2 Chronicles 7:14 – “If my people, who belong to me, humble themselves, pray, seek to please me, and repudiate their sinful practices, then I will respond from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.”

As I read, prayed, and meditated on the Word of God today, I was drawn to 2 Chronicles 6 and 7.   It was a reminder, encouragement, and warning.   We are familiar with 2 Chronicles 7:14, but do we also consider the context and setting that gave rise to it?

The Temple had been completed.   In 2 Chronicles 5:14, in their first expression of worship, the glory came, and it was so powerful that the priests could not stand and minister.

In 2 Chronicles 6, Solomon prayed a prayer of remembrance to God, himself, and the people of God’s Covenant promises.   In 2 Chronicles 7:1, after Solomon’s prayer, the fire of God fell and consumed the sacrifice.  In verse 2, the presence of God was so powerful that the priests could not enter the house.   Sincerity, commitment, and worship produced the fertile ground for the presence.   

Then God came to Solomon a second time in a dream.  He informed Solomon that He had heard the prayer, seen the heart, and given the promise of 2 Chronicles 7:14.

Tragically, we stop quoting there and fail to see beyond the desired healing and forgiveness.   In verses 19, 20, and 21, we find the warning against turning away from or ignoring God’s ways.   They would be scattered and uprooted, and the temple would be in ruins.

Tragically, many want God’s blessings but fail to heed God’s requirements of obedience and surrender.  This applies to nations and individuals.  Scattered and uprooted could speak of a lack of stability and success.  It could be dissatisfaction and putting money in bags with holes.  It could be turmoil in every facet of life.

We incur God’s disfavor if we ignore or turn from complete surrender following self and selfishness.    If we humble ourselves, pray in repentance, and seek God wholeheartedly, rejecting evil and wickedness, God promises to hear, forgive, and heal.

Our world wants God’s favor without following God’s ways.  Our world wants to enjoy God’s blessings without total surrender.  Our world wants God’s guidance and protection while pursuing selfish purposes.  Our world wants to have God’s best without giving Him our best.

2 Chronicles 7:14 must be viewed in the context of chapters 5, 6, and 7.  Whole-hearted surrender, worship, and prayer provide the fertile ground for God’s favor and presence.  In His presence, there is peace, power, and provision.  Let’s seek Him and give Him our all.  He will then give us His all and meet all our needs.

Father, we ask that you help us to see the need, take the steps necessary to align our hearts with Yours, and Trust You completely!

Proverbs 27:17 – “Iron sharpens iron; so a man enlightens the face of his friend.”

I have been pondering some spiritual matters, and during my time of prayer, I have sensed an urgency in the Spirit. I don’t know, with certainty, what is about to happen, but I know that a shaking is coming. The remainder of 2025 may be a rough ride from which no one can hide.   A question in my spirit today was – “Which Are You?   A Sharpening Iron or a Caustic File?”

I sense a call from the heavens for unification in small groups of believers.   Not just to study the Word of God but to encourage, rebuild, and restore one another.  A threefold cord is not easily broken. Proverbs 27:17 – “Iron sharpens iron; so, a man enlightens the face of his friend.”   Galatians 6:1 instructs the strong to help restore the weak or those who find themselves trapped by sin.

Making God first is first!   Proverbs 30:5-7 is a powerful revelation of the true goal of life.   It is rooted in the Word of God, which is the written revelation of God’s heart and character.  It is being careful to obey God explicitly.  The writer encapsulated the goal in two things.  Being purged of vanity and lies.  All lies have a connection to pride.  Then, we need contentment in what we have materially.  The focus is not on stuff but on God.  It is not saying that desiring to better ourselves financially is wrong, but that it is secondary.

The Last Day’s characteristics are touched on in Proverbs 30:11-14—disrespect for parents, prideful and self-righteous, vicious with their mouths, devouring others with their words.

1 Peter 2:1-3 is a valuable guide and goal.  It begins with our action, which produces spiritual growth.  We grow to wholeness.   In 1 Peter 1:22-25, we see the process of sanctification through obedience (not works but heart).   That opens the door to being filled with Agape.   That love is manifested to others and produces a heart of purity.

