Seeking the Gospel Truth

It’s c. 800 BC, and God’s prophet, Jonah has just come off an assignment  that rendered victory for Israel. We have that account in 2 Kings 14 .  There was judgement for the pagan, Gentiles in the kingdom of Assyria  (modern-day Iraq) and there was blessing for the Hebrews. Subsequently,  Jonah was proud, felt self-satisfied, and patriotic. Meanwhile, God had a  new missio...

Way back in the Book of Judges ,  we had a recurring theme: “The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s  sight”. It became a vicious cycle. Here we have a similar recurring  theme: “King ________ did what was evil in the Lord’s sight”. That  applied to the kings of the northern kingdom of Israel — all were bad.  In the southern kingdom of Judah, it was a bit different. There, t...

Yesterday, we saw Jehu, the king of Israel, the northern kingdom, kill off all of Ahab’s evil kin to fulfill God’s promise . He was ridding the kingdom of bad influences. Yet, he kept the gold calves that Jeroboam set up . Today, we find one of wicked Jezebel ‘s  daughters, Athaliah, crown herself queen of Judah when she learns her  son, Ahaziah is dead. Her next actions were …. ah, let’...

God keeps His P romises! The rules He relayed to us via Moses still stand… Obey and be blessed…Disobey and be cursed. God’s  Judgement will prevail whether it’s right away or down the line a bit.  Is everything bad that is happening in the world right now God’s  Judgement? I don’t know. We live in a fallen world and God said it would  be tough back in Genesis 3 . Jesus said it...

Do you believe in luck or coincidences? I don’t. At least not anymore since I became born again .  With God, there are no coincidences. I can look back at my life and see  God’s hand guiding me from one stage to another — even while I was a  lost prodigal! As we read through the Old Testament, we see the hand of  God and His Grace, Mercy and Blessings for those who obey his sim...

As we go through the Old Testament, we’ll often come across the phrase,  “I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies have spoken.” It’s used as the prophets  warn the people of Israel and Judah of what will happen to them if they  continue their pagan ways. It confirms that what the prophet is saying is not from himself,  but from God. Now, imagine what “Heaven’s Armies” might look and sou...

Leprosy was one of the worst diseases of ancient times. First, it was  highly contagious. Second, it was a skin disease which was visible to  anyone who was near you. In ancient times, they didn’t know what caused  it our how it spread. Thus, lepers were secluded in colonies until they  died. In today’s story, we meet Naaman, a, high-ranking general from  Aram (Syria). How...

Could you use a miracle? Who couldn’t these days. God is amazing in that  He can take what little we have and work miracles. The problem is our faith is usually too little. Or we ask/pray with the wrong motives. OR we go through the wrong methods or ask the wrong people . Today, we have 5 miracles that the prophet Elisha performs to help different folks. They cover provision , salvation and p...

E lijah was the prophet of fire .  He brought down fire on those who went against God. Elisha, however, is  the prophet of water. He does several water miracles. Today we have one  of them. Here we see God do a miracle, but the people had to do  something first before the miracle could happen. As God will show, He  expects us to have faith first, then He’ll deliver. Let’s...

Chariots of Fire, Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, passing of the mantel — these  are well-known phrases and a song that come out of this next chapter.  Here we see the end of Elijah’s mission and the start of Elisha’s. Yes, I  know, the names sound so similar and it’s easy to get them mixed up.  We’re in the year 851 BC, or so and we witness the 2nd Rapture in the  Bible. I’ll e...

It’s the around the year 896 BC and Ahab’s son Ahaziah is king of the  northern kingdom of Israel. The Moabites decided that they’ve had enough  of Israeli rule (since King David) and they rebel. At the same time,  Ahaziah has a terrible accident. However, instead of praying to the One  True God of Israel, he rejects “Baal” of the Syrians (Amonites), for  “Baal-Zebub” of t...

od keeps His Promises! Furthermore, you may not like God’s Truth, but it’s still God’s Truth. This is what we learn in the last chapter of 1 Kings .  We also meet Jehoshaphat, the next king of Judah. He was another “good”  king – sort of. If you’re confused again by all these kings, check out  the infographic at the bottom. This is also a lesson on seeking the  truth — the True...

Shades of King David and Uriah !  If something stands in the way of what you want (not need), simply  eliminate it. That’s Jezebel’s evil tactic when she finds her husband,  King Ahab, sulking because he couldn’t get what he wanted. What God does  at the end of today’s story shows that no one is too sinful for God’s  mercy. Let’s dig in…. Keep reading in my blog where ther...

