Teacher or Lord?

Posted on January 15, 2025 by wednesdaymorningdevotional

Lord or Teacher?

Now as they were eating, He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.”  And they were exceedingly sorrowful, and each of them began to say to Him, “Lord, is it I?” – Matthew 26:21-22

Then Judas, who was betraying him, answered and said, “Rabbi, is it I?”  — Matthew 26:25

A lot of Christians love to go to church and listen to someone teach about the Bible and Jesus, including myself.  But the real question all people who say they believe must answer is this, “Is Jesus really the Lord of my life?”  Each of the disciples called Jesus “Lord” in the above verses . . . all but one.  Judas called Him “Rabbi,” which is to call Him “Teacher.”  Hearing Jesus say that He knew who would betray him didn’t deter Judas one bit.  He still went and collected his 30 pieces of silver.

When you and I read the Bible, we aren’t to set it down and say, “that was good teaching.”  We are to set it down and say, “What does this look like applied to my life?”   I remember being confronted with the Bible’s teaching and having to decide if I was going to apply it.  I didn’t want to change my adulterous ways when confronted with Matthew 5:28, but I had to because I called Him the Lord of my life.  I didn’t want to work with the right attitude when confronted with Colossians 3:23, but I had to because I called Him Lord of my life.  I don’t want to deal with it when greed rises in me, but I must because I am told that I can’t serve God and money.  I don’t want to forgive the people inside the church who have hurt me the most, but if He is Lord, it isn’t optional.  Read the parable of the unmerciful servant, if you want to go to heaven, forgiveness is never optional.  None of His commands are suggestions, they are commands.

Sometimes we learn of things in the Bible that we didn’t even know were wrong.  Paul says in Romans 7:7, “I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “Do not covet.”  Like Paul, I wouldn’t have thought it a big deal if I simply desired another person’s possessions.  But now, I say “I’d like to have a car like that one.”  I don’t say, “I’d love to have his car.”  I know it seems trivial, but I want to follow the commandments.  If we love Him, we will obey His commands (John 14:15)

The first few days of a fast are so difficult . . . I hate the headache and the withdrawals from all the junk I’ve eaten, but at some point, it is like the stone is moved away and Jesus is ever so real to me.  I find that it is all worth it.  I know I would never in 10 lifetimes choose to fast on my own.  But I read the bible one day and it said, “When you fast.”  It didn’t say, “If you decide to,” or “If you ever feel like it,” it said, “When you fast.”  I’m never going to feel like it.  In fact, I’ve rarely felt like obeying any of His commands.  

Yet I look back over my 33 years of following Him . . . I couldn’t be more thankful for all that He has done in me and for me.  There is no one like the Lord.

Lord, I could not be more thankful right now.  You are so good to me.  Despite my failures and despite that it took and sometimes still takes me so long to obey Your commands, You always get me there, and I always look back and say “Thank You . . . You knew what You were doing all along.”  You are and forever will be the best thing ever happen to me.  Help many who read this today go from calling You “Teacher,” and start calling You, “Lord.”  In 2025, may every person who calls themselves “Christian,” truly make You the Lord of their lives.  Send revival, Lord.  The harvest is ripe, but the laborers are few.  Amen.

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Condemnation

Posted on January 8, 2025 by wednesdaymorningdevotional

He who believes in Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. – John 3:18

Just two verses after (arguably) the Bible’s most famous and most quoted verse reads the verse I have presented today.  If you and I really believe what we say we believe, there is a sea of people walking by us every day that will be condemned to an eternity without God.  Many today boast of going to hell, but I would say most are indifferent towards it . . . they just don’t care.  Even if we live 70-80 years like Moses said is expected, what is that compared to forever and ever and ever and ever?  I will gladly sacrifice my remaining years for eternal glory with Jesus.  Here is the thing, when you sacrifice your life, you realize that you weren’t really living when you thought you were your own.  Jesus makes life abundant.

I had an amazing conversation this week.  A person went to prison for Christmas.  When I ask people what prison is like, usually I get some sort of tough guy response.  “It wasn’t so bad,” or some sort of “Nobody messed with me” are the usual responses.  Occasionally, people will brag about being there as if it is a badge of honor.  For just a minute, this person relived the experience and let me in on it.  Three days he didn’t eat at all because the other prisoners took his food.  He felt too new, small, and powerless to do anything about it.  Another nearby prisoner threw dung and peed through the bars.  Prisoners did what they wanted with other prisoners while guards watched and did nothing.  I listened in horror imagining myself in his position.  He said all he did was cry, read the Bible, and pray.

