Saturday, April 27, 2013

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WISDOM

Suggested Reading: 1 Kings 3-4

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

 

Zedekiah's Cave, also known as King Solomon's Quarries, is a 5-acre underground limestone quarry that runs the length of five city blocks under the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. It was carved over a period of several thousand years and is a remnant of the largest quarry in Jerusalem. Seen in this photo is the largest room in the quarry.

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

 

Key Verse: 1 Kings 3:9

Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?

Solomon had a great start to his reign, but he did not finish well. We’ll cover his failures in a later reading, but for now, there are good choices to consider. One of the most important requests that anyone could make of God was made by Solomon. God offered him anything he desired. He could have chosen wealth, fame or long life, but instead he asked for that which would be best for others. He asked for wisdom. Solomon’s deep love for God is evident. He deeply appreciated the fact that his father David, for most of his life, had served the Lord God faithfully. We need to check up on our lives, asking ourselves, “How would we respond given a similar opportunity by God?” Because Solomon asked selflessly, God was not only pleased to fulfill his request but also to give him the other blessings he had not requested.

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Dear Lord God, because of Your love for me, You have offered me, in the promises I find everywhere in the Bible, many blessings. Grant me a selfless attitude, an outlook on life that is “others” centred. May I focus on Your will and not mine. I pray these mercies in Jesus’ Name. Amen!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

I would like to simply rejoice with Solomon, but I know what is coming later in his life. It could have been so different if he had made the right choices consistently. The last book in our readings was the Apostle Paul’s letter to the people of Galatia. I’m reminded of a very sad comment Paul made about those people. Paul wrote, “You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?” (Galatians 5:7). God has blessed me greatly with His Salvation in Jesus Christ, with a wonderful family, and with many ministry opportunities. I must be so very careful to make wise decisions in my old age. It would be so easy to sit on the couch watching TV (other than 100 Huntley Street, the news and some other wholesome programs) and be inundated by the world, the flesh, and the devil. Oh, it wouldn’t be deliberate on my part, but ever so gradually, spiritual strength would drain away, leaving me weak and almost helpless in the face of life’s challenges. I am more determined than ever to make the right choices, to pray fervently each day, to read God’s Word each day, and to share Jesus, as the opportunity arises. By having a Christian will, my wife and I do not intend to leave anything to the government. Yes, we are remembering our children, but God’s work is a priority. We want those causes that God has called us to support to continue to prosper. It would be fine if my epitaph read, “He ran well, and he kept on running well!”

Yours for doing well and finishing well,

David

P.S. May I suggest an extra reading of one of Solomon’s wise writings: Proverbs 3.

 

Walking into the depths of King Solomon's Quarries.

Here is an entrance to the quarry. It is cut into the bedrock below the city walls of Jerusalem.

30 thoughts on “Saturday, April 27, 2013”

  1. Dear David
    May God continue to pour his amazing grace on your life so you can continue to run well. !
    I enjoy your daily blog so much! May God continue to strengthen you daily as you finish off your treatments. So good to see Elaine every week for updates!
    love you and Norma Jean
    J

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  2. Amen to all you have given us to think upon this morning David. Thank you for your faithfulness and it would be easy in old age to just sit back but God is not finished with us yet and I pray he will give you strength every day to continue this wonderful work you are blessings us with.
    I too pray for a selfless life and one to serve others for Jesus. TO GOD BE THE GLORY!!!

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  3. I too pray the prayer you offered us today David. Humbleness of spirit, strength in character, wisdom for righteousness and a servants heart for others; we learn these things through following the Lord in consistent Bible study, prayer, worship and fellowship with other Christians.

    Lord be with us this day, provide for us opportunities to shine Your light upon an often dark and dreary world. Nurture each one of us in Your ways, and help us to see ministry opportunities before us, whereby we might use our gifts in service to others around us. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

    Aren’t those quarries awesome??!! I can’t imagine how they did all that hard physical labour thousands of years ago without any power machinery. Making an entrance way into sheer rock? Wow! Amazing pictures once again Reynold, Thank-you!

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  4. Thank you for this timely message and the facinating photographs. The account of Solomon’s wisdom to discern the mother of the baby, truly struck to the core of the matter and displayed great judgement! I pray for such wisdom in all judicial matters this day. May we all finish the race as you have described, David.

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  5. what awesome photo’s Reynold. I am not a ‘cave’ person, but these might just change my mind if I ever had the chance to see them. 🙂 As Scott said, it is hard to imagine how they did such labor with no machinery. Thank you for ‘going and taking’ and then sharing!
    Thank you too, David M. for continuing to ‘run well’ in spite of the health challenges you are experiencing. It can never be said too many times of what a blessing and ‘gift’ you are.

