June 23

June 23
One Year Bible Readings:
2 Kings 4:18-5:27
Acts 15:1-35
Psalm 141:1-10
Proverbs 17:23
Supplemental Reading for The One Year Bible.
The following are excerpts from Mike’s One Year Bible Blog.

2 Kings:
Interesting readings in 2 Kings 4 about the Shumanite woman, her son and the prophet Elisha today! You'll note that in verse 20 her son dies, and in verse 21 she places her son on Elisha's bed - in part so that no one will know that her son died. As she gets to verse 22-24 she is saddling up on a donkey to go straight to Elisha without anyone in her family knowing her son had died. As the Shumanite woman nears Mount Carmel Gehazi, Elisha's servant, comes out to greet her and still she won't even tell him that her son has died! She says everything is fine. She wants to deliver the news first and directly to Elisha! I like this woman's focused faith. She knew that Elisha delivered the Word that she would have a son in previous day's readings, and now that her son had died, I think she had faith that Elisha, being a prophet in relationship with God, would be able to revive her son.
Q: Do you have a focused faith like this when it comes to your relationship with God and Jesus? Do you always take your problems directly to the One who can truly revive you? In chapter 5 we get to the story of the healing of Naaman. I found it very interesting that Naaman needed to humble himself and wash up in the waters of the lowly river Jordan! Know anyone else that did some "washing up" in the river Jordan?? :) Maybe all of us somehow need to humble ourselves and symbolically be washed up in the river Jordan to receive true healing?

Acts:
Peter's teaching at The Council at Jerusalem in Acts 15 verse 11 is one of the most important verses that all of us should really meditate upon and know and believe: "We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the special favor of the Lord Jesus."
Q: Do you believe Peter here? Do you believe this to be true? Does this simple message of this little button below ring true to you?

Psalm:
Psalm 141 is a beautiful prayer of David's - praying for deliverance from the wicked and their ways. Verse 4 is powerful - "Don't let me lust for evil things; don't let me participate in acts of wickedness. Don't let me share in the delicacies of those who do evil."
Q: Is this a prayer you could incorporate into your prayer life? What might be some examples of "delicacies of those who do evil"? Will you pray to God to avoid these "delicacies" and "treasures" that will ultimately fail you?

Proverbs:
Proverbs 17:23 today teaches us: "The wicked accept secret bribes to pervert justice." This should be a reminder to each of us to never accept bribes! Bribes always pervert justice...
Q: Have you ever seen bribes pervert justice? What are some other actions we might take that are similar to bribes that might unfairly influence a situation?

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