I asked him what his life was like before he went to jail on Christmas.  He said he hung out with the wrong people, acted out, and caused hurt and pain for just about everyone in his life.  I told him, “God allowed this to happen to you so that you would come to your senses and believe in Him, can you see that?”  I then let him know that if he thought prison was bad, hell must be unimaginable.  In prison he could clutch that Bible, pray, and have God’s attention.  In hell, there are no Bibles.  The only example we have in the Bible of a man in hell, that man doesn’t pray, he still thinks other people are his servants there to do his bidding.  More importantly, he says he is in agony in the fire.  He thinks one drop of water will cool his tongue.  There is no hope in hell.

We prayed.  It was definitely a prayer where the presence of God filled the room.  If you have a lost friend, loved one, or even co-worker or acquaintance, you’ve got to find a way to tell them.  You’ve got to hit your knees and plead with God for their soul.  I know we lead busy lives, but there is nothing more important.  Once our last breath is exhaled, time is up, and our fates are sealed.  Every person who rejected Christ will know exactly how they should have lived.

Lord, I confess to You this morning that I get complacent so easily.  Yet You always find a way to bring me to my senses.  Thank You, Lord.  I plead the blood over my home, plead it over my workplace, plead it over the county that I live in, and plead it over every person who reads this.  So many people do not know You or care about You.  Help them to understand.  Help them come to faith.  Don’t let the people who claim to be people of faith die without having won a soul.  Help us to care.  Fill us with the Holy Spirit that we may care about what You care about.  Give us the desires of our heart, new desires that have nothing to do with enjoying the temporary things of this world.  As always, You are the best thing life offers.  Thank You for taking undeserving people and changing them, for I am one of them.  Amen! 

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Rest in 2025

Posted on January 3, 2025 by wednesdaymorningdevotional

Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him:  — Psalm 37:7

This has been the strangest start to a New Year I believe I’ve ever had.  I’m not sure I’ve ever been so glad to leave a year behind as 2024.  Not that things were horrible, but I just felt probably as lost, powerless, and helpless as I’ve ever felt.  Most of it was certainly self-inflicted.  I went my own way and followed my own desires more than I’d like to admit.

Here is the thing:  Through it all, when I felt God’s presence, it might have been more real than it has ever been in my life.  I knew He was there; I knew He was with me, and I knew that He had me.  If there is any resolution that I have for this New Year, it is simply to rest in the Lord.  I’m all the time thinking I must do something for Him, be telling someone about Him, and what has happened is, somewhere along the way, if I’m not doing these things, I think I’m disappointing Him.  I think I’m letting other people down.  I’ve become a performance-based Christian.  The thing is . . . I know there are no judges.  I know that the only opinion that matters is the Lord’s, and He has taken not one iota of His presence and realness from me.

I was praying before the New Year began that I’d care a lot less about what others thought of me and care much more about just living my life knowing that He’s got me.  Immediately, in two straight days, I had two people question me as “a man of faith,” and “a pastor.”  Both believed I was behaving in a way that disqualified me from those titles.  It bothered me at first, but then I thought, “well, this is what I prayed for.”  God never left me, His presence has remained, so it is more than time for me to simply live for my audience of ONE.  I can’t change people’s hearts . . . I wouldn’t really want to be able to something like that.  I can only live for Him and trust that He will do all the heart changing.  I can only trust Him.  I can only listen to that still small voice that leads, guides and directs me.

Lord, may You increase, and I decrease in 2025.  I want to know You, experience You, and serve You with every fiber of my being.  Let me move forward this year in confidence, not in myself, but in the God that I’ve been serving since my 20’s. You’ve grown me.  Remove the weeds suffocating my life so that I might grow even more.  There is no one like You.  May you bless each reader and his or her family.  Make Your face to shine upon them and be gracious to them.  Turn Your countenance towards them and give them peace for the New Year.  May we, Your people, find pure and true rest in You.  Amen and amen.

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Christmas Day

Posted on December 25, 2024 by wednesdaymorningdevotional

And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. – Luke 2:7

Life is hard. One of the many reasons that I believe the Bible is because, when man sinned in Genesis 3, it says one of the consequences was, “in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground” (Genesis 3:19). Eating was easy up to that point; all they had to do was simply eat from any tree that was available in the garden. I imagine they were abundant. Now that sin had entered in, if you want to eat, well . . . go to work!