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  6. Amen to your complete blog this morning, David. This is good advice to us seniors who want to finish well. I find myself thinking the same thoughts as you in personal words,as there is so much more to do. Praying God will strengthen you in your body and resolve David as well as in all us fellow bloggers. Am facing a heart test in two weeks(the first two had to be cancelled). Thank you, David for your true heart. God bless all today. Am having good sunny days now in the Maritimes.

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  9. WOW! What you said about watching TV and having the spirit life drain from you and weaken you really hit home for me. I don’t watch much TV except for CTS but I know lots of people who do. I have been drinking up all your wisdom poured out in your blog and it is strengthening me daily. Thank you so much for being such a good servant of the only Living God.

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  10. Thank you for your encouragement this morning to “run the race well” and not to give up, despite physical challenges at times.
    May all of you be blessed this weekend!

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  11. Thank you, David. Your message today, and Christian life style exemplifies wisdom and inspires me beyond words. You sure could be taking things easy as you are retired and deal with chemotherapy–it is unimaginable; and yet, you continue to run the race with the full fervor of Jesus in your heart, at all times–because that is the magnitude of your faith and witness to Him. God is using you as the highest example for us to follow. Praise God for you, David! Thank you for being such an incredible role model and teacher. I have learned so much from you and your ministry, over the years, and am so very grateful for the teaching and fellowship from this blog!

    The photos are remarkable (thanks, Reynold!); hard to imagine they were man-made, and took thousands of years, and yet the photos stand as one of the perfect examples, of many, that the Bible is absolutely true!!

    From the highest of heights to the depths of the sea
    Creation’s revealing Your majesty
    From the colors of fall to the fragrance of spring
    Every creature unique in the song that it sings
    All exclaiming

    Chorus:
    Indescribable, uncontainable,
    You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name.
    You are amazing God.
    All powerful, untameable,
    Awestruck, we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim,
    You are amazing God.

    Who has told every lightning bolt where it should go
    Or seen heavenly storehouses laden with snow
    Who imagined the sun and gives source to its light
    Yet conceals it to bring us the coolness of night
    None can fathom.

    Chorus
    Chorus
    Chorus
    Indescribable by Chris Tomlin

    Amen!

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  12. Wow, those pictures are just awesome.
    I have been to Israel several times but never have seen these.
    I treasure forever that we had the opportunity not only to travel in Israel but also to volunteer there.
    I would encourage everybody to at least go with a tour but if at all possible do give of your time to volunteer, you get an opportunity to live in that beautifull land that the Lord has given to His treasured people.
    Thanks for the team who brings us daily the WORD and pictures that illuminate the written pages.
    Betty H

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  15. Dear mr. Mainse,
    Thank you for your wonderful blog and your wisdom in your teachings.
    You bring life and understanding to the bible as we journey through.
    I prayer for your healing and thank God for your blog.

    I ask for the healing prayers of my fellow bloggers for my Dad.
    He suffered a heart attack two days ago and is still in the hospital.
    His blood pressure dropped for a long time and the doctors said there could be some brain damage because of this.
    He is on life support and sedated as they are helping him.
    They have run tests to see if there is any damage and if not will slowly reduce the sedatives to run more tests to perhaps perform surgery as his heart is badly blocked and scarred from a previous quadruple bypass in 1988.
    Please pray for his recovery and for his salvation.

    Blessings to all and thank you.

    Love this blog 🙂
    Diane

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  16. Dear David and fellow bloggers
    How very proud and gratful i am to be in the company of faithful and wise followers of Jesus Christ as a very new christian I am so grateful that God Almighty made my path crossed with David M. crossroad ministry.The rest is history .
    thank you Reynold for you’re fabulous picture !
    All of you have a blessed day and take a few moments to enjoy Gods beautiful sunshine xxx Carole 🙂

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  17. Dear David : I want to say thank you for your National Ministry through Huntly Street, through your blog and through the comment section. I also enjoy reading the comments by all the blog readers. What a great network of love! May God continue to pour out good health and strength for each day.
    In Christian Love; John.

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  18. Thank you so much fellow bloggers for your concern and prayers. It means a lot to me, and gives me confidence. Will pray for you too, Catherine and trust you find the right medication. Thanks again, David for this wonderful blog. Have a good evening, everyone!

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  19. We have been thinking about going on a bus trip for about 4 days. We just renewed our passports. I don’t know if we will actually go though. I don’t want to miss this blog. I have a tablet but I don’t know if we will get enough Wi Fi to actually be able to get the blog every day. There are Christian day trips too so maybe we’ll do that. We have never been to Israel and we sure enjoy the pictures. We can’t go to Israel now because of health problems and age but we sure enjoy the pics!

    Reply ↓

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