Where should you go when temptation knocks at your door?
24 Apr 26
Today's devotional: taken from YouVersion, Devotions on F.I.R.E. Year One
Readings:
2 Samuel 10
2 Samuel 11
2 Samuel 12
Luke 19:29-48
Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You (Psalm 119:11).
Where should you go when temptation knocks at your door?
King David is a powerbroker. Repeatedly the word “sent” is used in 2 Samuel 11 showing that David carries great authority and dispatches people at will. After observing Bathsheba bathing, he “sent and inquired about the woman” (2 Samuel 11:3). Then, after learning that she is married, “David sent messengers, and took her” (2 Samuel 11:4). Even after trying to cover up the scandal, “David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah” (2 Samuel 11:14). This letter, carried by a loyal subject of the king, is Uriah’s death sentence. After David committed adultery and had Uriah murdered, “the LORD sent Nathan to David” (2 Samuel 12:1). David should have turned to the Lord and the man of God before he entered into temptation.
Employment Point: Turn to God and godly people for strength in your time of need.
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Reflections
The above devotional reminded me of the Lord’s prayer. “Lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil.”
“Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my commander Joab and my Lord’s men are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make love to my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!””
2 Samuel 11:11 NIV
- we see how Uriah is an upright and righteous man. He places the Lord and His people before self, sacrificing comfort so that he and the people are one at heart.
- i see and am reminded that a leader’s heart should be with the people as one. It is always service before self.
“When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the Lord.”2 Samuel 11:26-27 NIV
- What David did was definitely not pleasing to God. In fact he abuses his power in order to gratify his own desires and eventually also causing death. It is a reminder to us all that men may fail regardless of godly they may be, we too, are the same as well. It is not how well we do now, but how we can persevere and run this race to the end and complete the goal the Lord set for us.
“David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.””2 Samuel 12:5-6 NIV
- it is so easy for us to judge others, to be angry over what others had done. However in contrary, did we ever reflect in our own lives what harm we may have caused to others and perhaps also sinned against the Lord?
- David recognised in the story that was shared to him that the man is wicked and had no pity, without realising that he himself is that man, having no pity for Uriah the Hittite who only has one wife whereas David could have countless choices of women and yet chose someone else’s wife to sleep with.
- This goes in contrast to the 10 commandments-do not covet. Whatever belongs to others is not yours to keep or possess. Thus be mindful of the things we say or do and be careful not to fall into temptation.
“Every day he was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him.”
Luke 19:47 NIV
- this verse has a contrast. In the temple, where the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders were teaching the people the word of God, they were supposed to be role models for the people. They are meant to be shepherds in the field but yet their hearts were not right with God. They were plotting evil-murder, to be exact, which is also against the Ten Commandments.
- It doesn’t mean that leaders or people who run a holy place are 100% holy. Every human is a sinner and nobody is perfect. We are all work-in-progresses. But let us all be mindful and not sin against the God.
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Spiritual Discipline
BY OSWALD CHAMBERS
April 24
Do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. — Luke 10:20
As Christian disciples, worldliness isn’t our snare; sin isn’t our snare. Our snare—the thing that threatens to entrap us—is a lack of spiritual discipline. If we are spiritually undisciplined, we shamelessly strive to fit in with the religious age we live in, drawn by the lure of spiritual “success.”
Never court anything besides the approval of God. Take yourself “outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore” (Hebrews 13:13). Jesus told the disciples not to rejoice in successful service, and yet this seems to be the one thing in which most of us do rejoice. We have a commercial viewpoint, tallying up how many souls have been saved and sanctified on our watch. We forget that our work begins where God’s grace has laid the foundation. Salvation and sanctification are the work of God’s sovereign grace. Our work is to disciple lives until they are entirely given over to God. One life wholly devoted to God is more valuable to him than a hundred lives reawakened by his Spirit. God brings his disciples to a standard of life by his grace, and we are responsible for reproducing that standard in others.
Unless we are living a life hidden with Christ in God, we are likely to become irritating dictators instead of indwelling disciples. Many of us are dictators. We dictate when we pray and when we preach, telling God what he must do, telling others how they must be. Jesus never dictated. When Jesus talked about discipleship, he prefaced it with an “if,” not with a “must” (Matthew 16:24 kjv). Discipleship carries an option with it.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
The sympathy which is reverent with what it cannot understand is worth its weight in gold.
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Reflections
We cannot run away from discipleship when we discuss about spiritual disciplines. I was just chatting with someone about us Christians who are not very Christ-like even though we ought to be. More often than not, we stumble others more than bringing others to Christ. How can we disciple others when we ourselves are not a ‘proper’ disciple of Christ?
So many of us are self-professed Christians and yet I do see even non-believers who put a lot of Christians to shame. They are more gentle, more patient, exercised more servanthood with a servant heart, caring and loving others amongst other things. But then again, we are not to look at man but God. Only He can bring about salvation.
Only He, has the power to change things and turn things around. In Him, there is no such thing as never.
But we thank God we have the Holy Spirit who guides us and prompts us when we stray or when we are faced with challenges. In our daily life, He is teaching us how to be more like Him. By having a good spiritual discipline, we will be able to grow in our relationship with the Lord and understand His heart. It gives us a different perspective of life which we never see before.
Like for the recent trip I went, it is physically challenging due to short hours of sleep, which also lowers our immunity and causing us to have some form of sickness. Mentally exhausting because we are just so tired and yet need to focus on what needs to be done. Spiritually struggling due to enemy attacks which want to prevent us from doing His works.
None of us were spared from all these things and at one point, I had such a bad heartburn and I thought I was going to see the Lord soon. I took meds and it did not quite resolve and was squirming in pain for about 1.5hrs. Then I remembered prayers and prayed to the Lord. He answered my prayers and I fell asleep.
There are a few small issues that happened but through each of it, the Lord gave me a solution. Not a physical solution but a perspective to the issue so that it does not affect me. He indeed had helped me developed a renewed sense of calmness and peace and to seek out the goodness of each situation. Something I wasn’t able to do before. I hope the Lord will continue to grow each and every one of us to a point we can all be godly children and be recognised as one. To God be the glory!
Let’s pray:
Father may the temptations that overwhelm us and help us Father to be mindful and have clean hands and pure hearts. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Help us to be still and be able to hear every single prompting to guide us onto the right paths for Your name’s sake. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen 🙏🏻
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