June 18 - 2 Kings 11:1-3 | 2 Chronicles 22:10-12 | 2 Kings 11:4-12 | 2 Chronicles 23:1-11 | 2 Kings 11:13-16 | 2 Chronicles 23:12-15 | 2 Kings 11:17-21 | 2 Chronicles 23:16-21 | 2 Kings 12:1-16 | 2 Chronicles 24:1-22 | 2 Kings 10:32-36

Good morning everyone,

Well, this morning we are going to travel back down to Judah where we find Athaliah, the mother of king Ahaziah, you remember him; right? He was killed by Jehu the same day Jehu killed king Joram while carrying out his orders to wipe out the entire family of Ahab. Anyway, with king Ahaziah now dead his mother, not such a sweet woman, is going to do all in her power to secure the throne, giving orders to destroy the whole royal family of the house of Judah; (yikes! that’s not good for us!) all of her sons and grandsons, leaving her to rule the land.  However, unbeknownst to her, there would be one who escaped. With the help of his Auntie, little one year old Joash, along with his nurse, were quickly swept away and hid in the temple of God for six years.

 In the seventh year Jehoiada the priest felt it was time to put the king on the throne, so he gathered the Levites and the heads of the Israelite families to an assembly where they made a covenant with the king, seven year old Joash, at the temple of God. Jehoiada said to them, “The king’s son shall reign, as the Lord promised concerning the descendants of David.” They brought him out into the open, and put the crown on him; they presented him with a copy of the covenant and proclaimed him king. They anointed him and shouted, “Long live the king!” As you can imagine, when Athaliah heard all the commotion  and realized her plan had at long last failed, she was not a happy person, tearing her robes and shouting, “Treason!” They promptly marched her out and put her to death. Then, Jehoiada made a covenant that he, the people and the king would be the Lord’s people. Love that! Don’t you? 

Preserving the life of Joash was a big deal for Christians. Had the line of David ended so would end any hope that we have for salvation because God tells us in Isaiah that that is where our Wonderful Counselor will come from. It comes as no surprise that God had his way over the evil attempts of Satin. You can always believe and act on anything, on everything God says he will do. God always tells the truth. 

I loved in todays reading how in 2 Kings 11:10-11 they took the spears and shields hanging from the walls that King David had used in his victories and used them in their battle. It begs the question, what victories do you have, do we all have, hanging on our walls that we can take down and use to fight for someone else? What wondrous deeds has God blessed you with to share to encourage others? We all should be exploding with “This is what the Lord has done in my life today,” stories, sharing His goodness. Because you know what? We all have suffered in some way, needed to exercise faith at some time and it is so much easier to go through anything when we know someone else has been there and survived. It gives us hope, it helps us to recognize wicked lies of the enemy as just that, lies. Right? 

So let’s be one in Christ, united, supporting one another. 2 Chronicles 30:12 reads, “Also in Judah the hand of God was on the people to give them unity of mind to carry out what the king and his officials had ordered, following the word of the LORD.”  The enemy prowls around looking for that sheep who is straying, poised to pounce. 1 Corinthians 10:24 says, “People should be concerned about others and not just about themselves.” I would encourage you to look for those stray sheep and use your weapons of victory to help and encourage them. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 says, “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” Amen?

Have a good day and to God be the glory.

God bless you all …