Quiet Walk

[Judy Harder]

June 25

2 Kings 20

In answer to Hezekiah's prayer, the Lord extends his life.

INSIGHT

Hezekiah's contribution to our lives is probably very great. We read of his zeal for the house of Jehovah and for the worship of Jehovah and of his strict adherence to the Davidic traditions (2 Chronicles 29:3-19; 20-27; 30). His delight is in the Word of Jehovah. In 2 Chronicles 31:21, we read of the "work" which Hezekiah began "in the law and in the commandment." Apparently he formed a guild of men for this devout literary work. These "men of Hezekiah" evidently included Isaiah (2 Kings 19:2) and also had a hand in shaping the book of Proverbs (Proverbs 25:1). What a contribution this ancient one has made to our lives today!

PRAYER

The Lord's dominion is forever, and we can praise Him that He never changes:

Sing to Him a new song;
Play skillfully with a shout of joy.
For the word of the Lord is right,
And all His work is done in truth.
He loves righteousness and justice;
The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.
(Psalm 33:3-5)

Pause for personal praise and thanksgiving.

Pray this confession to the Lord as you seek to keep your life free from sin:

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Make me hear joy and gladness,
That the bones You have broken may rejoice.
Hide Your face from my sins,
And blot out all my iniquities.
(Psalm 51:7-9)

Confess any sins that the Holy Spirit brings to your mind.

Now pray this affirmation to the Lord:

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal" (Matthew 6:19-20).

As you make your requests known to the Lord, include:

-- Greater love for others
-- The work of missions in Australia
-- Your activities for the day

Offer this closing prayer to the Lord:

May the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 5:10-11)

[Judy Harder]

Quiet Walk
     
June 26

2 Kings 25

God judges Judah by allowing Nebuchadnezzar to capture Jerusalem.

INSIGHT

Judah has a total of 20 kings after Solomon. Only eight of them give moral and spiritual leadership. And as the king goes, so goes the nation. As a result, God has to bring judgment on Israel. The ghastly succession of horrors promised for disobedience in Deuteronomy 28–and reiterated to Solomon in 1 Kings 9—begins to unfold. "I will cast (Israel) out of My sight. Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all peoples" (1 Kings 9:7). Nebuchadnezzar besieges and captures Jerusalem, transports her main people to Babylonia, robs her treasury, and violates worship in the temple. Sin has a terrible price.


PRAYER

Offer your praise to the Lord that we can be spared from His judgment on sin:

O God, You are my God;
Early will I seek You;
My soul thirsts for You;
My flesh longs for You
In a dry and thirsty land
Where there is no water.
So I have looked for You in the sanctuary,
To see Your power and Your glory. 
(Psalm 63:1-2)

Pray this confession to the Lord as you seek to keep your life free from sin:

Bless the Lord, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases.
(Psalm 103:1-3)

Confess any sins that the Holy Spirit brings to your mind.

Now pray this affirmation to the Lord:

"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart,  and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light" (Matthew 11:28-30).

As you make your requests known to the Lord, include:

-- Greater faithfulness in sharing Christ
-- The Lord's work in national and world affairs
-- Whatever else is on your heart

Finally, offer this closing prayer to the Lord:

Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen (2 Peter 3:18).

[Judy Harder]

June 27

1 Chronicles 17

God promises David that He will propagate David's lineage forever.

INSIGHT

David is described as a man after God's own heart (1 Samuel 13:14). It is difficult for us to accept that statement when David is guilty of lying, adultery, murder, and other indiscretions. However, to be a man after God's own heart means that David wants the same things God wants. His noble desires and intentions are overruled several times by his passions; but when David's senses are restored and he repents of his sin, again his heart beats after God's desires. We may not be as bad as David in his bad moments, but are we as good as David in his good moments? Do our hearts beat after God?


