I CHRONICLES

It is Thursday morning, and I have enjoyed reading in I Chronicles this morning.  It is about ten till 7:00am and so I have about 15 minutes to write down some thoughts.  I am looking forward next year to reading only ten chapters a day, not because I read less, but because that will allow me more time to write about passages of Scripture I have to pass over and don't have time to write about each day.  I may mark up some twenty passages as I read and sometimes a lot more, but only have the time to write about three or four of them.  If I write about four of them per ten chapters, that means I get to write about eight of them per twenty chapters, and that is my goal.  Well, here are some items to share for today: 1) THE PRAYER OF JABEZ- In I Chronicles 4:10, Jabez prayed and said:  "Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me!"  And, it goes on to say:  "And God granted him that which he requested."    I have read a book on this that implies if you pray this same prayer each day that God will bless you too.  Well, no repeating of someone's prayer will work for you, but... you can pray your own prayer and sincerely ask God to bless you for His glory, and expect that God will do so.  Pray with expectation!  Pray BIG prayers!  That is the lesson of this story! 2) THEY WERE HELPED- In I Chronicles 5:20 it says of the 2 1/2 tribes who faced great odds on the east side of Jordan:  "they were helped".... "for they cried to God in the battle, and he was intreated of them; because they put their trust in him."  They were helped!  We too can be helped if we will cry out to God in the midst of life's struggles!  We need God's help and we should be humble enough to ask for His help. 3) DAY BY DAY- I Chronicles 12:22  "For at that time DAY BY DAY there came to David to help him, until it was a great host, like the host of God."    God grew David's kingdom... day by day!  A little here and a little there.  We want to see God in the BIG things of life and so we should, but also expect to see God at work for us in the little things of life, day by day.  Praise HIM for these little additions... day by day! 4) TOUCH NOT GOD'S ANOINTED- In I Chronicles 16:22, it says:  "Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm."  It is a dangerous thing to speak against God's men.  That is why the Bible says:  1 Timothy 5:19  "Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses."  I have seen people go against a man of God and sometimes that man was me; only to see everything in their lives fall apart, and sometimes it is their health, their finances, their family, and even death.  It is a serious thing in the eyes of God.  For your own good benefit... don't ever do it! 5) WHO AM I?  This is what David said in I Chronicles 17:16.  This is what made David so mightily used of God... he stayed humble!  Oh that we might learn this important lesson.  Stay humble..... keep saying:  "Who am I?" Well, so much for today.  Hope you have a blessed day in the LORD.  Dr. Mike Mutchler, pastor and friend