These verses really bring to light what we hear so many preachers share with us. We cant get into heaven because we had great parents, or because our grandmother prayed constantly for us. We have to seek God for ourselves and live a committed life to him personally. God promised David a lot in response to his committed life to God, including a promise to even bless his ancestors. In these verses God is telling Solomon that those promises will hold true IF he stays committed to Him and obey His commands. This holds true for us friend, we must have a PERSONAL relationship with God. Do you have that, friend?

For so long I have heard reference to verse 14, but when you read the preceding verses, especially verse 13, it becomes very evident that God is saying that He may very well withhold blessings from us when we stray, or when we sin. However, He also tells us that when we pray, and when we repent of our sin, and when we turn away from our sin, then praise God, He will hear our prayer, forgive us of our sin and make us (our land) prosperous again. It seems so out of sorts the way that we try to make this work. God is the Master and He dictates how it will work. We are the servants, the followers, the beggars, we need to listen and obey, to see the results of God’s response to our prayers!

It is amazing, but yet extremely exciting when we see God’s hand at work in response to our prayer. But yet, is it not disturbing to note that prayer meetings are one of the worst attended in today’s churches? God’s presence was so amazing in the temple where Solomon had prayed that the priests could not enter the temple, but it led to them falling face downwards on the pavement in awe and worship to the God of this universe! Here are a few things I discerned from this: 1). David showed his children the importance and value in prayer, therefore Solomon followed in his footsteps before his people and prayed – so friend, we must be open in our prayers if we ever expect our children and/or new Christians to see the importance of, and follow our example in, prayer; 2). Because God’s ways are so beyond our abilities, we should prepare ourselves for the amazing results that will surpass our wildest imagination, as we too will be awestruck! We serve an awesome God, friend! Do you know Him?

The crippled beggar at the gate “Beautiful”, once healed, jumped to his feet and immediately followed Peter and John into the temple, walking, jumping and praising God! Wow, what a praise and worship service that must have been? When last have we seen such a service at our churches today? God is still God, and He still heals. Why are we not excited about that? If that don’t ‘float our boat’ nothing can!! A thankful people who love the Lord will give Him glory for His acts of love, kindness and healing. There’s nothing for us to be ashamed of!

King Solomon, in his prayer at the opening of the temple he built, asked God to keep His covenant and show the people His love in return for their wholehearted obedience. For him to ask God to keep His covenant means that at one point God made that promise that He would do that. Friend, God makes no mistakes, and He always keeps His promises. So to receive God’s constant and Fatherly love, we must continually strive for obedience to His Word, His direction to us through His messengers, and His convincing nudge when we pray to Him and we feel convinced that He has spoken back to us. Let us then set self aside and be obedient to our Master, it comes with great rewards! God’s abiding love! What a peace is that, friend? I love it!

Peter and John were being asked for ‘something’ from the blind man at the entrance to the temple. I’m sure the man was expecting money, but what he received was a gold mine, compare to what he expected. As Christians, we have so much love and such an inheritance that we can give to beggars today, or anyone else that is in need. God has gifted us with the most precious gift imaginable, His one and only Son! Not only should we be jumping for joy and telling the world about our wonderful gift, we should be sharing the joy, and peace that it gives to us. In our Bible study at church last night we were reminded about God’s Holy Spirit that dwells in us, empowers us! Why would we ever keep something like that bottled up inside of us? We are doubly blessed when we share a gift that was lovingly gifted to us. Lord, please bless me with insight today, so that I may be aware of the needs of others and to share with them Your gift given to me! Thank You, in Jesus’ most precious name!

I am excited about the wonderful worship service that attend each week, but from the sounds of these verses, this was a worship service that I would loved to have been a part of! Wow! Almost indescribable! God’s presence shone so brightly that they had to discontinue the worship service. Reminds me of a welder, he can’t look at the welding with his naked eye because of the extreme brightness. God’s presence is always amazing, because it is such a blessing, privilege and honor for us to be a part of such majesty! It kind’a makes me homesick for heaven, and being in the presence of my Savior! Do you know Him friend? Have you accepted the invitation to be there? You can do that today, while you still have breath to do so! Please contact me if you need more information. It won’t take a GPS to get there!! There’s a song that means a lot to me and reminds me of that wonderful day “What A Day That Will Be”! Oh that will be glorious, friend!

These verses form the whole jest of the gospel, or the purpose for churches today. The gospel is preached, or shared with individuals, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, their hearts are stirred, and they accept Jesus as their Lord. I know that this sounds extremely simple friend, but in and of our sinful selves, we want nothing to do with Jesus, or anyone else that will challenge us or the way we live. Conversely then, whenever we hear the Word of God taught or preached, and it prompts us to question or to want to change our way of life, it is at that point that we need to listen to Peter’s response in verse 38, for it is God speaking to us. Really, the decision, or commitment, is as easy as ABC. Let me explain: Admit that you are a sinner and that you need a Savior to direct your life, save you from your sin (so ask for forgiveness of your sin), and allow you into His kingdom when you are called out of this world; Believe with all your heart that Jesus is the Son of God and that only He can save you. That He died, rose again and now lives at the right hand of the Father (God) interceding (praying) for us; and then Commit to surrendering your life to, and serving Jesus faithfully the rest of your days, so that one day, when you meet with Christ in glory, you will hear those inviting words, “come in my child, well done good and faithful servant”! Very exciting stuff friend! But very important stuff! Make the decision TODAY, as this is the only time promised to you. It may be your only opportunity! See a local Bible believing Pastor or Christian to help you and pray with you about this decision. You may also contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@yahoo.com. Ask your trusted believer to keep you accountable so that they would pray for your ongoing commitment. Jesus really loves you friend, and I love you too! I’ll be praying for all who might read this devotional today that God would be active in your decision making, for only He can change the heart of a sinner. Praise God He did it for me!

I believe that way too often we try to convince ourselves that we should wait until we go to church to pray about a certain thing, but friend, there is no power in the church building. The God that we meet with, and pray to, while at church is the same God available to us at home, at work or even on the playing field. Now, let me add that it is important that we attend corporate worship to enjoy the sweet fellowship of other believers and to be encouraged by how God is working in their lives, as well as ours. Furthermore, the folk that we worship with are our support team who will pray with us about our voiced concerns and pray for us, that together we will grow in the truth of God’s Word. Like Solomon showed us in this passage, the vastness of the heaven cannot contain God, so let us not try to contain him in our church walls. It is important that we pray at all times, that we worship God at all times, that we comfort ourselves knowing that God is with us at all times! Praise God!