Week Thirty-one — Verse by Verse Devotional Series — The Works of Elijah — 2 Kings 1: 3,4

Sunday, July 31

2 Kings: 1: 3,4 But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, “go up and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, ‘Is it because there is no god in Israel that you are going off to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore this is what the Lord says, ‘You will not leave the bed you are lying on.  You will certainly die!’” So Elijah went.

Prayer: Lord, we confess that we have too often sought advice from unreliable sources.

Thought for the day:  Bad advice can be worse than no advice.

Monday, August 1

Psalm 14: 1,2 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.

Prayer: Jesus, we trust that God the Father rules supreme.

Thought for the day: After years of doubt and denial Anthony Flew was convinced there is a God.

Tuesday, August 2

Daniel 9: 2,3 in the first year of his reign, I , Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we are humbled to see your prophetic word fulfilled in our generation.

Thought for the day: When the timer on the oven rings, the baker must take action.

Wednesday, August 3

Psalm 27: 9 Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, O God my savior.

Prayer: Lord God, we cannot live without you.

Thought for the day: The socialite’s snub is only important to those who value their society.

Thursday, August 4

Matthew 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Prayer: Lord, may we ever keep you first.

Thought for the day: Successful treasure hunters know how to leave fool’s gold where it lies.

Friday, August 5

Matthew 18:12 What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we seek to know the one who risked his life to seek us.

Thought for the day: No replacement cost can be fixed for one lost soul.

Saturday, August 6

John 4:23 Yet a time is coming and now has come when the true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers that Father seeks.

Prayer: O Lord, may our worship be pleasing in your sight.

Thought for the day: God does not suffer from hearing impairment even if we suffer from a spiritual speech impediment.

Adult Bible Study Outline:

2 Kings 1: 3 – 14 — Q-U-E-S-T

Query – The king wants a word of hope and recovery.

Unfaithfulness – The king looks everywhere for answers except to the God is Israel.

Elijah – God sends the prophet to answer.

Sanctity – God’s message and messenger are to be respected.

Truth – God is no respecter of persons. God honors those who seek Him in truth.

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Photo: “The Prophet Elijah” by Fr Lawrence Lew on http://www.flickr.com

Week Thirty — Verse by Verse Devotional Series — The Works of Elijah — I Kings 21: 18-19

Sunday, July 24

I Kings 21:18-19 Go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who rules in Samaria.  He is now in Naboth’s vineyard, where he has gone to take possession of it.  Say to him “This is what the Lord says: Have you not murdered a man and seized his property?”  Then say to him, “This is what the Lord says:  in the place where dogs licked up Naboth’s blood, dogs will lick up your blood – yes yours!

Prayer:  God, our Heavenly Father, may we count as precious the life of all your children.

Thought for the day: There is no replacement price for life lost.

Monday, July 25

Genesis 4: 9, 10 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I don’t know,” he replied.  “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The Lord said, “What have you done.  Listen! Your bother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.

Prayer:  O God, may we fulfill our obligation as our brothers’ keeper.

Thought for the day:  God mourns for all victims of violence and wrongful death.

Tuesday, July 26

Ezekiel 18:4 For every living soul belongs to me, the father as well as the son – both alike belong to me.  The soul who sins is the one who will die.

Prayer:  Almighty God, we confess that we have sinned.

Thought for the day:  If sin is an offence against an eternal God, how can it become a forgotten thing of days past?

Wednesday, July 27

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Prayer: O Jesus, where there was no hope we find hope in you.

Thought for the day:  For all ailments of the soul there is a cure.

Thursday, July 28

Psalm 103: 2, 3 Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits – who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.

Prayer:  Lord God, the very thought that you would offer us forgiveness is cause to stop and give you praise.

Thought for the day:  Greater is the heart of one who forgives than the heart of one who harbors a grudge.

Friday, July 29

I John 1: 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Prayer: Jesus, just now as we pray you hear every confession we whisper to you.

Thought for the day:  Jesus is ready to take confessions 24 hours a day, seven days a week

Saturday, July 30

2 Corinthians 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Prayer:  O God, the sacrifice of Jesus to save us is so incredible.  It is the ultimate sacrifice of love.

Thought for the day: A popular chorus says, “You though I was worth saving.”
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Photo: “Hebrews — Elijah before Ahab” by Patrick Gray on http://www.flickr.com

Week Twenty-nine — Verse by Verse Devotional Series — The Works of Elijah — I Kings 19: 11,12

Sunday, July 17

I Kings 19:11,12 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.  After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.  And after the fire came a gentle whisper.

Prayer: O God, may we hear your voice in all places where you would speak to us.

Thought for the day: Not all noise is “white noise.”

Monday, July 18

Mark 10:29, 30 “I tell you truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or field for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and fields – and with them, persecutions) an in the age to come, eternal life.”

Prayer: Jesus, you do know every sacrifice we have and have not made for you.

Thought for the day: Making sacrifices for God is just deferring our rewards.

Tuesday, July 19

Psalm 29: 4, 5 The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.

Prayer: Almighty God, your voice is a creative power for good.

Thought for the day: God spoke creation into life.