In this little verse of the Christmas story, it was finally time to deliver Jesus. Imagine how hard the journey was until it was finally time to deliver Jesus. All the stress of traveling, finding a place to stay, and wondering how in the world all this was going to play out. It was a long journey. It was a hard journey. It was an uncomfortable journey. Mary was great with child . . . you know she wanted rest.

I’ve been alive exactly 49.5 years. It has been a lot of toil and a lot of strife. I worked for seven years at a golf course, 17 years at the school I graduated from, and have now been working 10 and a half years at an alternative school. I’m so thankful that God gifts us with ways to earn a living, but like He said in Genesis, if you want to eat, you’re going to work, and you’re going to earn it.

I feel like sitting here on Christmas morning a bit like Mary. She survived the journey. She delivered the Lord and Savior of the World. She saw the face of God and held Him in her arms. This has been a tough year. A lot of it has been because of my own selfishness, but it feels like I just grinded through this year and didn’t take nearly enough time to simply slow down and enjoy my time here and enjoy walking with God. Much like I’m doing now, I sat with God a lot, but then I got up and just plowed through my day. I forgot to invite the Lord to be with me as I pushed the plow.

On the last day of school, none of my riders rode the bus, so I thought to ask Jesus to ride with me . . . that was a sweet ride! It reminded me that, next year, I want to remember to enjoy my work, to ask Him to be with me in the midst of it all. I have so few years left to work. I have so few years left on this planet. I went to visit my Granny yesterday. She only made it to 53. I was in the 10th grade when she left this world. I thought, “What if I only had 3 and a half more years to live?” What would I do different? I think I would spend a lot more time just drawing nearer to the Lord. I would spend the time learning to enjoy Him here before I left to enjoy Him there forever.

If nothing else, for right here, right now, as I wait for my family to get up and tear open gifts, I have the Lord’s presence. He is right here with me in as tangible of a way as I’ve ever known. Oh, how I want to love Him, serve Him, and have Him at the very center of my life. It has been a tough year, but the days were accomplished and now He is here.

Lord, I feel like most of the year that I have simply gone through the motions of being a Christian. I have dutifully read Your word. I’m sorry that too often I’ve looked at it as work. But this morning, I really enjoyed it. I didn’t have to read this morning, I wanted to. Most of all, I enjoyed it because I feel like You just sat with me. Your love filled this room, and I pray that I am conscious of it for the rest of the year, for all of 2025, and for the rest of my life. You came that I might have life, and not just plain life, but abundant life. Fill me with the Holy Spirit and lead me in the way everlasting. Merry Christmas, Lord!

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Plans

Posted on December 18, 2024 by wednesdaymorningdevotional

Plans

Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. – Proverbs 16:3

I love to drive.  It is where I learn the most, pray the most, feel the Lord the most, and hear from Him the most.  For the past few months, I’ve been dreaming.  Not dreaming in the sense that I wrote about last week, but dreaming in the sense of longing to do something.  

Most of you know that I’ve been a teacher for a long time . . . 27.5 years to be exact.  I still plan on teaching 1-3 more years . . . I will certainly keep seeking the Lord on this one.  At first, I only became a teacher because I wanted to coach.  I got what I wanted.  I really liked coaching, but I kind of hated teaching.  I lasted about 10 years before I wanted to quit.  I was about to quit when Colossians 3:23 got in the way.  The Lord, attempting to be the Lord of my life that I said He was, told me to teach for Him, not for men.  After thinking long and hard about what that looked like, I put it into practice and began to enjoy teaching.  To this day, I really love the attempt of making a difference in a kid’s life.  

My dream is to drive the big rigs.  I start CDL school in January.  I’ve been talking to the Lord about this . . . committing to Him whatever I do.  Sink or swim, I’m planning to document this journey.  If I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it completely for Him.  So, I started a You Tube channel.  It may be months between each video that I post, but I went ahead and posted the first one.  I want it to be for anyone brand new to trucking, who knows NOTHING (like me), to be able to use the page as a resource of what to do and how to go about it.  I also want people who watch it to know that I’m trying to do it all “as unto the Lord.”  

I do ask you guys to do a couple of things for me.  For one, pray for me!  Not that my plans will succeed, but that His will be done in my life.  If there is too much of me in this, and not enough Him, I’m more than happy shutting it all down.  Two, go and watch my first video on You Tube.  It isn’t anything top quality, but it looks and sounds like a beginner’s video in so many ways.  At the same time, I already feel like God has already helped me here at the start.   

