Yesterday in a Bookstore I saw (in their large religious section) a shelf or two labeled “Bible Biography.” A very interesting array of Books were there on display.

I have thought of this project before, for the Website here. Choosing some character of Scripture and writing a few Lessons on him or her.

Well, it is going to be DAVID, at least for a few days (maybe even a few weeks). His name is mentioned 1,085 times in the King James Version of Scripture!

Ours will be a “devotional” type study. Short Articles (every other morning) highlighting some epoch of David’s life.

The obvious place to begin is where the Bible does, the “first mention” of the name David. And, surprisingly, it is in the Book of Ruth!

Yes, the Word of God gives us a whole Book (although relatively small) on the background of David’s birth!

The Book of Ruth … where we meet Elimelech and Naomi and their two sons. Who eventually embark on a tragic trip to Moab, then comes death after death, no one surviving but the Matriarch herself, Naomi. Oh yes, also two heathen Daughters-in-Law, Orpah and Ruth. (The deceased sons of Naomi had already married prior to their deaths, with no children being born to either.)

Orpah was a Moabite, not only by birth but also in her heart! Ruth, that’s another Story! In a beautifully (Holy Spirit) orchestrated series of events … Ruth is saved by the Grace of God and comes back to the Holy Land (Bethlehem) to live with Naomi and care for her. In so doing (gleaning in a barley field) she is noticed by a man named Boaz!

Long Story short … they fall in love and get married and have a baby! Whose name is Obed. Obed in time grew up and had a boy named Jesse. And Jesse did the same giving us a little boy named DAVID!

A whole Bile Book telling us the genealogy of David!

He is THAT important in God’s Plan to bring Jesus into the world! (The first verse in the New Testament explains a little of that. “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, THE SON OF DAVID, the son of Abraham.” Matthew 1:1)

Wow!

Next Lesson we will visit a humble little home in that famous city, Bethlehem. (Which is now called the “City of David!”)

I’m sort of excited! And I hope you are too …

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Oh, I forgot to tell you readers the reference for that “fist mention” of David’s name. “And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of DAVID.” Ruth 4:17 (Ruth and Boaz being the parents of Obed, but allowing Naomi all the time with the little boy she needed or wanted!) Here is the very ending to Ruth, the Book … “Now these are the generations of Pharez: Pharez begat Hezron, and Hezron begat Ram, and Ram begat Amminadab, and Amminadab begat Nahshon, and Nahshon begat Salmon, and Salmon begat Boaz, and Boaz begat Obed, and Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat DAVID.” Ruth 4:18-22, the Book’s “high point!”

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The expression is archaic in some ways.

What does it mean to be “cast down?”

As in this verse describing our great God … “God, that comforteth those that are cast down.” 2 Corinthians 7:6

Paul here seems to be describing a Trait of God, one that is a permanent Aspect of His Character. It is today called one of God’s “Attributes.”

God the Comforter!

Actually “cast down” is an adjective. It is spelled “tapeinous” in Greek, the language of the New Testament. Pronounce it “tap-i-nos’.” It means, quoting a simple little lexicon, “humble, lowly, poor, meek mild, of humble circumstances,” and also (probably better fitting our context) “downhearted.”

The verb “comforteth” is “parakaleo” and suggests that God comes right “alongside” us! (That’s the “para” part of the word.) And that he will stay there! He fells it is part of His Duty to do so, “kaleo” meaning “called” to some task. Furthermore, the verb’s root is “kello,” meaning “to urge onward!”

When we are saved, from that moment forward … God is by our side, as a function of His very Character! (“I will never leave you,” He once promised!) And He is there to “urge us” to greater spiritual growth, to more fervent prayer lives, to more intense Bible study, etc.

Wow!

When I am meek, I will most notice (and appreciate) His Presence.

And particularly, when I am discouraged or depressed … He is there to aid, to strengthen, to be a Cheerleader in my life.

