Tues.'s Devo - The Power of God's Word

Read: 1Kings 22:1-53; Acts 13:16-41; Psalm 138:1-8; Proverbs 17;17-18Ahab was king in Israel and Jehoshaphat was king in Judah. There had been peace between them for three years. Jehoshaphat went to visit Ahab and Ahab brought up the fact that Ramoth-gilead belonged to them. He asked Jehoshaphat if he wanted to help him get it back since it was land connecting Israel with Judah. He agreed to help him only shouldn’t they ask God first? *** Ahab agreed and brought out his pagan prophets. They all agreed they would have success in their battle. Jehoshaphat asked if Ahab had a prophet of God. Ahab told him he had one but he never said anything good to him. Jehoshaphat rebuked him for what he said about God’s prophet and waited till they heard from him. Ahab sent for Micaiah. *** Micaiah was asked if they should go against the Ramoth-gilead and get it back. He very sarcastically said, sure they should do it. Ahab got upset with him and told him to tell him the truth. Micaiah got very sober and said he had seen a vision and all Israel was scattered on the mountains without a leader because he had been killed. *** This answer made Ahab mad but Micaiah said he had seen God on his throne looking for a way to entice Ahab to go to battle so he could kill him. One of the spirits said that he would go and inspire all of Ahabs’s prophets to speak lies. God told him to go because that would work. *** That made Zedikiah, one of the false prophets so mad he went up and slapped Micaiah on the face. Micaiah turned to Zedikiah and said that when all this happened he would try to hide in some secret room. *** Ahab ordered Micaiah to be taken to Samaria and put in prison until he returned. Micaiah said that if he returned then it meant he had prophesied a lie. *** Ahab must have feared Micaiah’s words because he disguised himself like a normal soldier and told Jehoshaphat to wear his royal robes. (I guess he thought it would be better for Jehoshaphat to die than him.) His plan backfired because the orders of the Arameans was to only kill Ahab. They chased Jehoshaphat thinking he was Ahab but when they heard his voice, they knew it wasn’t Ahab. Then a random soldier shot a random arrow into the midst of the army of Israel and it landed in the only crack in Ahah’s armor. He died at the end of the day and the battle was over. He had bled in his chariot all day and when they got him back to Israel, they washed his blood in the place the prophet had said that the dogs would lick his blood. *** Jehoshaphat had been a good king who feared God like his father Asa had. He rid the land of male and female shrine prostitutes but failed to remove all the pagan shrines so the people still offered sacrifices and burned incense there. *** When he died, his son, Jehoram became the next king of Judah. Azariah had succeeded Ahab in Israel. Azariah did evil like his father and worshipped Baal. *** In Acts, Paul and Barnabas were in Antioch and had gone into the synagogue that Sabbath. After they read from the Word, Paul was asked to give a word of encouragement and stood to speak. He took them from the time of Moses through the judges and the prophets down to the day of Jesus. Paul told of how John the Baptist had prophesied about Jesus but when Jesus appeared on the scene, the religious leaders refused to accept him as the Messiah and had him crucified. He rose from the dead and had appeared to them many times. The Psalms had said that God would not allow his holy one to rot in the grave. Paul urged them to accept Jesus and be saved. *** Lord, thank you for the power of the resurrection and your power through us. May we walk in authority and power and proclaim you Kingdom on the earth.