PRAYER

Offer your praise to the Lord that He is eager to bless our righteous acts:

Give to the Lord, O families of the peoples, Give to the Lord glory and strength.
Give to the Lord the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come before Him.
Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness!
(1 Chronicles 16:28-29)

I will praise the Lord according to His righteousness,
And will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.
(Psalm 7:17)

Pray this confession to the Lord as you seek to keep your life free from sin:

Have mercy upon me, O God,
According to Your lovingkindness;
According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,
Blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
And cleanse me from my sin.
For I acknowledge my transgressions,
And my sin is always before me
(Psalm 51:1-3)

Confess any sins that the Holy Spirit brings to your mind.

Now pray this affirmation to the Lord:

Behold, God is my salvation,
I will trust and not be afraid;
"For Yahweh, the Lord, is my strength and my song;
He also has become my salvation"
(Isaiah 12:2)

As you make your requests known to the Lord, include:

-- An increased eternal perspective
-- Your spiritual goals
-- Your activities for the day

Offer this closing prayer to the Lord:

Grace, mercy, and peace [be to you] from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior (Titus 1:4).

[Judy Harder]

June 28

1 Chronicles 29

Just before his death, David blesses Israel and gives his blessing to Solomon.

INSIGHT

How we spend our money is a powerful reflection of our value system. If we have strong spiritual values, we give our money generously to spiritual things. If we have primarily temporal values, we resist—and perhaps even resent—giving to spiritual things. After completing the temple, the Israelites rejoiced, "for they had given freely and wholeheartedly to the LORD" (v. 9). Where are your values?

PRAYER

Bless the Lord. Praise Him for His blessings in our lives:

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness,
The power and the glory,
The victory and the majesty;
For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours;
Yours is the kingdom, O Lord,
And You are exalted as head over all.
Both riches and honor come from You,
And You reign over all.
In Your hand is power and might;
In Your hand it is to make great
And to give strength to all.
Now therefore, our God,
We thank You
And praise Your glorious name.
(1 Chronicles 29:11-13)

Pray this confession to the Lord as you seek to keep your life free from sin:

Against You, You only, have I sinned,
And done this evil in Your sight-
That You may be found just when You speak,
And blameless when You judge.
(Psalm 51:4)

Confess any sins that the Holy Spirit brings to your mind.

Now pray this affirmation to the Lord:

Those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.
(Isaiah 40:31)

As you make your requests known to the Lord, include:

-- Greater personal discipline
-- Persecuted Christians worldwide
-- Whatever else is on your heart

Finally, offer this closing prayer:

May the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen (Hebrews 13:20-21).

[Judy Harder]

June 29

2 Chronicles 34

Josiah leads Judah into righteousness.

INSIGHT

It is almost impossible to imagine the Law could have gotten lost in Jerusalem. How could that have happened? The whole nation is to worship the Lord; the dominant building in Jerusalem is the temple. Israel's entire history revolves around the giving and preservation of the Law. How can this happen? Neglect has a poor memory. How quickly we can drift from the Lord in just a short time of spiritual staleness. Consider our nation. The moral fiber we had 20 years ago is nonexistent today. People are people. Israel drifted the same way—but for a longer time. This ought to serve as a warning to us; the same can happen to us as individuals.


PRAYER

The Lord will guard and care for the heart that follows Him and is filled with praise:

Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me!
For my soul trusts in You;
And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge,
Until these calamities have passed by. . .
I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples;
I will sing to You among the nations.
For Your mercy reaches unto the heavens,
And Your truth unto the clouds.
Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
Let Your glory be above all the earth.
(Psalm 57:1, 9-11)

Pause for praise and thanksgiving.

Pray this confession to the Lord as you seek to keep your life free from sin:

Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
The God of my salvation,
And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips,
And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
(Psalm 51:14-15)

Confess any sins that the Holy Spirit brings to your mind.

Now pray this affirmation to the Lord:

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6).

As you make your requests known to the Lord, include:

-- Others to see Christ in you
-- The Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers into His harvest
-- Your activities for the day

Offer this closing prayer to the Lord:

"Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom,
Thanksgiving and honor and power and might,
Be to our God forever and ever. Amen"
(Revelation 7:12).

