Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Attitude”
Our Bible verse for today: “Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers, read it, then went up to the Lord’s temple, and spread it out before the Lord.” 2 Kings 19:14 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Please pray for us”
In 2 Kings Chapters 18 and 19 we read the story of the time that the nation of Judah, under the leadership of the good godly King Hezekiah, was being attacked by the armies of Assyria. The city of Jerusalem was under siege. Hezekiah and the Jews were trapped inside. The Assyrian army had the city surrounded. And the siege went on, for a long time.
Finally the Assyrian General sent a letter to King Hezekiah explaining to him why continued resistance was futile and that if Hezekiah didn’t surrender, the Assyrians would kill everyone and ransack the city. In 19:4 we read of how Hezekiah responded to that. He went into the temple, knelt at the altar, spread the letter out before the Lord, and then prayed passionately for the Lord’s intervention on their behalf. Long story short, God answered that prayer and destroyed the Assyrian army.
How passionate are you in your prayers? To what lengths do you go to lay your requests out before the Lord? Is your attitude about prayer similar to Hezekiah’s? Obviously Hezekiah pleased the Lord with the way he prayed, to the point that the Lord answered in a mighty way.
Today I will depart for the Amazon Jungle in Peru. I’m part of a small team of medical and dental professionals who will be traveling in the restricted region of the Rainforest to bring free medical and dental care to Machigengua Indians who live in primitive conditions in small Jungle villages. We will be traveling the rivers in a 50 foot canoe with an outboard motor. We will be sleeping in tents and eating campfire meals. It will be hot, there will be swarms of bugs, and it will be physically demanding.
This will be the last devotional message until Monday March 13th but I want to ask you to please keep this one, actually print it out, and then like Hezekiah, spread it out before the Lord each morning and use it to pray for our team. Specifically:
- Pray for safe travel to and from Peru with no missed flights and no lost luggage. (All of our medicines and supplies will be in our luggage)
- Pray all of our supplies and equipment will clear Peruvian customs in Lima.
- Pray for safe travel in-country, including in vans, trucks, boats, and hiking.
- Pray that no team members will get sick or be injured.
- Pray that the Indians will be receptive to receiving not only the medical and dental care, but also the love of Jesus and the Good News of the Gospel.
We thank you in advance for your faithful prayers. For those of you who follow along on Facebook, we will post pictures and stories at the beginning of the trip and at the end. That’s because on February 26th we will begin our trek into the Rainforest and we will be back out on the afternoon of March 7th. For that period of time we will be out of communication.
Thanks again for praying for us.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 