Faith, Perseverance & Prayer (2 Chronicles 35:22)

Nevertheless, Josiah did not turn away from him, but disguised himself in order to fight with him. He did not listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, but came to fight in the plain of Megiddo.
—2 Chronicles 35:22

Man, my heart sinks when I read a verse like this, because Josiah had done so much good. We pray in light of 2 Chronicles 34 about all that he’d done since he was 8 years old, 16 years old, to seek God and all the reforms he brought about. 2 Chronicles 34 is such an awesome chapter.

And I just think even the commentary on Josiah’s life at the end of that chapter, God says, because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before me and tore your clothes and wept before me over sin among my people. Like, that’s the kind of picture we have of Josiah in the chapter right before this. And yet we get to 2 Chronicles 35:22, and Josiah’s not listening to the words that are coming from God’s mouth, and everything changes as a result.

2 Chronicles 35:22 points us to the daily battle of listening and obeying God.

As I read this, I’m just reminded that seeking God and listening to God and being an instrument in God’s hands for God’s glory and for the good of others is a daily battle. And it will be until the day we die. And as I read this verse, I just think: “God, please, please, please help me to always, relentlessly, continually, until I see your face, listen to you, and obey your Word.”

So can we just pray that, knowing that seeking him today doesn’t guarantee seeking him tomorrow, or a year from now, or 10 years from now? So God, we pray. We pray that you would help us each to be faithful all the way to the end. God, I pray this over my life and every single person listening right now. God, keep us from falling away.

2 Chronicles 35:22 reveals our need to depend on God’s faithfulness.

We pray that you’d preserve our faith. Help us to persevere in faith amidst all the challenges that we may be walking through right now or will walk through in the days to come. Help us to walk faithfully with you based on your faithfulness to us. Oh God, we praise you for always being faithful to us. We praise you for always speaking to us, for always guiding us and leading us as we look to you.

And so, God, we pray that you would help us to keep our eyes fixed on you in a Hebrews 12 kind of way, to faithfully fix our eyes on you, Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, on a daily basis, and to grow in intimacy with you on a daily basis and to be on guard, to keep alert, as Paul prays in Ephesians 6, against all the adversary’s attempts to pull us away from you.

Oh God, we pray this in our lives. We pray this for others around us. We just pray for the preservation of faith in our brothers and sisters in Christ. And God, we pray that you’d help us to spread faith in you, to lead others to faith in you right around us.

A Prayer for the Southeastern Pashtun People

God, we pray that you give us boldness to share the gospel with people around us today. And God, we pray for the Southeastern Pashtun of Afghanistan specifically. God, for over 4 million of them around Kabul with so little knowledge of the gospel, so much suffering. God, we pray, please cause your grace, your mercy, your love in Jesus, your glory in Jesus, to spread to the southeastern portion of Afghanistan. And God, we pray for our brothers and sisters in Afghanistan, for the small number of them who are there. Please, God, help them, strengthen them, and help them to persevere in faith and in all the challenges they’re facing, following you, Jesus, in Afghanistan. We pray for your upholding of their faith, even as we pray for the same thing in our lives.

All in the name of Jesus, the perfectly faithful one, we pray. Amen.