“And he [Uzziah] did what was correct in the eyes of the Lord as everything his father Amaziah had done. And he sought after God in the days of Zechariah, the one who instructed him in the fear of the Lord. And in the days that he sought after the Lord, God caused him to succeed.”

— 2 Chronicles 26:4-5

Success is of the Lord. The Bible teaches us that promotion is from above. Now this is very contrary to the attitudes of people today who think they can force themselves up the ladder of success. The Bible tells us that promotion is from above—that it is God who blesses or withholds His blessing, and because of Him kings and nations and individuals prosper and succeed or fail to do so. Obviously, as we have opportunity we should strive to do our best with the resources God has given us to better our lives and the lives of those around us.

And we read in this passage that as long as King Uzziah sought the Lord, God made him to prosper. With his heart he sought after God, and the Lord caused him to prosper.

Those who would tell you that the Scripture calls us to be totally unconcerned with our own well-being do not understand the message of Scripture, in my opinion. But what the Bible calls us to do is to seek our wellbeing at the hand of God. That you will find from one end of the Scripture to the other, and the Bible says that God will bless us. Now in the Old Testament those blessings always appeared here in this life because these things were done for an example unto us. In the New Testament era, sometimes those blessings appear in this life, sometimes in the next. Either way, in the long run God’s blessings follow obedience.

Jehovah-Jireh, our Great Provider, thank You for sustaining our lives. Thank You for the spiritual riches You have bestowed on me. Lord, give me strength for today to praise and thank You, whether You do or do not increase my worldly goods…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE
CAN LIVE IN CONTENTMENT.

“Uzziah was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he was king in Jerusalem for fifty-two years.”

— 2 Chronicles 26:3

Today it seems to be the heart’s desire of every teenager that on his sixteenth birthday he receives a car, preferably a long, low, sleek one with a lot of painting on it and several mufflers. Well, the ancient Jewish leader Uzziah had more than his heart’s desire when he became sixteen. They gave him the whole kingdom, and he became the king of Judah.

“Woe to you, O land, when your king is a lad” (Ecclesiastes 10:16) says the Old Testament writer. At the time Luther was brought before Philip of Spain, a young man who had just ascended to the throne, the placards that the supporters of Luther raised around the Diet of Worms cried out the message, “Woe unto that nation whose king is a child.”

And yet, surprisingly enough, to every rule there are some exceptions, and Uzziah proved to be the exception and followed after the Lord. He walked in all of the ways of his father and according to the teachings of the prophet Zechariah. As long as Zechariah was there, Uzziah sought God, and God caused him to prosper greatly. He reigned longer (for 52 years total) than any of the other kings of Judah or Israel, save one. Sadly, he did not remain faithful after the prophet died. May God give us grace to serve Him faithfully, no matter what our age may be and no matter how others may react to the Lord.

Lord, our King, in one sense it does not matter who governs us at any level because You are sovereign. We ask, however, that You would bless us with good and godly governors and with Your servants who follow the counsel of Your Word.

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, OUR
GOVERNORS CAN BE GODLY.

“The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation.”

— Exodus 15:2

When we see that God delivers us, and He becomes our strength and our salvation, then He creates within us a song. Divine strength and spiritual song always go together. Nehemiah said “…the joy of the Lord is your strength (Nehemiah 8:10), and so assurance and deliverance leads to rejoicing, and rejoicing leads to strength for holy living.

This is why Paul says that we are to rejoice in the Lord always because in rejoicing we find strength. If you are not rejoicing, you are not going to have strength for the journey in the Christian life. Is there joy in your heart? Is there joy in your home? Is there singing in both? There won’t be unless you know that God is your God and has become your salvation. The enemy of our souls cannot stand the praise of God. If you ever feel overwhelmed by evil or discouraged, start singing, even if you don’t feel like it. A song of praise will lift your heart and soul to God, and evil will flee.

God inhabits the praises of His people. The Christian religion has always been a singing religion. When you ever find yourself getting low, turn to the hymnal and sing to the Lord a new song. We sing because the Lord is our strength and our salvation.

Lord God, You created music, and You put a song in my heart. I thank You for this “heavenly language” that You gave us. I will praise You and sing unto Your holy name…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE CAN
LIFT OUR VOICE IN PRAISE.

“Let nothing be done out of strife or conceit, but in humility let each esteem the other better than himself.”

— Philippians 2:3

When Paul wrote the church in the Roman outpost of Philippi (in modern day Turkey), he had many positive things he commended them for. But Paul realized that the only flaw that he saw in the Philippian church was a tendency to divisiveness, a tendency which ultimately was going to be destructive to that church. But he did his best to point out to them the danger, the rocks that lay submerged in the path of the ecclesiastical ship at Philippi.

