True Worship—Bible Study of 2 Kings

God is doing a NEW thing! He’s outpouring His Spirit onto all peoples of the earth who receive Him with a sincere heart. What an incredible time it is to be living for the one and true God. Yes, the world is dark. But the Church is glorious!

I believe that we’re in the Last Days. We’ve recently celebrated the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on this past Christmas. God has greatly provided for my family this holiday. He answered every one of my prayers! I’m so blessed by Him. But something dawned on me this season… Jesus Christ was the promised Messiah that was spoken into existence by the prophets in Ancient times. Thousands of years later, Jesus Christ was born into the world and then He died and rose again. Today, we read about this great history in our Bibles. Friends, this has already been fulfilled thousands of years ago! So this means we’re closer today than ever before to the return of our Savior!

The Bible is an incredible book! As I read through 2 Kings, I began to see how God chose Israel and set His people apart so that the world could come to know Him through them. Meaning, these people were to be a holy people who didn’t live like anyone else in the world. They were to be blessed, divinely protected and provided for. They were also designed to be victorious and successful in all of their endeavors. Why? Because these people were a reflection of the Lord. Their lives had to be like God’s. They were to be the light in the world so that other people would want to be like them too!

I believe that we serve the same God as them and have the same high calling on our lives. We serve the same God and He’s the same today as He was back then. He doesn’t change. Sure, we may be living under a new covenant (grace and not the Law) but God is still God. He deserves honor, our praise, our love and our faithfulness.

So I view the Bible as a book for believers. God is speaking to HIS people. We can’t even understand it or make use of it if we’re not saved. So therefore, the Bible becomes a tool for those that believe.

My husband says that discipline is a form of love. God loves us so He disciplines us because we’re His children. We get out of line at times, so our Father corrects us so that we may avoid suffering and evil. God doesn’t tolerate evil because He is holy. Therefore, He requires holiness from His people. Christ in us makes us holy. We cannot be holy apart from Him. We must yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit so that we can walk according to God’s Way. We must also renew our minds to the Word so that we can transform our lives and resemble Jesus’.

In 2 Kings, I sadly read that very few kings served the Lord faithfully. A bunch of them did evil in the sight of God, therefore, leading others astray and causing judgment to fall onto them. (The gospel says that it’s a horrible thing to cause others to stumble and forsake God).

I had sparkles in my eyes as I flipped through each chapter. I thought, “God, you saved the best for last!” We were chosen to live on this earth at this glorious time under grace. But grace isn’t a license to sin but rather an empowerment to do right. God has mercy on us. So why trample over the blood of Jesus as if He died in vain? We should be totally convicted (not condemned) to live a life pleasing to God because of His grace and mercy that He lavishes so dearly on us.

So let’s consider it a far worse thing to rebel against God in these times because we’re reaching the end and Christ has come to redeem us from the curse of the Law.

Lessons:

“He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and followed completely the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left.” 2 Kings 22:2 NIV

God honors our faithfulness. It obviously pleases Him to walk in obedience. So let’s do what the Bible tells us and pay NO attention to those influenced by Satan who encourages us to forsake holiness because they think it’s not possible or necessary.

“The king of Assyria deported Israel to Assyria and settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Harbor River and in towns of the Medes. This happened because they had not obeyed the Lord their God, but had violated His covenant—all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded. They neither listened to the commands no carried them out.” 2 Kings 18:11-12 NIV

There are consequences for our disobedience. Unfortunately for the Israelites, they were punished. Gracefully, today we aren’t punished. However, we do forfeit our blessings. It doesn’t bring any glory to God when we live outside His Will. Our light becomes dimmed and our Christian walk becomes less effective by the people of the world.

However, obedience results in favor from God. So we can conclude that God does honor our efforts, willingness and faithfulness.

“He held fast to the Lord and did not stop following him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses. And the Lord was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.” 2 Kings 18:6-7 NIV

Obey the law but not when it comes against the Word. Christians honor the laws of the land so that we can glorify God by being respectful and loving to others.

Altogether, obeying God’s Word will make you successful in all of your ways and bless God! Obey God no matter what.

