Tues.’s Devo - God’s Kingdom In Us

Read: 2 Chronicles 8:11-10:19; Romans 8:9-25; Pslam 18:16-36; Proverbs 19:26 Solomon ran the Temple like David had set it up. They celebrated the feasts and the new moon festivals and offered the daily sacrifices. *** The queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s fame and came with gifts to see if all she had heard was true. Solomon showed her everything about his kingdom and how it ran. She was amazed at his wisdom and wealth. She gave him 9,000 pounds of gold, spices and precious jewels. She also brought him red sandalwood that he used to make steps for the Temple of the Lord and his royal palace and to make musical instruments. Solomon gave her anything she asked for which was more than she had brought him. She returned to her land. *** Each year Solomon received about 25 tons of gold as well as revenue from trade. He had 200 hammered large gold shields and 300 smaller ones made and placed them in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon. *** His throne was huge and decorated with ivory and overlaid with gold. His armrests were figures of lions with lions on both sides of the six steps leading up to the throne. *** King Solomon was richer and wiser than any other king on earth. Kings from all over came to sit and listen to his wisdom. His wealth was evident in Jerusalem where silver was as plentiful as stones and cedar timber as common as the sycamore-fig trees. *** He ruled for forty years and when he died, his son, Rehoboam became king. Rehoboam went to Shechem to meet with his people. Jeroboam who had fled to Egypt came to hear him. *** All of Solomon’s show of wealth had come at the expense of the people because the first thing they wanted to know was if Rehoboam was going to lighten their load and lessen their taxes. He told them he would let them know in three days. *** Rehoboam asked his father’s advisors what he should do and they told him that if he gave the people what they wanted, they would serve him forever. Then he went to the advisors of his peers and they told him to tell the people that if they thought his father was tough, they hadn’t seen anything yet; he would be tougher. *** When he met with the people, he took the advise of the younger advisors. When the people saw that he wasn’t going to listen to them they split from David’s kingdom. Rehoboam sent Adoniram who was in charge of his forced labor to restore order but the people stoned him to death. Rehoboam fled home. *** From that time on, the northern tribes of Israel refused to be ruled by a descendant of David. *** In Romans, Paul reminds us that we are not controlled anymore by our sinful nature but we are now controlled by the Spirit of God because we have the Spirit of God living in us. Our bodies will still die because of sin but the Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead will give life to our mortal bodies. *** We no longer have any obligation to sin but have the power of the Sprit to put to death the desires of our sinful nature. We can be led by the Spirit of God. *** The Spirit of God has made us God’s children and the right to call him our Daddy. This also makes us heirs of his glory. But it also means that we will share in his sufferings. But the things we suffer now are nothing compared to the glory that he will reveal to us later. All creation is waiting for the day that we will be free from death and decay. This will be the day we are given our full rights as his adopted children and the new bodies he has promised us. *** Lord, help us to patiently wait for this day when death has no power over our bodies and we can be filled with your glory as the Temple was years ago.