238th Week, II Chronicles Chapters 19-23 Click on Title for Video Introduction

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Click on Title for Video Intro 


Monday, II Chronicles Chapter 19
II Chronicles 19
Heather Proehl

THOUGHT
The part of this chapter that stuck out to me was verses 5-7. Jehoshaphat delegated some of the responsibilities for ruling and judging the people. But he gave them strict words of wisdom that they were accountable to God. They were to judge for God. He warns them to make sure that they should be faithful, honest, and impartial and act only out of the fear of God. 

It’s kind of funny because we were just discussing judging in our Bible study on Sunday. We were discussing James 4. Specifically verses 11-12 talk about not judging. How we are supposed to let God be the ultimate judge. But we also hear in Matthew 18 that if our brother sins against you, you should go and show him his fault, etc.  It’s a bit confusing to see God have Jehoshaphat assign judges.  Then He said not to judge, and then He said to point out faults.

I guess the point of it all is that God is the Ultimate Judge. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. And we should follow the two great commandments — Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with your entire mind and all your soul and Love your neighbor as yourself.

PRAYER
Dear Lord, You are the one Lawgiver and Judge. We have no authority to judge others. Lord, I pray that we would love our neighbors instead of judging and gossiping about them. Help us to live our lives to uphold Your standards.  We are accountable to You. AMEN


Tuesday, II Chronicles Chapter 20A
II Chronicles 20A
Verse 15
Tanya Ruden

Verse 15:  Do not be afraid or discouraged...For the battle is not yours, but God’s.

THOUGHT
Enough said.  Just kidding - Isn’t it reassuring though? Or is it easier said than done? So many times we feel like we have this battle to wage, and we feel so overwhelmed - like the big underdog.  Every day we battle temptation, pressures, and worldly decisions where we can so easily lose sight of God; however, we have God’s Spirit in us. We must ask for God’s help when we face struggles, and God will fight for us (and He always triumphs). Why wouldn’t we ask for his help?

So how do we let God fight for us? By realizing the battle is not ours, but God’s.  By recognizing human limitations and allowing God’s strength to work through our fears and weaknesses.  By making sure we are pursuing God’s interests and not just our own selfish desires.  By asking God for help in our daily battles.  Each day we must surrender our battles to God. How often do we think we can handle the battle and try to fight it on our own? I know there are many times I try to do things on my own, and life seems to go better when I ask for help. We need to not forget this battle isn’t ours to be waged.  We don’t need to feel overwhelmed.  We can find encouragement in God’s strong arms. God has this huge vault of blessings to give us.  We just need to ask.

PRAYER
Praise God, You are on our side, and You fight our battles for us. Help us to surrender them to You each and every day. Help us to find peace in the confidence that You don’t set us up to fail, but to wage battles with You as our leader. May we always turn to You and never try to do it on our own. AMEN


Wednesday, II Chronicles 20B
Verse 37
Tanya Ruden

Verse 37:  “...Because you have made an alliance with Ahaziah, the Lord will destroy what you have made.”

THOUGHT
I think we have discussed this before as part of this group, but I felt called to bring it up again. It is such a good reminder that we must pray about our friends, our kids/grandkids, and family.  We must make good decisions relating to who we hang out with. Here we have Jehoshaphat joining forces with Ahaziah. One man served the Lord; the other served idols. 

When we as Christians are put in these situations, we inevitably are faced with the temptation to compromise our values. It is hard enough to stand on our faith. So often we need the strength of our friends to encourage us to make the right decisions.  We must be conscious of not only our friendships but also those we do business with, purchase services from, etc. I understand we also must witness to the world, but pray for that calling.  Be sure God is your strength, and you are not falling prey to the ways of others.

It is so interesting to see how who you hang out with makes a difference. I remember as a kid growing up mom would always notice when I hung out with a certain group of girls, because my mouth would get sassier and “dirty”. I also see it with Sierra. There is one girl in her class that whenever she sits by her she seems to get into trouble.  I try to teach her she needs to remember the rules and not allow people to influence her.

PRAYER
Father God, lead us to good friends and good people to do business with. The value of a good friend is priceless, and there are so many people out there that can be a ‘poor’ influence in our lives. Please guide our children and grandchildren to good friends as well, people who love you and who can hold them accountable to their faith, while still having fun. AMEN 


Thursday, II Chronicles Chapter 21
II Chronicles 21
Tanya Ruden
March 12, 2010

THOUGHT
Wow, I must say this is not my favorite chapter in the Bible. I guess the thing I wanted to talk about was Jehoram’s attitude. It states in this chapter that he received a letter from Elijah stating all the bad things that were about to happen. Typically when that happens, especially when it states that bad things are about to happen, to not just you, but also your people, you see remorse from the person.  Usually you see pleading by them to God to not do this. They ask what they can do to keep the bad things from happening.  You don’t see that with Jehoram.

I guess the Bible could have just not put that part in the chapter, but personally I think he was just that evil. He must have been a terribly cruel king, and life under his reign must have been awful.  He had no remorse for what he had done and no feeling to attempt to spare not only his life, but the lives of the people he was supposed to be ruling over and caring for. You wonder how anyone could be so evil to be this way. 

It is sad for another person to be lost from God’s Kingdom.  God tried to teach him, to have him turn from his bad ways, but he didn’t listen. I guess it is a reminder that we have free will - will to choose right from wrong. May each of us always attempt to choose right, learn from our mistakes, see the warning signs and pray for all those we love that they would not fall into this temptation.

PRAYER
Father God, I pray for everyone I love tonight. May they always see Your warning before it is too late.  Father, make our hearts remorseful and never hardened to the point of Jehoram’s. Help us make good choices, Lord.  You have given us free will.  May we always choose You! AMEN


Friday, II Chronicles Chapters 22 & 23
II Chronicles 22 & 23
Tanya Ruden 

THOUGHT
Chapter 22 was hard to find something positive to discuss, but when you read it with chapter 23, it is like ending a story in a positive way. Stopping at the end of Chapter 22 is like ending a season finale of a TV show and having to wait until the season begins again to hear the ending.

Here we have more bad. Evil just continues. You think it is over with the death of the bad guy, but just like in the Die Hard series, there is always a family member who seeks revenge and just can’t take defeat. Here we see the mother taking over as the ruler and killing anyone who would threaten her reign (or so we thought...) Evil does lose in the end when we see the temple being restored by Jehoiada. Of course he still has a rough road ahead of him (I’m sure) but it is nice to see evil overthrown and good begin to reign again.

I know one day of evil is one day too many, but did anyone notice how short the ‘evil’ kings’ lives were? The king from chapter 22 only reigned 8 years and didn’t live to see 40. If I read this right, the queen was only in power for 6 years. Now I am not a great historical scholar, but it seems like other kings were usually in power much longer than that for the Bible people usually lived to be very old. 

We must remember that when we are living the rough times, they seem to last forever.  A reminder to cherish the happy times because they go by so quickly!

PRAYER
Father God, thank You for happy times. Thank You for happy endings! Thank You for the happiest ending of all - Life in Jesus Christ. We pray for strength from You during the rough times! We pray that we always share with You the happy times and that in all moments of our lives You are glorified!!  AMEN


















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