Are you willing to stand alone for the Lord?

 30 Apr 26

Today's devotional: taken from YouVersion, Devotions on F.I.R.E. Year One


Readings:

2 Samuel 23

2 Samuel 24

Luke 22:31-53


For by You I can run against a troop (2 Samuel 22:30). 


Are you willing to stand alone for the Lord?


David knows how to stand alone against the opposition. He volunteers to fight against the behemoth Goliath when no one dared. The aging king praises his loyal soldiers and lists a number of their mighty feats. Adino the Eznite leads the list of these mighty warriors “because he had killed eight hundred men at one time” (2 Samuel 23:8). Next, Eleazar makes a stand when his fellow soldiers retreated (2 Samuel 23:9). The following is said about his prowess during the battle: “He arose and attacked the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand stuck to the sword. The LORD brought about a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to plunder” (2 Samuel 23:10). God honors those who boldly fight His battles. 


Employment Point: Be willing to stand alone, if necessary, for the Lord.

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Reflections

“but Eleazar stood his ground and struck down the Philistines till his hand grew tired and froze to the sword. The Lord brought about a great victory that day. The troops returned to Eleazar, but only to strip the dead. But Shammah took his stand in the middle of the field. He defended it and struck the Philistines down, and the Lord brought about a great victory.”2 Samuel‬ ‭23‬:‭10‬, ‭12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

  • we saw how these warriors took their stand, stood their ground in the face of enemies. Not sure if there were any tinge of fear but they sure were fighters.


It is kind of a scary thought to be fighting alone. And yet scriptures told us that there are men who are willing to fight this for this Lord. It calls for great courage and even greater faith, in order to do this. Do we have the faith to fight alone? Yet, we know we are never alone for the Lord is with us.


“He was held in greater honor than any of the Thirty, but he was not included among the Three. And David put him in charge of his bodyguard. and Uriah the Hittite. There were thirty-seven in all.”2 Samuel‬ ‭23‬:‭23‬, ‭39‬ ‭NIV‬‬

  • A wise king would have no lack of warriors. David puts up a honour list of thirty but had a total of thirty-seven in all. Every one willing to fight for the nation and for the Lord.
  • we may not be great warriors who fight battles like them but we do hope that our names will be written in the book of life whom the Lord will keep a record of.


“David was conscience-stricken after he had counted the fighting men, and he said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, Lord, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing.””

‭‭2 Samuel‬ ‭24‬:‭10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

  • David has no idea what he did was incited by the Lord but he sees it as foolishness upon his part and seeks the Lord’s forgiveness. 
  • Whatever the reason maybe, if we do find ourselves sinning against the Lord, we should learn from David and go to the Lord to ask for His forgiveness. He sees all things and knows all things. Who are we to fight against His will? But a wrong is a wrong and we are answerable to that.


“David said to Gad, “I am in deep distress. Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but do not let me fall into human hands.””

‭‭2 Samuel‬ ‭24‬:‭14‬ ‭NIV‬‬

  • There is great wisdom from David to choose the option that for him to fall into the hands of the Lord. Not only so, there is also a certain level of trust, knowing that the Lord knows best. That may not happen if he were to fall into the hands of men. This is seen in the following verse “When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord relented concerning the disaster and said to the angel who was afflicting the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand.” The angel of the Lord was then at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”2 Samuel‬ ‭24‬:‭16‬ ‭NIV‬‬


“When David saw the angel who was striking down the people, he said to the Lord, “I have sinned; I, the shepherd, have done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? Let your hand fall on me and my family.””

‭‭2 Samuel‬ ‭24‬:‭17‬ ‭NIV‬‬

  • the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep John 10:11-18. As a king he has the authority to save or flee. He chose to save, with grace and mercy for his people by being self sacrificial. He was willing to sacrifice himself and his family instead in exchange for the good for his people. We hope and pray that God will put such amazing leaders in our lives, and we are thankful that we have God as our leader / shepherd in our lives. Thank you Lord 🙏🏻


“But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen and paid fifty shekels of silver for them.”

‭‭2 Samuel‬ ‭24‬:‭24‬ ‭NIV‬‬

  • this is quite similar to Abraham who insist on paying for the land for a burial site. I learnt that it is their customs back in those days to always reject the offer for payment out of courtesy. 50 shekels is about 5-7 days of wages back in those days.
  • It is a lesson to learn that we ought to make sacrifices out of our own pockets. Else how on earth can it be counted as a sacrifice when there is no sacrificial value?


““Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.””

‭‭Luke‬ ‭22‬:‭31‬-‭32‬ ‭NIV‬‬

  • At times the Lord will call Peter his old name, Simon. What an irony. It’s like a reminder that we are sometimes also our old self that we cannot help it. Like our spirit is willing but our flesh is weak. May we also strengthen our flesh to match our spirit so that we will not fall to temptations or whatever that is bringing us down

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The Spontaneity of Love

BY OSWALD CHAMBERS

April 30


Love is patient, love is kind. — 1 Corinthians 13:4


Love is not premeditated. Love is spontaneous, bursting up in extraordinary ways. Consider Paul’s description of love: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs” (1 Corinthians 13:4–5). There is nothing calculating about the kind of love Paul describes. It is free and easy, arriving without conscious effort on our part. When the Spirit of the Lord is having his way with us, we pour out his love spontaneously, living up to God’s standard without even realizing it.


Like everything that has to do with the life of God in us, the true nature of a loving action can only be seen in hindsight. Looking back on some loving action we took, we are amazed at how we felt in the moment: unselfish and uncalculating. That is the evidence real love was there.


Trying to prove to God how much we love him is a sure sign that we do not love him. The evidence that our love for him is true is that it comes naturally, bubbling up without our bidding at the command of the Holy Spirit. That is why we can’t see our own reasons for doing certain loving things: it is the Spirit in our hearts who does them. We can’t say, “Now I am going to always be patient.” The springs of love are in God, not in us. To look for the love of God in our hearts is absurd if we have not been born again by the Spirit: God’s love is there only when he is. “God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Romans 5:5).


1 Kings 8-9; Luke 21:1-19


WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Beware of pronouncing any verdict on the life of faith if you are not living it.

————————

Reflections

To be spontaneous about love is like what Oswald describes it to be as natural as it is to have love in our hearts all these while. But having known the Lord, I realised the Holy Spirit does teach us what real love looks like.


Examples like you will look past whatever wrongs that they had done on you and not just forgive them but love them. This is God’s calling on us to love our enemies.


I once was stuck in this situation where I was wronged but the Lord convicted me to forgive that person and still love them. It wasn’t easy. I tried and the feeling I felt was rather strange I say. It was not something that I will usually do. That was just the beginning. It all began when the Lord asked me to love my mum, starting with a hug and mouthing the words “I love you”. To be honest, it didn’t really felt it came from my heart but over time, as He convicted me to say it to her more often, that love becomes more real.


I realised to love have to come from a point of wanting to love. You need to be determined to love before you can love. If we are determined to show love to the people around us, the Lord will unlock that love puzzle in our hearts to pour out love for His people, to our fellow brothers and sisters.


Friends, let’s open our hearts to love.


Let’s pray:


Dear Abba Father, we thank You for loving us first and teaching us how to love. Grant us the determination and wanting to love others, to learn how to love and to love our enemies. May our thoughts, words and actions be more and more like You. Teach us to love by Your ways and let Your love be poured out through us to all that we meet. In Jesus’s most loving name we pray. Amen 🙏🏻 

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