Tuesday, May 23, 2023

HEZEKIAH PRAYED AND PRAYED!!!

Today’s Reading: 2 Kings 19

Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).

 

This photo was taken near the top-end of Hezekiah’s Tunnel, or the Siloam Tunnel. It is a tunnel that was dug underneath the City of David in Jerusalem in ancient times. It dates from the reign of Hezekiah of Judah (late 8th and early 7th century BC) and corresponds to the waterworks mentioned in 2 Kings 20:20. The tunnel, leading from the Gihon Spring to the Pool of Siloam, was designed as an aqueduct to provide Jerusalem with water during an impending siege by the Assyrians, led by Sennacherib.

GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.

 

Key Verse: 2 Kings 19:19

Now Therefore, O Lord our God, I pray, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord God, You alone.

Our reading begins with the statement, “Hezekiah …. went into the house of the Lord.” The tearing of Hezekiah’s clothes and the sackcloth were evidences of extreme fervency. When we fast, the same fervency is indicated. Jesus practised fasting and encouraged us to do the same. This is evidence of our determined focus on God; it is not a way of earning God’s favour. Everything we receive from God is pure grace (undeserved favour). We learn from Hezekiah the power of prayer! Four times we are presented with the words “prayer, prayed, pray, prayed.” We get it, Lord!
Isaiah, the man of God, is introduced here for the first time. Let us check on Isaiah’s preaching. He began his ministry when Uzziah was king and continued throughout the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. As a youth, Hezekiah would have sat under the teaching and preaching of Isaiah, no doubt comparing the message and the life of Isaiah against the wickedness of his father Ahaz. Read Isaiah 1:16-20 and Isaiah 2:1-11, and then consider Isaiah’s experience of God recorded in Isaiah 6:1-8. We can be sure that as a youth, before he became king, Hezekiah had prayed the words of Isaiah to the Lord, “Here am I! Send me.” The results of this prayer are very evident in history.

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord God, I’ve heard Your call. You have said, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” I respond with those powerful words, “Here am I! Send me.” I pray this in Jesus’ Name! Amen!!!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

I was about to turn 17 when I attended Lakeshore Pentecostal Youth Camp for a week. It was there at the altar in the tabernacle that I prayed approximately this prayer with all my heart, “Lord Jesus, I want to serve You fully in Your great cause. Please Lord, do me the great favour of calling me into the ministry with a definite call so that I will know You have called me, and so that I will never turn back from serving You.” He gave me an unmistakable call almost immediately when the Youth Evangelist came to where I was kneeling in the middle of hundreds of other teens and said, with authority in his voice, “You are called into the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ!” I’ve never doubted that call for even one minute for the past 64 years.

In reference to today’s reading, my English teacher in high school had us memorize the poem “The Destruction of Sennacherib,” by Lord Byron. I remember it to this day… “The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold, and his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold….” Lord Byron was a student of Holy Scripture (click here for the entire poem).

Yours for God’s call on our lives,

David

P.S. In 11 days we’ll be half-way through the entire Bible. If you have just started reading with me, in 104 weeks you’ll finish the entire Bible, moving from the Hebrew Scriptures to the Greek, the Old Testament to the New, alternating between the two. Please tell others about this blog and encourage them from time to time to stick with it throughout the entirety of the Bible. Throughout the years, I have become convinced that with the two-year reading plan, over 70% of people who start to read with me complete reading the entire Bible. In the one-year plan, which I promoted for years, only about 30% completed the entire Bible. I discovered this because of the requests (or the lack thereof) for additional study materials.

Up until 2004 this exit from Hezekiah’s Tunnel was thought to be at the Pool of Siloam. However, you will see in tomorrow’s 100words blog photo that the recent discovery, just 100 metres to the south, was in fact the Pool of Siloam. That is where Jesus, in John 9:7, after spitting in the dirt and putting it on a blind man’s eyes, told him to wash in the Pool of Siloam, and the man was healed.

10 thoughts on “Tuesday, May 23, 2023

  1. Thank You, Lord, for answering prayer:
    “O Lord, God of Israel, you are enthroned between the mighty cherubim! You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You alone created the heavens and the earth. Bend down, O Lord, and listen! Open your eyes, O Lord, and see! Listen to Sennacherib’s words of defiance against the living God.

    “It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all these nations. And they have thrown the gods of these nations into the fire and burned them. But of course the Assyrians could destroy them! They were not gods at all—only idols of wood and stone shaped by human hands. Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power; then all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you alone, O Lord, are God.”

    Please do it again, Father, as we need Your rescue from those who brazenly defy You in this generation. Show Your power, Lord, we ask in Jesus’s name, amen

  2. Amen Rob. Do it again Lord. Thankfully, the Lord has sent rain to Alberta! (in His timing). Please Lord, continue to send “showers of blessing” until the ground is saturated. Fasting is important for desperate prayer. How do diabetics handle this? I know it’s very difficult for them. How Wonderful that David Mainse had a wise, informed teacher, who taught Lord Byron’s poem. Blessings all.

  3. Amen Rob and Doreen
    Thank you God that when David was called into the ministry thank you for his obedience and down the road you would call him to start a daily television program 100 Huntley Street which has touched the world with the gospel on a daily basis
    Thank you Lord for his obedience
    And thank you for today’s reading and prayer amen 🙏✝️

  4. Amen to rain in Alberta, also a true and honest election for the position of premier. May the numbers of people completing this 2 year going through the bible be 100%. So piwerful connecting ofGods true word. Pray fir strength through thus 21 day fast for tge Jewish people to go home from North America and the world. Send them home! Pray all this in Jesus name amen.

    • Amen indeed,/for the rain in Alberta and praying that more is on the way.
      Lord we know you hear our prays and we continue to pray daily for this terrible situation- so many people suffering and some don’t even have a home anymore. I pray this in the precious name of Jesus, Amen.

  5. The Mountains Of The Lord

    His mountains shall be above all mountains,
    His house above Zion’s hills shall rest,
    For this is the pool of the golden fountain,
    His people,the chosen few and best.

    The rivers will flow to the shores of Zion,
    For the world will soon know this King,
    The proven Master we could rely on,
    The Shepherd worthy above everything.

    His exalted name will be widely praised,
    When He returns to vanquish the beast,
    And everywhere voices will be raised
    In celebration with His banquet feast.

    Let fair warning go throughout the land
    He will return with shield and sword
    And as Satan shall take his last stand,
    My Friend shall show that He is Lord.
    G W (Bill)Marshall /Nov 9,2012

    • Amen to your poem William and to all
      the prayers above.
      Thank you Lord God for the rain in Alberta and
      we trust You will control the situation in BC,
      in Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.

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