MONDAY 

El CHAY - Living God

Studying the Name

This title sets Israel’s God apart from the false gods of the surrounding nations. Unlike idols of wood and stone, made by human hands, the Living God is Himself maker of heaven and earth. He alone is the source of our life. We live because He lives. The prophet Jeremiah reminded God’s people that “every goldsmith is shamed by his idols. His images are a fraud; they have no breath in them” (Jeremiah 10:14).

Key Scripture : 2 Kings 19:8-19, 35-37:

“When the Rabshakeh heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he returned and found him fighting against Libnah. The king had heard this about Tirhakah king of Cush: “Look, he has set out to fight against you.” So, he again sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, “Say this to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Don’t let your God, whom you trust, deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria. Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries: they completely destroyed them. Will you be rescued? Did the gods of the nations that my predecessors destroyed rescue them — nations such as Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the Edenites in Telassar? Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, or Ivvah?’ ”
 

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. Then Hezekiah prayed before the Lord: Lord God of Israel who is enthroned above the cherubim, you are God — you alone — of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth. Listen closely, Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, Lord, and see. Hear the words that Sennacherib has sent to mock the living God. Lord, it is true that the kings of Assyria have devastated the nations and their lands. They have thrown their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but made by human hands — wood and stone. So, they have destroyed them. Now, Lord our God, please save us from his hand so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are the Lord God — You alone.”

Questions:

Sennacherib ruled Assyria and Babylonia from 705-681 B.C. He invaded Judah in 701 B.C. and threatened to attack Jerusalem when King Hezekiah refused to pay taxes. How does Hezekiah’s prayer reflect his understanding of the “Living God”?

Though Hezekiah asked God to deliver his people from their enemies, his prayer primarily focused on God’s honor. How can his prayer be a model for ours?

How can this story of Hezekiah’s reliance on the Living God to defend his people be applied in the lives of God’s people today? In your own life?

TUESDAY - Praying the Name

Reflect On: 1 Kings 19:14-37.

Praise God: Because He is God over all the earth.

Offer Thanks: Because God hears your prayers and sees your need.

Confess: Any lack of prayerfulness for yourself, your family, your community, or the world.

Ask God: To deliver you from your enemies.

WEDNESDAY - Praying the Name

Reflect On: Joshua 3:9-10.

Praise God: For His saving actions.

Offer Thanks: For the ways God has driven out your enemies.

Confess: Any tendency to believe that God is unable or unwilling to act on your behalf.

Ask God: To drive out the enemies that continue to harass you.

THURSDAY - Praying the Name

Reflect On: Romans 8:9-11; 2 Corinthians 3:2-3.

Praise God: For His word, which is living and active, sharper than a two-edged sword.

Offer Thanks: That the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead also raises you.

Confess: Any ambivalence you have toward yielding to God’s Spirit.

Ask God: To help you taste the joys of the Spirit-controlled life.

FRIDAY - Promises Associated with God’s Name

John 4:9-14 HCSB:

“How is it that You, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” she asked Him. For Jews do not associate with Samaritans. Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God, and who is saying to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would ask Him, and He would give you living water.” “Sir,” said the woman, “You don’t even have a bucket, and the well is deep. So where do You get this ‘living water’? You aren’t greater than our father Jacob, are You? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and livestock.” Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again — ever! In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up within him for eternal life.”

John 7:37-38 HCSB:

“On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, he should come to Me and drink! The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.”

Continued Prayer and Praise

Express your thirst for the Living God (Psalm 42).

Affirm the folly of trusting in anything other than the Living God. (Jeremiah 10:7-16).

Remember that we are the temple of the Living God (2 Corinthians 6:16).

Worship the Living God (Hebrews 12:18-24).