[Judy Harder]

June 30

2 Chronicles 35

The Passover, unobserved for years, is reinstated.

INSIGHT

Abraham Lincoln once said, "A man's about as happy as he makes up his mind to be." That may be an oversimplification; yet it states a basic truth: Often we must consciously decide what we want to become. Those who grow spiritually are those who have made a conscious decision to pursue spiritual things. Josiah, one of the great kings of Judah, is a strong reformer who tries to lead the nation in righteousness. In 2 Chronicles 34:31, we read: "The king . . . made a covenant before the Lord, to follow the Lord, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul." Have you ever made the decision to follow the Lord with your whole heart?


PRAYER

As He is a God both of power and compassion, we offer Him our praise:

Stand up and bless the Lord your God
Forever and ever!
Blessed be Your glorious name,
Which is exalted above all blessing and praise!
You alone are the Lord;
You have made heaven,
The heaven of heavens, with all their host,
The earth and everything on it, . ..
The host of heaven worships You.
(Nehemiah 9:5-6)

Pray this confession to the Lord as you seek to keep your life free from sin:

The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears,
And delivers them out of all their troubles.
The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart,
And saves such as have a contrite spirit.
(Psalm 34:17-18)

As you confess any sins that the Holy Spirit brings to your mind, pray this affirmation to the Lord:

God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:.

As you make your requests known to the Lord, pray for:

-- A stronger desire to be like Christ
-- The ministry of our nation's churches
-- Whatever else is on your heart

Finally, offer this closing prayer:

To Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen (Ephesians 3:20-21).

[Judy Harder]

July 1

Ezra 1

The Lord prompts the king of Persia to rebuild the temple.

INSIGHT

The Bible says that God "removes kings and raises up kings" (Daniel 2:21) and that "the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord" (Proverbs 21:1). We see a classic example of these truths in the book of Ezra. The Israelites are taken captive by the Babylonians for 70 years. During that time, the Babylonians are conquered by Persia. Then the Lord moves in the heart of the king of Persia to orchestrate the return of the Jews to Jerusalem. God is in control. Bad things will still happen; we live in a fallen world. But God is in control and history is moving toward His end. The ultimate needs of His children are met, and we have the promise of eternal life. Beyond that, we must cling to the fact that we are pilgrims, sojourners to another world—heaven, where our true citizenship lies.

PRAYER

As you continue your time with the Lord, offer to Him this praise:

Praise the Lord!
Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord?
Who can declare all His praise?
Blessed are those who keep justice,
And he who does righteousness at all times!
(Psalm 106:1-3)

Pray this confession to the Lord as you seek to keep your life free from sin:

Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord;
Lord, hear my voice!
Let Your ears be attentive
To the voice of my supplications.
If You, Lord, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
But there is forgiveness with You,
That You may be feared.
(Psalm 130:1-4)

Confess any sins that the Holy Spirit brings to your mind.

Now pray this affirmation to God:

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth (1 Corinthians 13:4-6).

As you make your requests known to the Lord, pray for:

-- Health and strength to serve Him
-- His will to be done
-- Whatever else is on your heart

Offer this closing prayer to the Lord:

To Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen (Jude 24-25).

[Judy Harder]

July 2

Ezra 3

The priests restore the altar and worship of the Lord.

INSIGHT

The basis of most discontent is comparison. We could be happy with our cars if the neighbors didn't have better ones. We would be satisfied with our houses if they were as nice as everyone else's. Yet, were we to have our present possessions in Africa, we would be considered rich. Once our basic needs are met, the issue is not "how are we," but rather, "how are we compared to how everyone else is." When the foundation of the new temple is laid, the new generation rejoices at the work of God; but the older generation laments that the new temple is not as impressive as the old one. We should be content with what God has chosen to give us and not make comparisons. He is rich who rejoices in his portion.