Why would God give evil King Ahab 2nd and 3rd chances to repent and  admit there is only One TRUE GOD? Seriously, the man marries Jezebel , an evil woman from a pagan nation, who brings the worship of her pagan gods to Israel. That is one thing that God detests — idolatry. Yet, He  is willing to forgive. Thus, He puts Ahab to the test. Will he pass?  Let’s dig in…. Keep reading in m...

Have you ever felt so weary, depressed and worrisome that you just wanted to give up? I was there — about halfway through my 2 years of unemployment that started back in 2008. It wasn’t until I got the opportunity to  work with a Christian life coach that I discovered my purpose in life.  We determined that I was to use my God-given talents, skills and  experience to help spread the...

Showdown time! It’s the 3rd year of the drought  in the northern kingdom of Israel. The Demonic Duo, Ahab and Jezebel,  managed to turn the Israelites away from the true God and got them to  worship the worthless, fake god, Baal. Now, Baal was supposedly the god  of the sky. So, he was in charge of the rain. The prophets of Baal had  been trying for 3 years to get it to ra...

Today we are introduced to Elijah, the Prophet. God sent him to the  northern kingdom of Israel to deal with the worst king ever, Ahab, who’s  married to the worst queen ever, Jezebel. Jezebel brought the worship  of Baal, to Israel. Baal was the pagan god of fertility and supposedly  also in charge of rain. Here we’ll see who truly has power over rain,  the food supply an...

Yesterday, we met Asa, the first good king who ruled over Judah for 41 years .  Today, we meet the 7 kings who ruled the northern kingdom of Israel  during that time. SEVEN bad kings, who took Jeroboam’s worship of a couple of golden calves to the next level. Asa sat in the stable kingdom of Judah in Jerusalem and watched the royal turnover in Israel. You see, when you give Satan just a...

As the reigns of the 19 kings of the northern  kingdom of Israel and the 20 kings of the southern kingdom of Judah are  chronicled, you’ll see that the reigns overlap. It may get confusing as  some of the names are similar. I’ve embedded a chart at the bottom of  this blog that shows all the kings of both kingdoms as well as which  were good and which were bad. Today, we m...

Man has a tendency to stray from God. It started with Adam , continued with Solomon — who by what he wrote in Ecclesiastes ,  seemed to have repented in his old age — and continues with the new  kings of Israel and Judah. Due to Solomon’s turning to idolatry because  of his many wives and concubines, a united Israel is split with 10 tribes in the north, called “Israel” and 2 tribes...

Sin at your own risk. Disobey God at your own risk. Get it? Can the truth be any clearer? When we left King Jeroboam, the new king of the northern kingdom of Israel, he had started his own cult of convenience . Make no mistake, he started his own fake religion . See, we humans need to worship someone or something. God made us that way so that we would turn to Him and worship and obey Him only . Th...

We all want wisdom. We all NEED wisdom. Here in Ecclesiastes, King  Solomon, considered the wisest man who ever lived, contemplates life,  knowledge, success, pleasure, and work. It’s the Bible book on the  Philosophy of Life. There’s no better book from which to reflect on YOUR  life. Let’s dig in… Follow along in my blog where there are links to dig deeper...

There’s a love story in the Bible?! Yes! Showing that God loves us and keeps His Promises! In this short book, God shows us how He uses a  foreigner — a pagan — to continue the lineage to King David and finally  Jesus, Yeshua Ha-Mashiach — our Messiah! Follow along in my blog where there are links to dig deeper... http://giselleaguiar.com/bible-study-on-the-book-of-ruth/

Now that we’ve completed the Book of  Ecclesiastes — Solomon’s wise insights on life — we return to the  history of the Israelites. It’s ironic that the story jumps from wisdom  to foolishness so drastically. We’ll see that when leadership is  motivated by selfishness, which overrides wisdom, it only leads to  destruction. We need to go back to the end of 1 Kings 11 to rec...

Everyone dies. It’s a fact of life and Solomon finishes off this book of wisdom with the best advice yet. Let’s dig in… Keep reading in my blog where there are links to dig deeper and watch the special music videos at the bottom…. It’s time to GET RIGHT WITH GOD! Are you ready to meet God today? You may just meet God today! If you want to reap all the benefits of salvation including the 1-way, non...