Friday, August 7, 2009

I have found the book

Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. And the king went up to the house of the Lord, with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests and the Levites, all the people both great and small. And he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the Lord. And the king stood in his place and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book. Then he made all who were present in Jerusalem and in Benjamin join in it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers. And Josiah took away all the abominations from all the territory that belonged to the people of Israel and made all who were present in Israel serve the Lord their God. All his days they did not turn away from following the Lord, the God of their fathers. (2 Chron. 34:29-33)

I love this passage, because I love the word of God. Reading this again this morning only seems to increase my excitement for not only seeking the word, but being a doer and not just a hearer of the word.

One of the most prosperous and successful times in my life occurred about 2 years ago when I began to run 2-3 times a week with a good friend. We decided to memorise scripture throughout the week and to test each other come the beginning of the next. We started with the book of Psalms; one Psalm a week. Since that time Psalm 1 has never left me. I can still recite it word for word. Within a couple of days of beginning I found my self waking up to...'Blessed is the man who does not walk in the council of the wicked, or stand in the way of sinner, or sit it the seat of mockers, but his delight is in the Law of the Lord...' I would lay in bed late a night and the only thing going through my head would be...'he is like a tree planted by streams of water who yields it's fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither...whatever he does prospers.

When I look back on that time, I don't think my marriage had been in a better place up until that point. I don't think i had experienced peace like I did then for a long time. I encountered great favor at work. I made more money in 4 months than I'd previously made in a year. I don't think I realised it then but when I look back on it now...whatever I did seemed to prosper. Perhaps because for the first time in a while, I was not walking in the council of anyone but God. My delight was in the law of the Lord.

Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his father; and he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet a boy, he began to seek the God of David his father (2 Chron. 34:1-3).

Make sure you carry out The Revelation that Moses commanded you, every bit of it. Don't get off track, either left or right, so as to make sure you get to where you're going. And don't for a minute let this Book of The Revelation be out of mind. Ponder and meditate on it day and night, making sure you practice everything written in it. Then you'll get where you're going; then you'll succeed (Joshua 1:8 Msg).

Grace,
Andrew.

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