Scripture:

Jeremiah 6:16

16 This is what the Lord says:

“Stand at the crossroads and look;
    ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
    and you will find rest for your souls.
    But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’

The Graciousness of God

Even in the midst of a very rebellious time, the Lord is relenting, holding back His wrath (Exodus 45:6). He is slow to anger. He is reminding His children to choose, make the right choice.  In Jeremiah 4:3, He tells them to break up the fallow ground (hard places) in their lives so that His word would get deep into their hearts.    

Good news: The Lord provides a way out; He tells them you're at a "Crossroads," a place of decision, you can choose the right path and it will lead you away from destruction or you can keep letting your desires drag you away, "DECIDE."   

Stand and look: Stop at the crossroads and check your life direction.

Ask for the old paths: Seek the tried and true ways of God from the past.

Walk in it: Follow the right path to get peace and rest for your mind and heart.

The sad reply: The people refused to listen and chose their own road instead

Today the God-Shot is that at the crossroads days in our lives:  We would stand and look, to check our hearts, our life direction, and choose rightly, remembering as the word says, the old paths, meaning the right way, the one that God has made known throughout the ages through His word.  And most importantly, that we would walk in it, that we would not rebel and take the wrong path.

Lord, we thank you that you are gracious, that you have given us a way out, set us at a crossroads, that we would always choose rightly, serve you, walk with you, that we would make our hearts pliable and ready for the saturation of your word in our hearts, that we might walk intently with you and reap the blessings of that journey, in Jesus' name, Amen!

Scripture:

2 Chronicles 34:1-2, 18-19

Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years. 2 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and followed the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left. 

18 Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king. 19 When the king heard the words of the Law, he tore his robes.

Surrendered 

Chronicles says that there was no King like Josiah and none after him that served the Lord as wholeheartedly as he did. 

Surrender is a decision each of us must make; King Josiah surrendered his life to the Lord at a young age and tore down every idol, everything that was not from the Lord.  

In verses 18,19 reveal King Josiah's heart for God.   See, a surrendered life is one where we won't hold anything back. When we discover the things that are out of alignment with the Lord, we don't ignore them; they move our hearts, cause movement in us, and we take action.   King Josiah heard the word of the Lord, knew that they were lost and immediately repented, caused the nation to repent, turn back to the Lord.

Our God-Shot today is that we would always be a people whose hearts are pliable, willing to confess our shortcomings, and surrender our lives over and over to the Lord, allowing God to transform us.   Today the challenge is are you pursuing the Lord wholeheartedly?

Father, I pray for that we would be a people who always are heart checking our lives, and the things that we have strayed from, we set right, that we always realign our lives with your word, that our hearts are set to worship the King of Kings, in Jesus' name, Amen!

Scripture:

Nahum 1:9

Whatever they plot against the Lord
he will bring to an end;
trouble will not come a second time.

Observation:

Strong Dads

When we are young, we feel the strength of our father; if any was a superman, it was Dad; no one could compare to how strong, how smart, how capable he was.   "My Dad is bigger than your Dad."  We would tell our friends.   He was our protector, and that is what we discover today in our portion: God is a Father to us. He sees everything; nothing escapes Him, and when trouble comes into your life, He is not sitting idle by. This verse reminds us that "He will not let it come a second time."   David said the Lord is my Rock (Psalm 18:2), He is my refuge (Psalm 57:1), Proverbs says His name is a strong tower.   This verse reminds us that we can trust that our struggles, our tears, our cries do not go unheard, and that we are not alone in our situation. 

Application:

Our God-Shot is to trust God in the process, when the answer seems long, or that you have been in the waiting for a time, to know that He is at work; He will withhold the walls that would try to crush you (Exodus 14), with you in the fire (Isaiah 43:2), He is your fourth man in the fire (Daniel 3:25).   It is not that evil days won’t happen, struggles won’t occur the promise here is that will deliver us from the hand of the enemy.

Today, no matter what the attack is:

• Financial
• Emotional
• Physical 
• Health
• Emotional

You can know that the Lord is at work and will not let it devour you but is at work to deliver you from it.  Trust Him in the struggle.

Prayer:

Lord, I pray for those who are in it, in the struggle today, that you would not allow the enemy to strike again, that you would withhold the enemy from their lives, strengthen them, be their refuge, shelter in this time, that they would overcome this and it would not RISE up again, in Jesus' name, Amen!

Scripture:

2 Chronicles 32:7-8

7 “Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid nor dismayed before the king of Assyria, nor before all the multitude that is with him; for there are more with us than with him. 8 With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people were strengthened by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

With Us

The enemy comes to distract, discourage, and destroy our strength to convince us that there is no help.  That is what the King of Assyria did; he came shouting how he had defeated the other nations and how their god could not save them.    But King Hezekiah, like David, did not come in his own strength, but came in the strength of the Lord.   We must recognize that our greatest strength is not ours, our ability, but rather His; it is our being "With Him" that changes everything.   See, when we give the problem to the LORD, we already step into victory; His strength never fails; He never grows weary, never afraid, never weak, always able.   And Hezekiah recognized it: 

• "For there are more with us than with him"
• "With him is an arm of flesh, but with is the Lord our God." 

Who is With Us is What Matters Most

Our God-Shot today is our approach to anything we face, that we would bring it before the Lord, that we would lay it out, that we would seek His presence, His strength, His wisdom, and that we too would not come in our name, our strength, our wisdom, but His and that what we see is that the Battle Now Belongs to Him.

Whatever you are warring against, struggling with this week, turn it over to Him, He has the answer, the power, the fortitude to overcome it.

Father, I pray for those who are in the battlefield this week, that you would strengthen them, that they would see that greater is He who is with them than those who are against them, that they would find the victory in you, in Jesus' name, Amen!

Scripture:

2 Kings 20:9-10

9 Then Isaiah said, “This is the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing which He has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees or go backward ten degrees?” 10 And Hezekiah answered, “It is an easy thing for the shadow to go down ten [a]degrees; no, but let the shadow go backward ten degrees.”

He is ABLE

Our pitfall in prayer sometimes is that we measure our request based on our ability to accomplish; it's not that we don't have faith, but rather that we are not using it.   Here, Hezekiah is not doubting that God can heal him; he just wants some confirmation.   That makes this prayer even more awesome; not only did God hear Hezekiah's cry, His prayer, but He assured Him that it would be done.   

Good news, you and I have access to the same God, with the same power, the same ability to check this out: Turn back Time! To heal what would have been terminal, the God I serve, the one you serve, He is able! 

Our God-Shot today is that we would not limit God by our ability to accomplish what we are facing, or to overcome it, but that we would measure our ask based on the amazing things that God can do.   We may be limited, but He is not; we may not be able to overcome the impossible, but He can.

Don't fall into the prayer-pitfall of your ability but lean on the power of the one "WHO CAN." Do ALL THINGS.

Lord, let our prayers not be limited by our abilities, but may they be powerful to change every situation we face, every need, every wall, every struggle; may they accomplish the impossible in you.  In Jesus' name, Amen!