Praying Through God's Word: Micah

Micah 1:1-2:13

We thank You, Lord, that Micah was a fearless preacher of Your Word. His message was not popular: ‘Let the Lord God be a witness against you.’ He was a forthright preacher of Your Word. He knew that the people wouldn’t want to hear what he had to say to them. He demanded that they listen to him. This wasn’t only Micah’s word. It was Your word, Lord. That’s why Micah said, ‘Hear, O peoples, all of you. Listen, O earth and all who are in it’ (Micah 2:2). Teach us, Lord, that we cannot afford to ignore Your Word. Help us to listen to Your Word. You speak Your Word against us. You say to us, ‘You cannot save yourselves’ (Micah 2:3). You speak Your Word against us so that we might learn to rejoice in Your Word of salvation: ‘I will bring you together like sheep returning to the fold’ (Micah 2:12).

Micah 3:1-5:1
We thank You, Lord, for the words that Micah speaks to those ‘who hate good and love evil’ (Micah 3:2). He calls upon them to change their way of living. He calls upon them to worship You - ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord’ - and walk with You - ‘We will walk in the Name of the Lord our God for ever and ever.’ How do we learn to ‘walk in Your paths’? We come to Your ‘House’. We listen to Your ‘Word’. We pray that Your Word will come to us ‘with power.’ We ask You to ‘teach us Your ways.’ We pray that we will be ‘filled with the Spirit of the Lord’ (Micah 4:2,5; 3:8). We worship You, Lord. Gathered in Your House for worship, we ‘receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on us.’ Through Your power, we are equipped for witness: ‘you will be My witnesses...’ (Acts 1:8).

Micah 5:2-6:16
We thank You, Lord, for Micah's words of prophecy concerning the birth of Jesus at ‘Bethlehem’ (Micah 5:2). This prophecy invites us to ‘go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.’ At ‘Bethlehem’, we see ‘shepherds, glorifying and praising God’ (Luke 2:15,20). We thank that Jesus, Your Son is also Jesus our Shepherd. He is the One whom the shepherds worshipped. He is the One who ‘will stand and shepherd His flock in the strength of the Lord...’. He is ‘the Good Shepherd’. He ‘laid down His life’ for us. He is ‘the Great Shepherd’. He ‘was raised from the dead’ for us. He is ‘the Chief Shepherd’. He will ‘come’ again for us (5:4; John 10:14; Hebrews 13:20; 1 Peter 5:4). We thank You, Lord, that Jesus our ‘Shepherd’ gives us ‘strength’ to ‘do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with our God’ (Micah 6:8).

Micah 7:1-20
‘Who is a God like You? You forgive sin... You love to be merciful.You will again have compassion on us... You will throw all our sins into the depths of the ocean!... You will bless us... You will set Your love upon us...’ (Micah 7:18-20). When, Lord, we read these great words, we think of Jesus, our great Saviour - ‘I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene and wonder how He could love me, a sinner, condemned, unclean. He took my sins and my sorrows. He made them His very own. He bore the burden to Calvary, and suffered and died alone. When with the ransomed in glory His face I at last shall see, ‘twill be my joy through the ages to sing of His love for me. How marvellous, how wonderful, and my song shall ever be: How marvellous, how wonderful is my Saviour’s love for me!’ (Mission Praise, 296).

Praying Through God’s Word: Nahum

NAHUM

1:1-2:9
‘Fulfil your vows’ (1:15). Lord, You’re calling us to be faithful to Him. We are to be faithful in worship. We are to be faithful in reading Your Word. We are to be faithful in prayer. We are to be faithful in giving. We are to be faithful in witness. Our faith is to be real. Our faith is to make a difference. It’s to change the way we live. It’s not to be a case of ‘faith without works’. Show us , Lord, that this kind of ‘faith’ is ‘dead’ (James 2:17). Our whole life is to be a life of faith. It is to be a life of ‘love.’ You’re calling us to live ‘for Your glory’ (Romans 14:23; 1 Corinthians 16:14; 10:31). ‘Fill Thou our life, O Lord our God, in every part with praise… Not for the lip of praise alone, nor even the praising heart we ask, but for a life made up of praise in every part’ (Church Hymnary, 457).