In order for them to be of one mind and one accord they had to acquire humility. He wrote to them, “Let each of you look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Let this mind be in you all, which was also in Christ Jesus…” (Philippians 2:4-5).

Jesus humbled Himself by becoming a man. The Second Person of the Trinity took on human flesh. So He was fully God and fully man. Then He humbled Himself in complete obedience, living a perfect life. Finally, He humbled Himself by dying on the cross. This was a degrading form of execution reserved only for slaves and non-Roman citizens. But God raised Him from the dead and vindicated Him completely. One day every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord.

Humility comes before honor. Christ has shown us the way.

Lord, You who humbled Yourself so completely and received the name above all names, help me to have a true picture of You and, thus, a true picture of myself, resulting in humility…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH AND BY HIS LIGHT,
WE CAN SEE OURSELVES CLEARLY.

“The meek will He guide in judgment, and the meek He will teach His way.”

— Psalm 25:9

Among the pagans, humility was not a virtue, it was a vice. I think of a man who described himself as a complete pagan. He scorned humility and all Christian virtues as being beneath the dignity of the pagan mind. His name was Adolf Hitler.

I remember one time debating a modern humanist atheist on a radio show, and someone called and asked what they should do to become a Christian. I said at first you need to get down on your knees and repent of your sins and accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of your life.

Well, the host interrupted and said, “No, you should stand on your feet, be proud.” Well that’s the humanist motto, “Be proud.” You know it is hard when you’re pretending to be a god to be humble, and that’s of course what humanists believe that they are.

Lowliness of mind and humility, those are two virtues that are not seen very often. I recall reading about two men who were arguing, and finally one of them despairing of ever changing the mind of the other said, “I can see that I am going to do nothing today to change your mind, but I would prayerfully ask you to prayerfully consider if there might just be a possibility that you could be wrong.”

A constant theme of the Bible is that God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Paul asks a great question that helps encourage humility: “What do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Corinthians 4:7).

O Lord God Almighty, You are so high and lifted up and yet You dwell with the humble of heart. As I walk with You, please develop in me a true humility that only You can bring.

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE CAN BE
USEFUL TO GOD’S KINGDOM.

“Nor do I count my life of value to myself, so that I may joyfully finish my course and the ministry which I have received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the Gospel of the grace of God.”

— Acts 20:24

Some people think of trusting in God as if they don’t need to do anything else— just sit back on their lazy chair, watch TV or read a book, while God does all the work. Instead, we should take that guarantee of God, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13 nkjv), and trust in Him. Let me point out to you that doesn’t mean that you just rest and wait for God to drop all of these blessings down the chimney. It means that you work harder.

Look at the Apostle Paul as an example. He was an indefatigable worker, and he never stopped. God used Paul in absolutely great ways because he was so committed to the task at hand. He was a tentmaker, and he refused gifts from many churches because he didn’t want to be a burden to them. But he was most concerned about the kingdom of God and the glory of Christ and the salvation of men and women.

Where do those things rank in your list of priorities? Only you and God know. Taking God at His guarantee involves taking Him as Lord and Savior and Master. This is the One who died in agony for your sins, the One who loves you eternally and infinitely, the One who has redeemed you, the One who adopted you into His family and made you His heir. This is the One, Jesus Christ. Let Him use you for His glory and others’ good.

Lord, forgive me for my spiritual laziness. Give me strength for today to serve You diligently. Thank You that in Christ we can do all things You set before us…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE CAN BE
USEFUL TO GOD’S KINGDOM.

“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but so much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”

— Philippians 2:12

What exactly does Paul mean here in this verse? We know that the Bible repeatedly teaches that salvation is not something that we work for, but rather it is a gift: “…the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). It is not something that we obtain by our merit, for the Scripture says that it is by grace that we are saved, through faith, not of works, “so that no one should boast.” (See Ephesians 2:8-9.)

Philippians 2:13 holds the key: “…for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (nkjv). God plants the desire within our hearts, and then He gives us the strength and the ability to do that which we now desire to do. In the same way that Christ said to Lazarus, “Lazarus, come forth,” Lazarus got up and came out and Jesus made him alive. Lazarus did nothing at all until God worked it in him and made him alive.

I’ve often said that God just put a screwdriver in my “wanter” and turned it upside down, and suddenly to my astonishment, I found myself wanting to do things that I had never wanted to do before, and not wanting to do things which I had always loved to do before. Working out our salvation is not the same as working for our salvation.

