Category: 1st and 2nd Kings-BibleTrekToday
Trek through 1st and 2nd Kings
All Glory to the King of the Ages!
Scripture reading for June 25th: 1st Kings 6, 2nd Chronicles 3, 1st Timothy 1
Key Scriptures: 1st Timothy 1:15-17 “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display His perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in Him for eternal life. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen!”
Paul, the most experienced of sinners, knew one glorious truth about Jesus Christ: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. .” Paul had persecuted believers and had them arrested and even put some to death, thinking he was doing God a favor. Paul explained that God had shown him mercy because he had acted in ignorance and unbelief. God also was using him as an example of His perfect mercy and patience that others might have hope. You might say that Paul’s extremely sinful past example and his new changed life gave a picture of God’s rich mercy! God was building His Church (House) by transforming sinners! All glory to the eternal King of the ages!
1st Kings 6:7 “When the house was built, it was with stone prepared at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built.”
Vs. 19 “The inner sanctuary he prepared in the innermost part of the house, to set there the ark of the covenant of the Lord.”
Faith confession and prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You for saving me, a sinner, and using Your Word and Spirit to prepare me as Your sanctuary. Help me to be an example of Your perfect mercy!
God is Faithful!
Scripture reading for June 24th: 1st Kings 5, 2nd Chronicles 2, 2nd Thessalonians 3
Key Scriptures: 2nd Thessalonians 3:1-5 “Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the Word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you, and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith. But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one. And we have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do the things that we command. May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.”
Paul asked the believers at Thessalonica to pray for him and his ministry team. He asked that the Word of God would be speedily advanced and honored by those who heard it. He also asked to be delivered from wicked and evil men who had no faith and refused to accept God’s Word. Paul assured them that God was faithful! He would answer prayers! He would establish them and guard them from the evil one! He would direct their hearts in loving God and being patient and firm in Christ Jesus! He would build His Church and hell’s gates would not prevail. To God be all glory!
2nd Chronicles 2:5 “The house that I am to build will be great, for our God is greater than all gods.”
Faith confession and prayer: Thank You Lord for all Your precious promises! May Your Church be built through Your faithfulness and my obedience. Protect me and Your Church from the evil one and help me to love and obey.
1st Kings 5:4-5 “But now the Lord has given me rest on every side. There is neither adversary or misfortune. And so I intend to build a house for the Lord my God, as the Lord said to David my father, . .”
Interceding for the brothers!
Scripture reading for June 3rd: 1st Kings 4, Proverbs 1-2, Psalm 43, Romans 9
Key Scriptures: Romans 9:1-5 “I am speaking the truth in Christ–I am not lying; my conscience bears witness in the Holy Spirit–that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.”
Paul shared with the Romans his heart for the Israelites, his own brothers. He identified with them in their lost condition, having been lost himself at one time and proud of his heritage. The Jews had great blessings through the patriarchs and their relationship with God. God had promised them eternal blessings through covenant. But they had rejected Christ Jesus, One of their own, Who was God over all men. Intercession is the heart of God and the Holy Spirit in us. God acts when His people identify with His heart to save all men and they ask Him for their salvation.
Psalm 43:3 “Send out Your light and Your Truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to Your holy hill and to Your dwelling.”
Faith confession and prayer: Lord Jesus, help me to learn to cooperate with Your Holy Spirit in intercession for those in need of a relationship with You. Thank You that You desire all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the Truth!
Proverbs 2:6 “For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding; . . .”
A Helper in our weakness!
Scripture reading for June 2nd: 1st Kings 3, 2nd Chronicles 1, Psalm 42, Romans 8
Key Scriptures: Romans 8:26-29 “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And He Who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers.”
Paul wrote to the Romans concerning God’s help for each believer through the indwelling Holy Spirit. The Spirit bears witness that we are God’s children and God is our Father. The Holy Spirit helps us to pray when we are weak and don’t know how to pray. The Spirit knows all things we are going through and He knows the mind and will of God. When the Spirit intercedes, all things will work out for good to those who love God and are called of God. Faith arises inside us for calling, justification and ultimate glorification in the image of Jesus Christ!
Psalm 42:8 “By day the Lord commands His steadfast love, and at night His song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.”
Faith confession and prayer: Thank You Lord for the gift of the Holy Spirit. I pray in the Holy Spirit to build my faith and believe all things are working out for my ultimate and eternal good and Your glory! Give me daily wisdom and conform me to Christ’s image!
1st Kings 3:9 “”Give Your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern Your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this Your great people?””
Thanks be to God!
