WHY DID THE KING GIVE EZRA WHAT HE REQUESTED.

When the hand of the Lord God is upon you. people will give you things and you will even begin drawing blessings that you didn’t expect from those you know and from those that you do not know.

People will give you what you 

Requested for and  what you didn’t  request for.  They will  give you their money, cars and all that which may be to the constant of your desire

While EZRA was coming from Babylon to Jerusalem  He requested some things from the king and guess what happened.  

The king gave him all that He requested because _the hand of the LORD was upon Him. Ezra.Ezra 7:6[6]This Ezra went up from Babylon. He was a skilled scribe in the five books of Moses, which the Lord, the God of Israel, had given. And the king granted him all he asked, for the hand of the Lord his God was upon him.

Reflective questions about the teaching 

a) According to our teaching , The hand of The LORD was on who?

b) Why did The king give Ezra everything He requested?

c) Give an understanding of due as realised upon

Dear Lord Jesus I know and I believe that your hand is on me Amen

Be careful about those who want to cast your vision into fallacy in purpose of working with you

Dear Lord Jesus I pray that as I receive your word in faith I may be blessed and transformed through it in Jesus name amen 

There are people who are with you not necessarily to help you or to support you along the vision that The Lord has given you but rather to cast your vision into fallacy 

The biggest mistake that people do is to always  identify their enemies towards what they are planning to establish and to do not knowing that the enemies of their progress are those very people that they have introduced that idea to. 

When the people who had returned back from the Babylonian captivity started building the temple of the Lord.  Guess who showed up. 

Their enemies – The enemies of Judah & the enemies of Benjamin .. when there enemies heard that the people who had returned from exile had started building the temple of the Lord..they came and insisted that they should rather build with them however their intention was not about progressing the work of the LORD but of putting down the work of the LORD Ezra 4:2[2]They came to Zerubbabel [now governor] and to the heads of the fathers’ houses and said, Let us build with you, for we seek and worship your God as you do, and we have sacrificed to Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here. [II Kings 17:24-29.]but rather Zerubbabel the governor refused Ezra 4:3[3]But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of fathers’ houses of Israel said to them, You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves will together build to the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, has commanded us.

Reflective questions about the teaching 

a) When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard how the people who had been taken to the land of captivity had come back, what did they do as realised upon to our essence of note 

b) Were the enemies of Judah and Benjamin allowed to participate in the building process? 

c) If so why do you think they were not allowed to participate in the building process 

d) What would be some of the lessons that you learn from our teaching in view to purpose

Dear Lord Jesus. my confession prayer that is that I will not let my enemies participate in what am establishing for your glory amen

Life without The LORD is fruitless,  empty and void of divine purpose  

We need to return to the LORD and we can return to the LORD by doing that thing which we used to do consistent and establishing an alter of the word of God, prayer and fasting 

An alter was a place where the Israelites would offer burnt offerings to the LORD on various day’s as realised upon to that 

When the Jews who had gone to exile in Babylon had returned from  Babylonian captivity they  rebuilt the alter of the Lord in Jerusalem in view to the restoration and the continued worship of the LORD in Israel Ezra 3:1-2[1]WHEN THE seventh month came and the Israelites were in the towns, the people gathered together as one man to Jerusalem.[2]Then stood up Jeshua son of Jozadak, and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and his brethren, and they built the altar of the LORD of Israel to offer burnt offerings upon it, as it is written in the instructions of Moses the man of God.

Reflective questions about the teaching

a) What did the Israelites do when they returned back from the Babylonian captivity?

b) Who are the people in like manner who were able to rebuild the alter of the Lord?

c) In what ways is this teaching related as compared to our day to day purpose of life

d) Give lessons you learn from our teaching 

Dear Lord Jesus I pray that as I will continually be committed to my fellowship with you in Jesus name amen

Some people’s fall doesn’t come from far. It comes as a result of how they have chosen to treat the Lord and His work in comparison to perspective 

Many time’s we do thing’s without knowing of the repercussions that may come to us in view to that. 

