Practicing Affirmation

I am thoroughly enjoying “Practicing Affirmation” by Sam Crabtree. So far I would heartily recommend it to anyone but especially to pastors, teachers, and parents.

Below is an excerpt from chapter two.

For more detailed information about this book please click here.

The Importance of Proportionality

Generally, it is easy to affirm early in a relationship, because no offenses have been committed yet. But over the course of time, we can experience a growing desire to bring certain corrections to the table. Which will dominate? Affirmation or correction?

Proportionality matters when it comes to affirmation, for affirmation can be choked out by criticism, correction, or mere indifference and neglect. How much affirmation is enough? There’s no magic number. Picture a horizontal line representing a continuum from a healthy diet of affirmation on one end to an insufficient quantity on the other. The affirmation in any given relationship can be plotted along the line.

---

Insufficient Affirmation                                                 Plenty of Healthy Affirmation

The same relationship can be plotted alone a line with the same meaning, but with different labels.

---

Correction Dominates                     Correction is Counterbalanced w/ Affirmation  

Picture human relationships as ships on water. The natural winds blow them toward the left of the continuum. Wise people give intentional proactive energy to pulling relationships toward the right.

The aim is not to find the precise point on the line that is justifiable, but to unmistakably (in the eyes of people around us) move toward the right. Robust proportionality between affirmation and correction may vary from relationship to relationship, and may even vary from season to season within the same relationship. Sometimes women send signals that they desire a little more refreshment during seasons such as pregnancy or mothering young children. Sometimes men take criticism more severely when they are running late or feel they are being made to run late by someone else. The point is not to calculate some once-and-for-all ratio, but to be actively refreshing.

This is where we get in trouble: affirmations tend to evaporate over time. Meanwhile, corrections keep piling up. Corrections tend to out-number affirmations, and by doing so, corrections sabotage or undercut the value of affirmations. Occasions to correct keep arriving like a Mobius treadmill in perpetual motion. “You left the lights on in the car, dear.” “Finish your homework, son.” “Late again?” “Not that way; this way.” Individually, these are innocuous, and one might argue, necessary. But they pile up, and if not counterbalanced by an overwhelming gang of affirmations, they take over the flavor of the relationship. One hair in a casserole may not even be noticed, yet enough hair will result in choking. Some will choke even at the thought of hair in the their food; similarly, people may emotionally choke at the thought of any more correction coming from us.

The importance of affirmation does not entirely remove the place of correction. We’re going to live with sinners. We’re going to marry a sinner. Our children will be sinners. Our parents are sinners. The people around us are going to pull boneheaded moves, and in love it will sometimes be our place to point them out. They are going to smell bad, and its our job to inform them before they go out in public. They will burn the burgers. They will do something that is mediocre, that will hurt the team or waste household finances, or something else regrettable. But love does not look first for ways to correct.

Think this way: give so many affirmations as a pattern, a way of life, that you gain a reputation for it. You are known for your affirmations, not your criticisms, your corrections. In Acts 4:36 Barnabas is called the “son of encouragement.” What’s my reputation? Mr. Crabby Pants? Old Lady Battle-Axe? Miss Nit-Pick? We should unleash so many affirmations that those around us lose track. So, it’s not a matter of mathematical precision. It’s not a strict algebraic formula but a spiritually organic way of living, more like romance than rocket science, less like knitting (with its relentless counting: knit one, purl two), more like the weather – how much rain is enough? Well, that depends on how dry it’s been. And what yare trying to grow -  a watermelon or a cactus?

According to one perspective:

It takes more than one positive to overcome a negative. You hurt my feelings, so do something nice for me. Are we okay? Not usually yet. The bean counters are telling us that a healthy state in a system actually requires 3-5 positive events to overcome one negative event.

…As Alex Chediak writes:

Not only would [a robust affirmation ratio] tend towards softening the tone of the rare critique, but it ensures that the critical remark is heard in a larger context of love and delight.

