TLIC Family. Day 52. February 21: Your throne shall be established forever.

THINK TOGETHER

What’s your favorite room in your house? Or, what’s your favorite thing about your house?

READ TOGETHER

God loves to make promises to us. Whenever God makes a promise you can know for sure that he will always keep it no matter what. God has never broken a promise. And he never will.

When God makes promises to his people we call that a covenant. God made a covenant with Abraham. He promised Abraham that he could live in the “Promised Land.” He also promised Abraham that he would be a great nation and that every other nation would be blessed through Abraham’s child.

All of the promises God made to Abraham were fulfilled by Jesus. Jesus is the child that came from Abraham and Sarah to bless us all by taking away our sins and loving us forever.

Years after Abraham, God made a special covenant full of promises to King David. Listen to these verses and see if you can hear some of the promises God made to David:

2 Samuel 7:12-16. ¹² When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³ He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. ¹⁴ I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, ¹⁵ but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. ¹⁶ And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’” 

What promises did you hear?

God promised David that he would have a son that would build a “house” for God. David wanted to build a big, beautiful house, called a temple, for God to live in. But God told David no. David wouldn’t build God’s house, but he promised that his son, Solomon, would build it instead. And he did.

God also promised David that his son Solomon would be loved by God like a son, and that Solomon’s kingdom would last forever.

But God also promised that when Solomon sinned, God would punish him like a loving dad punishes their son or daughter for disobeying.

These promises are pretty amazing aren’t they? But what makes them even more amazing is how they all point to Jesus. You see, Solomon is not the only son of David that built a “house” for God, or had a kingdom that lasted forever, or was punished for sin. All of those things actually describe Jesus even more than Solomon.

Jesus was punished for your sins on the cross. And because our sins are forgiven, now God make our hearts into his house. Jesus is building God a house in your heart. And when we trust in Jesus to take away our sins, he will sit on the throne of our hearts forever.

Because of Jesus God has made his home in our hearts.

With Jesus we can let him control our hearts as we choose to love others like he does.

DO SOMETHING TOGETHER

Ask: What would it be like if Jesus visited our house? What would you want to show him? How might you behave differently?

Ask: What does it mean that our hearts can be Jesus’ house? How might we behave differently if we really believed this?

Draw this simple three part picture to illustrate this big idea:

Step 1: Draw a heart

Step 2: Draw a house in the heart.

Step 3: Draw Jesus in the house.

Is Jesus living in your heart house?

PRAY TOGETHER

Jesus,

God kept his promises to you and he will keep his promises to me too. Thank you for promising to live in my heart forever when I trust in you.

Amen.

***

To see today’s post from the TLIC Daily blog –> Click Here