Mon.’s Devo - The Increase of His Government

Read: 1 Kings 20:1-21:29; Acts 12:24-13:15: Psalm 135:1-9; Proverbs 17:167 Ben-hadad of Aram mobilized his army along with 32 allied kings and their armies. Their plans were to besiege Samaria, the capital of Israel. He had already told Ahab that he was taking his gold and silver, his wives and the best of his children. Ahab had agreed to give him those. Now, he wanted to send his officials to go though his palace and the homes of his officials and take whatever they saw that was valuable. When he told his elders they were not ok with that. They were fine with Ahah’s things being taken but not their own. *** So, Ahab told Ben-Hadad that he would only agree to the first demand. This made Ben-Hadad furious and he was ready to come and take everything. *** God sent a prophet to tell Ahab that He was going to hand then all over to him that day and Ahab would know that He was the Lord. When Ahab asked the prophet how God was going to do it, he replied that it would be by the troops of the provincial commanders. There were 232 of them. They attacked that day while Ben-Hadad and his kings were all drinking in their tent. When they began to win, the rest of the Arabian army panicked an d fled. Israel chased them and slaughtered them. *** The prophet came back to Ahab and told him to ready his troops because the Arameans would return in the spring. When they did, Israel was ready. The prophet told Ahab that they would fight in the plains so Ahah’s army went to meet them in the plains. The Arameans had a vast army but Israel killed 100,000 in one day. Another 27,000 were killed when a wall fell on them. Ben-hadad surrendered to Ahab and instead of killing him, Ahab made a treaty with him and let him go home. God was not pleased and sent a prophet to tell him that since he set Ben-hadad free, he would die in his place. *** Ahab went home depressed and then became obsessed over a vineyard that was next to his house. It was owned by Naboth. Ahab offered to buy it from him to turn his vineyard into a vegetable garden. Naboth told him he couldn’t sell it to him because it had been in his family for generations. When Ahab became so depressed he couldn’t eat, Jezebel asked him what was making him so sad. He told her about the piece of land that Naboth wouldn’t sell him. She told him she would get it for him. *** Jezebel sent a message in Ahab’s name to his officials and had Naboth falsely accused of cursing God and the king. Then they took him outside the city and stoned him to death. She told Ahab to go and get his land. *** God sent Elijah to Ahab to meet Ahab when he went to claim Naboth’s land. He told him that because he had Naboth murdered, he would be murdered on the same land and the dogs would lick his blood. Everyone of his male descendants would be destroyed. Jezebel would be killed on the same plot of land and the dogs would eat her remains. *** When Ahab heard this message, he put on burlap and repented. God sent Elijah to tell him that since he was repentive, God would wait and destroy his dynasty after he died. *** In Acts, the church continued to grow. Saul and Barnabas were sent out by the Holy spirit to take the gospel to places that had not heard the Good News yet. They went first to Cyprus and then to Salamis and preached in the Jewish synagogues. John Mark assisted them. *** Then they went from town to town across the entire island until they came to Paphos where they met a false prophet named Bar-Jesus. He had gotten to be close friends with the governor, Sergius Paulus. When the governor invited them to his house to hear their message, the false prophet tried to deter him. Saul rebuked Bar-Jesus with blindness and he instantly lost his sight. When his power over the governor was stopped, Sergius was able to receive the message of Jesus. *** Paul and his men went on to Perga. John Mark left them and went back to Jerusalem. Paul and Barnabas traveled on to Antioch where they were asked to speak. *** It is interesting to note that Ahab became weaker and weaker the more he relied on his position while Paul became more and more powerful the more he leaned on the Holy Spirit. *** Lord, may our strength come from you. May you increase through our lives and may your kingdom spread across our nation and the world.