Zedekiah and His people did bad to the LORD.  They did bad thing’s to the LORD and they also did bad thing’s to the temple which The LORD had consecrated in Judah

What did They do. They defiled The LORD’S temple which He Himself had consecrated 2 Chronicles 36:14[14]Also all the chiefs of the priests and the people trespassed greatly in accord with all the abominations of the heathen, and they polluted the house of the Lord which He had hallowed in Jerusalem as to thus the wrath of the Lord came upon them 

a) What is that which Zedekiah did and the people in view to the temple which The LORD Himself had consecrated?

b) What is that which we shouldn’t do which Zedekiah did? 

c) Give some of the lessons you learn from this perspective 

Dear Lord Jesus I pray that I will not defile your temple in Jesus name amen 

Do you realise that The Lord can put something in your mind and you may think that it just came to your mind as a result of human reosoning  yet He is the Lord who wants you to do something at a particular time for His purpose 

When The LORD put something into the mind of Cyrus king of Persia. He may not have known that He is the Lord who has put it in His mind. He may have thought that it may have been a consequence of His thoughts . 

He did not know that the Lord had put something in His mind 

The Lord put something in the mind of Cyrus king of persia to issue a proclamation through the entire region. He told Him to issue a proclamation and put this proclamation in writing Ezra 1:1-2

[1]NOW IN the first year of Cyrus king of Persia [almost seventy years after the first Jewish captives were taken to Babylon], that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might begin to be accomplished, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and put it also in writing: [Jer. 29:10-14.][2]Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has charged me to build Him a house at Jerusalem in Judah.as to thus we should always mind about that which The Lord puts to our minds

a) What did The LORD put into the mind of Cyrus as realised upon in our subject study?

b) What did The Lord tell Cyrus king of Persia to do about that proclamation?

c) Has The Lord ever put something in your mind to do? What is that which The Lord put in your mind to do?

d) Give an understanding as due to our subject study

e) Rationalize a divine perspective as due to our teaching in view

Dear Lord Jesus am grateful for what you have put in my mind. I believe that whatever you have put in my mind is for the sure glory of your name Amen. 

Many people do thing’s and they are never compensated. They serve in offices after which they are sent away without acknowledgement of giving them what they demand from their bosses 

Compensation is something that the Lord doesn’t take for granted. When you don’t compensate others in turn to what they have done for you, you will have a case that you will be required to answer before the Lord as The LORD is He who knows all thing’s.

Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylons army did so much. He made His army labour strenuously against Tyre but His army recieved no compensation from Egypt. His army was left in air without any appreciation for what they had done towards the nation of trye – when The Lord saw that the army of king Nebuchadnezzar had recieved no compensation even as a result of what they did  He The LORD compensated them in view to what their Army had done Ezekiel 29:18

[18]Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his army to render heavy service [ at My bidding] against Tyre; every [soldier’s] head became bald and every shoulder was worn and peeled [with carrying loads of earth and stones for siege works]. Yet he had no remuneration from Tyre [in proportion to the time and labor expended in the thirteen years’ siege], either for himself or his army, for the work that he had done against it [for Me].

a) What happens when we do not compensate people for the great things that they do for us 

b) What is that which king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon do as realised upon in view?

c) Give some of the lessons that you learn from our teaching 

d) How does this teaching relate to our everyday life

 Confession prayer

Dear Lord Jesus I ask for the grace to compensate all am supposed to compensate in Jesus name

If you read the bible you realise that covenants are  stipulative in view to that which is agreed amongst various individuals 

A covenant is not just a superficial statement that someone verbals out of excitement rather It is a public declaration that is consented amongst different people.  It can be consented amongst each other as human beings and also it can be consented with the LORD 

King  Josiah makes a covenant in The LORD’S presence in the temple of The Lord  that is not just _substantial but also purposeful_ . The covenant that king Josiah made in the Lord’s presence was to follow the LORD with all his heart, with all His soul and with all His mind 2 Chronicles 34:31 [31]Then the king stood in his place and made a covenant before the Lord–to walk after the Lord and to keep His commandments, His testimonies, and His statutes with all his heart and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that are written in this book.

