Worshipping the Lord

"Now I'm convinced that you are a man of God and that the Word of the Lord from your mouth is true" (1 Kings 17:24). "the Word of the Lord in your mouth": What a  privilege this is! - God gives us His Word to speak for Him. What a responsibility it is! - May God help us to be His faithful witnesses. 

1 Kings 5:1-6:13 Lord, You want to “establish Your Word” among us (1 Kings 6:120. Do we “rejoice greatly” when we hear Your Word (1 Kings 5:7)? Help us to welcome Jesus Christ, “the Word made flesh”, the living Word who “dwells among us, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Help us to welcome Him as “Emmanuel – God with us” (Matthew 1:23). May we rejoice greatly when Jesus stands among us as our loving Saviour, when He comes to us as the risen Lord, when He speaks to us as Your living Word.

“Concerning this temple which you are building, if you walk in My statutes, execute My judgments, keep all My commandments, and walk in them, then I will perform My Word with you, which I spoke to your father David” ( 1 Kings 6:12 ). Building a temple for God means nothing if it isn’t accompanied by building the ‘temple’ of a godly life.  We must remember that “our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit” ( 1 Corinthians 6:19 ). If the place of worship looks great and our lives are a mess, we need to hear what God is saying to us here. He’s speaking to us about godly living. How are we to live a godly life? – We must build our life on Jesus Christ – “whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock … it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock” ( Matthew 7:24-25 ). Whenever we start to attach too much importance to the place where we worship, let us remember the words of Jesus: “In three d...

“The glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord” ( 1 Kings 8:11 ). The house of the Lord is never to be the chief focus of our attention. The Lord of the house is to be the focus of all that we do when we gather together for worship. When we look, with admiration, at the grand cathedrals, we may wonder, “Who were they trying to impress when they built this?” When we see two hugely impressive examples of Chucrh architecture located very close to each other, we may wonder, “Is there more than a bit of the ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ thing going on here?” We may wonder, “What goes on in these places?” Are they places of which it can be said, “The glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord”? or Have they become places that are not really much more than tourist attractions?” When Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem, He found that life in the Jerusalem Temple was busy with activity, but it was empty – God was not there. At the end of the book of Ezekiel, there...

“Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven above or on earth below—You who keep Your covenant of love with Your servants who continue wholeheartedly in Your way. You have kept Your promise to Your servant David my father; with Your mouth You have promised and with Your hand You have fulfilled it—as it is today" (1 Kings 8:23-24). There is no God like the Lord. What's so special about Him? It's His love. It's His faithfulness. He loves us with a faithful love. His love is great. His faithfulness is great. Where else could we find such love? Where else could we find such faithfulness? - Nowhere else! It's only the Lord who loves us with a perfect love. It's only the Lord who will remain completely faithful, when others let down and leave us feeling discouraged. There is no God like the Lord. There is no love like His love. There is no faithfulness like His faithfulness.  In love, He gives us His precious promises. In love, He ful...

1 Kings 20:1-43 Sometimes, Lord, we say, “I can’t”, when we really mean, “I won’t.” We decide what’s important to us. You look at our chosen way of life, and You say, “You yourself have decided it.” You see our self-centred life, and You say, “So shall your judgment be” (1 Kings 20:40). Can we change? Yes! You say to us, “Come, strengthen yourself, and consider well what You have to do” (1 Kings 20:12). You say to us, “Be strong in the Lord” (Ephesians 6:10). Help us to “wait on You and renew our strength” (Isaiah 40:31).

"Now the Lord has put a lying spirit into the mouths of all these prophets" (1 Kings 22:23). While we believe that God is working out His good purpose - "We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him" (Romans 8:28), we must remember that history tells the story of our sin as well as the story of God's salvation. Where there is sin, there is also judgment. We see this in John 3:17-18 where the great words of salvation - "God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through Christ" (verse 17) - are followed by these very serious words of warning - "Whoever believes in Christ is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's only Son " (verse 18). "Because he has not believed ... ", there will be condemnation. Scripture says that "there is now no condemnation for those who are in...

This is the way of the true prophet of God.  Our words and our life are to be an echo of the voice of the Lord. 

When God is speaking to us, we need to "be still and know that He is God" (Psalm 46:10). Hearing God's voice depends on how much we're really listening for His voice. Don't let His still, small voice" be drowned out by all the other noises that are constantly competing for our attention.

There are many things that we can be - a son, a brother, a father, a grandfather, a neighbour, a worker ... Surely, this is the greatest - "a man of God"! To be known, first and foremost, as a man of God is both a great privilege and a great responsibility. Does anyone deserve to be called a man of God? No! We are sinners - but this isn't the full story of our life. We have been saved by the grace of God. He has made us His children - His men, His women. All the glory goes to him - never to us! "A man of God" - What a great responsibility this is. We are to be good witnesses for our Lord. May God help us to do this - with His help and for His glory.

1 Kings 1:1-53 No-one goes on forever. We read about David’s reign coming to an end, about David being replaced by Solomon (1 Kings 1:30). Help us, Lord, to pray that the future will be “greater” than the past (1 Kings 1:37,47). In all of life’s changes, help us to remember this: You are the living God (1 Kings 1:29) – the God who remains constant when everything else is changing, the God whose love is unchanged, unchanging and unchangeable.