A guy might be thinking, “This doesn’t come easy for me. I’m not good at it. It’s not natural for me.” But men who desire mercy from God get busy refreshing their wives. You can decide to affirm. God will help you. You can dedicate yourself to it: “With God as my help, I am going to do this. I’m going to make a joyful prospect out of it.” You can tackle the mountain (the whole marriage relationship) and break it down into a bunch of easy-to-climb molehills of affirmation.

But we must not be surprised in this fallen world if we encounter obstacles.

What the Church Needs

 

What the church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy Spirit can use – men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Spirit does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men – men of prayer.

E. M. Bounds, “Power through Prayer”

Bible Study as Simple as “ABC”

Do you struggle with studying the bible or perhaps in more practical terms, do you struggle with having a good devotional time in the Word of God? Below is a post called “ABC Study” from the website “Gentle Reformation.” It will only take you a few minutes to read but if you put it into practice it will greatly improve your study of God’s Word!

From my early training under Dr. Roy Blackwood, I was taught the value of an ABC  Bible Study.  I have found with young and old Christians through the years that God’s people have found this type of study, which is explained below, helpful to their growth.  In our church membership class, we teach this basic study as a way of having a devotional time.  We also encourage those in a discipling relationship with others to use this study to train them to relate to God through His word.  We will also have studies where we ask participants to prepare a study like this so they can participate more actively in the discussion.  The Lord promises that as you search His Word, He will use it significantly in your life (Proverbs 2:1-12).  Keeping a journal works well with this type of study.

Analysis – What is God saying in the passage?

The analysis can be done by using ONE OR MORE of the following suggestions.  Remember, the most important thing to do while studying the Bible is to pray, asking its Author to use His Spirit to guide you into the truth (note in Psalm 119 we ask God to “quicken” us that we might be responsive to His Word.)

• Paraphrase the chapter in your own words
• Make an outline of the passage
• Compare different versions of the Bible, noting their similarities and differences
• Using a concordance, list cross references of important verses with their key thoughts
• Take notes from several good commentaries on the passage
• Ask the questions “Who? What? When? Where? Why?” and answer from the text

Best Verse – What is God saying to me in the passage?

From your study, usually the Lord will use a verse or two, or an idea contained in the text, to address particular areas of your life.  The Bible is like a sword that can pierce us so deeply that it discerns the thoughts and intentions of our heart (Hebrews4:12).  Prayerfully ask yourself, “What is the Lord using His WORD to speak to me about?”  Write down the reference and the chief personal thought you have.

Commitment – How does God want me to respond to His Word?

We must always be diligent not to only hear and know His Word, but to obey it.  The good fruit of obedience shows that the Lord is truly working in our lives (Matthew13:18-23, 36-43), proves that we are not deluding ourselves by listening but not responding to God’s Word (James1:22-25), and reveals that we love God even as He loves us (John14:15, 21).  Under the Commitment section of your study, make some practical application to your life based on what you have learned.  If you are doing this study with another person or in a group, grow in your fellowship by sharing your commitments, praying for one another, and following up one another’s commitments to encourage each other  further in godliness.

The Deceitfulness of Sin

 

I was reading my copy of the Global Prayer Digest tonight and the Lord struck my heart with its verse for the day – Hebrews 3:13:

“Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.”

What really jumped out at me was the word “daily.” What are all the implications of that? How should that look in a church body? Do communities of Christ practice this? It is scary to think just how hardened my life and many communities of Christ might just be but they don’t know it because they don’t encourage one another!

Later tonight as I was scrolling through my Google reader I came across this quote from D.A. Carson:

“It is a cheap zeal that reserves its passions to combat only the sins and temptations of others.”

Here then is the primary step toward realizing Hebrews 3:13 in communities of Christ – I must first be more worked up about my own sinfulness than the sinfulness of others.

This I believe will protect me from “scolding one another daily,” or “suspecting one another daily” or “poking holes at one another daily” instead of “encouraging one another” and what is more this will enable me to be “encouraged” daily also that I might not be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

“Lord, stir within me a spirit of deep conviction of my own sinfulness that I might get more worked up about my own sinfulness than I do anybody else’s.”