Here is the link to the channel.  Subscribe and leave a comment to it if you don’t mind doing that sort of thing.  Someone here will be the very first one!

Lord, You are the King of all Kings and Lord of all Lords!  There is and never will be another like You!  With all my heart, all my mind, and all my strength I simply want to be someone who represents You well.  I know that I fail more times than I can count, but I even thank You for that, for You know this keeps me humble with You and lets me not become arrogant, thinking that I’m somebody in the faith.  I don’t mind being a nobody.  You are the greatest thing that has ever happened to me and I want You to happen to the world!  I ask You to use my drive to drive.  May I get the chance to simply pray over every road in this country . . . or maybe at least every road in my region.  I don’t know, Lord . . . I simply commit to You everything that I do, and may You establish my plans.  Amen!

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Dream On

Posted on December 12, 2024 by wednesdaymorningdevotional

And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life:  and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.  – Revelation 20:12

I have been completely on autopilot for too long now.  I didn’t even think about yesterday being Wednesday until I got to school.  I thought about what I would have written about for WMD, and nothing came to mind.  Right before I woke up this morning, I had a dream.  I don’t dream a whole lot, but when it involves anything to do with the Lord, I like to write it down.  I don’t always make them public, but this one I will.

I was at a very big gathering speaking to a well-known preacher.  I don’t recognize him now, nor do I know his name, but in my dream, I knew he was well known.  A young man came and interrupted our conversation by saying, “Mr. Hopkins, did you know Steven Tyler (from Aerosmith) got saved?”  I said, “How in the world do you know that?”  He said, “It was at his mom’s funeral.” 

The preacher I was talking to simply said, “Well, we know that didn’t happen.”

I couldn’t believe what I had just heard.

I went off on a long tirade, something like this: “You mean to tell me that it isn’t possible for a sinner, of which we all have been at some point in our lives, to go to a funeral, think about death, think about eternity, think about the moment we leave this world, think about where his mom is at that moment, hear the gospel and understand that if you want to go to heaven, Jesus is the ONLY way to get there . . . you don’t think someone could receive that and begin a growing relationship with Christ?”

As he was about to respond, I woke up.

Lord, if you saved me, you can save anybody.  I know what I was.  I disobeyed your commands willingly after knowing the way, the truth, and the life.  If anyone has deserved to be cut off from Your people, it is me.  Yet, You still quicken my spirit, You still make Yourself real and known to me.  You really are the author and finisher of my salvation.  I agree with Jonathan Edwards who said, “The only thing we contribute to our salvation is the sin that makes it necessary.”  Lord please, sweep through this nation and save sinners once again.  Use me, Lord, to tell others about Your great love, Your great mercy, and Your great salvation.  Amen.

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This Present Darkness

Posted on December 4, 2024 by wednesdaymorningdevotional

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. – Ephesians 6:12

I remember when I first became a follower of Jesus reading Frank Peretti’s books “This Present Darkness,” and “Piercing the Darkness.”  It immediately taught me that faith in God is serious.  There exists a spiritual realm of angels and demons whose sole purpose is to thwart or protect God’s people as they follow Him.

I recently listened to a sermon online.  The pastor was talking about Job and how Satan himself presided over the attempted systematic annihilation of Job.  He needed God’s permission with everything, but Satan’s plan was to prove that God would be cursed by this man.  Instead of taking the opportunity to encourage the congregation to stand no matter what, this pastor simply said that he didn’t want to be the one Satan asks God to consider.  He wants to remain underneath the radar of the most faithful Christians, so he isn’t the one Satan comes after on this kind of level.  I thought of Christians like Jim Elliott.  After reading “Shadow of the Almighty,” I don’t think he is in heaven now wishing he had lived a life that would have made him less of a target for Satan.

I was wondering if there was or ever will be a movie based on the book.  It appears that Frank was constantly under spiritual attack as he wrote these two books.  It also appears that someone offered him lots of money for the rights to make a movie and he took it . . . thinking that they could do what he couldn’t.  Instead, the ones who bought the rights simply wanted to keep the film from ever being made as it would expose the spirit realm to which most Americans are very little aware.  Before you take this paragraph as fact, it does come from some unidentified sources, but it certainly sounds plausible.

So, I read the book again.  Once again, it made me realize that there are demons who specialize in human weakness.  Lust, envy, and complacency are just a few of the demons who know how to specifically target their prey . . . praying Christians.  I’ve been wondering why it is so hard to pray.  I’ve been wondering why it has been such a fight lately.  I’ve been wondering why there just seems to be a dark fog that is either surrounding me or that I’m walking into consistently.  There really is a “This Present Darkness.” 