Scripture reading for June 1st: 1st Kings 2, 1st Chronicles 29, Romans 7
Key Scriptures: Romans 7:21-25 “So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”
Paul describes his own struggle as a Jew under the law. He learned to know God’s law and love it and wanted to obey it. He purposed to do that in his inner man, but he often found himself doing the opposite. There was a war between his desire in the inner man and what actually happened in real life as his members failed to obey. Paul was in a state of wretchedness and despair until he was found by Jesus Christ and by faith received God’s righteousness as a gift! Thanks be to God!
1st Kings 2:2-3 “”I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong, and show yourself a man, and keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in His ways and keeping His statutes, His commandments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, . . “
Faith confession and prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You for keeping God’s laws perfectly and purchasing my salvation from the wretchedness of sin. Strengthen me today with grace and the Holy Spirit to declare this “Good News!”
Sin will have no dominion over me!
Scripture reading for May 29th: 1st Kings 1, 1st Chronicles 26-28, Romans 6
Key Scriptures: Romans 6:12-14 “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey it passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under the law but under grace.”
Paul taught identification with Christ to new believers. We identify with Christ in His death and our old nature is crucified with Him on the cross. We also identify with Christ in His resurrection from the grave and death, in that we are raised with Him in newness of life. In light of this, we present our bodies and our minds to Christ Jesus to be used for His purposes. We seek to do His will alone. Sin no longer has dominion over us because we are now under grace and live by faith.
1st Chronicles 28:9 “And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve Him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if your forsake Him, He will cast you off forever.”
Faith confession and prayer: Lord Jesus, I identify with Jesus Christ in His death and in His resurrection to life. I declare that sin shall have no dominion over me and I present my body and mind to the Lord for His use. May God be glorified in me!
Confronting Evil Spirits
Scripture reading for May 8th: 1st Samuel 28-29, 1st Chronicles 9, Acts 19
Key Scriptures: Acts 19:16-20 “And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the Name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the Word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.”
The disciples of Jesus were performing many miracles of healing and deliverance from evil spirits in the Name of Jesus. Certain Jewish exorcists tried to use the same “formula” and suffered a great beating by the possessed man. This became widely known and brought conviction on many who brought their demonic materials to the apostles and they burned them up. The stronghold of demonic activity was brought down by the Word of God and the Name of Jesus.
Faith confession and prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You for Your Name and authority over evil spirits. Help me to walk in faith and power to see Your Word increase and prevail in this region and time. May I never seek help from evil spirits, but confront and overthrow them.
1st Samuel 28:7 “Then Saul said to his servants, “Seek out for me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her.” And his servants said to him, “Behold, there is a medium at En-dor.””
Speaking Truth to Rebels!
Scripture reading for May 14th: 2nd Kings 24-25, 1st Chronicles 1-2, Acts 7
Key Scriptures: Acts 7:51-53 “”You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit! Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered Him–you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it.””
Stephen, the new deacon, was taken before the Jewish council to be tried for preaching the Gospel. He carefully laid out Scriptures for them about their history of rebellion before confronting them with their own law-breaking in the death of Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. This was God’s act of mercy to His own people who rejected His Son.
2nd Kings 24:3 “Surely these things happened to Judah according to the Lord’s command, in order to remove them from His presence because of the sins of Manasseh and all he had done, including the shedding of innocent blood. For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord was not willing to forgive.”
Choosing Godly leaders
Scripture reading for May 11th: 2nd Kings 20-23, Acts 6
Key Scriptures: Acts 6:2-4 “So the Twelve gathered the disciples together and said,”It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the Word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the Word.”
The Twelve apostles recognized the need to prioritize the use of their time. Their main responsibility was prayer and ministry of God’s Word. Other godly men could and should be raised up to be servant leaders. This would prepare them to step up in ministry later.
2nd Kings 22:1-2 “Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years. . . .He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in all the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left.”
Prayer: Lord, Your church needs godly leaders, who are full of the Spirit and wisdom. Fill me with Your Spirit and wisdom to pray and minister Your Word. Amen.
Worthy of suffering!
Scripture reading for May 10th: 2nd Kings 17-19, Acts 5
Key Scriptures: Acts 5:40-42 “. . .They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the Name of Jesus, and let them go. The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.”
The disciples were threatened with death and flogged by the Jewish leaders for preaching and healing in the Name of Jesus. They were ordered not to preach in Christ’s Name again. However, the disciples were not afraid of men but feared God. They counted the suffering for Christ as a badge of honor!
2nd Kings 19:19 “Now O Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that You alone, O Lord, are God.” (King Hezekiah’s prayer at the threats of the King of Assyria.)
Prayer: Lord, thank You for these examples of the boldness and zeal of the early disciples and godly kings of Israel. May we honor You with boldness in the face of suffering. Amen.