 

Prayer-less

Greg Nichols:

A prayerless person is ungrateful because he doesn’t thank God. He is self-righteous because he doesn’t confess his sins to God. He is self centered because he doesn’t ask God to bless other people. He is presumptuous because he doesn’t pray for his daily needs. He is irreverent because he doesn’t praise God. And he is unfriendly to God because his prayerlessness evidences that he doesn’t enjoy being with God.

Enough said?

God’s Eternal Purposes and Praying for Healing

The last time pastor and author James Montgomery Boice addressed his church before succumbing to cancer he spoke these words:

A relevant question, when you pray is, pray for what? Should you pray for a miracle? Well you are free to do that, of course. My general impression is that the God who is able to do miracles – and he certainly can – is also able to keep you from getting the problem in the first place. So although miracles do happen, they’re rare by definition. A miracle has to be an unusual thing.

…Pray for wisdom for the doctors…Pray also for the effectiveness of the treatment.

Above all I would say pray for the glory of God. If you think of God glorifying himself in history and you say, where in all of history has God most glorified himself? He did it at the cross of Jesus Christ, and it wasn’t be delivering Jesus from the cross, though he could have. Jesus said, ‘Don’t you think I could call down from my Father ten legions of angels for my defense?’ But he didn’t do that. And yet that’s were God is most glorified…

When things like this come into our lives, they are not accidental. It’s not as if God somehow forgot what was going on, and something bad slipped by…God does everything according to his will…

But what I’ve been impressed with most is something in addition to that. It’s possible, isn’t it, to conceive of God as sovereign and yet indifferent? God’s in charge, but he doesn’t care. But it’s not that. God is not only the one who is in charge. God is also good. Everything he does is good.

…If God does something in your life, would you change it? If you’d change it, you’d make it worse. It wouldn’t be as good. So that’s the way we want to accept it and move forward, and who knows what God will do?

‘Sing to the Lord, all the earth, proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among the peoples. For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise…’

Along similar lines Bryan Chapell encourages all who will listen with these words:

With faith in God’s sovereignty over eternity undergirding our prayers, I have often encouraged others not to pray for God to heal if it is his will – as though maybe he will heal and maybe not. Instead, I encourage my friends and family to pray for God to heal according to his will. Then, whether he answer with the temporary healing that keeps a loved one with us longer, or whether he answers with the perfect healing of taking that one into Jesus’ arms, we remain confident that he has blessed. We have faith that our God’s blessings will be according to a sovereign plan that is as beautiful and boundless as he.

Disease and suffering are inevitable in our fallen world. Yet amid the hurt and confusion, we can pray without doubting that these afflictions are not the ultimate reality or the final chapter of King Jesus’ response to the prayers of his people. Our Lord Jesus will use our prayer in his name to extend his rule through this world and the next. He is able because he is sovereign over all things for all time.

God is sovereign.

Do you pray that way or do you pray as if you are?

The Only Attraction is God

A. W. Tozer writes in Man: The Dwelling Place of God:

It is now common practice in most evangelical churches to offer the people, especially the young people, a maximum of entertainment and a minimum of serious instruction. It is scarcely possible in most places to get anyone to attend meeting where the only attraction is God. One can only conclude that God’s professed children are bored with Him, for they must be wooed to meeting with a stick of striped candy in the form of religious movies, games and refreshments.

This has influenced the whole pattern of church life, and even brought into being a new type of church architecture designed to house the golden calf.

So we have the strange anomaly of orthodoxy in creed and heterodoxy in practice. The striped-candy technique has been so fully integrated into our present religious thinking that it is simply taken for granted. Its victims never dream that it is not a part of the teachings of Christ and His apostles.

Any objection to the carryings-on of our present golden calf Christianity is met with the triumphant reply, ‘But we are winning them!’ And winning them to what? To true discipleship? To cross-carrying? To self-denial? To separation from the world? To crucifixion of the flesh? To holy living? To nobility of character? To a despising of the world’s treasures? To hard self-discipline? To love for God? To total commitment to Christ? Of course, the answer to all these questions is ‘no.’