2:10-3:19
To those who refuse to live in obedience to You, Lord, You speak Your Word of judgment: ‘I am against you’ (Nahum 2:13; Nahum 3:5). To those who refuse to listen to Your Word of salvation – ‘The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in Him’, You speak a very different Word. It will be Your Word of judgment. Your Word will come like ‘an overwhelming flood’: ‘He will pursue His foes into darkness’ (Nahum 1:7-8). We thank You, Lord, that none of us needs to face this ‘overwhelming flood’ and hear the words, ‘I am against you.’ Each of us can come to Christ and hear His Word of ‘overwhelming victory’: ‘If God is for us, who can be against us?… Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord’ (Romans 8:31,37-39). Thank You, Lord.

Praying Through God’s Word: Obadiah

OBADIAH

‘The Kingdom will be the Lord’s’ (21). When, Lord, Your Kingdom comes, there will be both salvation – ‘The house of Jacob will possess its inheritance’ – and judgment – ‘There will be no survivors from the house of Esau’ (17-18). ‘Not by works but by Him who calls’ – This is the great contrast between ‘Jacob’ and ‘Esau’. We thank You that we have not been saved ‘because of any good deeds that we have done.’ We have been saved ‘by grace’. We can never be saved ‘by works.’ We can never receive Your grace ‘by works.’ Teach us, Lord, to receive Your grace ‘by faith.’ May we look away from ourselves to You, and say, ‘He saved us.’ ‘It is by grace that you have been saved through faith… not by works, so that no-one can boast’ (Romans 9:10-13, 30-32; 11:6; Titus 3:4-7; Ephesians 2:8-9).

Praying Through God’s Word: 2 Samuel

2 Samuel 1:1-27

So often, Lord, we start out well – and then something goes wrong. Our heads go down. We lose our way. We fall away from You. Where does this spirit of defeat, this spirit of giving up, come from? – It comes from Satan. He sweeps in. He sweeps us off our feet. He sweeps us away from You. When Satan attacks us, help us, Lord, to remember Your promise: You are “able to keep us from falling” (Jude 24-25). Help us to hear Your Word: “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

2 Samuel 2:1-32

There are times, Lord, when we need to start all over again. We need to make a new beginning with You. We’ve wandered away from You – and we wonder if You’ll have us back again. Help us, Lord, to know, in our hearts, that You never lose patience with us. Your love for us remains constant, even when we’re “in the far country” of our sin (Luke 15:13). You’re always waiting for us to return to You. Our returning to You is not insignificant. It is important. How can we enter into Your blessing if we refuse to return to You? When we think about our returning to You, help us never to forget that it is never any more than a response to Your coming to us – “to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10).

2 Samuel 3:1-39

Our sin is sad. Our sin is shameful. Can anything be done about our sin? When, Lord, we think about our sin, help us to remember this: You have done something about our sin. Our sin threatens to overwhelm us. we feel like we’re going down. We don’t have a chance. we can’t do anything about it. We can’t – but You can! You can – because You have! When Jesus died and rose again, He triumphed over sin. He won the victory for us. That was a long time ago – but it’s still the reason we believe that Your triumph can become real in us and through us. What You did then, You can still do now. You raised Jesus from the dead. Give us Your strength to “walk with You in newness of life” (Romans 6:4).

2 Samuel 4:1-5:25

Lord, there are bad things happening to us, things that we wish weren’t happening. Sometimes, all of this gets us down. We wonder, “Who really cares about us? Is there anybody out there – anybody who’s really interested?” We thank You, Lord, that there is an answer to our question. It’s not an answer that comes from the human side. It’s an answer that comes from above, an answer that comes from You. It’s the answer of Your love. You love us in the good times. You love us in the bad times. Thank You, Lord.

