog. I was determined to catch up and I did. I joined in all along but comments have most likely gone in shared. That’s OK, God is reading my comments and my heart.
I was sad to hear the many trials some of you have faced. I felt blessed to be able to pray for you. David we have seen you and some times Norma-Jean on 100 Huntley wow! the prayers are working . If you feel as well as you look you must be feeling better. We love you and Norma-Jean Miss You.
I’m so greatful for the pictures and personal moments of your busy life you and Norma-Jean have shared with those of us on this blog . Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
The book of chronicles is an eye opener. The lessons are priceless. My prayer for today is that none of us fall away from the word of our Lord and savior or fall into temtation.
I have noticed David your preference towards the KJV. I love that bible version.
It is the only one for me. My heart rejoices as I know it is sound doctrine.
When I read that version I feel Gods great power and great glory.
This blog is some times kjv and some times niv. Is it possible to have it in only KJV? If know one objects I would really like that.
So looking for word to all of the comments to fallow.
Love and prayers to you all.
Marla aka M. 🙂
There are some wonderful versions available to use M. When you click on the highlighted blue scripture for the day, it will take you to Biblegateway.com and from there you can click the arrow next to the defaulted NKJV and select almost any version available. This is a wonderful tool. Sometimes I read in the NKJV sometimes the NASB and if I really want a modern easy flowing yet accurate read I go to the New Living Version. This is a long way of saying that if you want it only in the KJV, merely select that tab in the drop-down arrow. Blessings 🙂
I really just want to write to encourage Eric this morning. I know it was just a small piece of work that your grandfather quoted but it’s really evident that God is preparing you greatly for His ministry. Your family has been blessed with generations in God’s ministry and I know He will bless you uniquely for your own ministry as you seek to follow Him. I think you said some key words, BE BOLD & OBEY … words that we all need to hear from time to time. May God richly bless your studies and ministry of the Word as you grow in Him.
Oh how beautiful is it their I long to go to the promised land when David and the Huntley Street people of God go , Pray that God will make a way for me and my husband to go where there seems to be no way pray for finances for us to go Oh to be there in person would be so wonderful .I appreciate reading God s wrd every morning and listening to the stories of David s family , I long for my family to serve God please pray for my grandaughter Angel Lily May to be drawn back home and want to serve the Lord Jesus with her whole heart and have a beautiful relationship with her mother and brother and Scot her step father to be and step sister Abby Angel is 13 until August 4 th thank you David for all your prayers in jesus Name Amen
Brenda I bring your granddaughter before The Lord and pray she will return to the family and they in turn will seek Jesus who is the restorer and stable rock on which to stand. God bless your day.
It is wonderful to see in today’s reading how order was bought back through the king and it’s a lesson for us to learn to seek The Lord each day and be much in prayer, to stay focused on His ways and the path He has laid out for us.
Thank you Eric for allowing your Grandpa to share with us, and I join the others in saying God is preparing you to serve Him. God bless you.
Thank you Pastor David and fellow bloggers for your input.
Beverlee are you feeling well? Miss you.
Good Morning David,
Thanks again for your blog day by day. I pray for you and your family often and appreciate both the blog and Huntley Street so much.
I am curious to know what that unusual shade of green crop is that is planted
in the Jordan Rift Valley. I really enjoy the pictures each day too.
Thank you for helping me to grow spiritually day by day.
Diane
Thank you for those beautiful pictures today!!!!!
What insight we get everyday in our scripture readings!!!!! Obedience, prayer and self-sacrifice are 3 key areas in our service to Christ. I can see that Eric takes after his grandpa and will be a great minister of the gospel. Thank you Eric for allowing your Grandpa to share your notes with us this morning. I believe that God has great things in store for you as you continue to serve Him.
Brenda, I bring Angel Lily May before the Lord this morning and ask that the Lord would bring her back into a relationship with Him. I also pray for the family to be brought closer together as well. We thank You and give You all the Praise, Glory and Honour and believe for the Answer. AMEN & AMEN
Does anyone have any updates on Ger??
Have a great day blog-buddies!!!
Her sister posted yesterday that she is still in the hospital but is doing well and hopes to be home soon. If you want you can read the comment yourself by clicking the word Previous on the top of this page to get to yesterday’s comments.
Thanks Donna, I just read the comment from yesterday from Ger’s sister. We Praise God to know she is on the mend!! Looking forward to her return home and to this blog soon.
Hi David and fellow bloggers thank you for your comments. I have not had access to a computer until today. I thank you as well Eric for allowing your sermon to be shared may the Holy Spirit work mightily through you. Scott just wondering how your meeting went yesterday? Brenda I will lift your family up in prayer. I talked with my father-in-law on the weekend and he was feeling very tired as he still is unable to eat, his name is Frank, thank you for your prayers. God bless each one today!!!!
Hi Eric, You are surely a chip off the old block! That’s an old saying meaning you are made of the same passion for the Lord that your whole family share! You are truly blessed. l love that you say if you truly choose to believe then don’t hide it but be BOLD and OBEY. On Sunday we heard one of the best sermons ever, and the speaker brought out that if we really believe in the word of God, we must also connect our faith with hope, which is a confident expectation in God’s ability to bring forth good. David., what a blessing to you and Norma-Jean as you see so many of your family carrying the torch, and running for the Lord
Thank you so much Eric for allowing your Grandpa to use parts of your sermon, way to go!!!
So often we hear sad stories about our young people, but this is so positive, keep it up Eric!
The take away lesson for me is: Yielding to the Lord, and to serve Him.
Wishing all of you a great and Godly day.
Yes, the battle belongs to the Lord! Thanks for reminding us once again, Eric, that when we truly believe it wholeheartedly, we should worship and praise God, instead of striving to fight our battles on our human strength.
Pastor David, praise God that He is developing a “town of priests” in your family line. Hallelujah! We and our children are truly blessed!!
Thanks Catherine and others for praying along and supporting.
Beverley, hope you are feeling well, yes we miss you!
Ger, May 2 Chron 20:15 be your strength and may you truly find healing by resting in His might wings!
Praise the Lord! l have just got off the phone from speaking to my sister in New Zealand, Chantelle has responded to the treatment,her heart rate is up and blood showing great improvement,so they are going to take the feeding tube out tomorrow. l was able to talk to my family about the fact that God answers prayer and my sister told Chantelle, her grand daughter, many people had been praying for her. Thank you, thank you, thank you, you amazing Blog Family, and thank you Lord for your mercy and love! Wonderful Saviour!
Praise to THE KING of healing. So great to hear that Chantelle is responding to the treatment and continuing to pray for steady progress. You must be so relieve and we trust this healing will continue. OH WHAT A SAVIOUR!!!!
Thank you, David, for the daily blog which I read every morning. Due to the power outage in GTA today, my client cancelled, so I got to spend the day in my hotel room reading your book, “Thus Far by Faith.” I shed a few tears as I reminisced and traveled with you. Thank you for your balanced and godly leadership and example. I pray daily for your full healing.
Just want to say I am relieved to hear your prayers were answered ? and that Chantelle is doing well. Praise the Lord our loving mighty healer. Thank you Jesus!!!
M.:-)
PS
Sorry I don’t know Chantelle’s Aunt’s name.
PPS
Thank you Scott.
Your welcome ! God Bless!