“They worshipped the Lord, but they also served their own gods in accordance with the customs of the nations from which they had been brought.” 2 Kings 17:33 NIV

Don’t worship God the way you see fit or what others say! Do as God says. No one can satisfy the needs of someone without doing the exact things that they want. As for God, He is perfectly holy. We can’t go into His presence any kind of way nor can we bring Him anything less than acceptable in His sight. He says to worship Him in spirit and in truth!

Don’t do what people of the world are doing. Don’t even do what other Christians are doing! Do what Jesus did. Listen to the Holy Spirit and walk in His direction. Act on the Word and seek God daily for everything! This is true worship. At the end of this life as we know it, we want to hear Him say, “Well done, My good and faithful servant.” We don’t want to give the Lord excuses because He won’t tolerate them. We want to have made our lives counted. We will want to have lived in such a way that glorified God.

Choose God’s Way according to HIS Word! Worship Him truthfully. Worship the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, and mind.

Author Jennifer Quetant— www.biblejourneymovement.com

Vision: Trust in God Alone

In my dream (12.8.17), I was in Walmart standing at a checkout line. I was with a younger girl who worked at the store. I offered to give her a ride home. So I was waiting for her as she put her items onto the scrolling checkout register table.

Some guy that she worked with came and tossed all of these rollback clearance items onto the table. They were really nice household items that I really wanted and kinda needed. Each item was really cheap- about $0.35 average. I wanted to buy those items but I couldn’t afford any of them because I only had $0.45 and no extra money for tax. I thought maybe the girl would give them to me as a generous gift for giving her a ride home. Plus, she looked way too young to be even interested in those items.

Anywho, it was really late and I drove this girl home to a nearby neighborhood. It would’ve been a 15min walk for her but I didn’t want her carrying all of those grocery bags by herself that late at night.

By the time we reached her apartment, I asked about the items and she didn’t say anything. I asked who she lived with and she didn’t say anything. So I helped her carry her bags then I let her go on her way.

But somehow my car turned into a bicycle and I was lost. The neighborhood was rough and I didn’t know what to do. So I tried to remember to follow the signs that I used before. I was stopped by the police and told them that I was lost. An officer lit up when he seen me and he was very nice. He managed to help me get back home.

Interpretation:

We must give to men without expecting to receive from men. Be encouraged that what you sow you will surely reap in time. We will receive from God. He will return to us back in His own way.

We must trust God with all of our needs and wants.
-God can’t be mocked. (Gal 6:7)
-The Lord is our Shepherd, we shall not want. (Ps 23:1)
-Those who take delight in the Lord, will receive the desires of their heart. (Ps 37:4)
-Those who put God first, will be blessed with every good thing. (Matt 6:33)
-Our Father supplies all of our need according to His riches and glory in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:19)

Don’t look to man for your wants and needs. Look to God who will surely do as His Word promises!

Don’t make people your source. Make Jesus your source of everything.

-We’ve been blessed with every spiritual blessing. (Eph 1:3)
-We lack no good thing. (Ps 34:10)

So even if you don’t yet see the manifestation of what’s promised to you, keep believing. God will answer all of your prayers. Everything
according to His Will, is “yes” and “amen (2 Cor 1:20)!”

I’ve seen Him do it countless times in my life. Honestly, I’m living off my Father’s provision daily. Like the ‘Lord’s Prayer’, I expect my daily needs met (Matt 6:11).

I survive off the Word of God. He is all that I have. He is my life. He is my everything. I’m learning to put my complete and total trust in Him. I’m no longer worried about anything. What can worry do anyway? I rather save myself from the stress and just let God do what He does.

I can’t do anything apart from Him. I’m a branch and He's the Vine. I'm the child and He’s the Father. So, I keep my faith childlike... trusting, and believing every Word that He says because He’s never let me down in the past.

The Lord has given me this vision to encourage me to keep believing Him for provision, increase and overflow. I don’t have to look to anyone for anything. Yes, it’s okay to ask for help from others...

But sometimes God wants to put you through the fire to stretch your faith to see if you’ll stand (James 1:3).
Will your trust waver?
Will you look to man or your own efforts?
Or will you keep standing on the Word?

God wants to be your primary resource. He wants you to seek Him in His Word and prayer first. When you do so, you’ll become totally dependent on Him, be blessed and bring glory to His Name. Hallelujah!

