Happy new month everyone!

I pray that this new month is filled with all that The Good Lord has willed for your life.

I had been reading the book of Chronicles, which I finished last month and all that had been on my heart was the importance of having a good foundation, as well as the importance of finishing well. The book of Chronicles is about many kings, many kings that either started well but did not finish well, started badly and finished well, or did not start well at all and finished badly.

My frustration grew as I read the book of Chronicles because God gave these kings clear instructions:

“if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” II Chronicles 7:14

“As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, and do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My judgments,” II Chronicles 7:17

“then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man as ruler in Israel.’”II Chronicles 7:18

As for you, my son Solomon , know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever. 1 Chronicles 28:9

God also gave these kings clear warnings:

““But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods, and worship them,” II Chronicles 7:19

“then I will uproot them from My land which I have given them; and this house which I have sanctified for My name I will cast out of My sight, and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.” II Chronicles 7:20

““And as for this house, which is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land and this house?’” II Chronicles 7:21

“Then they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore He has brought all this calamity on them.’ ”” II Chronicles 7:22

God was talking to Solomon the king after king David. It is important to note that king David was a man after God’s own heart. He started well and although he did not finish greatly, he had a heart of repentance that caused God to blot out his iniquities and continue a covenant of blessings, prosperity and favour with him and his children’s children. I will share on the kings that have so far stood out to me based on the topic of finishing well, and the lessons that we ought to learn so that we do not fall into the same mistakes. It is after all, God’s will that we finish well and dwell with him eternity.

Job 8:7 confirms this, as it says ‘And though thy beginning was small, yet thine end shall be very great.’

Warning 1: King Solomon

Starting with Wisdom, Ending with Lust

King Solomon started well, in 1 Kings 3 he acknowledged God and instead for asking for worldly riches when God asked him what his heart desired to have, instead he asked God for wisdom and it was this request that caused God to bless Solomon far beyond anyone that had ever lived! Solomon therefore started well, he led his people in wisdom and he build a spectacular temple for The Lord to dwell amongst his people. However, in 1 Kings 11 Solomon lusted after many strange women, he had the desire to marry more than one wife something in which his father David had also done. Solomon took marrying many women to the extreme, so much so that his heart began to drift far away from the Lord, and it was this that caused Solomon to finish badly.

Mark 8:36 says ‘For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?’

In the much that Solomon had he began to forget that the source of His power came from God. That is why it is important to pray that God should bless you with enough, enough that would not cause you to stray away from Him. We must trust in God and not in our flesh, for our flesh is likely to fail us but God will never ever fail us. Brethren, in this day and age where lust is the very voice of this world, we must be determined as believers to keep our eyes focused on God more than ever.

For what is the point of worldly things without God?

The world God says in Matthew 24:35 will pass away but His very Word will forever remain.

Be diligent therefore in ensuring that your heart is always secure in The Lord. It’s the heart of David that God saw and it’s that heart that God forgave because he saw a true and loyal heart of worship, of humility and repentance.

“Yet the LORD would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that He had made with David, and since He had promised to give a lamp to him and to his sons forever.” II Chronicles 21:7

So he died in a good old age , full of days and riches and honor; and Solomon his son reigned in his place. 1 Chronicles 29:28

Warning 2: King Asa

Starting with destroying idols, Ending with associating with ungodly people.

In 2 Chronicles 14 King Asa started well.

He removed all high places and altars, he sought the Lord and led the people into seeking The Lord also.

Like Solomon since Asa started so well the Lord reminded him to continue to seek The Lord and to also warn him of the consequences that would follow should he turn away from The Lord.

“Now the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded.” II Chronicles 15:1

“And he went out to meet Asa, and said to him: “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin. The LORD is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.” II Chronicles 15:2

“For a long time Israel has been without the true God, without a teaching priest, and without law;” II Chronicles 15:3

“but when in their trouble they turned to the LORD God of Israel, and sought Him, He was found by them.” II Chronicles 15:4

“But you, be strong and do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded!”” II Chronicles 15:7

“And when Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and removed the abominable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities which he had taken in the mountains of Ephraim; and he restored the altar of the LORD that was before the vestibule of the LORD.” II Chronicles 15:8

The most dangerous thing is for God to be far away from you. If you are without God, then you are without hope. Brethren I encourage you to call upon the name of The Lord and be saved! You see, God loves us that much that every step of the way He is there to guide us, in order for us to stay on the right path. In 2 Chronicles 16 however, King Asa made a decision without acknowledging God first.