I say all that to say this:  Let’s find some time to pray out loud today.  Take a prayer walk and speak to God audibly.  Go to your prayer closet and pray out loud.  We give the devil too much credit in thinking that he can hear our thoughts.  He is not the opposite of God.  In no way is he on the same playing field as the Creator of the Universe.  At best, he is the opposite of one of the archangels in the heavenly host.  He was created, so the best he can do is take what God has made beautiful and make it ugly.

Unfortunately, that is what he does.

Lord, I truly bow my heart to You this morning.  Shine Your great light on this present darkness.  Make the demons flee as You are exalted and magnified.  May Christians rebuke evil in Your Great Name and by the power of Your blood that was shed on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins.  The best lesson that I’ve learned is that You are very real and there is no one who saves, no one who loves, and no one who leads, guides, and protects like You.  Cleanse us of our unrighteousness.  Let Your light so shine among men that others see the good deeds we do today and glorify YOU . . . Our Father in Heaven.  Amen

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Treasure in the Field

Posted on November 27, 2024 by wednesdaymorningdevotional

The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field.  When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.  – Matthew 13:44

For some reason, this verse makes me think of the book “Holes.”  They make the kids believe they are digging to build “character,” but in reality, they are hoping to find Kate Barlow’s treasure chest.  They know that the treasure is out there somewhere.

I picture my entire life as one big field.  I’ve been here for 49.5 years now.  Most of it has been toil, strife, and worry.  However, when I was 16, I was saved by Jesus Christ.  Honestly, I had no idea how valuable this treasure was.  After still trying to live my own way instead of following Jesus, I found myself in even more despair than when I was saved to begin with.  I thought that God was like me in the fact that, if I did him wrong and did the opposite of what He required of me for long enough, then He was done with me.  I didn’t know that His love was a different kind of love than my love.  When I came home that second time, I knew I had found the greatest treasure this life offered.  I knew that there existed a treasure that lasted forever.

In many ways, I still feel like I’m digging unnecessary holes.  I don’t have to, but I do it anyway because that is what everyone in this world around me seems to do.  Now that I think about it, there seems to be a growing movement of people who stand there with a shovel in their hand, but don’t seem to ever use it.  The point is, I found the treasure, but for some reason, I find it difficult to completely give my life for the treasure.  When I behold the treasure, I wonder why I look at anything else.  Yet, I still go off and dig unnecessary holes. 

The other day, I was playing acoustic and singing at this place.  I was pretty much just background noise, but I never mind that at all.  It gives me a chance to basically just practice.  I like to think of my song sets as a big field.  Most of the songs I play are meaningless dirt, but because we all dig, we resonate with the songs.  But, at just the right moment, the Lord prompts me to reveal treasure.  When I was playing this last time, I thought of a song that I hadn’t thought of in years.  I pulled up the lyrics:

My heavenly home is bright and fair, I feel like traveling on

No pain or death shall enter there, I feel like traveling on

I feel like traveling on, I feel like traveling on

My heavenly home is bright and fair, I feel like traveling on

It just hit a little different as I played it.  I didn’t think a soul had even recognized what I had just played.  Then, right after the song ended, a lady stuck her head out and said, “Thank you.”  I like to think that just for a moment, she experienced the same thing I did.

There is one more story that I’d like to add here.  As a teacher, you realize that teachers ask to be off work an awful lot on Fridays and the day before holidays.  I’m no different, I want to ask for them off, but this idea of finding treasure intrigues me.  Most days, I feel like I dig and find nothing, but yesterday, I found treasure.

A kid that has only been there a couple of weeks brought in his little Bible.  I’ve never even had a real conversation with him.  However, he brought me a sheet of paper and a pencil and said, “write down any chapters or verses that will help me get my life on track with God.”  I was blown away!  This isn’t something that happens every day. 

My shovel had hit a treasure chest. 

Lord, much of this life is toil and trouble, but You have made it more than tolerable.  If we have You, then this life is as bad as it will ever be for us.  Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King!  I pray for those who do not know You, for this life is as good as they will ever have it.  May You help them “stumble” upon the treasure of eternal life.  May You help all of us truly give our lives for the treasure.  It is so easy in America to just go through the motions of Christianity, for it is what most do.  May we truly love You, truly honor You, and truly live for our Lord who gave His life that we might live.  Surely, we can give our lives so that others might see You!  Amen.

