http://doctorjohnson.org/friends Copyright 2009, Dr. Johnson.org. All Rights Reserved. j@ourchurch.com January 5, 2009 06:37am MST http://backend.userland.com/rss092 http://doctorjohnson.org/friends/document.php?id=51 Evg. Johnson K, D.Th, B.Min, M.Min Aby Bhawan PO - Elanjimel Via - Cherianadu Dist - Alappey Kerala - India Phone : 0479-2362176 0944-6836803 http://doctorjohnson.org/friends/document.php?id=50 GOD'S DELAYS ARE NOT DENIALS Evg. Johnson K, D.Th, B.Min, M.Min Aby Bhawan PO - Elanjimel Via - Cherianadu Dist - Alappey Kerala - India Phone : 0479-2362176 0944-6836803 http://doctorjohnson.org/friends/document.php?id=49 __The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "I will enter the battle in disguise, but you wear your royal robes." So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle. Now the king of Aram had ordered his chariot commanders, "Do not fight with anyone, small or great, except the king of Israel." When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they thought, "This is the king of Israel." So they turned to attack him, but Jehoshaphat cried out, and the LORD helped him. God drew them away from him, for when the chariot commanders saw that he was not the king of Israel, they stopped pursuing him. But someone drew his bow at random and hit the king of Israel between the sections of his armor. The king told the chariot driver, "Wheel around and get me out of the fighting. I've been wounded." (2 Chronicles 18:29-33)__ Jehoshapat, the king of Judah, who was God fearing made an unholy alliance with Ahab, the wicked king of Israel. This almost killed him, but for the mercy of the Lord. The Lord drew the enemy away from him and he was saved. But look what happened to the wicked king who devised the plan to save himself in war by making Jehoshapat look like the king that the enemy were after. The Bible says, "someone drew his bow at random and hit the king of Israel between the sections of his armor" It was not just something that happened by chance. It was God's judgement on the wicked king. Are you in an unholy alliance? It may lead to your downfall. Cry to the Lord for mercy and he will save you as he saved Jehoshapat. The Bible is very clear regarding unholy alliances. the Apostle Paul writing to the Corinthians says, "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial ? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people." "Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you." "I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." (2 Corinthians 6:14-1Cool Being yoked together with unbelievers, wickedness, darkness, Belial, Idols... all these are definite danger signals for the believer. Check your life this day. Keep youself clean. God bless. http://doctorjohnson.org/friends/document.php?id=48 __In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing: "This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: "'The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. (Ezra 1:1, 2). Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites - everyone whose heart God had moved - prepared to go up and build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem. (Ezra 1:5)__ From these verses, we can learn of a very important fact- The Lord moves hearts. He does it so that his plans and purposes are brought into fulfillment. After Solomon's temple had been destroyed and the Israelites had gone into captivity for 70 years, we see God moving the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to send the Israelites back to their land and give them permission to build the temple at Jerusalem. God is soveriegn and he can move the hearts of men to act favourably towards his children. He can devise circumstances in ways that tend to bring about deliverance for his children. The Lord gave Pharoah dreams which finally led to the exaltation of Joseph. The Lord is righteous and he won't sit idle when he sees ruthless and wicked men trouble his children. Sometimes he forces them to set free his children as he did in the case of the Pharoah and the Israelites who were in bondage for 430 years. Are you suffering because of you being subordinate to others, whether that be in your workplace or in the ministry? Take heart this day. The Lord is going to move the hearts of men these coming days and they are going to speak in your favor. They will set you free because God is going to bring such circumstances in their lives that they will be forced to set you free. Do you believe this? Remember what the Lord Jesus told Martha, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" (John 11:40) Believe in the Lord's words. He's going to set you free. God bless. http://doctorjohnson.org/friends/document.php?id=47 __I have become a laughingstock to my friends, though I called upon God and he answered - a mere laughingstock, though righteous and blameless! (Job 12:4)__ When God's answer to our prayer is delayed, this is how some of our friends and relatives treat us. Perhaps some of them may not be calling upon God even half of what we do and the situation is often baffling to us as it was to Job. Job was in great distress and this is what the Bible says about his friends: When Job's three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was. (Job 2:11-13) Their intentions and grief seemed to be genuine & sincere for 1 week, but when they opened their mouths, it was accusation and judgement that they proclaimed upon Job. Sometimes one gets fed up of listening to "It's all your fault", "It's all your fault" all the time. So what's to be done?? The prophet Jeremiah writes, I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. (Lamentations 3:24-26) Jesus is righteous and He will bring deliverance to you at the right time putting all those who falsely accused you to shame. Trust in Him. He's a wonderful Savior. God bless.