HEART & SOUL

Today’s Reading: 2 Chronicles 15

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

In the Museum of the Ancient Agora in Athens Greece, you can see four fragments of sculptures, probably from the Temple of Ares dating from 435-420 BC. Today’s reading would have taken place hundreds of years before these were carved. King Asa of Judah ordered the removal of all the idols which some had been worshiping (2 Chronicles 15:8).

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

Key Verse: 2 Chronicles 15:7

But you, be strong and do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded!

God has made us in His image. Therefore, the choice is ours as to whether we serve Him or not. God will not turn us into puppets or robots. At the beginning of our reading, it’s obvious that our decisions about our lives will determine God’s decisions whether or not to bless us or leave us alone to the consequences of His absence from our lives. Verse two tells us that while we are with Him, He is with us, and that if we seek Him, He will be found by us, and if we forsake Him, He will forsake us. God lets us take the lead in our own lives.

King Asa took action, and God responded as a result. First, Asa removed the idols. Second, he restored the altar of the Lord. Third, he made a sacrificial offering to the Lord. Fourth, he even removed his own mother from being honoured as the Queen, because she had made an obscene image of a goddess which was worshiped in neighbouring countries. He cut it down, crushed it, and burned it at the brook just between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives. Because of Asa’s decisions to honour the Lord, God responded by blessing Judah with peace.

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord God, I have decided to take action in my life to serve You with all my heart, mind, soul and strength. I love You! I pray now for Your peace to fill my being at all times. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer with Your “Yes.” I’m experiencing Your peace now as I pray. In the Name of the Prince of Peace, the Lord Jesus, Amen!!!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

There is a powerful statement of God’s response to our move toward Him found in Romans 10:1-15. The Apostle Paul quotes from his Hebrew Bible the words of the Prophet Joel, “Whoever calls on the Name of the Lord shall be saved” (Joel 2:32a). I’ve just taken the time to read chapter two of Joel (click here).

For over 60 years I’ve been telling everybody who will listen to me that I refuse to make it complicated to be saved. It’s so very simple…just call on the Lord. The 100 Huntley Street telecast has produced a very powerful TV documentary on the life of Michael “Bull” Roberts, a career criminal who did just that while lying on a hotel room floor. The Lord responded to this man who had suffered terrible abuse as a child and was declared criminally insane at 16. When he cried out to God, he experienced true love for the first time in his life. I encourage everyone who reads this blog to check out this story by watching this special edition of 100 Huntley Street which I hosted a few years back (click here).

Yours, because as a 16-year-old I called on the Name of the Lord and was “saved,”

David

Remains of grandeur at the east end of the Roman Agora (marketplace) in Athens that once lead to the Temple of Ares. The Bible teaches that the one true God dwells in our hearts since Jesus came and not in temples made with hands. It was in Athens, surrounded by magnificent temples, that the Apostle Paul said “God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands” (Acts 17:24).

Looking over the fence into the Roman Ancient Agora where the Temple of Ares was located. Just next door to the Agora is Mars Hill (or Areopagus, “Hill Of Ares”), where Paul delivered his message to the Athenians (Acts 17:22-31).