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Trusting God

Posted on November 20, 2024 by wednesdaymorningdevotional

And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.  – Daniel 6:23

I was retelling this story it someone yesterday, they were amazed at how wonderful the story was.  I could only imagine what it would be like to hear Daniel and the Lion’s Den for the very first time.  I was amazed at the captivity in the person’s eyes and attentiveness to which they gave to the story.  They vowed that they would read more stories if they had a Bible . . . I plan on taking care of that today.

More and more, you and I are living in a world where plenty of people believe in God, but very few trust in God.  Those words should be one and the same.  The word that is used in John 3:16 doesn’t simply mean “to be convinced,” it means “to trust, to rely upon.”  I had someone excitedly tell me that they were being baptized this Sunday.  I told them that this was great!  Then, I asked them to tell me the story of when they were saved.  They really couldn’t tell me anything about it or what it means.  This makes me wonder what in the world is going on right now.

When I think of people who really trusted God, Daniel goes to the top of my list.  He did things right at work, he kept the books with integrity, he wouldn’t compromise his values, and people knew where he stood.  His ascent to fame, at least as we know it from the Word, began with keeping a simple dietary law that nobody else even thought was important (See Daniel 1:8).

Today, can I do the little things right? 

Can I live today for the glory of my God?

Lord, thank You for opening the door for me to speak to people about You.  I haven’t spoken in a church setting in a while, but You constantly open the door for me to speak to people one at a time.  Please build Your kingdom with Daniels.  Build it with Hananiah’s, Azariah’s, and Mishael’s.  Don’t let the world determine what we are called and influence who we are.  I know this world has influenced me greatly.  Wash me and cleanse me, Lord.  Make me new, as You have so many times before.  I look so forward to the day when my faith becomes sight.  Daniel reminds me today that living for You is the most valuable thing we can do on this Earth.  Nobody reveals themselves like You, nobody protects like You, and nobody loves like You.

 Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart

Naught be all else to me save that Thou art

Thou my best thought by day or by night

Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

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One of the Good Ones

Posted on November 6, 2024 by wednesdaymorningdevotional

One of the Good Ones.

The kingdom will likely now revert to the house of David. If these people go up to offer their sacrifices in the temple of Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their lord, Rehoboam, king of Judah. They will kill me and return to king Rehoboam. – 1 Kings 12:26-27

There were 39 kings of Judah and Israel. Only 8 of them were considered good. The rest lived very selfishly and served Gods other than the One True God. I can’t name them. When I finish this trip through the entire Bible here in a month or so, I plan on going back and specifically reading Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles and finding out for myself.

Jeroboam was the first king of the northern kingdom of Israel. A prophet told him all that would happen. Instead of following God with his whole heart, he began to care more and more about himself. He began to care more and more about his own kingdom. Fear gripped his heart, and he began to worry about what others would do. Because of this, Jeroboam would not be considered one of the good kings of Judah and Israel.

So many people consider themselves Christians today. I consider myself one. I constantly examine my heart and see what is in there. More often than not, I really don’t like what I find. I hate what I know I would become if I didn’t daily read the Word, talk to the Lord, and do my best to make Him truly the Lord of my life. Even with all of this, I still mess it up. I still don’t listen when I should have listened, and I react in what I think is my own best interest. If 8 out of 38 Christians are considered good, I want to be one of those 21%. Unfortunately, I don’t think the percentage in America is that high . . . but what do I know? I know that God only reveals to me what is in my heart. He never reveals to me what is in another person’s heart. I am only responsible for my story.

You are responsible for yours.

Be one of the good ones.

Lord, this morning, half of the American people are happy, and the other half are disappointed. There are Christians who never think about how Your people, Israel, and Judah, sat under 31 bad kings. I pray that You will bless the USA. I pray that we will have a series of good Presidents who love You and love people. You said that people would come to know You because Your people had love one for another. You said that a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. Yet, here we are, almost perfectly divided into two political parties with faction upon faction within each. If only each person knew real peace that passed all understanding. If only they knew that this world is passing away, but the word of the Lord will stand forever and ever. If only they knew that sooner than later, we will stand before You. Every knee and every tongue will confess that You are the Lord, one way or the other. Change our hearts, Lord. Change our minds. Hasten the day when You rule this world. Hasten the day when we are led by the one true God. Lead us, guide us, and protect us until then. I love You, Lord. Amen.

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