Week Thirty-five — Verse by Verse Devotional Series — The Works of Elisha — 2 Kings 4: 1, 2

Sunday, August 28

2 Kings 4:1-2 The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord.  But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.”  Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you?  Tell me what do you have in your house?

Prayer:  O God, we give thanks that in faith you provide somewhere to turn in our hour of need.

Thought for the day:  Special listening is needed to hear the cry of the destitute.

Monday, August 29

Leviticus 19:10 Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen.  Leave them for the poor and the alien.  I am the Lord your God.

Prayer:  O God in Heaven, you have designed a way to care for your children on earth.

Thought for the day:  Even the crumbs that are dedicated to God can be recycled to God’s glory.

Tuesday, August 30

Deuteronomy 10: 18, 19 He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing.  And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt.

Prayer:  Lord Jesus, we honor you as the one offers to all a welcome home.

Thought for the day:  In heaven there is always room in the inn.

Wednesday, August 31

Psalm 146:9 The Lord watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

Prayer:  Lord God, whether we find ourselves near or far from home even now you are watching over us.

Thought for the day:  The songwriter said, “You promised never to leave us, never to leaves us alone.”

Thursday, September 1

Luke 20: 46, 47 Beware of the teachers of the law.  They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted to the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets.  They devour widows houses and for a show make lengthy prayers.  Such men will be punished most severely.

Prayer:  Jesus, keep us honest in our dealings and keep us generous in our caregiving.

Thought for the day:  You can fool some of the people some of the time, but never, never, can you fool the Lord.

Friday, September 2

Mark 12: 42, 43 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.  Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.”

Prayer:  Jesus, all sincere praise and sacrifice to you is precious in your sight.

Thought for the day:  The excise tax on insincerity results in deficit spending.

Saturday, September 3

James 1: 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Prayer:  Jesus, give us strength of will and wherewithal to care for your children in need.

Thought for the day: In our love for God’s children, God sees our worship of him.   
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photo: “Prophet Elisha” by Nick Thompson on http://www.flickr.com

Week Thirty-four — Verse by Verse Devotional Series — The Prophet Elisha — 2 Kings 2: 23,24

Sunday, August 21

2 Kings 2: 23, 24 From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him.  “Go on up, you baldhead!” they said. “Go on up, you baldhead!” he turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths.

Prayer: Lord God, may we give honor and respect where they are due.

Thought for the day: To lack the blessing of God is to be exposed to untold harms.

Monday, August 22

Exodus 22:28 Do not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people.

Prayer: Lord God, we would bless you and those you set in authority over us.

Thought for the day: If we cannot give respect, how can we expect respect?

Tuesday, August 23

Romans 13:1-2 Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.  Consequently he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.

Prayer: Lord, may our acts of simple obedience bring respect to you, our Lord.

Thought for the day: If God could speak of Cyrus as his anointed (Isaiah 45:1), then God may have a plan for our rulers today.

Wednesday, August 24

Titus 3:1, 2 Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men.

Prayer: Lord, may others see in our good citizenship our faithfulness to you.

Thought for the day: For others our attitude toward authority can be an example of faith or an excuse for unbelief.

Thursday, August 25

I Timothy 2:1, 2 I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving be made for everyone – for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.

Prayer: Lord God, we pray for the wellbeing of our leaders and the safekeeping of our community.

Thought for the day: In a peaceful environment shouting is not required for hearing to occur.

Friday, August 26

Proverbs 29:4 By justice a king gives a country stability, but one who is greedy for bribes tears it down.

Prayer: Lord God, we give thanks for the homeland peace our leaders protect.

Thought for the day: Many foreign refugees who cannot recite a pledge of allegiance would gladly exchange places with those U.S. citizens who will not.

Saturday, August 27

Mark 12:17 then Jesus said to them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”

Prayer: Jesus, help us to know and fulfill our obligations to God first and country thereafter.

Thought for the day: Why does our U.S. currency say, “In God we trust”?

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Photo: “Detall of Elisha” by Lawrence OP on http://www.flickr.com

Week Thirty-three — Verse by Verse Devotional Series — the Works of Elijah — 2 Chronicles 21: 12-13

Sunday, August 14

2 Chronicles 21:12-13 Jehoram received a letter from Elijah the prophet, which said: “This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: ‘You have not walked in the ways of your father Jehoshaphat or of Asa king of Judah.  But you have walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and you have led Judah and the people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves just as the house of Ahab did.  You have murdered your own brothers, members of your father’s house, men who were better than you.

Prayer: Lord God, give us strength to resist the persuasion of the sensational.