Predestination: A Pillow for your Faith

The following is an excerpt from a sermon I gave last night from 2 Kings 19

King Hezekiah and the kingdom of Judah are at the end of their rope, sapped of all strength:

“This day is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the point of birth and there is no strength to deliver them.” (2 Kings 19:3)

What is the reason for such shame and weakness?

Sennacherib’s army has steamrolled through Judah and has now set up camp around Jerusalem.

This is the same army that has knocked off a great number of other kings and kingdoms as Sennacherib likes to remind people:

Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered? ¹² Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my forefathers deliver them: the gods of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar? ¹³ Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, or of Hena or Ivvah?” (2 Kings 19:11-13)

In light of such calamity and distress Hezekiah drops anchor in the storm through prayer (2 Kings 19:14) and God replies through his servant Isaiah saying among other things against Sennacherib:

Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it. In days of old I planned it; now I have brought it to pass, that you have turned fortified cities into piles of stone. (2 Kings 19:25)

Long before Sennacherib was ever a blip on the radar screen God had ordained his victories and conquests.

Knowing the true explanation always sucks the pride out of one’s balloon.

In another way, a little predestination cuts arrogance down to size.

Predestination, of course, makes some Christians nervous; they shudder at the mention of the “P” word.

All I can say is – if you don’t want predestination, well then go ahead and live a comfortless life, bite your nails and swallow your tranquilizers watching the evening news.

I however prefer the pillow of predestination…that is, of having a God big enough that he is never surprised by blathering Sennacheribs of this age.

Predestination is the pillow of faith.

It was Joseph’s pillow.

He endured immensely difficult situations because:

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.(Gen. 50:20)

It is our pillow also.

Paul tells us in Romans 8:28 that “we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him…” In Romans 8:38 Paul says “I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons…will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

How can we “know” and be “convinced” of such things?

The answer is found in Romans 8:29-30 – “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his son…”

Predestination is why we know!

It was Hezekiah’s pillow, Joseph’s pillow, it is our pillow!

God determines the beginning and the end and everything in-between.

God is sovereign working out his perfect will.

Don’t fight predestination.

Let it be the pillow for your faith.

When you lay down tonight in your nice warm beds and put your head on your nice soft pillow say a little prayer of praise and thanksgiving to God for predestination!

My Prayer During Holy Week

Lest I forget Gethsemane;

Lest I forget Thine agony;

Lest I forget Thy love for me,

Lead me to Calvary

- Jennie Evelyn Hussey

“For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” 1 Corinthians 2:2

Book Recommendation Alert!

Via: Justin Taylor

This book looks good:

The Greener Grass Conspiracy: Finding Contentment on Your Side of the Fence by Stephen Altrogge.

Its primary subject is finding contentment in Christ not circumstances.

Click here to read more about the book and its author.

Here is a creative book trailer:

My Chief Complaint

 

Taken from Olney Hymn #18 “Lovest Thou Me?”

Lord, it is my chief complaint

that my love is weak and faint;

Yet I love Thee, and adore;

O for grace to love Thee more!

- William Cowper

Substitute Savior (2 Kings 17:1-23)

If all of theology could be described in one sentence it would be, “There is no god but the LORD.”

This theme begins with the Bible’s opening declaration that “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).

This truth is reemphasized in the Ten commandments in Exodus 20:3-5 and again in Deuteronomy 6:4-5.

In Judges, idolatry is blamed for Israel’s periodic descents into defeat and oppression (Judges 2:10-23).

Virtually all the prophets condemn idol worship, with some ridiculing the practice (Isaiah 46:6-23, for example).

The book of Kings drives home this theme of “There is no god but the LORD” emphatically.