2 Samuel 6:1-23

Give to us, Lord, Your joy – “The joy of the Lord is our strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). When the devil tries to tear away our joy from us, help us to remind him that Jesus died and rose again so that we might have true and lasting joy. Help us to remind him of Jesus’ words: “In the world you’ll have trouble. But cheer up! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

2 Samuel 7:1-29

Life isn’t easy. Sometimes, it seems like there are nothing but hard times. There doesn’t seem to be alight at the end of the tunnel. That’s the way it feels – but it’s not the way it is! Our feelings will lead us away from You – if we let them! Our feelings can run riot over us. They can wreck our lives. Help us, Lord, to look beyond the chaos. Help us to look to You. Sometimes, it feels like You’re far away. That’s the way it seems to us – but it’s not the way it really is! You are with us – now and always (Matthew 1:23; Matthew 28:20).

2 Samuel 8:1-9:13

“The Lord gave victory to David wherever he went” (2 Samuel 8:6,14). Help us, Lord, never to forget where the victory comes from? It comes from You. It’s Your victory – and You give it to us. You direct our attention away from ourselves. You direct our attention to Jesus. He says to us, “Without Me, you can do nothing” (John 15:5). This is a warning to us. We must not try to live in our own strength. Help us to look to Jesus – and to say, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).

2 Samuel 10:1-11:27

“May the Lord do what seems good to Him” (2 Samuel 10:12). Lord, this is the way it should be. We should be saying, “Not my will but Yours be done” (Matthew 26:39). It’s the way things should be – but it’s not the way things are. Often, we make wrong choices. we choose our own way rather than Your way. Help us, Lord, to stop trying to get our own way. Help us to start walking in Your way. Help us to say, “As for God, His way is perfect” (2 Samuel 22:31; Psalm 18:30).
 
2 Samuel 12:1-31 
You, Lord, convict us of our sin – “You are the man” (2 Samuel 12:7). We confess our sin to You – “I have sinned against the Lord” (2 Samuel 12:13). Conviction of sin always comes before confession of sin. How could we confess that we are sinners if You do not show us that we are sinners? You forgive our sin – “the Lord has taken away your sin” (2 Samuel 12:13). You lead us in the way of Your salvation – “washed … anointed …. changed he went into the house of the Lord and worshipped” (2 Samuel 12:20). What blessing comes to those who confess their sin. You lead us to confess our sin. From there, You lead us into Your forgiveness. You lead us into the fullness of Your salvation. Thank You, Lord.
 
2 Samuel 13:1-39
Sometimes, Lord, it seems like You have left us. We feel like we’re looking for you, but we’re not finding You. we ask, “Where have You gone?” – then we start thinking, Have you really left us? or Are we the ones who have wandered away from You?” Call us back to Yourself, Lord. Show us where we’ve gone wrong. Lift us above our changeable feelings into Your unchangeable love. Show us that You’re beside us every step of the way – especially when we find it difficult to feel that You’re really with us.
 
2 Samuel 14:1-33
We thank You, Lord, that You love us – and You forgive us. What a difference that makes! There are times when we feel unloved. We wonder, “How could You possibly forgive us?” When we feel like this, help us to remember that Jesus died for us. When we see ourselves in the light of the cross of Christ, our great Saviour, how can we keep on feeling unloved and unforgiven? Take us, Lord, to the cross. Show us Your love. Show us our Saviour, suffering for us. Show us our Saviour, praying for us: “Father, forgive them …” (Luke 23:34).
 
2 Samuel 15:1-37
Who are we trying to please? Are we trying to please You, Lord? or Are we trying to please other people? Are we more interested in getting what we want or doing what You want? These, Lord, are searching questions. They call us to be honest with ourselves, to be honest with You. Help us, Lord, to see ourselves the way we really are. Help us to pray for change, real change, change in our hearts, change in our lives, change that brings blessing to us, change that brings glory to You.
 
