God's Love at Work - Week of May 20

Week of May 20
Leadership: The Wisdom & Weakness of Solomon
by Margaret D. Mitchell

“…If your sons are careful of their way, to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.”  -1 Kings 2:4

King David’s son King Solomon reigned over Israel for 40 years. He wrote 1,005 songs and 3,000 proverbs of wisdom. He built a temple unto the Lord in which the ark of the covenant rested. He walked in God’s favor, peace, power, wealth and wisdom. Yet he turned against God in the end.

King Solomon’s weakness for women became his downfall. Since God’s promise to him was conditional, he experienced consequences. The bar was high. To whom much is given, much is required (Luke 12:48).

Like King Solomon, all of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s glorious standard, according to Romans 3:23. So how does one return to righteous standing in God’s eyes? Through Jesus Christ, of course.

Once we repent of our sin, Father God sees our sins no more. Instead, He sees us through the blood covenant of His Son Jesus Christ. And there is no condemnation in Jesus. For this, we can be thankful. And we need to remember to forgive ourselves.

We can learn much from King Solomon’s process and priority. Here are some principles for the journey:

• Repent of idolatry – More than once, Solomon was forewarned that the result of idolatry (anything that he put before God) would be adversity.
• Repent of unbelief – If your dreams are big but your faith in God is small. Don’t shrink your dreams. Just choose to trust God more to help you achieve them.
• Repent of confusion and disorder – If you’ve been trying this and that, unsure of what God has for you, get into God’s stillness and consider fasting. Choose to be led by the Holy Spirit.
• Seek God and ask Him to cleanse your heart from all defilement, from anything that would try to come against your love for Him and His plans and promises for you. Ask Him to help you be wholehearted and obedient towards Him. And be quick to repent when you mess up. Thank Him for His mercy.
• Ask God to charge you with His assignments and firmly establish His kingdom in your hands. Thank Him.
• Worship God and make a sacrificial financial offering unto Him.
• Pray Solomon’s prayer in 1 Kings 3:7b-9: “I am but a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. Your servant is in the midst of Your people which You have chosen, a great people who are too many to be numbered or counted. So give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?”
• Ask God to help you establish officials/leaders in your kingdom assignment. Thank Him.
• Declare over your kingdom assignment: 1 Kings 4:20, 24c, 25a, 27, 29: Abundance of provision, joy, peace, protection, resources, wisdom, discernment, breadth of mind.
• Thank God for: 1 Kings 4:29, 30, 34: Vast wisdom, very great discernment, breadth of mind and influence in all nations.
• Ask God to put the surrounding wars under your feet so that you can build for Him. Ask Him for rest on every side, from every adversary and misfortune. Thank Him.
• Ask for gifted servants; expect them to come and work and to be able to pay them. Thank Him.
• Expect God order of coming into peaceful agreements, setting up and preparing, laying the foundation and building up the kingdom for God.
• Expect to hear from God at the outset and during the process.
• Keep God your first priority throughout. Finish well. Thank Him.
• Know and declare that whenever God does a new thing it is for the purpose of growth and multiplication, even if it involves pruning.
• Whatever you do, do it unto the Lord with wholehearted dedication. God always has an action plan for us to flee from our weaknesses. So ask Him for His help and choose to flee.

My prayer is that you will seek the Lord with all your heart, lean not upon your own understanding, know that He loves you beyond measure, step out in great courage and vision and fulfill His plans for you and His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

Margaret D. Mitchell is the Founder of God's Love at Work, a marketplace outreach purposed to share God's greatest power source - the love of Christ.