Thought for the day:  When leaders become discontented with righteous living, ruin is sure to follow.

Monday, August 15

2 Chronicles 15:8 When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah son of Obed the prophet, he took courage.  He removed the detestable idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the towns he had captured in the hills of Ephraim.  He repaired the altar of the Lord that was in front of his portico of the Lord’s temple.

Prayer: Lord, may we be numbered among those who hear the words of your faithful prophets and obey.

Thought for the day:  Any day we can honor God by spiritual housekeeping is a good day.

Tuesday, August 16

2 Chronicles 20: 21 After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as he went out at the head of the army, saying: “Give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever.”

Prayer:  Lord, we seek leaders who would lift your praises to the heavens.

Thought for the day:  Answers to our prayers are waiting to be discovered in our praise.

Wednesday, August 17

Proverbs 25:5 In the path of the wicked lie thorns and snares, but he who guards his soul stays far from them.

Prayer:  Lord Jesus, humbly we ask that we would learn and follow your pathway to God.

Thought for the day:  The wrong step trips the snare.

Thursday, August 18

Deuteronomy 30:15,16 See I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction.  For I command you today to love the Lord your god, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

Prayer: O God, O Jesus, teach us the way to life and prosperity by loving you.

Thought for the day:  Some monumental decisions simply are right-or-wrong decisions.

Friday, August 19

I Corinthians 15:32, 33 If I fought the wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained?  If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” Do not be misled.  “Bad company corrupts good character.”

Prayer:  Lord, may our chosen companions faithfully give us spiritual comfort and inspired guidance.

Thought for the day:  Some friends like some fish should be returned to the waters whence they came.

Saturday, August 20

Romans 12:1,2 Therefore I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.  Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what god’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Prayer:  Lord Jesus, we would be transformed in knowing and following you.

Thought for the day: The heat of the kiln transforms common clay into precious pottery.

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Photo: “Elijah the Prophet” by John Donaghy on http://www.flickr.com

Week Thirty-two — Verse by Verse Devotional Series — The Works of Elijah — 2 Kings 2: 11, 12

Sunday, August 7

2 Kings 2: 11-12 As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven, in a whirlwind.  Elisha saw this and cried out.  My father! My Father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel! And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them apart.

Prayer:  Jesus, one day we shall join you in heaven forever.

Thought for the day: Someone said we God’s servants depart from this life when God calls them to another work.

Monday, August 8

John 5:24 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.

Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, we believe you have made a place for us in the mansions of heaven.

Thought for the day:  If God holds the deeds for all heavenly mansions, then God can set the terms of the mortgage payments.

Tuesday, August 9

I Thessalonians 4: 16-17 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  After that we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the air.

Prayer:  Lord Jesus, we give thanks that you have already provided a future for all those who love you.

Thought for the day: If someone finds no joy in hearing the word of the Lord for an hour, why would that same person  want His welcome into an eternity with Him? 

Wednesday, August 10

2 Timothy 4: 6-7 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure.  I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 

Prayer:  Lord God, for those faithful servants who have given their all to serve you we thank you.

Thought for the day:  How we depart from this life is to be determined by us, but that we depart is determined.

Thursday, August 11

John 20:21 Again Jesus said,” Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”

Prayer: Jesus, for our generation we shall be your ambassadors.

Thought for the day:  God is preparing you to be the messenger for someone in need of the message of God’s love.

Friday, August 12

Matthew 10: 7-8 As you go preach this message; ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.  Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons.  Freely you have received, freely give.

Prayer:  Jesus, people do need to hear the message of your coming kingdom.

Thought for the day: If Jesus’ apostles were hesitant to spread the word of their Master, would you or I have heard the good news?

Saturday, August 13

Matthew 5:14 You are the light of the world.  A city on a hill cannot be hidden.

Prayer:  Jesus, may all who watch us see You in us.

Thought for the day:  On a summer’s night even a small light has the power to attract a crowd.

Adult Bible Study Outline

2 Kings 2: 1-13 – W-A-G-O-N

Wish of Elisha – Elisha wished to see his master in parting and have a double portion of his spirit.

Angles – God sent an angelic chariot to receive the prophet.

Garment – Elisha took up the mantle of Elijah, and in taking up the garment he took up the ministry of prophesy.

Orientation – In the absence of Elijah Elisha had to acclimate himself the role of the prophet in his generation.

New Life – Elisha entered into new life with God as a foreshadowing of the new life with God promised to believers in Christ.

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Photo: “Elijah the Prophet” by Fr. Lawrence Lew, O. P. on http://www.flickr.com