2 Samuel 16:1-23
‘He’s a great guy.’ We like it when people say this kind of thing about us. It makes us feel good about ourselves. What do You think of us, Lord? Yours is the one opinion that really matters. What does it mean to be truly ‘great’? Do we want to be called ‘great’? or Do we want to give all the glory to You? We know, Lord, that we’ll never love You with a perfect love. Your love is the only perfect love. Help us, Lord, not to get discouraged, when we let You down. Lift us up, Lord. Make our love for You more real and more true, more life-changing and more pleasing to You.
 
2 Samuel 17:1-29
What do we do when everything seems to go wrong? Do we start complaining, blaming You for everything that’s happening to us? or Do we start asking the question, ‘Where is the Lord in all of this?’ Help us to challenge our negative thinking – “Why are you discouraged, my soul?” (Psalm 43:5). Help us to rise above our negative thinking. Raise us up, Lord, for You alone can lift us out of our defeatism and into that special place with You where we know that we are truly blessed – because You love us, and will never stop loving us, even when our love for You is very weak.
 
2 Samuel 18:1-33
Often, we wish we could look into the future, and see what’s going to happen to us. We can’t. the future belongs to You, Lord – not to us. Help us to wait on You, Lord – to wait patiently for the time when Your future becomes our present. Our ‘tomorrow’ can never become our ‘today’ – until our ‘today’ becomes our ‘yesterday.’ Help us, Lord, to forget about gazing into some kind of ‘crystal ball.’ Give us the grace to walk with You in faith – one day at a time.
 
2 Samuel 19:1-39
The closer we get to Your servants, the smaller they become. Jesus is different – very different. The closer we get to Him, the bigger He becomes. Help us, Lord, to make less of Your servants and more of our Saviour. We speak about this one, and that one. Sometimes, we say good things. Often, we say bad things. Help us to speak more of our Saviour. Help us to say nothing but good things about Him.
 
2 Samuel 19:40-20:26
  Our words can do a lot of good – and they can do a lot of harm! Lord, help us to watch what we say. May our words be words that heal – not words that hurt. May they be helpful words, words that will help others to love You more – not words that will lead them away from You.
 
2 Samuel 21:1-22:7
What are we to do when our whole life seems to be one problem after another? We’re to pray – and, when we pray, we’re to believe that You will hear and answer our prayers (2 Samuel 21:14; 2 Samuel 24:25). What are we to do when the going gets tough? We turn to You, Lord. It’s not about how tough we are. It’s about how trustworthy You are. You are absolutely trustworthy, completely dependable, utterly reliable. You are the faithful God. Those who trust You fully find You wholly true. Help us, Lord, to trust You – to know that You are faithful.
 
2 Samuel 22:8-51
Some things are worth repeating! Help us, Lord, never to tire of praising You, We can never praise You enough. You are greater than all of our praise. Help us, in our worship, to lift up our hearts to You. Help us to think of how great You are. Help us to rejoice in the greatness of Your love for us. Help us to remember all that You have done for us. 
 
2 Samuel 23:1-39 
Lord, we thank You for Your amazing grace. What we are, in ourselves, is nothing compared with what we can become through the power of Your love. Your love reaches us. It lifts us up – out of our sin, which drags us down, and into Your salvation, which renews our strength and makes us new men and women.

2 Samuel 24:1-25
Less pride and more praise – That’s what we need, Lord. Less taking glory for ourselves and more giving glory to You – May that be the story of our life. Less living in our own weakness and more living in Your power – Lead us, Lord, into a life that is becoming less centred on ourselves and more centred on You.