And the astounding thing … Paul in our Verse today needed that kind of “comfort!” And God, for the Apostle, did so (encouraged him) by sending him a young Preacher named Titus!

The whole Verse now … “Nevertheless God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus.”

So here we learn that not only is God Himself a Comforter. He uses us Christians to be “comfort” to each other as well!

Another New Testament word for this duty (privilege) is “exhorter.” As in Hebrews 3:13 … “Exhort one another daily.”

I end where I began.

Anyone today “cast down?”

Get out you Bible and read!

In Romans 15:4 Paul teaches us that “Through the comfort (parakaleo) of the scriptures we might have hope.”

Then lean today on the Presence of the Holy Spirit. Be aware, conscious of His Presence. He too is our “Comforter,” Jesus’ favorite Name for Him. Also built on the verb “parakaleo!”

Soon … that spirit of being so “cast down” will yield to an attitude like this … “Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!”

Trust and obey!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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Initially it seems like an almost passing Remark Jesus made. Yet both Matthew and Mark record it.

The Disciples, most of them, had tried to cast a devil out of a young, tormented lad. They failed.

Then Jesus arrived, along with three more Disciples (Peter, James and John) … men who had just been with Him on the Mount of Transfiguration.

Immediately our Lord solved the problem! “Our Lord rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.” Mark 9:25

Jesus of course easily does what we cannot do. The Disciples logically asked: “Why could not we cast him out?”

That’s when Jesus taught them a valuable Lesson. “This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.” Mark 9:29

Prayer unleashes the answer to many a problem. But, apparently, not all problems!

Then, how does one intensify his or her prayer life?

“By prayer AND FASTING!”

We hear little of this “fasting” business in our modern decadent society, yes even among us professing Christians!

But it’s in the Bible.

It’s on Jesus’ Cirruculum!

And it works!

So, I guess today … the rest is up to us.

“Oh, pass the biscuits and gravy please.”

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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I just read a sermon by an American Preacher named Clarence Macartney. Powerful, to say the least! (One of my heroes suggest that every Preacher read a Sermon a day, for devotional and educational and motivational purposes.)

Well, in that Message the Preacher shared his belief that PRAYER was that word. Prayer that touches the Heart of God! That moves the heart of God! (The God Who promises: “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” Quoting Jeremiah 33:3.)

Jesus taught two parables (the importunate neighbor and the unjust judge) illustrating that persistence in pleading (unrelenting prayer) gets results! The Jesus enacted one miracle toward that same end. The healing of the Syrophoenician woman’s daughter. After much persistence on the mother’s part!

The first specific (and detailed) prayer in Scripture involves Abrham praying for the sparing of the City of Sodom and its environs. From 50 all the way down to 10 … he kept asking!

Had that minimum number been found, Sodom might still be on the map yet today!

Prayer, powerful!

Maybe Dr. Macartney was right.

Friends, try this privilege yourself.

Pray … and see if God does not hear and answer.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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A Disciple of Jesus writes … “Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to STIR YOU UP by putting you in remembrance.” 2nd Peter 1:14, King James Version.

The word “meet” as used here actually means that which is “righteous, just, proper or appropriate” in God’s Eyes.

And by “this tabernacle” Peter means as long as he is alive, inhabiting an earthly “body.”

And behind “remembrance” stands the idea of “repetition, review, a rehearing” of the great Truths of the Bible!

But now, what does the verb “stir up” imply?

Its Greek root, spelled “egeiro,” means “to arose, to wake up, to cause to rise” … plus here an added prefix, “dia,” a preposition meaning “through, by means of, for the sake of” … further empowering the verb!

“Being stirred up,” in an energetic way. Fervently so!

Peter does not want us to go to sleep, spiritually speaking.

And he planned, as long as he breathed, to repel laziness, slumber, carelessness from all our minds and hearts. Our bodies too, it sounds like!

Reader here today, are you “stirred up” to serve the Lord?

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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