“He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. So that there was none like him among all the Kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him for he held fast to the Lord. He did not depart from following Him, but kept the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses and the Lord was with him. Wherever he went out he prospered.”
– 2 Kings 18:5–7
Oh, what a wonderful description specifically here of Hezekiah. But as I read 2 Kings 18:5–7, I think I want these things to be true in my life and I’m assuming you want these things to be true in your life. Listen to this language. He trusted in the Lord. Trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. He held fast to the Lord. He did not depart from following Him. And he kept the commandments of the Lord and the Lord was with Him and wherever he went out, he prospered.
That’s super simple to pray for our lives. I just want to pray these verses over you today and over my life today. God, we pray in light of picture in Hezekiah in 2 Kings 18:5–7. We pray over our lives. God, help us to trust in you amidst whatever’s going on in each of our lives right now, help us to trust in you with all our heart lean, not on our own understanding. Help us to live by faith today trusting in you with the things that are heavy on our hearts, with the things that we need your help in, the things we don’t understand.
We Should Trust In God And Hold Fast To Him
So God, we pray you to help us to trust in you and to hold fast to you. God, in a world where we are tempted at every turn to turn away from you to hold loosely to you in your word, God, we pray that you’d help us to hold fast to you today that you would preserve and strengthen our faith today that we might not depart from following you. God help us to follow you all day long today, tomorrow in our lives. Help us to walk and step with your spirit and obedience to your commands. Hezekiah kept the commandments the Lord commanded Moses.
2 Kings 18:5–7 Prays For Us To Walk In Obedience To God
God, we pray that would be true of our lives that we would walk in obedience to your commands. We think about your words, Jesus in John 15. “You’re my friends if you do what I command.” May it be so in us today, help us to walk in obedience to you, and may your presence and all of your fullness be with us. God, we know even reading this in the Old Testament that we have a greater promise and a greater reality based on the New Covenant that when we put our trust in Jesus by your grace, you not only forgave us of your sin, but you filled us with your spirit.
2 Kings 18:5–7 Prays For His Spirit Be Evident In Us
So God we pray that your spirits fullness would be evident in us. We pray that just like Stephen in Acts chapter six and seven, we would live today full of the Holy Spirit and wherever we go in everything we do, we pray for prosperity. Prosperity not according to this world, but prosperity according to your word and your good design for our lives. We trust that when we follow you that we will experience abundant life, life to the full.
So God may it be so. I just pray this over every single person listening right now and over my own life, help us to trust in you, hold fast to you. Follow you, obey you. And may your presence be strong with us today that we might prosper for others good, for our good, and ultimately for your glory. In Jesus’ name, we pray according to 2 Kings 18:5–7. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