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Thankful IN Everything But Not FOR Everything

Thanksgiving Day is a wonderful time of the year when we're to reflect on the Lord's goodness. We're to be thankful for all of the good things that God has done for us. Notice that I said "good things…"

I believe that God is good and that He has no plans to harm us because He loves us. I believe that God isn't able to inflict any suffering upon us because God is love and His nature is to bless us with good. It bothers me when I hear Christians confess and credit things to God that aren't Biblical. If a Christian lacks knowledge of God's Word, he/she will fall victim to the enemy's lies.

Understand that worldly wisdom may sound noble but anything that contradicts God's Word is a lie from the pits of Hell.

I burn with passion when I hear my brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ confess and believe things that simply aren't true. I get fired up about the Bible. I desperately want to see people set free by the truth in it. It's awful to see people comforted by the lies of the world. True and lasting comfort comes from Jesus Christ, the living Word.

The Bible requires faith, study and guidance from the Holy Spirit. Worldly wisdom and noble thoughts don't require any real thought, action or responsibility so people become easily deceived and drawn to those sugar-coated lies.

Here's some examples of unbiblical quotes that I've heard and even believed myself in my past:
- Thank God for the good and bad or thank God for "everything."
- Thank God for sickness.
- Thank God for lack.
- Thank God for closed doors.
- Thank God for tribulations.
- Thank God for punishment.
- Thank God for giving and taking away.

God is GOOD ALL THE TIME and ALL THE TIME GOD IS GOOD!

Why would a Christian thank God for bad things when God's nature is good?

It's a result of the enemy blinding people. He can only blind those that don't know the truth (don't read and "hear" the Bible). He convinces people that God is in control of everything and that He's some evil schizophrenic tyrant that gives both good and bad.

The crazy thing is, people will believe anything if someone adds God's name to it if they don't know what the Bible actually says. People will also believe what they're taught by false teachers or dead teachers because in this situation, the blind leads the blind. People will also believe what anyone says about a particular Bible verse simply because it's a Bible verse (taken out of its context).

Two of the most twisted scriptures come from Job 1:21 "God gives and God takes away," and Job 13:15 "though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him." Christians use this verse when they find themselves in trouble. They throw the blame on God instead of taking responsibility for their own actions. Anyone who quotes this verse is deceived because they clearly didn't read the whole book of Job. That's why we must read everything! In the first chapter, it was Satan who clearly inflicted Job with many curses. Job said foolish things because he was in anguish and ignorant of the enemy's schemes. Thank God that today, we born-again believers have been given back our authority over the enemy because of Jesus' finished work on the cross. GLORY TO GOD!

Now the reason that these foolish beliefs are detrimental is because they don't bring ANY glory to God. How can God get the glory by harming people? This is why so many people are confused about the Bible. They think that it contradicts itself because of the Law of Moses and the doctrines of men. This is why I wrote "Bible Journey!" We must read the Bible for ourselves, line upon line and within its context - rightly dividing the truth.

We can't be confident Christians if we're scared, confused and ignorant of the Bible. Our trust and comfort in God comes when we spend time in His Word getting to know Him better by growing in His grace and knowledge.

How could we truly be thankful and bless the Lord with all our soul if we bring foolishness to God? How could we possibly give praise to God by thanking Him for things that He's never done? In other words, how dare we tell the Lord, "thank you" for all of the evil things that we've allowed Satan to give us?

This isn't thanksgiving. Its insulting and highly offensive to our Father. How do I know? God's Word says, "Jesus came to give us life more abundantly and the devil came to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10)." That's scripture! That's the truth! Every good and perfect gift comes from God in Heaven. Every evil comes from Satan. Don't ever confuse the two! Pray for spiritual discernment and be set free!

All in all, we're called to be thankful IN everything not thankful FOR everything. God is in control but He isn't the force behind evil. It's Satan whose running lose deceiving the whole world… even Christians (who aren't rooted in God's Word).

I want to encourage you to spend time seeking the truth by reading the Bible's entirety. Find out the truth and choose to believe it so that you may be full of the peace and joy that comes from truly knowing God. You'll grow confidence in the Lord Jesus and your praise will be full of pure thanksgiving!

Book Recommendations:
- Psalm 103
- "Bible Journey" by me, Jennifer Quetant
- "The Effects of Praise" by Andrew Wommack

Posted by Author Jennifer Quetant
www.biblejourneymovement.com