2 Chronicles 2:15. Hear ye me Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.
Ah friends, when it’s not one thing it’s another yes! Chuh! The enemy surely knows how to get into our souls. I’ve been down here now for about fifteen minutes trying to get into my E-mail account. It works well until it comes to opening the mailbox, then it stops with about 2% to go.
Everything else seems to be working perfectly, except for the Hotmail nonsense. I’ve refreshed it at least three times, but each time it simply stalls right before the end of the line. Steups! Computers eh! They are often more trouble than they’re worth, and generally cause problems when you need them the most…
Whoopee de! I just got a message about something going wrong which they can’t figure out as yet, so to try later. Fat lot of good it did me then to try and get up at a reasonable time to write the Bit.
But since I write the Bit in Word before transferring it to Hotmail, because of earlier problems with writing it in Hotmail, we can continue doing our thing while they try to figure out what’s wrong.
So, rather appropriately, we have a few words from Gramps Schuller (Dr.Robert H. Schuller) from his Hour of Power Devotional, on being an extraordinary person. Listen up: ‘The capacity to be extraordinary – a little more or a little better than the last time – is a quality that fosters and causes the flow of divine enthusiasm.
Choose the best: shun mediocrity. Mediocrity has a way of shrivelling up enthusiasm. But commitment to excellence taps an incredible source of energy. Elect the best, no matter what the price tag.’
True words of wisdom my brethren! If you are a follower of Jesus, then the best, excellence is what He expects of you. Just checked Hotmail…Wonder of wonders! It’s finally open! But we’ll continue here.
And I believe one of our major failings in Christianity today is our lack of excellence. We seem to be too afraid of what the world will say and or/do, and we also compromise too much, consequently our efforts on behalf of Christ are only lukewarm and mediocre.
But friends, in this spiritual battle in which we’re currently engaged, we can’t afford to be lack-lustre and without any real bite, because the enemy is coming at us full force. He is not taking a holiday or easing up in his efforts to subdue us. So why are we doing our best to give him the victory that Christ won for us through such painstaking effort eh?
I think our current Christian movement needs a serious injection of ramped up effort, which can only come through healthier and more plentiful communication with Almighty God. It brings to mind the warning of the prophet Azariah in the Old Testament.
The Good Book tells us: ‘And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah, the son of Oded. And he went out to meet (before) Asa, and said unto him. Hear ye me Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.’ (2 Chr.15:1-2)
My fellow believers, the battle is heating up right before our very eyes, please note all the disasters and calamities in our world, both manmade and natural; check out the widespread strife and anger, resentment and hate that’s contaminating our world.
Nations are fighting nations without any apparent hope for peace. Leaders are full of political rhetoric, busily trying to build their power base, but doing nothing to quell the storms. The only thing that can help us is a true return to God, for our world is just like Israel was in Azariah’s time.
Hear the Good Book tell it. ‘Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law. (2 Chr.15:3) That surely sounds like the current state of our world!
‘But when they in their trouble did turn unto the Lord God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them.’ (2 Chr.15:4) The exact solution for our problem my fellow believers!
‘And in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great vexations (turmoil) were upon all the inhabitants of the countries. And nation was destroyed of (by) nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with all adversity.’ (2 Chr.15:5-6)
What a mirror image of our present world my people! I don’t believe our world has ever seen a period of time where so much anger and strife and disasters have enveloped it all at once.
And the ONLY sensible solution is to repent and turn back to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the ONLY TRUE AND LIVING GOD who has the power to make our world better.
But friends, for that to happen, we believers must ramp up our efforts on Christ behalf, focus on excellence not compromise and mediocrity, so that we can get His LOVE Revolution hopping, with people coming to Him in droves, rather than moving away from Him.
We need to take the sincere warning of Azariah seriously. ‘Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak; for your work will be rewarded.’ (2 Chr.15:7)
I therefore implore us to come together in LOVE and peace, for there is strength in numbers. Let’s stop the silly and petty bickering and heal the divisions that are currently entrenched in Christ’s church, so that we can do His work and bring some peace and stability to our world, especially to our children.
And all God’s children declared a loud and sincere ‘Amen!’
And having decided to do all that, we can now go home declaring our Wednesday Wail without hypocrisy. ‘Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday: I’m so glad to be alive on this Wednesday! Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday: Thank God the breath of life is still flowing through me on this Wednesday! I am halfway home.
My hands are fixed securely on the plough, and I’m not turning back. I’m not looking back at the past, not focusing on what has gone before. But my eyes are fixed straight ahead; straight ahead to a glorious future with Jesus. Glory Hallelujah!’
Oh friends, those objectives will only be accomplished if we stand strong and steadfast in Christ, brimming over with enthusiasm and excellence. Much LOVE!
…true strength comes only from sincerely seeking God…then walking purposely in His will…