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Elisha’s Three Successive Different Prayers of Faith

Friday Morning Manna

June 12, 2020
Nathaniel Fajardo

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Elisha’s Three Successive Different Prayers of Faith

(Based on: 2 Kings 6: 8-33; as told in Prophets and Kings, ch.21)

Before Elijah, only the second man after Enoch (the seventh of the godly patriarchs from Adam), was translated, God hand-picked Elisha to succeed, continue and expand on Elijah’s prophetic and reformation ministry. Elisha’s father was an affluent yet God-fearing farmer whose household were among “the seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal during the time of well-nigh universal apostasy of Israel during the reign of king Ahab and queen Jezebel, his wicked and cruel heathen wife. See 1 Kings 19: 1-10, 11-20.

To underscore our focus today on faith versus fear, we cite the examples of two faith giants, Moses and Elijah, compared and contrasted to Christ’s temptations, who at their weakest moments, which were few were few and far in between yet momentous, allowed their faith to be temporarily overcome by fear. They yielded to the temptation to fear. Anytime and every time we yield t0 any temptation we sin against God. The following is quoted from Prophets and Kings:

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Devotionals

LESSONS FROM SOLOMON’S ADULTERY-IDOLATRY-APOSTASIES

June 9 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

LESSONS FROM SOLOMON’S ADULTERY-IDOLATRY-APOSTASIES. “

“For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the Lord his god, as was the heart of his father David.” 1 Kings 11: 4, NKJV.(See verses 1-13).

“Pity the Man who was Envied. (See Eccl. 1:14). Many envied the popularity and abundant glory of Solomon, thinking that of all men he must be the MOST HAPPY. But amid all that glory of ARTIFICIAL display the man envied is the one to be MOST PITIED. His countenance is dark with despair. All the splendor about him is but to him mockery of the distress and anguish of his thoughts as he reviews his MISSPENT life in seeking for happiness through indulgence and selfish gratification of every desire.” E.H.White, Signs of the Times, Feb. 7, 1878.

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Devotionals

BEWARE OF OUR OLD SUPERSTITIONS & FEARS

June 5, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

BEWARE OF OUR OLD SUPERSTITIONS & FEARS

As the Israelites impatiently waited for Moses (reminding us of how impatiently the first king of Israel, Saul, waited for prophet Samuel, and committed his first apostasy), something happened that lead worst things:

“Feeling their HELPLESSNESS in the absence  of their leader, they RETURNED  to their OLD SUPERSTITIONS.

“The ‘mixed multitude’ had been the first to INDULGE murmurings and impatience, and they were the LEADERS in the APOSTASY that followed.

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Devotionals

TOO MUCH TIME RESULTED IN IDOLATRY AT SINAI

June 4, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

TOO MUCH TIME RESULTED IN IDOLATRY AT SINAI

With the whole nation, spiritual Israel suddenly found plenty of time on hand, in fact too much. Here is a solemn lesson and a dire warning from the example of ancient Israel as to what they did when Moses and Joshua went up to Mt. Sinai to receive the Law from God:

“While Moses was absent, it was a time of WAITING and SUSPENSE to Israel. The people KNEW that he had ascended the mount with Joshua, and had entered the cloud of thick darkness. which could be seen in the plain below, resting in the mountain peak, illuminated from time to time with the lightning of the divine presence.”

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Devotionals

‘BACK TO EDEN’ MEANS MUCH MORE THAN ORIGINAL DIET

May 27, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

‘BACK TO EDEN’ MEANS MUCH MORE THAN ORIGINAL DIET

“God the Father always worked through His Son, both in creation and redemption (Gen. 1:1-24; Col. 1:15-19; Heb. 1:1-3,8].  Therefore it was Jesus Christ who created ‘the heavens and the earth’ and ‘rested the seventh day.’

‘All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made.  He was in the world and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not.’ John 1:3,10,KJV.

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Devotionals

THE SECOND COMMANDMENT

May 14, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

THE SECOND COMMANDMENT

“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in the heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them.” Exo. 20: 4-6, KJV.

“The second commandment forbids the worship of the true God by images or similitude (likeness). Many heathen nations claimed that their images were mere figures or symbols by which the Deity was worshiped.  But God has declared such worship to be SIN. The attempt to represent the Eternal One by MATERIAL objects would LOWER  man’s conception of God. The mind, turned away from the Infinite perfection of Jehovah, would be attracted to the CREATURE rather than to the CREATOR. And as his conceptions of God were LOWERED, so would men become DEGRADED.”

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Devotionals

SPIRITUAL PRIDE SAYS: ‘I HAVE NEED OF NOTHING’

May 7, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

SPIRITUAL PRIDE SAYS: ‘I HAVE NEED OF NOTHING’

As keepers of the commandments of God, we profess to be the people of God at the present time. And that is true. What is equally true is that our spiritual condition of lukewarmness distorts our spiritual vision so that we fail to see the importance, beauty, and power of the grace of true humility. We think we know and have everything.

But the True Witness has a very specific message and warning for us! When He says, “know ye not,” He reveals that this spiritual blindness is directly responsible for denying and depriving ourselves of the fullest blessings and benefits that true humility brings in its train!

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Devotionals

CAIN-LIKE OR ABEL-LIKE WORSHIPPERS?

April 28, 2020

FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:

CAIN-LIKE OR ABEL-LIKE WORSHIPPERS? 

See Genesis 4: 1-26.

Not all who say “Lord, Lord” are recognized by Him in their judgment, and not all who worship God have their worship accepted by Him. That’s the life-and-death lesson and test much greater than what we are experiencing now in the covid-19 global pandemic.

“Cain and Abel, the sons of Adam, differed widely in character.  “Abel had a spirit of loyalty to God; he saw justice and mercy in the Creator’s dealings with the fallen race, and gratefully accepted the hope of redemption.