Some of us have made covenants  to what we should prioritize as sufficient  but the question is have we ever made a covenant to follow the Lord. 

a) What covenant did King Josiah make as reflected upon to note?

b) Have you personally ever made any desire to follow the Lord with your heart? 

c) Why is it that king Josia had to make this covenant to follow the Lord 

d) Give some of the lessons you learn in view to our context study in analysis 

e) Where did King Josiah make this covenant from?

f) What is it which prompted king Josiah towards making this covenant with the Lord 

g) Have you ever made any covenant with the Lord 

Dear Lord Jesus I have made a covenant with you to follow you with all my heart in Jesus name Amen

From a realised perspective, we note that what we do against The Lord is what dramatizes our fall. 

Check what you do against The Lord before  blaming anybody for your fall 

You may be doing something against the Lord we don’t know about which is leading to your fall in ministry, life and family position 

ZEDEKIAH son of josiah came to power when He was 21  The guy reigned for 11 years but guess what He did.

He became Obstinate and hardened his heart against returning to the LORD.2 Chronicles 36:13[13]He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who made him swear by God. He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the Lord, the God of Israel.as thus leading to His fall and to the rest of the Israelites

a) According to our teaching, Who became Obstinate?

b) Who hardened His heart against returning to the Lord? 

c) Who is zedekiah according to out teaching 

d) Should we draw any lesson from the life of zedekiah? So if we should draw any lesson from the life of zedekiah.. what would be that lesson. 

e) At the end of the story, what is that which the Lord did to Zedekiah and his friend’s as a result of failing to give heed to the ordinance of His will? 

f) Give some of the lessons you learn and perceive from our context study in analysis 

Dear Lord Jesus I pray that I will not be like zedekiah who became Obstinate and hardened his heart towards returning to you in Jesus name amen 

Being a youth gives you an opportunity to seek The Lord because it is in that stage that you are  strong enough to spend more time in the presence of the Lord without having so much expectation of life responsibility and to concentrate on what you must concentrate upon in as far as your destiny and future is concerned 

You can’t say because you are a youth You can’t seek the Lord.  You can’t stay in his presence.  You can’t study the word of God or even fellowship with your friends for purpose of spiritually  being blessed 

Josiah SON of Amon came into power when He was eight year’s old. I believe He is one of the kings in the bible who came to power at a tender age but guess what happened  _in the eighth year of his reign as king._ 

He began to seek The God of His Ancestors  2 Chronicles 34:3[3]For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young [sixteen], he began to seek after and yearn for the God of David his father [forefather]; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherim, and the carved and molten images. and thus in the 12th year of his reign He began to cleanse Judah and Jerusalem 2 Chronicles 34:4[4]They broke down the altars of the Baals in his presence; the sun-images that were high above them he hewed down; the Asherim and the graven images and the molten images he broke in pieces and made dust of them and strewed it upon the graves of those who sacrificed to them.

a) According to our teaching in view, At what age did King Josia come to power?

b) What is it which King Josiah did in His eigth year of reign

c) Give a realised spiritual understanding according to our teaching in view 

d) What would be some of the lessons you can draw from our context study?

Dear Lord Jesus I come before you and I pray that even In my youth stage I will seek you with all my mind.. with all my heart and the very substance of my living in Jesus name amen 

There is this thing which we shouldn’t forget which is 

The way of the LORD.  We can still do ministry and yet abandon the LORD and the way of the LORD.  

Amon abandoned the Lord and the way of the LORD even as king over the people and guess what happened..His servants conspired Him and killed Him in His own house. 2 Kings 21:22-23[22]He forsook the Lord, the God of his [forefathers], and did not walk in the way of the Lord.[23]The servants of Amon conspired against him and killed the king in his own house.as thus the consequence of not walking in the way of the Lord may some day bring us to a place of embarrassment 

a) According to perspective, Who abandoned the Lord?

b) Who did not walk in the way of the LORD? 

c) Who is Amon as realised upon to context?

d) What would be some of the lessons in word we draw from the bible personality of Amon. Can we really draw any lessons from the bible personality of Amon

e) What is the applicability of this teaching as realised upon in our day to day life 

f) What happened after Amon was killed by his servants?

g) Which people in category killed those who killed Amon

h) Which people according to perspective made Josia king?

i) Underlay purpose of note as realised upon to our subject study 

Dear Lord Jesus I come before you today. I declare and confess that I will not walk in the way of Amon. I will not abandon the Lord and I will not abandon the way of the LORD in Jesus name Amen