Wednesday, July 20

I Kings 22; 16, 17 The king said to him, “How many times must I make you swear to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?” Then Miciah answered, “I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd, and the Lord said, ‘These people have no master.  Let each one go home in peace.’”

Prayer: Lord, may we be ready to hear your word of truth and judgment.

Thought for the day: Counselors prepare patients to hear the truth.

Thursday, July 21

Ezekiel 37: 4, 5 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.”

Prayer: Lord, your word brings hope and life.

Thought for the day: Someone said you can make someone’s day if you say, “You made my day.”

Friday, July 22

John 5: 24, 25 “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.”

Prayer: Jesus, we are listening to you for your word to invite us to cross over to life.

Thought for the day: Often the one who writes a test is the one who can give an exemption.

 

Saturday, July 23

Revelation 3:20 “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will go in and eat with him, and he with me.”

Prayer: Jesus, we would hear your voice and open the door of our heart to you.

Thought for the day: A high school marque said, “When the door of opportunity closes, build a new door.”

 
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Photo: “The Prophet Elijah” by Lawrence OP on http://www.flickr.com

Week Twenty-eight — The Works of Elijah — I Kings 18:36, 37

Sunday, July 10

I Kings 18:36,37 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am our servant and have done all these things at your command.  Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”

Prayer:  O God, in this age we worship you as the supreme Lord, the Creator, and our Deliverer.

Thought for the day:  Letting God be God can make life simpler.

Monday, July 11

Deuteronomy 6: 4, 5 Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Prayer:   Lord, may you forgive us for the half-hearted love we offer to you too often.

Thought for the day:  Many are willing to love God with all their soul, fewer love God with all their strength, and even less love God with all their heart, that is, their mind.

Tuesday, July 12

Joshua 24:14, 15 Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness.  Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River I Egypt, and serve the Lord.  But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

Prayer: O God, we choose this day to serve you alone.

Thought for the day: Idols cannot talk back.

Wednesday, July 13

Ezekiel 14: 7,8 When any Israelite or any alien living in Israel separates himself from me and sets up idols in his heart and puts a wicked stumbling block before his face and then goes to a prophet to inquire of me, I the Lord will answer him myself.  I will set myself against that man and make him and example and a byword.  I will cut him off from my people. The you will know that I am the Lord.

Prayer: O Lord, may our worship of you be pleasing In your sight.

Thought for the day: We must be spiritually ready to hear a prophet speak.  

Thursday, July 14

Psalm 34:17 The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.

Prayer: Almighty God, you are a God who hears our prayers.

Thought for the day:  Idols do not respond better to shouts.

Friday, July 15

Matthew 12:39 He answered, “a wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign?  But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.  

Prayer:  Lord, may you forgive us for seeking after signs.

Thought for the day: Sometimes a well-shaped cloud is just a well-shaped cloud.

Saturday, July 16

I John 5:21 Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, may our devotion to you be faultless.

Thought for the day:  When the catcher holds the ball, the runner cannot steal home.
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Photo: “Elijah the Prophet” by Lawrence Lew OP on http://www.flickr.com

Week Twenty-seven — Verse by Verse Devotional Series — The Works of Elijah — I Kings 17:1

Note:  The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE) identifies seven works of Elijah.  We will take our lead for the next few weeks from this series of works. 

Sunday, July 3

I Kings 17:1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”

Prayer:  God, our Heavenly Father, we long to be renewed by your spirit as the rain renews the ground.

Thought for the day: In the desert all life forms prepare daily for the season when rain shall fall.

Monday, July 4

Leviticus 26:3,4 If, you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit.

Prayer:  Lord God, we know that obedience to you is no small thing.

Thought for the day: Not infrequently the child who has no rules develops a sense of insecurity.

Tuesday July 5

Jeremiah 5: 23, 24 But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts; they have turned aside and gone away.  They do not say to themselves, Let us fear the Lord our God, who gives autumn and spring rains in season, who assures us of the regular weeks of harvest.

Prayer: Lord, when we have brought on ourselves your judgment may you have mercy upon us.

Thought for the day:  Do not ask at midnight what you should ask yourself at dawn: What did I expect?

Wednesday, July 6

Ezekiel 34:26 I will bless them and the places surrounding my hill.  I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing.

Prayer:  Lord, we your people have been faithful to obey your word believing you will honor that good word.

Thought for the day: We expect thunder showers of blessings, but God often gives a steady rain of blessings.

Thursday, July 7

Psalm 23: 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters.

Prayer:  Lord Jesus, you always know just where to lead us.

Thought for the day: Why do we suppose we crave 64 ounces of mumbo-jumbo cola, when all that our body needs is 8 ounces of water.

Friday, July 8

Matthew 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Prayer:  Lord Jesus, you have a gracious way of filling our needs.

Thought for the day: Wanting righteousness is wanting something God wants.

Saturday, July 9

John 4:13,14 Jesus answered, “everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will ever thirst.

Prayer:  Jesus, that you for offering us living water.

Thought for the day:  For over two centuries the Edwards Aquifer has supplied the entire city of San Antonio and the vicinity with its water.
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Photo: “Elijah Window” by Fr. Lawrence Lew OP, on http://www.flickr.com