Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem(8/18/19)[Prayer]

The Holy Scriptures | 8/18/19 | left that other site

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Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem

(Old Testament)

2 Kings 18

Hezekiah King of Judah

18 In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Abijah[a] daughter of Zechariah. 3 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father David had done. 4 He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.[b])

5 Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. 6 He held fast to the Lord and did not stop following him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses. 7 And the Lord was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. 8 From watchtower to fortified city, he defeated the Philistines, as far as Gaza and its territory.

9 In King Hezekiah’s fourth year, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria marched against Samaria and laid siege to it. 10 At the end of three years the Assyrians took it. So Samaria was captured in Hezekiah’s sixth year, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel. 11 The king of Assyria deported Israel to Assyria and settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River and in towns of the Medes. 12 This happened because they had not obeyed the Lord their God, but had violated his covenant—all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded. They neither listened to the commands nor carried them out.

13 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 14 So Hezekiah king of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: “I have done wrong. Withdraw from me, and I will pay whatever you demand of me.” The king of Assyria exacted from Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents[c] of silver and thirty talents[d] of gold. 15 So Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the temple of the Lord and in the treasuries of the royal palace.

16 At this time Hezekiah king of Judah stripped off the gold with which he had covered the doors and doorposts of the temple of the Lord, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

New International Version (NIV)(End of Scripture Passage)



With the Northern Kingdom neutralized by the Assyrians, we now turn our attention back to Judah.

New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem

Oh LORD, Our God,
How Excellent is Your Name Over All the Earth!
Omnipotent,
Omniscient,
and Omnipresent,
You Alone Are Worthy to be Praised and Worshiped.
You Alone Are Holy,
You Alone Are LORD,
You Alone Are The One True God of Abraham.

Abba Father!
You Are Clothed in Majesty!
You Are The Creator of All That Is!
And You Tell Us in Your Word,
That You Are The All in All,
And That In You,
All Things Hold Together!
You Are The Answer To All Our Questions,
All Our Theories,
All Our Wonders!

Almighty Father,
teach us daily that it is You,
not we, who are in control.
Take away our Pride
In thinking we can micromanage every situation,
not depending on You,
but doing what is right in our own eyes.
Teach us to welcome the assistance and advice of our loved ones and brethren,
As You see fit to delegate the ministry among Your Children.

Father, We Pray For The Peace Of Jerusalem,
According To Your Will and Promise.
We Pray That You Will Forgive The Sins of Our Own Nation as well,
and Lead us all to Godly Repentance.
Create in Us Clean Hearts, Oh LORD,
and Renew a Right Spirit Within Us,
As We Await Your Messiah,
Blessed Be He,
To Set Up His Kingdom,
And Make All Things Right.

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.



Hallelujah and Amen

ML/LTOS

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Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem

In Florida, the State does not mandate Vehicle Inspections, so for 16 years I rode my motorcycle around the state without doing inspections. My late husband made sure everything was safe and in working order, and we had a wonderful Mechanic (a woman!) for the big repair jobs. After my husband died in 2011, my pastor kept an eye on my bike for me, and once, as a Christmas Present to me, tore my bike "down to the bare jugs" to replace all my aging, rotting, gaskets. (RIP in the Arms of Jesus, Dear Pastor Jerry!)

Anyway, I've been living in Massachusetts for three years now, and every year, must submit my aging but still very awesome vintage Harley to a complete safety inspection. Riding around without a valid Massachusetts Safety Inspection Sticker can get your Bike impounded, Registration Cancelled, and huge fines. Regular gas stations do not do these inspections on motorcycles, so one has to first FIND one that does. My first two years' inspections went well.

THIS year, however, went very wrong. Everything worked: horn, mirrors, turn signals, tire pressure, etc, but when the guy examined the rear brake-pads, he discovered that I had been riding around for a year with NO REAR BRAKES! It seemed that, riding the same bike for 26 years, I had developed a riding style that included a lot of clutching and down-shifting, so that I never had to use the brake. I had adapted to the bike.

Well, of course, I had to have the rear brakes replaced, so I had the guy do a bunch of other stuff while he was at it. A week and 500 bucks later, I had my bike, with new rear brakes, and a bright yellow Inspection Sticker.

The Mechanic handed me the old brake-pads.

Bikers, like Sailors, are a superstitious lot, and as he handed me the two chunks of gleaming, scraped-clean metal, he said:

"You are one lucky lady, ML. Carry these with you whenever you ride, to remind you how lucky you were that you didn't get KILLED!"

I held up the two pads in the light, and they looked like angel wings.

"It wasn't luck", I told him, "It was The LORD watching over me."

I still have the brake-pads, but they are NOT talismans or "good-luck charms." In fact, I use them as paperweights!

In the Book of Numbers (chapter 21) way back in the Torah, we read of a plague of venomous snakes that attacked the Hebrews in the desert during the Exodus from Egypt. As it was a punishment, the reason for the snakes was a spiritual one, not just a "bad day in the Sinai". God gave Moses very strange instructions to bring about healing. He instructed Moses to make a bronze snake and hold it aloft on a pole. Those afflicted, who raised their eyes to the bronze snake were healed.

