Tues.’s Devo - Baptisms

Read: 2 Kings 13:1-14:29; Acts 18:23-19:12; Psalm 146:1-10; Proverbs 18:2-3 Jehu’s son, Jehoahaz became the king of Israel for 17 years. He did evil in God’s eyes and worshiped the golden calves that Jeroboam set up. God allowed King Hazael of Aram and his son Benhadad to defeat them over and over. King Jehoahaz prayed for the Lord to help him and God rescued them from the Arameans, so they experienced some peace for a while. But, the people of Israel continued in the worship of false idols so God reduced their army and the king of Aram oppressed them again. Jehoahaz died and his son Jehoash became king for 16 years. He also worshipped the golden calves. He went to war with Ahaziah of Judah during his reign and when he died, his son Jeroboam II became king. Before Jehoash died, he went to visit the ailing Elisha. Elisha told him to shoot an arrow out his window and he did. Elisha told the king that that arrow was the arrow of victory over Aram. Then Elisha told him to strike the rest of the arrows on the ground. He struck them three times and Elisha was upset. He told the king that if he had struck them five or six times, he would have had total victory over Aram. Now, he would only win three battles. Elisha died and was buried. A group of Moabites raided Israel. Some Israelites were burying a friend when they saw the raiding party ascending on them. The Israelites threw the body in Elisha’s tomb so they could escape and when the dead man’s body touched Elisha’s tomb, the man sprang to life. God had told Elisha that he would have a double portion of Elijah’s spirit and he still needed to raise one more person from the dead to double Elijah’s resurrections. He did it even in death. This says to me that our destiny’s continue after we die. If we don’t finish what we are called to do, someone in our family will continue it or something like what happened to the man thrown into the grave will happen. Our destiny’s are spiritual and eternal. God’s Word will be done in life or in death. Just like Elisha told Jehoash, he defeated the Arameans three times and recovered Israelite towns that had been taken. Amaziah became king of Judah when his father, Joash died. Amaziah did what was right in the Lord’s eyes like his father but he also didn’t remove the high places where people sacrificed to idols. He conquered the Edomites, then wanted to conquer Israel also. He sent messengers to Israel inviting them to battle. Jehoash was king of Israel. He tried to dissuade Amaziah from fighting with them but was unsuccessful. Jehoash’s army defeated Amaziah’s and Amaziah was captured. Six hundred feet of Jerusalem’s wall was demolished and many of the treasures from the Temple and the palace were taken to Samaria. Amaziah was assassinated in Lachish and buried in Jerusalem. Amaziah’s 16 year old son, Uzziah was crowned the king of Judah. In Israel, Jeroboam II was king and he followed in the sins of the first Jeroboam. God used Jeroboam II to preserve Israel, even though they lived in sin. When he died, his son Zechariah became king. In Acts, we read about three different baptisms. John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance and prepared the people for Jesus’ baptism which was salvation. Then the third baptism was the Holy Spirit baptism that gave the people power to speak in tongues and to be witnesses and do the miracles that Jesus did. An example of the Spirit’s baptism were the miracles that Paul did. He would touch handkerchiefs or aprons and place them on the sick people and they would be healed of their diseases and evil spirits would have to leave. Lord, may we be baptized with the Holy Spirit and do the miracles that you did and greater. May your destiny continue through us.