Back to the idea of small groups.   We will need each other more and more as we move forward in time.  I encourage you to pray about what God would have you do and be.  Let’s be Iron that sharpens Iron in others!

The storm clouds may gather, but if we stand together in Jesus, we will weather the storm!  Have a fantastic day!

1 Peter 4:8  – “Love covers a multitude of sins.”

Last night, through the night, and today, in reading, praying, and pondering, a singular truth kept tugging at the chords of my heart.  That was the Power and Covering of Love!
That caused me to examine my own heart.  Not only to consider my failures, but also my response to others who have erred.

Love Covers…   That is intriguing on many levels.   Luke 17:3 and Matthew 18:15 instruct us to confront sin, so what about “Love” covering sin?   Covering can be understood as shielding from view.   It is not to make it a public display.   Not ignoring or justifying it, but not spreading it around as “News.”

Psalm 51 speaks of awareness of sin, and 1 John 1:9 assures us that if we confess (to God and whoever has been hurt or affected by it) our sin, we are forgiven by God.  If by God, then who is man to withhold forgiveness?

Proverbs 17:18 – “A friend loves at all times…” James 3:6 tells us the tongue is a raging fire.  We seem to forget that it is not just being harsh-tongued but being a purveyor of “News,“ exposing to public scrutiny a brother or sister who has erred. 

We say (thinking our words are benign), Did you hear, or what do you think about?  We are not covering them in love and are not fulfilling Galatians 6:1 to restore them.

Forgiveness carries with it the grace to cover transgression in a brother or sister.  We help our brothers confront their sins and help shield them from the tongues of gossip and accusers so they can be restored.

For example, if someone confesses to us and we expose that to others, the vicious tongues can use that and destroy their lives.  It can bring physical, financial, social, and emotional harm to them.  By spreading it rather than covering them, we participate in their harm rather than being instruments of restoration.

Galatians 6:1 says we cover them considering ourselves.   It could be us in that predicament.   Consider our forgiveness from God.   He covers us in love as He enables us to be restored.  Should we do less?  Love covers it, does not justify, but seeks complete restoration.  We deal with each other through love or selfishness, not both.

Lord, help me to love enough to cover my brothers and sisters needing restoration.  Let me be iron that sharpens iron, but not a rasp or a hammer doing harm.  Help me to always keep Your Forgiveness in the forefront of my heart and mind.

Rather than trying to be the Chief Exposers of Error, why not seek to be the Chief Reconciler and Restorer?   Which is the heart of Jesus?

Proverbs 1:1-7 – “The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel: ² To learn wisdom and moral instruction, to discern wise counsel.   ³ To receive moral instruction in skillful living, with righteousness, justice, and equity.  ⁴ To impart shrewdness to the morally naive, a discerning plan to the young person. ⁵ (Let the wise also hear and gain instruction, and let the discerning acquire guidance!)  ⁶ To discern the meaning of a proverb and a parable, the sayings of the wise and their riddles.  ⁷ Fearing the Lord is the beginning of discernment, but fools have despised wisdom and moral instruction.”

As I read, prayed, and contemplated the Word of God today, the first few verses of Proverbs 1 resonated deeply with my heart.  In verses 2-7, we get a glimpse of the heart of Solomon at the time of this Proverb.   He offered four steps to spiritual awareness that opened the door to God’s presence and power. Those were: Learning, knowledge, wisdom, and understanding.

Proverbs 1:2 contains those four elements.  He expands them in the following verses, but those are the foundation.

In a state of learned awareness of knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, one can receive discipline because we understand that it is not for punishment alone but also the development of character.   In that state, we learn and develop reverence and commit to the pursuit and practice of justice (God’s, not man’s).   Man’s justice has an element of vengeance in it, whereas God’s is redemptive.

In that heightened state of spiritual awareness, we can give subtlety to those who are naive or easily misled.  We can expose them to discernment because we have been taught.  We can only give what we have.

In Proverbs 8:1, we read an interesting directive. “Therefore, preach wisdom and understanding will answer you.”   (Lamsa).  If we pursue God and His precepts, the light of revelation comes on for us, and we see God’s purposes.