The word "Nehushtan" sounds like "Bronze Snake" in Hebrew. The thing had one purpose only. The people had to believe that looking up at it would bring healing, so it was a matter of Faith.

In John 3, when Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus, the Bronze Serpent is used as a symbol of the Crucifixion and of God's Grace. The most familiar verse in the New Testament is immediately preceded by the example of the Bronze Serpent. Look at this:

"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:14-16).

But, like the Brake Pads, the People of Judah tried to make a Talisman out of the Bronze Serpent. Since the Nehushtan is not mentioned during the reign of previous Kings of Judah, it is possible that someone made a replica or many of them, for devotional purposes (eek!) and people were burning incense to it! To God, this was just as offensive as the Asherah Poles, the Statues of Molech, the Ba'als, and the idols of the Canaanites. Even though the Bronze Serpent had once served as a symbol of God's Grace, and would do so again in the Gospel of John, it was not something to be venerated in and of itself.

King Hezekiah did the right thing in getting rid of it, because it was causing the people to stumble.

Another interesting note is that the brake-pads had to be replaced. It was not possible to put NEW LINERS on Old Brake-pads. At the first emergency stop, such liners would instantly fail, and the brake-pads, the bike, and probably the rider would be ruined. Like New Wine in Old Wineskins, or an Bronze Serpent whose usefulness was now defunct, we are not to cling to them.

Come and Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the purposes of His heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people He has chosen as His inheritance! (Psalm 33)

God Bless America!

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.



This Symbol Represents Christians in The Middle East, who desperately need our Prayers.

Hallelujah and Amen

ML/LTOS

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Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem

Here is a picture of similar brake-pads taken off the Internet. Mine were scraped clean to bare metal and SHINY. However, the brake rotor, which would have cost hundreds of dollars to replace, was not damaged in any way.

The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the purposes of His heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people He has chosen as His inheritance! (Psalm 33)

God Bless America!

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.



This Symbol Represents Christians in The Middle East, who desperately need our Prayers.

Hallelujah and Amen

ML/LTOS

[Silentgypsy]

Amen and thank you.

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Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem

Thank You, Silentgypsy, For Your Prayers For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the purposes of His heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people He has chosen as His inheritance! (Psalm 33)

God Bless America!

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.



This Symbol Represents Christians in The Middle East, who desperately need our Prayers.

Hallelujah and Amen

ML/LTOS

[etabeta]

Adding my prayers, dear FRiend. Always enjoy your stories as a prelude to the lessons. God bless.

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Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem

Thank You, Etabeta, For Your Prayers For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the purposes of His heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people He has chosen as His inheritance! (Psalm 33)

God Bless America!

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.



This Symbol Represents Christians in The Middle East, who desperately need our Prayers.

Hallelujah and Amen

ML/LTOS

[NEWwoman]

Many great parables with adventures with your bike.

Joining in prayer, left that other site, for the Peace of Jerusalem.

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There was once a book that compared Motorcycle Maintenance with the Zen Religion. I seem to be able to find many more Biblical themes than “Zen” themes. :-)

But maybe that’s just me.

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Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem

Thank You, NEWwoman, For Your Prayers For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the purposes of His heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people He has chosen as His inheritance! (Psalm 33)

God Bless America!

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.



This Symbol Represents Christians in The Middle East, who desperately need our Prayers.

Hallelujah and Amen

ML/LTOS

[NEWwoman]

It’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig . One of my favorite books. He passed away in 2017. But he was an English professor at my alma mater - Montana State University.

One thing that stood out for me was his search for Quality. Could not define it or nail it down to a set of rules. Went nuts trying to do that. Then he had his epiphany. Quality is the Buddha. Or in the West, God is Good.

That was an ah-hah moment for me. We know what quality is when we experience it, but our words cannot define exactly what it is. Quality is an attribute of God. Like Love, Truth, Beauty... Us finite beings cannot contain the infinite.

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Indeed. Quality is very hard to find these days.

[Kitty Mittens]

Abba Father!
You Are Clothed in Majesty!
You Are The Creator of All That Is!
And You Tell Us in Your Word,
That You Are The All in All,
And That In You,
All Things Hold Together!
You Are The Answer To All Our Questions,
All Our Theories,
All Our Wonders!

Amen to your Beautiful and Anointed Prayer, Dear Servant of our King.
Joining you in Thanksgiving, Prayer, and Praise.

[left that other site]

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem

Thank You, Kitty Mittens, For Your Prayers For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the purposes of His heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people He has chosen as His inheritance! (Psalm 33)

God Bless America!

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.



This Symbol Represents Christians in The Middle East, who desperately need our Prayers.

Hallelujah and Amen

ML/LTOS

[etabeta]

My prayers for the Peace of Israel. God bless.

[left that other site]

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem

Thank You, Etabeta, For Your Prayers For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the purposes of His heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people He has chosen as His inheritance! (Psalm 33)

God Bless America!

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.



This Symbol Represents Christians in The Middle East, who desperately need our Prayers.

Hallelujah and Amen

ML/LTOS