Beautiful Savior, give us the strength to work out Your salvation in our lives, knowing that You will one day hold us accountable. Keep us from backsliding or being negligent in our spiritual disciplines…

BY HIS STRENGTH, WE WILL
REACH HEAVEN, OUR HOME.

“They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony…”

— Revelation 12:11

In today’s world it doesn’t seem as if the Christians are winning. It seems that unbelievers have the victory; they have taken over the machinery of life. They run the government and the media and the schools and most everything else. But things are not necessarily what they seem, as the book of Revelation points out.

At different points in that book Satan’s forces appear to be victorious. The beast makes war against Christians and kills them. They rejoice over their dead bodies lying in the street for three and a half days. And yet their rejoicing is premature and at last God breathes new life into them, and they stand upon their feet and soon have dominion over the world with Christ, the King of kings.

Christ is ever pictured throughout the entire book, over and over again, as the victor. He is the victorious One, and because He is victorious, we who are in Him are victorious also in spite of everything that may seem to be the other way around.

Are believers in great tribulation? They shall come out of it. Are they killed? They shall stand upon their feet. Are they persecuted? They shall stand victoriously upon Mount Zion. Are their prayers not heard? Their prayers shall set the judgments in motion, and they will rule the world.

Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords, will one day inherit the nations, as He’s been promised. It may look like that could never happen, but God is on the move—and His plans will stand.

Jesus, King of kings, we praise and honor You for being the Ruler of the nations. Thank You for revealing what is to come. Thank You that we will be victorious with You and that evil will one day be completely uprooted…

BY HIS STRENGTH AND AUTHORITY,
CHRIST WILL RULE THE NATIONS.

“There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord.”

— Proverbs 21:30

How wondrous it is when we see all of the anti-God powers of this world crumble before the power of our Lord. It is amazing as we see God working in history and how so often when evil systems and empires and powers have seemed to rise to the very zenith of their power that suddenly they wither and crumble away.

So it was with Egypt in the days of the Exodus, as it would be later in Assyria, as it would be in Babylon, as it came to be in Rome when the barbarians came and knocked upon the eternal city of Rome. So it was with the Nazis, as they moved across Europe and then suddenly their power seemed to be broken and they, like a wounded octopus, drew their tentacles back to themselves to die in the mix of the rubble and ruin. So it was with the vaulted claims of fascism.

Then in our own recent time, so it was also with many of the nations in the grip of communism. When it seemed that there was nothing that could stop its inexorable march across the world, suddenly, it seemed almost overnight to begin to crumble and collapse everywhere. God is sovereign and God is faithful and will protect and cause those who are His own to persevere.

Persecutors of the church have down through the centuries discovered that God fights for His own. He is rarely early but never too late, as the Israelites discovered at the Red Sea with the Egyptian army bearing down on them—just before God destroyed it. How wondrous is our Lord!

God of history, thank You for ruling in the affairs of men. Thank You that evil is only permitted for a given time and then will be stopped. Thank You for Your wonderful plan for the world…

BY HIS STRENGTH, ALL HIS ENEMIES WILL
BE A FOOTSTOOL FOR THE FEET OF CHRIST.

“I heard a man’s voice between the banks of Ulai, which called, and said, ‘Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.’”

— Daniel 8:16

Daniel is the only Old Testament book in which any angels are named, and two of them are named in that book. They are Gabriel and Michael, and both are mentioned in the New Testament. Gabriel announced the virgin birth to Mary. In Jude, we learn that Archangel Michael did battle with Satan, with Lucifer. We do have the name of that fallen angel (Lucifer) who did not keep his first estate, but other than those three, the names of angels are unknown to us.

We see in Daniel 8 that Gabriel came in the form of a man. God spoke to Gabriel, and Gabriel came and appeared to Daniel.

Daniel’s response to Gabriel is worth noting. When he came near, Daniel was afraid and fell upon his face. Apparently, this knocked him out because it says in the next verse that he was in a deep sleep. Now keep in mind of whom we are speaking. We are speaking of Daniel—one of the godliest men who has ever lived. This is Daniel who was not afraid to stand up to the likes of Nebuchadnezzar; Daniel who was willing to be cast in among the lions; Daniel who would not defile himself for any cause. This holy man, Daniel, we now find, is approached by Gabriel, and he is so overwhelmed that he literally passes out at the experience.

Angels are God’s special servants to help further His kingdom. They are not to be worshiped, even though they are awe-inspiring.

Jesus, King of angels, we thank You for these ministering spirits which You send to serve those who are to inherit the kingdom. Thank You for sending us angels to aid us, even without our being always aware of it…

BY HIS STRENGTH AND WILL,
ANGELS MINISTER TO US.