‘Let Us Run With Perseverance The Race That Is Set Before Us, Looking To Jesus.’

2 Kings 18:1-37
Hezekiah ‘held fast to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him…’(6). We give up so easily. We start well, then we lose our way. We don’t stick at it. Some people are all smiles - when things are going well. When the going gets tough, they lose their smiles - and you can’t see them for dust! What’s the problem? - They’ve taken their eyes off Jesus. They’re looking around at everyone and everything - except Jesus. Notice how different Hezekiah was! He ‘held fast to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him’. This is what makes the difference - Keeping your eyes on Jesus. What is it that keeps us going? We are ‘kept by the power of God’- He ‘is able to keep us from falling’(1 Peter 1:5; Jude 24). ‘Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus’(Hebrews 12:1-2).
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Blessings in Christ
Christ in all the Scriptures http://christinallthescriptures.blogspot.com

‘When The Enemy Shall Come In Like A Flood, The Spirit Of The Lord Shall Lift Up A Standard Against Him.’

1 Kings 16:29-18:16
Things were getting desperate: ‘Ahab did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him’(33). What did God do about this? How did He respond to this situation? God sent His prophet, a man who would stand up for God against Ahab. ‘When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him’(Isaiah 59:19). Where did Elijah come from? He came from God! All we know about Elijah’s early life is expressed in the words: ‘Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead’. There is something else we know about him. He was a man of God. He was a man with a message, a man who spoke in the Name of the Lord the God of Israel’(17:1). Things happened when Elijah was around. This was the Spirit of God at work - in power!
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Blessings in Christ
Christ in all the Scriptures
http://christinallthescriptures.blogspot.com

‘Keep Yourselves In The Love Of God’- He ‘Is Able To Keep You From Falling.’

Jude
The wrong kind of people had come among God’s people: ‘certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you...godless men...’(4). Such people do not like to hear the words, ‘The Lord rebuke you’. They ‘speak abusively against’ those who speak the Word of the Lord to them (9-10). God’s Word warns us against such people: ‘In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires. These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit’(18-19). With people like this around - life gets like a ‘minefield’. You never know where the next “explosion’ is going to come from! How can we ‘stand tall’ and not be dragged down by this kind of thing? ‘Keep yourselves in the love of God’- He ‘is able to keep you from falling’(21,24).
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Blessings in Christ
Christ in all the Scriptures
http://christinallthescriptures.blogspot.com