HealingStrong's Around the Word

Episode 31 - The Jehoshaphat Series: Returning to God's Ways (2 Chronicles 19:4-11 NIV)

• HealingStrong • Episode 10

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We explore the spiritual revival led by King Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 19:4-11, examining how he returned to God after straying and took concrete steps to lead his people back to righteousness.

• Jehoshaphat learned valuable lessons after his near-death experience and alliance with ungodly King Ahab
• He went among his people from Beersheba to the hill country, turning them back to the Lord
• Jehoshaphat appointed righteous judges throughout Judah and established godly governance
• Regular spiritual "house cleaning" is essential for identifying areas where we've drifted from God
• God's mercy is always available when we turn back to Him – "His mercies are new"
• Personal revival can happen at the individual, family, church, and even governmental levels

Suggested Resources:

BIBLE PLAN - Trusting God's Plan in the Battle: Lessons from the Life of Jehoshaphat

PODCAST - Genesis to Revelation Bible Reading

TOOLS - Refresh Your Spirit through God's Word


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Speaker 1:

The scripture tells us yeah, we're going to sin and we're going to fall short, but we turn to the Lord and we say forgive me and His mercies are new and we get back on track.

Speaker 2:

Well, hi, my name is Cheryl and you're listening to Healing Strong's. Around the Word. We are friends sitting around the table who love God's Word and we love digging deep into it. Each day you'll hear me reading a Bible passage and then we'll chat about what we're learning from it. I'll be reading 2 Chronicles 19, verses 4 through 11 from the NIV version of the Bible. So join us around the Word. 2 Chronicles 19, verses 4 through 11.

Speaker 2:

Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem and he went out again among the people, from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim and turned them back to the Lord, the God of their ancestors. He appointed judges in the land in each of the fortified cities of Judah. He told them Consider carefully what you do, because you are not judging for mere mortals but for the Lord, who is with you whenever you give a verdict. Now, let the fear of the Lord be on you. Judge carefully, for with the Lord, our God, there is no injustice or partiality or bribery. With the Lord, our God, there is no injustice or partiality or bribery.

Speaker 2:

In Jerusalem also, Jehoshaphat appointed some of the Levites, priests and heads of Israelite families to administer the law of the Lord and to settle disputes, and they lived in Jerusalem. He gave them these orders. You must serve faithfully and wholeheartedly, in the fear of the Lord. In every case that comes before you from your people who live in the cities, whether bloodshed or other concerns of the law, commands, decrees or regulations you are to warn them not to sin against the Lord, Otherwise His wrath will come on you and your people. Do this and you will not sin. That was our Bible reading for today. So now let's listen in on the discussion that Angie, Jeff, Susie and myself had around. The word Looks like we're getting back to the basics again, getting back to God.

Speaker 3:

Absolutely. He came back and I think he learned some very valuable lessons. When you see the demise of someone who is evil and you come back and the Lord reminds you through a prophet that what you did was absolutely wrong. So when the Holy Spirit convicts us, we need to take note of that. And Jehoshaphat was really good about getting back to the Lord, so much so that he went amongst his people from Beersheba to the hill country and Ephraim, and he also refortified the cities of Judah and he got the prophets out there to reignite the fear of the Lord within their hearts, and this is a very pivotal thing going forward.

Speaker 2:

He also. It says he turned them back to the Lord. So if he had to turn them back to the Lord, it makes me think they kind of got away from God again. Well, probably so.

Speaker 1:

Their leader had. Their leader had left them and joined an alliance with an ungodly king, the king of Israel Ahab. Of course and I love my translation Again it's the Living Bible, in verse four it says so Jehoshaphat made no more trips to Israel after that, but remained quietly at Jerusalem, and later he went out among his people.

Speaker 2:

So that makes me think that he learned his lesson Well and he's thinking he's not hanging out with the bad crowd again where he went off course.

Speaker 1:

So he came back home and he did some house cleaning, so to speak. So he fortified the cities and he encouraged the people to return to the Lord. We've always got that opportunity. The scripture tells us yeah, we're going to sin and we're going to fall short, but we turn to the Lord and we say forgive me and his mercies are new, and we get back on track.

Speaker 2:

How often do we need to do a spiritual house cleaning ourselves?

Speaker 1:

Yes, well, I have to about every hour because I tend to stray. But yeah, a frequent thing, a constant thing.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, just to check. It's like spring cleaning for your actual house. You do pick a time, you know, once your house has kind of gotten trashed, and you get into the little nooks and crannies, the places where you just overlook that it's there but it's dirty. And that's what we need to do in our hearts With the sin in our life. With the sin in our life. We have to take like a spiritual check to see, you know, have I drifted away from God? Have we gotten, have I gotten off course? And then go back to the Lord and ask him to create in me a clean heart, you know, renew a right spirit in me.

Speaker 3:

And the thing is is that you can see that the whole country apparently had gotten, like we were saying, away from the Lord because he was away from the Lord. But not only did he return their hearts to the Lord, but he also set up the system so that there would be righteous judges and they could handle disputes among themselves in an orderly fashion. That way, everything was reestablished. So I think he learned his lesson and said we need to get back to the basics, like you were saying earlier, and seek the Lord wholeheartedly.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, because beforehand, when he was getting people to the word the first time that we read he never set up judges. So you're right, he took it a step further because he had a near-death experience. He almost got killed people to the word the first time that we read he never set up judges. So you're right, he took it a step further because he had a near death experience. He almost got killed and that's going to really. I mean, he literally almost met his maker. So how many times do people really start changing their course? Whenever they have a close call or something happens, a tough scrape, then they're like I need to get back with God. I need to. You know that could be a listener that's listening right now. You know you have had a bad patch. Just know that you can go to God at any point. He is open arms, just like in the prodigal son story. The father is his big open arms waiting for that son to come back, and that can be you.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it can be on an individual basis, but, cheryl, I think it can also be on a family basis. The head of the household can say I'm going to rein this thing in, we're going to get back on track. Yeah, I think it can happen in a government, starting at a small level and going bigger all the way to the leaders of a.

Speaker 4:

I think he's given us three. I think there are three really important lessons here that he's laid out for us. Number one, he says consider carefully your actions. And number two he says serve faithfully. And the third thing he says is act with courage.

Speaker 2:

I love how Susie says that Serve faithfully, act with courage. Basically, jehoshaphat was having a revival. He was calling people to a revival, and so I want to give you all this question then have you considered an about face or something that you need to change in your life, and what would that look like? What would personal revival look like for you or for your family or for your church? Just something to consider as we're learning from good old Jehoshaphat. And thank you so much for joining us for Healing Strong's Around the Word podcast. I hope you were encouraged to dig deeper into God's Word. If you want to check out more about ushealingstrongorg, just go to our website. You can find out about our mission and our community groups. Until next time, remember, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.