God's Way of Salvation

Psalm 11
This Psalm begins with a tremendous statement of faith - “In the Lord I take refuge.” The whole Psalm should be understood in the light of this tremendous statement of faith. * From the vantage-point of faith, the Psalmist is able to overcome the temptation to doubt God (vs. 1-3). - His enemies say to him, “”Flee like a bird to your mountain.” The Psalmist replies, “In the Lord I take refuge.” - The “wicked” are out to get him. The Psalmist looks at them, and says, “In the Lord do I take refuge.” - It seems that “the foundations are being destroyed.” The Psalmist looks to the Lord, and says, “In the Lord I take refuge.” * From the vantage-point of faith, the Psalmist views the whole of life in the light of God. "The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord is on His heavenly throne. He observes the sons of men; His eyes examine them. The Lord examines the righteous, but the wicked and those who love violence His soul hates. On the wicked He will rain fiery coals and burning sulfur; a scorching wind will be their lot. For the Lord is righteous, He loves justice; upright men will see His face" (vs. 4-7) —– “In the Lord I take refuge.” There is only one refuge. The Lord is our refuge. He is our salvation. There is only one place of safety – “in Christ". In Ephesians 1:3-14  we read about our spiritual blessings in Christ - "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will— to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of His glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory." In Ephesians 2:8, we read, “It is by grace you have been saved through faith” (Ephesians 2:8). By grace, we are in Christ. Through faith, we are in Christ. * “He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock” – This is grace. * “Rock opf ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee” – This is faith. Grace and faith belong together. - We are not saved by grace apart from faith. - We are saved by grace through faith. The grace of God reaches us as we receive Jesus Christ in faith. - We are not saved by faith apart from grace. - We are saved by grace through faith. Faith has no meaning in itself. Faith finds its meaning only in relation to the grace of God. Faith is God’s way for us to come to Him through our Lord Jesus Christ. “By grace you have been saved through faith” – This is the Christian’s unshakeable foundation. With this unshakeable foundation, the Christian can face the attacks of the enemy with confidence. — 1 … How then can you say to me: “Flee like a bird to your mountain. 2 For look, the wicked bend their bows; they set their arrows against the strings to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart. 3 When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do ?” The devil is at work. He seeks to sow seeds of doubt into the heart of God’s people. He suggests to us that God’s gracious foundation for our faith can be destroyed. This is nothing new. It’s as old as Genesis 3:1 – “Did God say … ?“ The devil says to us, “Has God really forgiven your sins?” He says, “Has God really saved you?” The devil wants to get us on the run. He wants us to run away from him. We must not let him get the upper hand. We are to resist him in the strength of Christ’s victory over him. When we “resist the devil” in the strength of Christ’s victory, “he will flee from us” (James 4:7). To believe the devil is to believe the lie. The truth is that, when take our stand in Christ, the devil has no alternative but to ruin from us. Christ’s victory over the devil becomes our victory over Christ has won the victory over the devil. Through faith in Christ, His victory becomes our our victory over the devil. Here are three important lessons concerning this victory. * Through His death on the Cross, Christ has won the victory over the devil. He has won this victory for us. Hebrews 2:14-15 14Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— 15and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. * On the basis of the victory that Christ has won for us, we can stand our ground against the devil. Isaiah 28:16 16 So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed. * When we take our stand in Christ, the devil can do nothing else but flee from us. He is strong when we try to stand against him in our own strength. When, however we remind him of Christ’s victory over him, he can do nothing but bow before Christ’s superior power. Rejoicing in the victory that Christ has won for us, let’s remind the devil that he’s a defeated enemy. James 4:7 “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” — Our faith is built on a secure foundation. How do we know this? – “The Lord is on His heavenly throne” (v. 4). Knowing that the Lord is King, we are assured that God’s way of salvation is the one way of salvation. Salvation is by grace through faith. This salvation is centred on Jesus Christ. It is in Jesus Christ that we find the grace of God. It is Jesus Christ in whom we put our trust. Jesus Christ is God’s way of salvation. Through Jesus Christ, we have received salvation. There is no other way of salvation. God’s Kingship is revealed in His way of salvation. There is only way of salvation. It is God’s way of salvation. By grace through faith – This is God’s way of salvation. When we refuse to accept God’s way of salvation, we refuse to acknowledge His Kingship. