my meditation on scripture

I read this and i thought it spoke so loud and clear,

2Ch 28:22 And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the LORD: this is that king Ahaz.
2Ch 28:23 For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, [b]which smote him[/b]: and he said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, [b]therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me[/b]. But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel.
2Ch 28:24 And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut up the doors of the house of the LORD, and he made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem.
2Ch 28:25 And in every several city of Judah he made high places to burn incense unto other gods, and provoked to anger the LORD God of his fathers.

this was to me as when the church lets the world come into our mist, i think if Ahaz would have repented there would have been hope for him. But he did not. It says he trespassed even more.... isent this the case sadly in a lot of churches today? things arent going so great from our perspective so we go and let the "world" into our church, we try to bring the things in witch God has forbidden, we try to become like the very thing that witch will ruin us.

and later

[i]and he made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem. [/i]

now he is desperate, he really goes all out, everything goes. First a little but instead of repenting he goes all the way.

in the next chapter God raised up a man.

2Ch 29:1 Hezekiah began to reign when he was five and twenty years old, and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.
2Ch 29:2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done.
2Ch 29:3 He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the LORD, and repaired them.

he dosent wait, he directly obeys

2Ch 29:4 And he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them together into the east street,
2Ch 29:5 And said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the LORD God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place.
2Ch 29:6 For our fathers have trespassed, and done that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD our God, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the LORD, and turned their backs.
2Ch 29:7 Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place unto the God of Israel.

how many churches close the prayer meeting? in how many churches are the prayer meeting the lowest attended meeting?
i think of the resemblance between incense and prayer.

2Ch 29:8 Wherefore the wrath of the LORD was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he hath delivered them to trouble, to astonishment, and to hissing, as ye see with your eyes.
2Ch 29:9 For, lo, our fathers have fallen by the sword, [b]and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this.[/b]

isent this also so? many of the youth are gone... could this be part of the reason?

2Ch 29:10 Now it is in mine heart to make a covenant with the LORD God of Israel, that his fierce wrath may turn away from us.
2Ch 29:11 My sons, be not now negligent: for the LORD hath chosen you to stand before him, to serve him, and that ye should minister unto him, and burn incense.

ohh that we would be such men!

2Ch 29:12 Then the Levites arose, Mahath the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites: and of the sons of Merari, Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehalelel: and of the Gershonites; Joah the son of Zimmah, and Eden the son of Joah:
2Ch 29:13 And of the sons of Elizaphan; Shimri, and Jeiel: and of the sons of Asaph; Zechariah, and Mattaniah:
2Ch 29:14 And of the sons of Heman; Jehiel, and Shimei: and of the sons of Jeduthun; Shemaiah, and Uzziel.
2Ch 29:15 And they gathered their brethren, and sanctified themselves, and came, according to the commandment of the king, by the words of the LORD, to cleanse the house of the LORD.
2Ch 29:16 And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the LORD, to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the LORD into the court of the house of the LORD. And the Levites took it, to carry it out abroad into the brook Kidron.

The church do need to be cleansed...and my heart to, im now the temple of the living God, that i would cleanse it from all uncleanness

just some of my pondering wile reading the word of God

Christian

I really dont do so much sister i "cut" and "paste" :-)

, you know that saying? it goes something like someone else already said it much better then i can, :-)

i just yesterday read something from R.A Torrey, where he said something like when he first started preaching he hated it, but later when he took a step back and allowed the Holy Spirit to step forward he started loving it.

I probably could have written much more :-) , one of the reasons i don't is English is my second language, i find it much more easy to read then write, and second many more people around here can post with much more wisdom then me. And thirdly i want to post articles, sermons, outtakes and so on that blessed me, I have gotten so much from this site i feel honored and blessed if i can put something back into it that will bless others.

Dear brother Christian,

thank you for sharing your meditation on Scripture, I was blessed by it.

2Ch 28:22 And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the LORD: this is that king Ahaz.
2Ch 28:23 For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him: and he said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel.
2Ch 28:24 And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut up the doors of the house of the LORD, and he made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem.
2Ch 28:25 And in every several city of Judah he made high places to burn incense unto other gods, and provoked to anger the LORD God of his fathers.

this was to me as when the church lets the world come into our mist, i think if Ahaz would have repented there would have been hope for him. But he did not. It says he trespassed even more.... isent this the case sadly in a lot of churches today? things arent going so great from our perspective so we go and let the "world" into our church, we try to bring the things in which God has forbidden, we try to become like the very thing that which will ruin us.

Yea, this is really heart-breaking... I also remembered another king, Amaziah, who did similarly:

2Ch 25:14 Now it came to pass, after that Amaziah was come from the slaughter of the Edomites, that he brought the gods of the children of Seir, and set them up [to be] his gods, and bowed down himself before them, and burned incense unto them.
2Ch 25:15 Wherefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against Amaziah, and he sent unto him a prophet, which said unto him, Why hast thou sought after the gods of the people, which could not deliver their own people out of thine hand?

ReviveUsLord wrote:

2Ch 25:14 Now it came to pass, after that Amaziah was come from the slaughter of the Edomites, that he brought the gods of the children of Seir, and set them up [to be] his gods, and bowed down himself before them, and burned incense unto them.
2Ch 25:15 Wherefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against Amaziah, and he sent unto him a prophet, which said unto him, Why hast thou sought after the gods of the people, which could not deliver their own people out of thine hand?

yes, isn't this a tragic and sad thing, we know these things can never save a person, or church or city... only The son of God can...still we have so much [b]stuff[/b] going on

[i]Why hast thou sought after the gods of the people, which could not deliver their own people out of thine hand[/i]

Lord help me seek nothing else.... nothing but you, cleanse me