• Idolatry is blamed for the nation’s division after Solomon’s death (1 Kings 11:9-13).
• Without exception the kings of Israel and Judah are judged not by whether they have a large army or treasury but by whether they promoted, curtailed, or eradicated idolatry in the land, especially the “high places.”
• Jeroboam starts a new religion, one that serves his own interests rather than those of God. Instead of rejecting idols, he has two golden calves made, then teaches the nation that these gods delivered Israel from Egypt (1 Kings 12:28-30). Additionally, knowing it is not politically expedient to allow his people to travel to Jerusalem to worship, he builds two local shrines where the new bovine gods can be honored (1 Kings. 12:29-31).
• Ahab and Jezebel promoted and supported Baalism in Israel.
  • Ahab built Baal a temple (1 Kings 16:32-33)
  • Jezebel employed 450 prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:22) and threatened the lives of God’s prophets (1 Kings 18:1-6; 19:1-2).
• Idolatry is blamed for Israel’s exile. 2 Kings 17:7 reads, “And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods.”
  • No sociological or political reasons for their demise…simply theological…Yahweh alone is God, deal with it…or else!

Faithfulness to God is always the crucial, and in some sense, the sole demand for Israel.

Unfortunately, faithfulness to God is a rare commodity in Israel and unfaithfulness is as common as dust.

Anything but rely and trust on God.

Israel is always looking for substitutes.

Interestingly enough, “Hoshea” means “Savior” and is related to the names of Joshua and Jesus.

But Hoshea is no Joshua or Jesus!

Though 2 Kings 17:2 hints at something of a “reform”, he is a poor substitute for a savior.

His reign begins with conspiracy and ends in exile(see 2 Kings 15:30 and 2 Kings 17:1-6).

Hoshea, Israel’s substitute savior, despite his best efforts, could not redeem them from Assyria.

He was powerless to save and so were all the other “substitute saviors’’ listed in 2 Kings 17:1-23.

May this passage be a strong reminder to us that there is only one God and Savior, Jesus Christ, and that far from trying to substitute him, we  need to treasure his substitution in our place for our sinfulness on the cross!

1 Peter 2:24: “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed”

1 Peter 3:18: “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit”

Just as God delivered Israel out of bondage to slavery in Egypt with a mighty arm, so Jesus has delivered all who believe in him from bondage to sin.

Do you believe, or are you still looking for other saviors?

There is no god but the LORD and there is no other way to him but through Jesus Christ!

Stop looking for other saviors and bow down to THE Savior Jesus Christ of whom we read that “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

I Can’t Believe How Wicked Ahaz Is…(2 Kings 16:1-4)

Ahaz is a wicked king.

He begins his reign at an early age, being only 20 years old (v. 2).

He reigns for 16 years.

16 years of sheer wickedness.

Listen to how he is described:

• “And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God, as his father David had done” (v. 2)
• “He walked in the way of the kings of Israel” (v. 3)
• “He even burned his son as an offering, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel” (v. 3)
• This is disturbing. If Ahaz shares in those abominations, will he not share in their judgment?
• “He sacrificed and made offering on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree” (v. 4)
• Notice the third person singular pronoun “He.”

This leads to what is perhaps most alarming about Ahaz – there is no mention of the Davidic covenant. In fact, it has been quite some time since we have read of the Davidic promise in regards to Judah.

Recall Abijah in 1 Kings 15 with me.

Here is another wicked king but there we are told, “Nevertheless, for David’s sake the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem by raising up a son to succeed him and by making Jerusalem strong” (v. 4).

Recall Jehoram in 2 kings 8.

He was wicked but we read “Nevertheless, for the sake of his servant David, the Lord was not willing to destroy Judah. He had promised to maintain a lamp for David and his descendents forever” (v. 19).

For Ahaz, instead of being reminded of the Lord’s promise to David we are reminded of the Lord’s driving out of the nations before the Israelites.

Things do not bode well for Judah.

There is a great gathering of darkness in Judah.

At this point we are tempted to wag our heads and put on our “angry, scornful, self-righteous” eyes and glare at Ahaz in disbelief.

But beware!

Thomas Watson, a Puritan minister of many years ago had this to say:

Take every word as spoken to yourselves. When the word thunders against sin, think thus: ‘God means my sins;’ when it presseth any duty, ‘God intends me in this.’ Many put off Scripture from themselves, as if it only concerned those who lived in the time when it was written; but if you intend to profit by the word, bring it home to yourselves: a medicine will do no good, unless it be applied.