Proverbs 8 is filled with the benefits and necessity of wisdom (God’s). In verse 22, its value to God is revealed. “The LORD created me (wisdom) as the first of His creations before all of His works.”

Two passages that have become a go-to for me are Matthew 6:33 and Jeremiah 33:3.

First things first – Seek God before and above everything.  In finding God, we find wisdom, knowledge, learning, and understanding.  We find peace through surrender.   When we resign as the sovereign of our lives and submit to Him, we become conditioned to enjoy true kingdom living.

In that condition, we cry out to God; He finds fertile soil to plant His seeds of wisdom, which lead us to His fullness and an understanding of His purposes.  The Light comes on!

Do you desire to know His will?  First, seek to know Him. In that knowing (developed relationship and intimacy) comes understanding. Obedience and faith are the keys that unlock the door.  Being willing to do His will is vital to knowing and understanding.

We need to become more aware of God to become more moved and inspired to pursue His purposes. As we know Him, we understand His character and desire for redemption. The harvest is before us. Will we be equipped to reap?

Lord, help us to seek Your wisdom, embrace Your precepts, and enter into Your provisions!

Genesis 3:20-21 – “The man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. ²¹ The Lord God made garments from skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.”

As I read, prayed, and meditated on the Word of God today, the Blood and the Cross became my focus.  The Law of First Mention was impressed upon my mind as I pondered those two things.

In Genesis 3:21, the first recorded sacrifice is mentioned.    After man rebelled, God supplied an animal, shed its blood, and used its skin as a covering for their nakedness.

In the Law of First Mention, the first use of a word, phrase, or occurrence of an incident, we have the key to its exact meaning everywhere else in the Bible.

Applying this Law to Genesis 3:21, we discover it teaches three things:

1. Salvation Must Be of the LORD.
2. It Must Be by the Death of an Innocent Substitute.
3. It Must Be by Blood.

Every acceptable sacrifice must meet those conditions. It must not be the work of man’s hands but come from God.   Cain and Abel provide a clear example.

Salvation must be God’s gift. (John 3:16)    Salvation must be by the death of an innocent sacrifice.  

1 Peter 2:22-24 – “Who did not sin, neither was guile found in His mouth: who when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judges righteously: who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sin, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes we where healed.”

Salvation must be by blood.

1 Peter 1:18-20 – “Forasmuch as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.”

That stream is still flowing today and will be available for all eternity.   The blood was necessary.  The reason is rooted in the nature of God and the nature of sin.  Since God is perfect and undeniably holy, sin can never be passed over without the satisfaction of divine justice by God.   Since sin is rebellion against God, the highest being, only the greatest and highest price can be accepted as an atonement.

The broken law demanded eternal damnation, but God’s love and mercy planned a mercy seat to cover the sin.  The blood was sprinkled on the Mercy Seat once each year to cover the broken law (sin).   God said to Israel in their deliverance, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.”

Removing the blood is to invite destruction.   The blood is mentioned 700 times from Genesis to Revelation. God did not say When I see your goodness, works, morality, etc.  He said, ‘When I see the blood, I will pass over you.’

The value of the blood of Jesus has been lost, disregarded, and disrespected today.   The life of the flesh is in the blood, and the blood is God’s only purchase price for redemption.

We used to respect and value the blood of Jesus.   We would plead the blood, meaning we asked God to cover us with the redeeming and impenetrable covering supernaturally.  The blood of Jesus cleanses by removing the judgment for rebellion.  It pays the price of divine justice and thereby removes the guilt.  The blood is impenetrable from the outside. It is redemptive and protective.

I am awed by God’s love and willingness to pay the purchase price for my redemption.  I am inspired to realize that as I live under the covering of the blood, I am cleansed, protected, and empowered to wage war from inside that protective shield.   I am challenged to reverence the blood.

There is a foundation filled with blood drawn from Immanuel’s veins, and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.

I John 1:9 – “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to CLEANSE us from all unrighteousness.” Hallelujah, thank God for the Blood!

May today overflow with an awareness of God’s Love, Mercy, and Grace!   Have a Wonderful Day!