“And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said to him: “Because you have relied on the king of Syria, and have not relied on the LORD your God, therefore the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand.” II Chronicles 16:7

“Were the Ethiopians and the Lubim not a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet, because you relied on the LORD, He delivered them into your hand.” II Chronicles 16:8

He began to lean on his own understanding. Not only did he associate himself with the Syrians and making a treaty with them, but he put his trust in them, irrespective of the fact that God had showed himself mighty and strong in his life by making him victorious in times of war. It was this very decision that he made that caused his downfall. Yet the ending of king Asa’s life was even the more disappointing.

“And in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa became diseased in his feet, and his malady was severe; yet in his disease he did not seek the LORD, but the physicians.” II Chronicles 16:12

A man that started well by seeking the Lord, ended badly by refusing to seek Him. King Asa forgot God and he did not seek Him in his final hour, what a disastrous ending to a life that started so well. How sad it is, that we easily forget all that The Lord has done for us, and it all started by king Asa associating himself with wrong people. This is why the bible clearly states in 2 Corinthians 6:14, that we must not be unequally yoked with unbelievers.

God knows how easily persuaded the flesh can be, and that is why He always urges us to be discerning, to watch and pray. Brethren, let us remember to make God the head of our lives, and I pray that we shall not be distracted by the many traps set by the enemy to destruct us.

Warning 3: King Jehoshaphat

Started with teaching the people the truth of God, Ending with backsliding.

King Jehoshaphat was the most frustrating king for me to read about lol because I really thought this one was going to finish well, lol I was do happy when reading about him because the first couple of the chapters were all going so well, so much so that I skipped to following chapters just to check if he indeed did finish well, but too my disappointment he did not. I remember feeling so disappointed, and then The Holy Spirit said imagine how God feels for the amount of times many people have started so well with Him and then disappointed Him by turning away from Him. I remembered that even I myself have made decisions that were not in line with the perfect will of God at all, I was reminded of how I’m not perfect and was humbled.

For every believer in this day and age, it really is only by the grace of God. It’s only by the Blood of Jesus and the sacrifice that He made that we are even still alive today. So we ought to be very very grateful for the grace of God, and we must not take His grace and divine mercy for granted, at all! In 2 Chronicles 17 king Jehoshaphat who started well, he taught the people in the ways of The Lord and the scripture tells of how he walked in the ways of David which God acknowledged as being good. However in chapter 18 like king Asa he associated himself with the wrong people.

“Jehoshaphat had riches and honor in abundance; and by marriage he allied himself with Ahab.” II Chronicles 18:1

King Ahab was the husband of Jezebel and did evil in the sight of the Lord. For Jehoshaphat to be allied with Abab through marriage, means that he married someone that would most definitely steer his heart away from The Lord. It was his association with king Ahab that nearly cost him his life, but in chapter 19 The Lord gave him another chance. King Jehoshaphat began to walk in righteousness again.

“And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to King Jehoshaphat, “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD? Therefore the wrath of the LORD is upon you.” II Chronicles 19:2

“Now therefore, let the fear of the LORD be upon you; take care and do it, for there is no iniquity with the LORD our God, no partiality, nor taking of bribes.”” II Chronicles 19:7

“And he commanded them, saying, “Thus you shall act in the fear of the LORD, faithfully and with a loyal heart:” II Chronicles 19:9

However, in 2 Chronicles 20 king Jehoshaphat backslid into the same trap again. However, what was most interesting is that he fell in to the same trap after he had just won a great victory by the power and assurance of God. He forgot all that Lord had done and finished badly by forming destructive alliances.

“After this Jehoshaphat king of Judah allied himself with Ahaziah king of Israel, who acted very wickedly.” II Chronicles 20:35

For me, it’s almost as if it’s a mystery of the way in which king Jehoshaphat just suddenly forgot what The Lord has just done for him, and it was reading this that I became very disappointed. However, it causes me to repent of the times whereby I totally forget to count my blessings and name them one by one, each time a storm arises. It’s in that storm that we must remember our God and not forget Him, else the devil will keep you in that storm and you will never get back to your blessings. It is so very easy for us to forget, one the Lord has raised us up, it’s so very easy to backslide when we are always surrounded with temptation and it is also very easy to be lured to the wrong people, but that is if your heart is in the wrong place.

