[S] 2 Chronicles 34:3 --
For in the eighth year of his reign while he was still a youth, he began to seek the God of his father David; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherim, the carved images and the molten images.
[O] At the age of sixteen, King Josiah began to practice his conviction toward God and essentially brought a spiritual revival in his land under his rule. Removing the distractions of the enemy was the first step and after that as we read in subsequent verses, God sends him a clear message of His wrath toward His run-away people to which Josiah humbly repents and seeks for God grace. God accepts and grants him peace. I can see that Josiah's housecleaning was the right preparation for being right with God when he heard God's message. This passage is also an inspiration for me as a high school Sunday School teacher because God can work His mighty plans through the youths He had entrusted me with.
[A] God is speaking to me all the time. So it's not the question of whether God is speaking to me or not but whether I have eliminated the distractions in my life so I may clearly hear His message for me. I need to start identifying the traps enemy has put in and around my life so that I can remove them in order to prepare myself of hearing God's message for me now.
[P] Dear Father, please identify in my life the areas I need to do some housecleaning in because just like Josiah, I want to hear Your message for me clearly in order to be accepted by You under Your grace. In Jesus' name. Amen.
From my Life devotional journaling and more (Read Today's Passage)
Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
Showing posts with label Youth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Youth. Show all posts
Saturday, August 04, 2012
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Remember the Days of My Youth
[S] Ezekiel 16:22,43,60 --
22"Besides all your abominations and harlotries you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare and squirming in your blood.
43"Because you have not remembered the days of your youth but have enraged Me by all these things, behold, I in turn will bring your conduct down on your own head," declares the Lord GOD, "so that you will not commit this lewdness on top of all your other abominations.
60"Nevertheless, I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you.
[O] As an adult when I see some teenagers I feel like saying, "You think you know everything, don't you?" because they sure act that way. They don't realize just a couple of years ago (if that) they were pretty much depended on their parents or other adults around them for making decisions and simply learning everything from them. It's almost funny to watch them transform into a quite different perspective. As I was reflecting on this passage I felt like God must be saying the same to me because it wasn't too long ago when I really didn't know much about God or His heart and after picking up a few concepts here and there from different parts of the Bible, all of a sudden I feel like I know it all! God has taken care of me in my youth and has led me to encounter Him and to mature spiritually and as a whole person. But this is still an on-going process where I must remain in my humble attitude, complete surrender to His leadership. I must not boast or be proud thinking I know it all or even worse, know it more than God Himself.
[A] Stay on my knees and be humble. Never even think about knowing enough about God because He is much greater than what my brain can hold and so I must continue to humbly learn from Him. Because how I was trained by the society and secular education, at times I mistakenly think that older by age or by experience is always better. So if someone had been going to church for a longer time then that person must be spiritually more mature. This is not the case all the time. So I must stay humble even if I may be "older" than others because God may use the "younger" Brothers/Sisters to teach me about His wondrous power, love and grace.
[P] Dear God, I surrender my pride to You in exchange for deepening my trust in You to tackle many obstacles on my way through Your ways and strengths. I ask you in Your name humbly. Amen.
22"Besides all your abominations and harlotries you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare and squirming in your blood.
43"Because you have not remembered the days of your youth but have enraged Me by all these things, behold, I in turn will bring your conduct down on your own head," declares the Lord GOD, "so that you will not commit this lewdness on top of all your other abominations.
60"Nevertheless, I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you.
[O] As an adult when I see some teenagers I feel like saying, "You think you know everything, don't you?" because they sure act that way. They don't realize just a couple of years ago (if that) they were pretty much depended on their parents or other adults around them for making decisions and simply learning everything from them. It's almost funny to watch them transform into a quite different perspective. As I was reflecting on this passage I felt like God must be saying the same to me because it wasn't too long ago when I really didn't know much about God or His heart and after picking up a few concepts here and there from different parts of the Bible, all of a sudden I feel like I know it all! God has taken care of me in my youth and has led me to encounter Him and to mature spiritually and as a whole person. But this is still an on-going process where I must remain in my humble attitude, complete surrender to His leadership. I must not boast or be proud thinking I know it all or even worse, know it more than God Himself.
[A] Stay on my knees and be humble. Never even think about knowing enough about God because He is much greater than what my brain can hold and so I must continue to humbly learn from Him. Because how I was trained by the society and secular education, at times I mistakenly think that older by age or by experience is always better. So if someone had been going to church for a longer time then that person must be spiritually more mature. This is not the case all the time. So I must stay humble even if I may be "older" than others because God may use the "younger" Brothers/Sisters to teach me about His wondrous power, love and grace.
[P] Dear God, I surrender my pride to You in exchange for deepening my trust in You to tackle many obstacles on my way through Your ways and strengths. I ask you in Your name humbly. Amen.
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