Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Hezekiah the Intercessor (2 Ki. 19:14-19; 2 Chron. 32:20; Isa. 37:14-20)


6/16/2011 6:39:48 AM

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  Hezekiah the intercessor

 

Bible Reading & Meditation            Reference:  2Ki. 19:14-19; 2Chron. 32:20; Isa. 37:14-20

 

            Message of the verses:  “14  Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD. 15  Hezekiah prayed before the LORD and said, "O LORD, the God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 16  "Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see; and listen to the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God. 17  "Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have devastated the nations and their lands 18  and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. 19  "Now, O LORD our God, I pray, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O LORD, are God.’”

 

            “20  But King Hezekiah and Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, prayed about this and cried out to heaven.”

 

            “14  Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD. 15  Hezekiah prayed to the LORD saying, 16  "O LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 17  "Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see; and listen to all the words of Sennacherib, who sent them to reproach the living God. 18  "Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have devastated all the countries and their lands, 19  and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. 20  "Now, O LORD our God, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, LORD, are God.’”

 

            I have heard that when trouble comes your way that one should not go to the phone, but go to the throne, the throne of God.  Hezekiah is seen in yesterday’s SD as a person who went to the prophet of God, Isaiah, but in today’s SD he is seen as a prayer warrior.  When I read through his prayer I realize that he has been a man of prayer for some time by how he prays and what he does.  He took the letter and laid it before the Lord because this was a great way to focus in on the Lord knowing what he was praying about was right before him and right before the Lord.  Hezekiah knew that the Lord was enthroned above the cherubim that is in heaven, and he knew that God was God of all ahead of all the nations.  He then speaks of the creative power of the Lord who made heaven and earth. He then prays about what Sennacherib has done as seen in the letter that he sent to the king, knowing that this letter was blaspheming the Lord, and therefore it was upsetting to Hezekiah and this is why he was praying.  Hezekiah’s desire was to bring glory to the Lord and he knew that what Sennacherib was doing was not bring glory to the Lord, but if the Lord would defeat him that would bring glory to the Lord.  I believe that there is one more element here that needs to be written about and that is that the Lord had promised Hezekiah that the Assyrian’s would not conquer Jerusalem and Hezekiah is doing like what Daniel would do as seen in chapter nine of Daniel, and that is interceding over something that God had promised would take place.  God sees and hears this prayer and will answer this prayer for it will bring glory to the Lord of Heaven and earth. 

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The other day while I was looking on my Facebook page I began to listen to a message by John MacArthur.  It was actually a question and answer session as the church where he preaches, and the subject came up as to what. In his mind, was something that was most important in his preaching time at Grace Community Church, something that was like a turning point?  He mentioned a book that he had written, the very first book that he wrote, and in that book he wrote about the maturing process of believers and the first “key” to unlock was that of believers bringing glory to the Lord, and so I have been thinking about this and reading about this as I downloaded the book on my Kindle and also downloaded some of these messages from the early 70’s that speak of believers bringing glory to the Lord.  Hezekiah’s prayer was bringing glory to the Lord, and that is the kind of prayers that I want to pray and the kind of life that I want to live, a life that brings glory to the Lord.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.      I wish to give myself to the Lord this day as a living sacrifice  for worship, for work, and to bring glory to His name.  Romans 12:1-2.

2.      Continue to learn contentment.  Phil. 4:11-13.

3.      Psalm 139:23-24.

4.      Proverbs 3:5-6.

5.      Ephesians 6:10-18.

 

6/16/2011 7:18:59 AM

 

           

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