How can the most wise became the most foolish?

   

Please click this link for the video version of today's blog :

https://youtu.be/IJkKvCwJ98s?si=mebmJ9ctNdgqzcAL

Silence

1.   Put on your “brakes” and stop for a moment of silence

      2.   Wait for God. Breathe deep for God's peace and feel His presence. Exhale your worries.

     Praise and Thanksgiving

1.   Think through your day, all the times that made you smile. 

2.   Thank God for all those moments, and for all those people

3.          **Sing a song to praise the Lord

      

     Confession and Repentance (Subjective Shifting Devotion Method) 

      https://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009/08/count-down-5-subject-shifting-devotion.html

1.  Pray for the Holy Spirit to shine on you that you are able to discover your sins and be willing to repent:

     “Dear Holy Spirit, shine your light into the places of darkness in my life. Show me my sins, everything that blocks me from encountering God and having Jesus as my Lord. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”

2.  Through the Holy Spirit, examine yourself for a short silence and then pray:

     "Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for our sins and being victorious over death and sin. I confess my sins to you(pause, to tell Jesus what the Holy Spirit has shown you). Forgive my sins by your blood and help me follow you. Holy Spirit, fill me that I may be able to receive your gifts to love God and His people. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen."

3.  John Stott's daily prayer of Christlikeness (Christopher J.H. Wright, Cultivating the fruit of the Spirit. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2017, 13)

**Please click this link to read how God used John Stott to change my life:https://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009/07/

           "Heavenly Father, I pray that this day I may live in your presence and please you more and more.

             Lord Jesus, I pray that this day I may take up my cross and follow you.

             Holy Spirit, I pray that this day you will fill me with yourself and cause your fruit to ripen in my life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."

Today's Time with Abba:  Psalm 132:1-5; 1 Kings 9:1-10:29; Acts 8:14-40; Proverbs 17:2-3

Please click this link for today's Time with Abba one year Bible: http://twa.pastoralcareschool.org/

Key passage: 

     

When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,”  be sure to appoint over you a king the LORD your God chooses. He must be from among your fellow Israelites. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite. The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the LORD has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.”  He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.           

Deuteronomy 17:14-17

The weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents,not including the revenues from merchants and traders and from all the Arabian kings and the governors of the territories. 

King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six hundred shekels of gold went into each shield. He also made three hundred small shields of hammered gold, with three minas of gold in each shield. The king put them in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon. 1 Kings 10: 14-17

Solomon accumulated chariots and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses, which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem. The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as plentiful as sycamore-fig trees in the foothills. Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and from Kue—the royal merchants purchased them from Kue at the current price. They imported a chariot from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty. 1 Kings 10: 26-29

King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites,Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been.  1 Kings 11:1-4

       Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage we have just read. Offer this time to Jesus as you listen to Him.    

     The topic I received today from Jesus is: How can the most wise became the most foolish?

!!   Can you believe that? 

      Chapter 10 is the chapter to show the peak of Solomon, of his wisdom, his wealth and his every kind of success, then Chapter 11 is the chapter showing Solomon's downfall, surrounded by enemies and then died! What an irony! 

     So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.      Genesis 1: 27

It is in God's image that we need to return. Wait, why do we need to return to God's image? Why do we need to repent first before we can even return? It is because we were created in God's image, and everyone of us want to be God! 

When Solomon was on top of the world, then he did all the three things God commanded Moses to tell his people what a king is forbidden to do:

1. No gold - Deuteronomy 17: 17, 1 Kings 10: 14-17

2. Not going back to buy horses from Egypt - Deuteronomy 17: 16, 1 Kings 10: 26 - 29

3. Not taking many wives - Deuteronomy 17:17, 1 Kings 11: 1-3 

Ha, ha, ha! You might laugh at Solomon and think, "You fool, how can you do that? Why did you do that?" But what Jesus told me today to warn you and me is, "If even Solomon the most wise man ever on earth did that, who are you? Do you think you can get away from this temptation and not fall on all those traps like Solomon did?"

If even Solomon failed and fell into those traps, can we get away from that trap set by Satan?

Well, the only hope is in the daily intimate personal relationship with Jesus. Only He can open your eyes to see those hidden traps in your life and warn you: RED light! RED light! RED light!

Only He can win over Satan when this cunning Deceiver tempts you, traps you and wants to kill you. Only Jesus can win over him! If you do not have a daily intimate personal relationship with Jesus, then you will follow Solomon's path. Be with Jesus each day and only follow Jesus' path.

Jesus says, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." John 8: 12

Dear Lord Jesus,

Lead me Lord, and help me so that I can follow you each day of my life. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Reflect on these questions:    

1. What inspiration have you received from today's catch and what have you heard from Jesus now?

     2.  What is your next step to be more closer to Jesus, to be holy - that is to do what Jesus wants you to do and not to do what Jesus wants you not to do?

    

    Family Corner:

   Find an opportunity to share with your family the importance of today's message. 

    Please click this link for today's Time with Abba one year Bible four passages: http://twa.pastoralcareschool.org/

     Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage we have just read. Offer this time to Jesus as you listen to Him.    

   For the Chinese version of this daily blog and video, please click this link (中文版請按此連結):

    https://timewithabbaprayinglisteningchinese.blogspot.com

     

     To know, learn and practice the method of Time with Abba, please click this link:http://twa.pastoralcareschool.org/

     If you would like to follow my "Subject shifting Devotion Method" from the "Time with Abba, Praising Singing", you are welcome to follow the direction below and then go back to the top of this blog to read today's key passage and my listening and sharing:

        Silence

1.   Put on your “brakes” and stop for a moment of silence

      2.   Wait for God. Breathe deep for God's peace and feel His presence. Exhale your worries.

     Praise and Thanksgiving

1.   Think through your day, all the times that made you smile

2.   Thank God for all those moments, and for all those people

3.   Sing a song to praise the Lord

      

Confession and Repentance (Subjective Shifting Devotion Method) 

https://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009/08/count-down-5-subject-shifting-devotion.html

1.  Pray for the Holy Spirit to shine on you that you are able to discover your sins and be willing to repent:

     “Dear Holy Spirit, shine your light into the places of darkness in my life. Show me my sins, everything that blocks me from encountering God and having Jesus as my Lord. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”

2.  Through the Holy Spirit, examine yourself for a short silence and then pray:

     "Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for our sins and being victorious over death and sin. I confess my sins to you(pause, to tell Jesus what the Holy Spirit has shown you). Forgive my sins by your blood and help me follow you. Holy Spirit, fill me that I may be able to receive your gifts to love God and His people. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen."

3.  John Stott's daily prayer of Christlikeness (Christopher J.H. Wright, Cultivating the fruit of the Spirit. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2017, 13)

(Please click this link to see how God used John Stott to change my life:https://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009/07/

           "Heavenly Father, I pray that this day I may live in your presence and please you more and more.

             Lord Jesus, I pray that this day I may take up my cross and follow you.

             Holy Spirit, I pray that this day you will fill me with yourself and cause your fruit to ripen in my life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."

 My first blog "Devotion on Fire"  was written in English only  (July 17, 2009年7月17日至November 22, 2012年11月22日). Each day one chapter of Bible, from New Testament and then Old Testament. Completed in four months and three years:

http://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009/07/blessings-from-rev-dr-john-stott.html

My second blog "Discipler 123"  was written in both Chinese and English (March 6,2011to December 31, 2016 ):

https://discipler123.blogspot.com/2011/02/day-1-choose-light-away-from-darkness.html

and "Time with Abba" blog and video (January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2024): 

https://discipler123.blogspot.com/2017/01/1-2017.html