Saturday, May 23, 2015

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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. 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 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 62 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. It’s now 12:42 p.m. in Jerusalem, where I am right now (5:42 a.m. Eastern time -Toronto-New York). 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.

13 thoughts on “Saturday, May 23, 2015”

  1. WOW!
    How great to see Ron and Ann hosting the live streaming from the River Jordan for the next three hours or so at the Empowered 21 Global Congress.
    Shalom,
    Graham.
    2012 Holy Land Yellow Bus.

    Reply ↓

  2. Perhaps the most powerful effect of this blog occurs when the photos match the scripture, proving the living truth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as He lived and walked and reigned upon the earth. History is in the making when the exact locations where Jesus performed His miracles are made to this day. I so look forward to tomorrow’s photo of the Pool of Siloam where Jesus spit on the dirt, put it on the blind man’s eyes, told him to wash in the pool and, yes, be healed! We live by Your Word, Lord, our precious Saviour and Redeemer! Amen, amen and amen!

    Reply ↓

  3. So thankful for this two-year study Rev. M. As u have served the Lord all these years He has shown great favour to you. We are all reaping the benefit of your service. Thank you.

    “I praise You, heavenly Father, that You can rescue me from any pit, no matter how deep. Help me to accept the help of others and to be ready to offer it to those in need.” Amen.

    Blessings fellow saints.

    Reply ↓

  4. Holy Spirit You Are Welcome Here
    Kim Walker Smith, Bethel

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktsPuZvH-rQ

    Verse 1:
    There’s nothing worth more that would ever come close,
    No thing can compare, You’re our living Hope,
    Your presence, Lord.

    Verse 2:
    I’ve tasted and seen of the sweetest of loves,
    When my heart becomes free and my shame is undone,
    Your presence, Lord.

    Chorus:
    Holy Spirit You are welcome here,
    Come flood this place and fill the atmosphere.
    Your glory God is what our hearts long for,
    To be overcome by Your presence, Lord.

    Verse 1:
    Verse 2:
    Chorus:
    Bridge:
    Let us become more aware of Your presence.
    Let us experience the glory of Your goodness x 3
    Chorus:
    Instrumental:
    Chorus:

    Reply ↓

  5. My dad and uncles used to recite poems to us when we were children. Used to drive us round the bend. Now I juat love them and this is one they memorized.

    THE BURIAL OF MOSES

    By Nebo’s lonely mountain.
    On this side Jordan’s wave.
    In a vale in the land of Moab
    There lies a lonely grave;
    And no man knows that sepulcher,
    And no man saw it e’er;
    For the angels of God upturned the sod
    And laid the dead man there.

    That was the grandest funeral
    That ever passed on earth;
    But no man heard the trampling,
    Or saw the trains go forth;
    Noiselessly as the daylight
    Comes when the night is done,
    And the crimson streak on ocean’s cheek
    Grows into the great sun.

    Noiselessly as the spring-time
    Her crown of verdure weaves,
    And all the trees on all the hills
    Open their thousand leaves;
    So without the sound of music,
    Or voice of them that wept,
    Silently down from the mountain’s crown
    The great procession swept.

    This was the truest warrior
    That ever buckled the sword;
    This the most gifted poet
    That ever breathed a word;
    And never earth’s philosopher
    Traced, with his golden pen,
    On the deathless page, truths half so sage
    As he wrote down for men.

    And hath he not high honor?-
    The hillside for a pall!
    To lie in state, while angels wait,
    With stars for tapers tall
    And the dark rock-pines like tossing plumes,
    Over his bier to wave,
    And God’s own hand, in that lonely land,
    To lay him in the grave!

    In that strange grave without a name,
    Whence his uncoffin’d clay
    Shall break again- O wondrous thought!
    Before the judgment day,
    And stand, with glory wrapped around,
    On the hills he never trod,
    And speak of the strife that won our life
    With the Incarnate Son of God.

    O lonely grave in Moab’s land!
    O dark Beth-Peor’s hill!
    Speak to these curious hearts of our,
    And teach them to be still.
    God hath His mysteries of grace,
    Ways that we cannot tell,
    He hides them deep, like the hidden sleep
    Of Him who loved so well.
    ~Cecil Francis Alexander (Adapted)~

    Reply ↓

  7. Really appreciate your blog, Rev. Mainse. I am still following it faithfully and thank you for your diligence and getting up so early in the morning to continue it. The links are so interesting and informative…thank you for including them. May God encourage, bless and strengthen you!

    Reply ↓

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