Today we took a bit more time to explore how each king who came after Jeroboam followed his legacy of rebellion but took it to more extreme each time. We won’t find spiritual stamina apart from prayer.” Day 2 While we can seek God in a variety of ways, prayer is a vital way the Lord has given us to connect with Him. “When we come to God in faith, we find the reward we seek: God Himself. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” We must also study the Scriptures diligently in order to know God’s instructions and keep us from being confused by worldly values. Hebrews 11:6 says, “And it is impossible to please God without faith. Most importantly, we also learned from Elijah’s example that we can offer prayers of faith to draw close to God. “True grit means that we guard against spiritual compromise and seek to get back on track when we falter.” He does not delight in punishment or condemnation, but His delight is to lead us to repentance and restoration. However, when we do stray, there is hope! Our God loves us so much that He will do whatever it takes to win us back to Himself, even if it is to allow consequences for our choices. It takes spiritual grit to stay the course. These tiny compromises can grow and begin a downward spiral that will draw our hearts further and further away from God. This story of Israel’s kings can serve as a warning to us when we are drawn by the influence of our culture to allow tiny compromises in our own lives. You can see how compromise can begin so simply and yet become a snowball of rebellion and consequences that seem utterly out of control. This “legacy of compromise” continued on to every single king that came after him, and each one was worse than the one before. Jeroboam replaced God’s chosen place of worship, ordained common people as priests instead of God’s chosen tribe of Levi, and he set up golden calves as idols for the people to worship. He had completely disregarded God’s commands concerning worship, and that was the beginning of the compromises that led to Israel’s troubles. Jeroboam was the first king of the Northern 10 tribes of Israel as they split from the other tribes. We observed the slippery slope of compromise as king after king rebelled against God and indulged in idol worship, thus bringing severe consequences for their sin to the nation of Israel. We read how the nation became divided into the Northern Kingdom, called Israel, led by one evil king after another, and the Southern Kingdom, called Judah, led by some good and some bad kings, and it was during this time that God used Elijah to prophecy to His people. We discovered how the nation transitioned from having God as their King and being led by judges to becoming a monarchy. On Day 1, we set the stage for our study by outlining a bit of the history of Israel that led to the time of Elijah. I have written a summary for each day of our study this week, and the discussion questions and assignments will be at the end. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” Our focus verse for the week is Hebrews 11:6, “And it is impossible to please God without faith. Congratulations! You made it through the first week, and what a powerful week it has been! We focused on a number of themes this week from the beginning of Elijah’s story in 1 Kings 17 – Prayer, Faith, Spiritual grit, the slippery slope of compromise, Repentance, Restoration, Seasons in our walk with God, God’s provision and strength during our difficult times, Waiting on God, Trusting Him when life doesn’t make sense, and much more! Isn’t it amazing how much God has had to say to us in just our first week of study?
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