1 Kings 3:1-28 Which is most important to us – “building our own house” or “building the House of the Lord” (1 Kings 3:1-3)? How often, Lord, do we think about the things that matter most to You? Are we too busy thinking about the things that matter most to ourselves? These are not questions to be ‘brushed under the carpet’. They are questions that demand our attention. They are questions that You, Lord, are asking us. You’re calling us to “consider our ways” (Haggai 1:5,7). Are we walking in Your way? or Are we going our own way? Call us back to Yourself, Lord. Call us back from a way ill lead us far from You. Call us into a way that will bring us close to You. Lead us to Jesus – He is “the way, the true and living way” (John 14:6).

1 Kings 6:14-7:12 We read about Solomon – he built “his own house”, and he built “the House of the Lord” (1 Kings 6:37-7:1). Which was the most important to him? Which is most important to us – pleasing ourselves or serving You? Help us, Lord, not to be “lovers of self, lovers of money, lovers of pleasure”. “Lovers of God” – this is what You call us to be (2 Timothy 3:1-5). Help us, Lord, to keep on making our choice – to become the kind of people that You want us to be.

1 Kings 8:54-9:28 What is happening, Lord, when we are gathered together for worship? Is this merely a human thing, something that we do? – No! there is something more than this. Before we even thought of coming to Your House, You were there waiting for us. You welcome us. You speak Your Word to us: “Let your heart be wholly true to the Lord your God” (1 Kings 8:61). You’re calling us into a life of “joy and gladness” – a life of “walking before You with integrity of heart” (1 Kings 8:66; 1 Kings 9:4). This is true worship. It’s not just something that we do on a Sunday morning. It’s learning to walk with You all the days of our life. Lord, help us to worship You today – and every day.

1 Kings 10:1-11:13 We look, Lord, at “King Solomon” – and we see ourselves! “He was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth” (1 Kings 10:23). We like to think that we’re ‘getting on in the world.’ There was something seriously wrong with Solomon – “His heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God …he did not follow the Lord completely” (1 Kings 11:4,6). This is our problem. There’s too much of the world in our way of life – and not enough of You, Lord! How much do the things of this world really matter – if we don’t have Jesus as our Saviour (Mark 8:36)?

1 Kings 22:15-53 We read, Lord, about Ahaziah – “He …provoked the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger in every way that his father (Ahab) had done” (1 Kings 22:51-53). We read about Jesus– “I do as the Father commanded Me” (John 14:31). Help us, Lord, not to be like Ahaziah – he walked in the ways of his father … the ways of sin” (1 Kings 22:52). Help us to be like Jesus – walking in the ways of our Heavenly Father.

“Now the Lord has put a lying spirit into the mouths of all these prophets” (1 Kings 22:23). While we believe that God is working out His good purpose – “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him” (Romans 8:28), we must remember that history tells the story of our sin as well as God’s salvation. Where there is sin, there is also judgment. We see this in John 3:17-18 where the great words of salvation – “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through Christ” (verse 17) – are followed by these very serious words of warning – “Whoever believes in Christ is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s only Son ” (verse 18). “Because he has not believed …", there will be condemnation. Scripture says that “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). This is the fulfilment of God’s wonderful pr...

“The glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord” ( 1 Kings 8:11 ). The house of the Lord is never to be the chief focus of our attention. The Lord of the house is to be the focus of all that we do when we gather together for worship. When we look, with admiration, at the grand cathedrals, we may wonder, “Who were they trying to impress when they built this?” When we see two hugely impressive examples of Church architecture located very close to each other, we may wonder, “Is there more than a bit of the ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ thing going on here?” We may wonder, “What goes on in these places?” Are they places of which it can be said, “The glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord”? or Have they become places that are not really much more than tourist attractions?” When Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem, He found that life in the Jerusalem Temple was busy with activity, but it was empty – God was not there. At the end of the book of Ezekiel, t...

"Concerning this temple which you are building, if you walk in My statutes, execute My judgments, keep all My commandments, and walk in them, then I will perform My Word with you, which I spoke to your father David" ( 1 Kings 6:12 ). Building a temple for God means nothing if it isn't accompanied by building the 'temple' of a godly life.  We must remember that "our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit" ( 1 Corinthians 6:19 ). If the place of worship looks great and our lives are a mess, we need to hear what God is saying to us here. He's speaking to us about godly living. How are we to live a godly life? - We must build our life on Jesus Christ - "whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock ... it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock" ( Matthew 7:24-25 ). Whenever we start to attach too much importance to the place where we worship, let us rememb...

"The Lord also called to the man of God. He said, “This is what the Lord says: You rebelled against the words from the Lord ’s mouth and didn’t obey the command that the Lord your God gave you ... A lion found him as he travelled on the road and killed him " (1 Kings 13:21, 24). What we have here is so different from the story of Daniel in the lion's den (Daniel 6). Daniel was so different from this "man of God." This "man of God" didn't  do what God told him to do. Daniel did do what God told him to do. What about us? Do we give the Lord lip-service? or Do we serve Him with our lives?