So again I urge you to check where is your heart? Is it in a a place of pride, or is it in a place of lust, is it in a place of hypocrisy and deceit, or is your heart with The Lord? It’s time to have a check up on our hearts.

Jehoshaphat somehow forgot that God calls leaders not only to begin a race, but to finish it. That is the only way to stand in the winner’s circle at heaven’s reward ceremonies.

Warning 4: king Johash, king Amaziah, king Uzziah

Three young kings that started well walking in righteousness but ended badly with a disloyal heart,

But only one young king finished well by Repenting and that was king Mannaseh.

I mentioned all four kings here because they were all young when they became kings. The youngest being Joash who was just 7 years old, Amaziah was 25 Uzziah was 16 and Mannaseh was 12. Their ages reminds me that it does not matter how old you are, you don’t have to give your life to Christ when you are old. Most young people believe that life is to be lived recklessly from when their young and sensibly from when they are old. This is something that the world teaches the youth today, and it is no wonder why many young people have strayed away from God. If we really study the bible we will see that God loved using young people and young people loved living for The Lord. Yes it’s a great sacrifice to live for God but it’s a sacrifice worth living for, because you are guaranteed a life filled with joy and life in abundance.

The late Billy Graham a great man of God that impacted many generations, often preached about repentance, the cross and turning away from the lusts of the flesh to everyone including young people, and it is this message that the youth needs to hear today. It is God that will keep our youth on the right path and the youth are more than help to live a life that is pleasing to The Lord and build the kingdom of God.

If a 7 year old, a 16 year old, a 12 year old and a 25 year old could be king, then brethren why can’t our children, our youth and our young adults be just as great?! It is time for a young generation of power filled young people to rise up and fulfil the great works of our Lord Jesus Christ. Billy Graham made such a great impact here on earth, and I pray that as we strive to walk in the perfect will of our Father that we will also make a great impact too.

Joash started well by repairing the temple in 2 Chronicles but later did not finish well. However, after the priest who served the Lord faithfully died, Joash turned away from The Lord.

“But Jehoiada grew old and was full of days, and he died; he was one hundred and thirty years old when he died.” II Chronicles 24:15

This makes me wonder whether Joash actually had a true encounter with The Lord, or he just followed the priest. Which reminds me of how a lot of Christians are today in the body of Christ. Just following the crowd, being busy in the church, but not actually having a relationship with God, and I believe this was the downfall of Joash. King Amaziah started well but he did not finish well.

“And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD, but not with a loyal heart.” II Chronicles 25:2

Finally, king Uzziah started well but he did not finish well. His downfall was pride, the sin that kicked satan out of heaven. Be careful of this very sin, and do not allow it to destroy your destiny.

“But when he was strong his heart was lifted up, to his destruction, for he transgressed against the LORD his God by entering the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense.” II Chronicles 26:16

King Manasseh started terribly.

“But he did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.” II Chronicles 33:2

He sacrificed his children, he worshipped idols, he was into witchcraft, all sorts of abominations Mannaseh committed and he led his people into the same sins. However, in the same chapter God spoke to Mannaseh and the people ad carried them over to Babylon. It was this that caused the turning point for the king. He repented and took away all the high places and began to lead the people in righteousness. King Mannaseh therefore finished well, however his past sins still had an impact on the kings to come. The following king brought back all the idols that he had removed. This is why as Christians we must be careful of what we do, people are watching our every move and it is true that for some we are the bible that they would ever read. I pray that we shall make a positive impact here on earth and to focus on God, as we strive to complete this race of righteousness.

Brethren the time is NOW to FINISH WELL.

The fact that you are still alive today means that you still have a purpose to fulfil.  Please do not waste it. Don’t wait until it’s too late, else you may never finish your race. Decide now, and finish well.

For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing. 2 Timothy 4:6-8

God richly bless you and thank you for reading.🔥😊♥️🙏