When you read of Ahaz and his sinfulness remember the sovereign God’s description of you:

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath” Ephesians 2:1-3

The same evil heart that is in Ahaz is in you.

Given the right circumstances, you are just as capable of doing what Ahaz did.

If you fail to realize that then great is your pride.

When you read of how sinful Ahaz was, remember the words of Paul, “But by the grace of God I am what I am…” (1 Corinthians 15:10).

There is a great darkness gathering in Judah. There is a great darkness gathering in your heart “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵ made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:4-5).

Did you hear how wicked Ahaz is?

Did you hear how wicked Andrew Manwarren is?

Did you hear how wicked you are?

BUT GOD!

“We are more wicked than we ever feared yet more loved than we ever hoped.”

 

 

Anticipation about Application

James 1:22-25

²² Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. ²³ Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror ²⁴ and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. ²⁵ But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

Donald S. Whitney as found on page 53 in “Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life” (scroll down on link to find this book):

Because God wills for you to be a doer of His Word, you may be confident that He wants you to find an application whenever you come to the Scriptures. For the same reason you may believe that the Holy Spirit is willing to help you discern how to flesh out your insights. Therefore, open the Book expectantly. Anticipate the discovery of a practical response to the truth of God. It makes a big difference to come to the Bible with the faith that you will find an application for it as opposed to believing you won’t.

The Puritan minister and writer, Thomas Watson, whose influence was so great he was called ‘the nursing mother of gigantic evangelical divines,’ encouraged anticipation about application when he said,

Take every word as spoken to yourselves. When the  word                    thunders against sin, think thus: ‘God means my sins;’ when it presseth any duty, ‘God intends me in this.’ Many put off Scripture from themselves, as if it only concerned those who lived in the time when it was written; but if you intend to profit by the word, bring it home to yourselves: a medicine will do no good, unless it be applied.

Because of God’s inspiration of Scripture, believe that what you are reading was meant for you as well as for the first recipients of the message. Without that attitude you’ll rarely perceive the application of a passage of Scripture to you personal situation.

And So It Was

2 Kings 15 is a fast moving chapter full of conspiracy and chaos.

In just 38 verses it covers 7 kings, 5 of which come and go in the course of 30 years!

It seems every time you turn around another king has been assassinated and to make matters worse Assyria is breathing down their necks, even taking some of the Israelites into exile.

Things are rapidly careening out of control. 

Or are they?

Observe 2 Kings 15:12 – “This is the word of the LORD which He spoke to Jehu, saying, ‘Your sons to the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.’ And so it was.”

Recall back in 2 Kings 10:30 the Lord promised Jehu a dynasty that would last 4 generations “Because you have done well in executing what is right in My eyes, and have done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in My heart.”

With the passing of Zechariah the Lord has been true to His Word.

In fact, notice the end of 2 Kings 15:12 again – “And so it was.”

Is that not a wonderful truth?

God promised Jehu a 4 generation dynasty “and so it was.”

It is the same Hebrew phrase we find repeated in Genesis 1:7, 9, 11, 15, 24, 31.

Contrary to the rag-tag appearance of history, the Word of God rules.

The Word of God is directing history.

The Word of God is controlling history.

It could be no other way.

What God speaks comes into being and remains that way.

This is made all the more remarkable when we consider what kind of man Zechariah was.

2 Kings 15:9 records “He did evil in the sight of the Lord, as his fathers had done…”

In spite of this, God is faithful to his Word.

Thus, contrary to all appearances, the world is not out of control.

There is order to the chaos.

God’s Word still abides.

God’s Word is still controlling history.

Anchor your heart and mind on the sure and steadfast promises of God’s Word.

Or as Scotty Smith says it in his “A Prayer about Being Claimed by God’s Promises” – “We don’t claim your [God] promises, they claim us! If we’re going to ‘name and claim’ anything, may it be to have greater passion for your glory. May our ‘standing on your promises’ lead to living under your authority and serving well in your kingdom until Jesus returns.”

Luke 21:33 – “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.”

And so it was and so it will be!