Wed.’s Devo - Victory

Read: 2 chronicles 11:1-13:22; Romans 8:22-39; Psalm 18:37-50; Proverbs 19:27-29
Rehoboam ruled Judah and Benjamin and Jeroboam ruled the other tribes. Since Jerusalem was in Judah, Jeroboam set up two golden calves for the people to worship so they wouldn’t travel to Jerusalem in Judah. He also set up priests that were not Levites to perform the sacrifices and the worship. The Levites that were dispersed throughout the tribes did a mass exit out of Israel and came to live in Jerusalem. Rehoboam and Jeroboam fought constantly but Rehoboam repented and trusted in the Lord, so God was on his side.
The king of Egypt, Shishak came against Judah and would have taken Jerusalem if Rehoboam hadn’t cried out to the Lord for help. They did take the gold shields and much of the treasury in the storehouses. Every time an enemy took gold objects, they were taking the glory and light of God away. The disobedience of the people caused them to lose their light. The same thing happens to us when we participate in evil - we stop shining.
Rehoboam died and his son, Ahijah became the king. Jeroboam came against Ahijah with 800,000 men against Ahijah’s 400,000. Ahijah stood on a hill and declared the sins of Israel while he declared that Judah had not forsaken the Lord. They still worshipped the Lord like he had told them to do and he was their leader. While he was talking, Jeroboam took half of his troops to the rear of Ahijah’s army and had them surrounded. When Ahijah realized what had happened he cried out to the Lord, the priests blew the trumpets and raised the battle cry. Israel fled before them even though they were twice the size of Ahijah’s army. God gave them the victory and they took back the towns of Bethel, Jeshanah and Ephron. God struck down Jeroboam but caused Ahijah to grow in strength.
Romans puts what we read in 2 Chronicles all in perspective. We are all living for a resurrection we can not see with our eyes. We cannot see heaven or the people in it but we believe it is there. We don’t always know how to pray or even what to pray for but the Holy Spirit inside us does. So when we pray, we can ask the Holy Spirit to pray what we need to pray because he knows just what to say.
When we walk with the Lord, everything in our lives is working for us to conform us into the image of Jesus so it is always good. Nothing can stand against the power of God and nothing can separate us from God’s love for us.
Lord, thank you that you fight our battles for us when we trust in you and obey what you tell us to do. Help us to lean on the Holy Spirit’s voice to lead us.