SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/29/2015
9:15 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
Nineveh’s message to God
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Johan 3:5-9
Message of the
verses: “ 5 Then the people of Nineveh believed in God;
and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of
them. 6 When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne,
laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth and sat on the
ashes. 7 He issued a proclamation and it said, "In Nineveh by the decree
of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a
thing. Do not let them eat or drink water. 8 "But both man and beast must
be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn
from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands. 9 “Who knows,
God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not
perish."”
In the sermon we have in our church service this morning
our Pastor said that there are only 66 words in what we call “The Lord’s
Prayer,” and those 66 words are very powerful indeed as volumes have been
written about how powerful these word are.
The message that God gave Jonah to give to those who lived in Nineveh
only has five words in the Hebrew text, but as we read what God did with these
five words we realize the power that was in them. We can see in His message that God gave them
forty days of grace and from the average man on the street all the way to the
king they all put on sackcloth to show a sign of repentance to the Lord. When the message got to the king he not only
put sackcloth on, but ordered a fast for all people and animals to take part
in. The people were to cry out mightily
to the Lord so that He would not destroy them.
Remember when Jonah was in dire straits that he
remembered the prayer that Solomon prayed when the temple of the Lord was
dedicated, well there is a provision in that prayer for foreigners also. 32
"Also concerning the foreigner who is not from Your people Israel,
when he comes from a far country for Your great name’s sake and Your mighty
hand and Your outstretched arm, when they come and pray toward this house, 33 then
hear from heaven, from Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which
the foreigner calls to You, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know
Your name, and fear You as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that
this house which I have built is called by Your name (2 Chron. 6:32-33).”
So we see that just like the sailors that were on the
ship that Jonah was on they cried to the Lord, so the people of Nineveh also cried
out to the Lord. Now another thing that
was in our sermon today was that we are to keep shorts lists with the Lord,
that is we are to confess our sins to the Lord each day, even more than one
time a day if needed. If the Ninevites
would have done this then they would not be in the shape they were in. Remember when the Lord Jesus Christ washed
His disciples’ feet and when He came to Peter, Peter first refused to have it
done, so Jesus explained that without this Peter would not have a part in His
kingdom. Peter replied not only his feet
but his whole body. Jesus then tells
Peter that he was clean, but just needed his feet washed. Jesus was saying that when you become a
believer you are clean, but when you are walking around in the world you get
your spiritual feet dirty, dirty with sin and you then need to confess those
sins to the Lord.
11/29/2015 9:35 PM
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