Finish Well

I Want to Finish Well.

    That's what I walked away with in my heart as I read our chapters for today. Lord, I want to finish well.

   Today we're looking at Three kings. Three generations. And more study notes for the test.

Amaziah starts out doing what is right, but Scripture tells us, not wholeheartedly.” He listened to God at first. He even walked away from money he had already invested when God told him he was going the wrong direction. The prophet reminds him, The Lord can give you much more than that.

    Sometimes I need that reminder.

There are things we hold onto because we've already put so much into them. Time, money, relationships, plans, dreams. But if God says let it go, how much we've already invested doesn't matter. Obedience to his will is what matters.

     Then Amaziah wins a battle and does something that makes absolutely no sense. He brings home the gods of the people he just defeated and starts worshipping them. The gods that couldn't even save them! But before we judge Amaziah too hard, how often does God bring us through something and we turn around and put our trust in something other than the God who brought us through? We do it too don't we.

     Then comes Uzziah, he was a builder. So of course I paid attention extra here. He built towers, strengthened cities, dug wells, developed the land and even had people designing new machines. Scripture says He was greatly helped until he became powerful. That word until changes everything. God helped him build. God gave him success. Then Uzziah became strong enough that he started forgetting where the strength came from.

     My word this year is Build, and I want to build big things for God. I want to build things that outlive me and prepare the way for the generations coming behind me. But I never want to stand in the middle of something God built through me and start thinking I built it. I don't want to become so good at doing ministry that I stop needing God to do ministry.

And I don't want calling to make me think every assignment is mine.

   Uzziah tried to do something in the temple that God had assigned to the priests. When they corrected him, he got angry.

    Here's Another study note, pay attention because there will be a test...Being called doesn't mean you're called to everything.

        I need that one. 😂

I see something that needs to be done and immediately want to fix it, build it, help it, carry it, or figure out a way to make it better. But not every need is my assignment.

    Then we get to Jotham. His story isn't nearly as dramatic. He builds. He leads. He follows God. And Scripture tells us that Jotham grew powerful because he walked steadfastly before the Lord his God.

                            He stayed steady.

After reading about king after king who started well and then let pride, wrong influences, or success pull them away from God, I appreciate Jotham's simple story.

    I want to build. I want to do big things for God. But more than any of that I want to finish well. I don't want to build something amazing and lose myself somewhere in the building. I don't want to start out saying, “God, I can't do this without You,” and eventually decide, “I've got it from here.”

    So today's study notes are simple...

Seek Him wholeheartedly.

Stay teachable.

Remember where your strength comes from.

Stay in your assignment.

Keep walking with God.

Starting well matters.

But I want to finish well.

Love Pastor Mandy 

Daily reading 2CHRONICLES 25-27

MandiesDandies / Ark of Hope