 Jonah Chapter 2 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish’s belly. 2 And he said: “I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction, And He answered me. “Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, And You heard my voice. 3 For You cast me into the deep, Into the heart of the seas, And the floods surrounded me; All Your billows and Your waves passed over me. 4 Then I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight; Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.’ 5 The waters surrounded me, even to my soul; The deep closed around me; Weeds were wrapped around my head. 6 I went down to the moorings of the mountains; The earth with its bars closed behind me forever; Yet You have brought up my life from the pit, O Lord, my God. 7 “When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord; And my prayer went up to You, Into Your holy temple. 8 “Those who regard worthless idols Forsake their own Mercy. 9 But I will sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.” 10 So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. Read Jonah's prayer of repentance and identify five things the Holy Spirit reveals to you that are significant. Have a blessed today and tell someone today about Jesus. RAK CHAZAK Brother Big Daddy
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 Jonah 4
But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. 2 So he prayed to the Lord, and said, “Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm. 3 Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!” 4 Then the Lord said, “Is it right for you to be angry?” 5 So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city. There he made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city. 6 And the Lord God prepared a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be shade for his head to deliver him from his misery. So Jonah was very grateful for the plant. 7 But as morning dawned the next day God prepared a worm, and it so damaged the plant that it withered. 8 And it happened, when the sun arose, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah’s head, so that he grew faint. Then he wished death for himself, and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” 9 Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” And he said, “It is right for me to be angry, even to death!” 10 But the Lord said, “You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?” I want us to consider the question God ask Jonah, I think it is a question that He asks many of us, "Is it right for you to be angry? Many of you will justify and rationalize many reasons why it is right for you to be angry. You may talk of the hurt that was done to you. You may talk about how your family was wronged. You may not feel like there is anyway you can set things straight. You may even feel you are not the one at fault, so you shouldn't have to set things straight. The bottom line is all those trains of thought are all about YOU. Jonah was mad and his anger was not justified. He sinned and did not do what God told him to do, he ran from God, putting the lives of many people in jeopardy, and eventually found himself in the belly of a fish. Finally, all He could do was repent and ask God to forgive him. Jonah knew God to be a merciful God, Jonah 4:2... "for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm." God being the God Jonah knew Him to be, gave Jonah a second chance. Jonah knew God was a patient and merciful God, yet when God showed who He was, to the people of Nineveh it angered Jonah. It is an unfortunate thing when Jesus has done so much for us, when He has touched our lives in such a real and powerful way, when He has forgiven us for so much, when He has extended His hand of acceptance to us and loved us when we didn't deserve it, yet we can't extend that forgiveness to others. Sometimes, we just want to stay mad. Staying mad allows us to do what we want to do. Staying mad allows us to get off by ourself and just focus on the big I. Sadly, staying mad perpetuates our sin and keeps us from Jesus and His love and tenderness. Jesus has forgiven us for much, may we understand what He has done for us and extend forgiveness to those around us. The alternative is to reason through your unforgiveness, somehow convince yourself you are right, thus causing you to stand firm in sin. Well in the process, peace will leave you, sin will overtake you, and your heart will become hardened. In the end, the agony of a broken heart, the pain of unforgiveness, and the torment of anger will consume you. Keep in mind Matthew 6:15, "But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." It is not about you convincing me or anyone else in the world you are right. I don't matter, your friends don't matter, your family doesn't matter. The bottom line, it is what Jesus says through His Word that matters and matters greatly. RAK CHAZAK, Brother Big Daddy  Jonah Chapter 2
Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish’s belly. 2 And he said: “I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction, And He answered me. “Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, And You heard my voice. 3 For You cast me into the deep, Into the heart of the seas, And the floods surrounded me; All Your billows and Your waves passed over me. 4 Then I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight; Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.’ 5 The waters surrounded me, even to my soul; The deep closed around me; Weeds were wrapped around my head. 6 I went down to the moorings of the mountains; The earth with its bars closed behind me forever; Yet You have brought up my life from the pit, O Lord, my God. 7 “When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord; And my prayer went up to You, Into Your holy temple. 8 “Those who regard worthless idols Forsake their own Mercy. 9 But I will sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.” 10 So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. Meditate on what Jonah says, regarding his condition. The King James version says out of the belly of hell I cried. Read these scriptures several times today and think about what put Jonah in this position. It will beneficial to read chapter one again. Write three things god reveals to you in chapter 2. Use the comment tab and send me your response. Three things in all these scriptures should be a walk in the park. I need your thoughts so please respond. RAK CHAZAK, Brother Big Daddy  Jonah 1New King James Version (NKJV)
1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” 3 But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. 4 But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up. 5 Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo thatwas in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep. 6 So the captain came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God; perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish.” 7 And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, “Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” 9 So he said to them, “I am a Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” 10 Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, “Why have you done this?” For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. 11 Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us?”—for the sea was growing more tempestuous. 12 And he said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me.” 13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to return to land, but they could not, for the sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them. 14 Therefore they cried out to the Lord and said, “We pray, O Lord, please do not let us perish for this man’s life, and do not charge us with innocent blood; for You, O Lord, have done as it pleased You.” 15 So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. 16 Then the men feared the Lordexceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the Lord and took vows. 17 Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Jonah was called to tell the people of Nineveh the error of their ways. He chose to run from this responsibility and hide from God. Just think about this, Jonah was fleeing from the presence of God. How in the world can we flee from the presence of God? Please understand God has called each of us to a particular work. He did not call us to sit on the pews, He called us to be about the work of the kingdom. You cannot do the work of the kingdom with a lazy heart and feet that follow in lazy attempts to do Christ sized work. Have you ever had the idea that you could somehow buy your way out what God has called you to do? That is what Jonah did. He bought a ticket to what he thought was a far away land, far away from God. So how do we pull a Jonah? Well it is pretty simple, for example, God tells you to go serve meals to the homeless this Christmas, so you buy can goods galore and turkeys to boot and drop them off at your local shelter, with a smile on your face, but disobedience in your heart. You were told to serve the homeless a meal, not buy a ticket out of God's presence. God tells you to visit the nursing homes this holiday season and bring love to those hurting and missing their love ones, so you buy $500.00 worth of gowns, robes, socks etc. and deliver them to your church so the youth group can deliver them to the very place God told you to go. Once again why are you trying to buy your way out of God's presence? You are missing His blessing by doing what you want instead of what He wants. Do what He says not what you say. There is a journey overboard waiting and the belly of a fish that is prepared to hold you for as long as it takes for you to say yes Lord, Your Way Jesus. Do what Jesus says, when he says to do it, with the right heart attitude. It is all He will accept. |