wherein doth thine heart lie?

2 Samuel 17: 23

And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose, and gat him home to his house, to his city, and put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died, and was buried in the sepulchre of his father.

One of the more difficult things to deal with, in this life, is dissenting opinion among like-minded people. It is easy to deal with when you are holding discourse with someone who doesn't think like you do - the assumption you bring to the table is simply that you'll either argue or not. Regardless, unless you both take measures to actually listen to one another it is likely you will only wait your turn to speak, and ultimately only touch down on some few common points. And you certainly will not be of like minds because of that single issue.

Not so among believers of the same camp. One of the dangers of being among people who strongly go after the same goals you do, and who are of a mind similar to yours, is that any sudden change is actually shocking. If you and your brother spent the last twenty years only fishing in your spare time, and then tomorrow he asks you if you want to take up language study, it is likely your first response will not be "sure!" but rather "who are you?" Moreover, if your brother explains his reasons, no matter how good, there will be a transition point where you will have to truly evaluate your own fundamental beliefs in this regard.

How much more so for Ahithophel here - he and Absalom were in one accord, seeking to take out David and put Absalom on the throne. They were gung-ho for it, and God seemed to be blessing many of the efforts that were geared toward that goal. But Absalom and Ahithophel were not being led by God - and I believe Ahithophel realized this. It is why he killed himself.

I bring this verse to bear as a reminder - our eyes should be not be focused on our peers, our loved ones, our goals, our friends, our families, or ourselves. They should be focused on God. Any other focus will bring condemnation and death.

CALL TO ACTION

I - Pray a song of praise

God has done marvelous things in your life!

Claim ten things that He did that made a profound difference in your life. Include anything YOU feel God did in your life.

example(s): a new job, a check that covered a debt, a new wife, a sunrise that made you day better, a pay raise, no fighting during a family outing

II - Pray another song of praise

God has done even more marvelous things in your life!!

Claim ten events or duties you take for granted that clearly indicate God's presence in your life.

example(s): perfect weather, water, food, divine providence, not feeling right about which path to take and thus not having an accident

III - Pray for guidance

God has a plan for your day!

Claim God's guidance today

- set aside 15 minutes to ask him for guidance about the issues of your day.

- set aside 30 minutes to listen to his answers.

- hearken to His guidance throughout the day for those answers that did not click yet.

IV - Pray a song of thanksgiving

God is real!

Thank Jesus for planning your day.

Give praise and glory to the most high God for knowing what you need even before you are aware.

Even the Stones Do Praise Him

The Philistines had a problem when they captured the ark of God from the Israelites. The Israelites had a problem when they were slaughtered by the Philistines, lost the ark of God and the high priest and his two sons all in one day. So terrible was this day that the wife of one of Eli’s sons gave birth and named the child Ichabod – the glory of God is departed from Israel.

In this tragic day, God still was going to use the capture of the ark for His glory. Upon returning to their city, Ashdod, the Philistines placed the ark in the temple of Dagon, their god, right next to his statue. The next morning, however, the statue of Dagon was discovered to be on its face in front of the ark of God.

Not to be put off by this, the Philistines hoisted Dagon’s statue off the ground and put him back in his place. But God would not be trifled with in this matter; He was God and there was no other beside Him. Dagon’s head and hands were found on the threshold of his temple, only the stump of his body was left behind.

The resulting terror on the priests of Dagon and the inhabitants of Ashdod was so great that the Bible tells us no one ever went into the temple of Dagon again; not so much as even setting foot on the threshold from that day forward.

God wasn’t finished yet and He punished the Philistines for taking His ark from the Israelites with a unique plague – hemorrhoids. The men of Ashdod, in complete agony, sent the ark to Gath, knowing it couldn’t stay with them. Guess what? The men of Gath got hit with hemorrhoids as well and they passed the ark along to Ekron. The inhabitants of Ekron were a little more savvy and said no way was that ark coming to stay with them. Nevertheless, because the ark was there, God destroyed a huge portion of the men and those who didn’t die probably wished they had – they got hemorrhoids.

Eventually, the ark made it back to the Israelites, where more people died because they decided to look in the ark.

The story of Dagon falling down at the presence of God’s ark reminded me of a couple verses from the New Testament. When Jesus was about to enter Jerusalem before Passover, someone mentioned to him that he should stop the people from praising him and laying down palm branches. His response was that if the people would be stopped, the very stones themselves would cry out.

Our God is a powerful God and before Him every knee shall bend and every tongue confess that He is Lord… even those made of stone.

But the greatest of these is charity

A love song is any song that puts a romantic spin on something. With this definition, it is amazing how many love songs are available for human consumption. I believe over half the world's songs are love songs. Some are love songs to people, some are love songs crooning to violence and some are love songs appreciating hatred - but they're love songs.

How many songs focus on a single person, or concept, and paint the world through the lens of that person or concept? Most of them do, and I claim that they are all love songs ... and I'll go one step further: they are worship songs.

Worship songs are a beautiful testimony to God, right?

They're supposed to be about ONE thing (in this case God) and they paint the world through that lens, right?

A second way to approach this is the realization that events can affect you, even if you’re not aware of that happening. An obvious example is advertising – most of us experience thousands of forms of advertising a day, and that immersion has an effect upon each of us. From name recognition to brand identification, each of us had been brainwashed into associating certain products with certain emotional responses. Politicians do the same thing with topics. The result of both is impulsive action. This is devastating to ones wallet, ones government, and ones walk with God. Because if we can be so influenced by people we can SEE, how much easier is it for Satan to influence with a thing we can’t see and a thing for which he has been designed to do perfectly – incite worship through music.

Another way to approach this is simply: anything can be worship, if done with the right focus, the right spirit. It is how we can execute our biblical commandment to pray without ceasing. We, as material and finite beings, need a means by which we CAN pray without ceasing. God does not give commands that are impossible to follow – He will never give us more than either we can handle. And if he calls us to do something, He will always provide the resources (though sometimes you’ll have to go to Him in prayer to receive those resources).

My challenge to you:

Take the next song you hear, that you recognize (at least as far as knowing the beat, or possibly the artist) and write down the title and artist. Ask for help in this if necessary. Take this song and do some research – look at who wrote it, what time in their life they wrote it, and the exact wording of the song: what are they conveying?
Then pray about the words and meaning of the song.

Repeat this five times.

One of two things will likely happen – you will be blessed or convicted.

Regardless, be aware that this type of influence is perpetually there and we are called to be prayer warriors – so you can look at this as if Satan is perpetually trying to get at your heart, the seat of your worship, through whatever song and dance routine he can come up with to distract you. And that God is offering a means of protecting ourselves - through prayer.