A personal reflection on 23rd July 2011
2 Kings 19:1-37 (start at 2 Kings 18:13) OR Isaiah 36, 37
2 Kings 19:3 – When you are in grief, do you pick a boyfriend/girlfriend for help; do you consult another god, do you start looking for a way to extort other people, do you throw your hands up in despair?
– When you are in shame do you show your enemies?
2 Kings 19:6 – What are you going through now? Sickness, joblessness, underpayment, frustration, anger, pride, problem with husband, wife or children, problem with boss, sexual harassment from boss or colleagues, school fees, admission, etc?
The Lord says these are but threats; they will never overwhelm you.
2 Kings 19:10-13 – The devil will never relent in his threats to make you frightened and give up. He will tell you,
“But your father died in that sickness, so did his father and so did his father’s father, so who are you to think that you can get out of it, ahh?!”
“Have you forgotten your father died in poverty? So did his father and so did his father’s father before him. You want to prosper? Impossible!”
“Don't you remember that none of your brothers has gone beyond JHS? You want to go to university? Ha ha, ha ha, what are you thinking? You must be a joker!”
“But don’t you remember that in your family no one has ever had a happy marriage? Can’t you see that all the children are stubborn? Are you different?” Oh, yes, you are different!
“Hey, my friend, everybody is doing it, just relax and join in. After all God can’t send all these people to hell.” Oh, yes, God can!
“In any case if you don’t do it you will lose your job and how will you survive?” Yes, you will survive!
“Just look around, where are you going to get that amount of money to pay your fees? Why don’t you “sell your body” like others are doing? That’s a chance there, take it! Prostitute, do drugs, cheat, steal, embezzle, rob, or better still just abandon it, or best still why don’t you just end your life?”
2 Kings 19:14-19 – This is the prayer you should make.
2 Kings 19:21 – You are Jerusalem; the devil is Sennacherib.
2 Kings 19:28 – “I will put a hook in your nose.” – God will put a hook in the nose of your problems.
2 Kings 19:32 – Your problem "will not enter your city or shoot a single arrow" at you.
2 Kings 19:34 – God always keeps his promises.
2 Kings 19:35 – Do you know how many of your problems the angel of the Lord is going to kill tonight?
You love the promises above and will love to claim them. Are you dressed to claim them? (Read Matthew 22:1-14).
In Galatians 4:30, St. Paul quotes Genesis 21:10 as follows, “Send the slave woman and her son away; for the son of the slave woman will not have a part of the father’s property along with the son of the free woman.” He went on to say in Galatians 5:1, “Freedom is what we have – Christ has set us free! Stand, then, as free people, and do not allow yourselves to become slaves again.” He went on to list some things that make us slave to sin and therefore slaves to the devil, so that we cannot take part in the inheritance of the father. Galatians 5:19-21 – “What human nature does is quite plain. It shows itself in immoral, filthy, and indecent actions; in worship of idols and witchcraft. People become enemies and they fight; they become jealous, angry and ambitious. They separate into parties and groups; they are envious, get drunk, have orgies, and do other things like these. I warn you now as I have before: those who do these things will not possess the Kingdom of God.”
The only way you can claim the promises of God is to surrender your life to Him, otherwise you will be doing everything in your life by mere human power which cannot save you, physically or spiritually. You will therefore believe and live by all the things stated above which the devil suggests to you.
Let Jesus set you free; live for Him and you can claim all the promises in this passage.
All Bible references quoted in this article are from the Good News Bible.