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). We dare not attempt to dispute this point with God. Who are we to argue with God? We may attempt to save ourselves. We will not succeed. When we attempt to save ourselves, God looks upon us and He sees our sin. In ourselves, we are not “the righteous.” We may think that we are “righteous.” In God’s eyes, we are “the wicked.” This is the truth concerning every one of us: “There is no one righteous, not even one … all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:10, 23). There is only one way in which “the wicked” can become “the righteous.” We must come to the God of perfect holiness through faith in Jesus Christ. We must remember that “Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). This is God’s way of salvation. We don’t tell God that He has to save us because we think that we have earned the right to be saved. He tells us that we are sinners. He tells us that we need to be saved. He tells us that “Jesus Christ is able to save to the uttermost completely those who come to God through him” (Hebrews 7:25). We have the great promise of the Gospel. In Christ, there is full salvation for all who come to God through Him. Alongside this great promise, there is also the warning of the Gospel. We read the solemn words of verse 6 – “On the wicked he will rain fire and brimstone; a scorching wind will be their lot” “Fire and brimstone” – What are we to say about this? We must note that the Psalm doesn’t end with “fire and brimstone.” It ends with the words: “upright men will see His face” (v. 7). God doesn’t want to leave us where He finds us. He doesn’t want to leave us trembling in fear of “fire and brimstone.” He speaks to us of these things so that we might see our need of the Saviour. He speaks to us of these things so that we might”flee from the wrath to come” (Luke 3:7). He speaks to us of these things so that we might find our way to the Cross of Christ. He speaks to us of these things so that we might learn to confess our sins and receive God’s forgiveness: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Unbelievers have ridiculed “fire and brimstone” preaching. We cannot, however, allow their scornful attitude to lead us to dismiss “fire and brimstone” preaching. We dare not say that such preaching belongs to the past. * We must note that the Bible preaches “fire and brimstone.” * We must ask, “How does the Bible preach “fire and brimstone”?” - The fact that the Bible preaches “fire and brimstone” means that this emphasis on divine judgment must not be excluded from our preaching in today’s world. - The way that the Bible preaches “fire and brimstone” teaches us that we must always preach with a view to leading men and women to know Jesus Christ as their Saviour. * Jesus Christ is the only way out of judgment. * Jesus Christ is the only way into salvation. We hear the Gospel. We hear its promise. We hear its warning. The Gospel places us at a cross-roads. Each of us must decide. We must come to Christ. We must trust Him as our Saviour. We must come to Him, believing that He died on the Cross for us. We must come to Him and receive His free gift of the forgiveness of our sins. It is only through faith in Him that we will come to know, for ourselves, the truth of the final words of this Psalm: “upright men will see His face” (v. 7).

The Power, The Victory, The Thanksgiving

The Power – “the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power” (1 Samuel 16:13).

The Victory – “I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty … the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands” (1 Samuel 17:45, 47).

The Thanksgiving – “I will exalt you, O Lord, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me” (Psalm 30:1).

The Lord has sent His Spirit of power to live in us.

We read about Elijah in his high-points of strength - the triumph over the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:36-39) - and his low-points of weakness - he is ready to give up: “I’ve had enough now, Lord” (1 Kings 19:4). How did Elijah get into such a mess? He forgot this: “The Lord’s power was on Elijah” (1 Kings 18:46). In all life’s ups and downs, we must hold on to this: The Lord has sent His Spirit of power to live in us (2 Timothy 1:7). How are we to live in the power of the Spirit? We need to feed on the Word of God and drink in the Word of God (1 Kings 17:4). We need to pray that the Lord will send His showers of blessing (1 Kings 17:14). We are to live our life “according to the Word of the Lord” (1 Kings 17:16). For our life of faith to be strong in the Lord, we need to listen attentively to the preaching of God’s Word (1 Kings 17:24).