PRAYER

Offer your praise to the Lord for what He has given you, and rejoice in your portion:

My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness
And Your salvation all the day,
For I do not know their limits.
I will go in the strength of the Lord God;
I will make mention of Your righteousness,
of Yours only.
O God, You have taught me from my youth;
And to this day I declare Your wondrous works.
(Psalm 71:15-17)

Pause for praise and thanksgiving.

As you seek to keep your life free from sin, pray this prayer:

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me. . . .
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,
And uphold me by Your generous spirit.
(Psalm 51:10, 12)

Confess any sins that the Holy Spirit brings to your mind.

Now pray this affirmation to the Lord:

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live" (John 11:25).

As you make your requests known to the Lord, include:

-- That others might see Christ in you
-- That the Lord of the harvest would send forth laborers into His harvest
-- Your activities for the day

Finally, offer this closing prayer to the Lord:

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.
(Psalm 19:14).

[Judy Harder]

July 3

Ezra 4

The king orders a halt to the temple restoration.

INSIGHT

There is a common misconception in the Christian world that if you are doing the Lord's will, you will not suffer hardships for it. The example of the Jews rebuilding the temple certainly does not support that supposition. The Lord clearly intends for them to rebuild the temple, yet they suffer opposition the entire time. It is not necessarily a sign of God's displeasure when work begun for Him fails. There may be other reasons for the failure, which are hidden in His sovereignty. That is why it is so important to be in fellowship with Him. If something we are doing fails, we have confidence that it is not because of our sin, but His sovereignty.

PRAYER

Because He faithfully loves you, faithfully praise Him and thank Him for your many blessings:

Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel,
Who only does wondrous things!
And blessed be His glorious name forever!
And let the whole earth be filled with His glory.
Amen and Amen.
(Psalm 72:18-19)

Pause for praise and thanksgiving.

As you seek to keep your life free from sin, pray this confession:

As a father pities his children,
So the Lord pities those who fear Him.
For He knows our frame;
He remembers that we are dust.
(Psalm 103:13-14)

Confess any sins that the Holy Spirit brings to your mind, and pray this affirmation to the Lord:

Before I was afflicted I went astray,
But now I keep Your word.
It is good for me that I have been afflicted,
That I may learn Your statutes.
(Psalm 119:67, 71)

God yearns to hear His children's desires. As you make your requests known to the Lord, include:

-- Spiritual growth
-- Fulfillment of the Great Commission
-- Your activities for the day
-- Whatever else is on your heart

Finally, offer this closing prayer to the Lord:

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
(Psalm 23:6)

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[Judy Harder]

July 4

Ezra 6

The original decree is found, and permission is given to complete the temple restoration.


INSIGHT

It is often darkest before the dawn. Just as it looks as if the work on the temple is going to be stopped, the Lord turns the situation around. Not only is permission given to complete the temple, but those who had tried to stop the work are required to finance the remainder of the restoration! Worrying does little to further the work of God; He is quite capable of accomplishing His work. Our work is trust, obedience, and faithfulness to our responsibilities.

PRAYER

Praise the Lord for His watchfulness over your circumstances, and thank Him for being in total control of your life:

I will love You, O Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;
My God, my strength, in whom I will trust;
My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised;
So shall I be saved from my enemies.
(Psalm 18:1-3).

Pause for praise and thanksgiving, and pray this confession to the Lord as you seek to keep your life free from sin:

Sing praise to the Lord, you saints of His,
And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.
For His anger is but for a moment,
His favor is for life;
Weeping may endure for a night,
But joy comes in the morning.
(Psalm 30:4-5)

Confess any sins that the Holy Spirit brings to your mind. Now pray this affirmation to the Lord:

Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:11).

God desires to hear the petitions of His people. As you make you requests known to the Lord, include:

-- Contentment in the circumstances of your life,
-- Greater love for the lost
-- The work of missions in Africa
-- Whatever else is on your heart

Offer this closing prayer to the Lord:
"The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace."
(Numbers 6:24-25)