When I came upon 2 Chronicles 24:20 this morning, these words stood out. The entire verse is, “𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘡𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘩 𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘑𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘢𝘥𝘢 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴𝘵. 𝘏𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥, “𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘴: 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘣𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥’𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨? 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶!””

The king, leaders, and people had willingly chosen to leave the ways of God to live as their hearts desired.

The words, “Why do you disobey the Lord’s commands and 𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴?” jumped off the page at me.

We all want to prosper, right? I mean, we could all use a raise on income and a lowering of expenses.

Sorry. This isn’t that.

The word translated as prosper here is תַצְלִ֔יחוּ, meaning: strong, effective, powerful; be of use; succeed; be successful, succeed, enjoy success; make succeed.

The idea isn’t that you’ll be wealthy in cash, but in true success. You’ll be useful to the Lord and those around you. You’ll be effective in the things you do for Him. Your life, your ministry, your words will be powerful in the hands of the Lord.

If you’re trying and trying to serve God but all your efforts fall flat, it might be that there is disobedience somewhere in your life. BUT…that’s not the end-all, my friend. That’s just the beginning!

Like David did in Psalms 26:2, ask God to examine every part of you. As Jeremiah urged in Lamentations 3:40, test and examine your ways to see what is out of alignment with the Lord.
CONFESS: Agree with God about any disobedience in you, then turn from it.
REPENT: Determine in that moment that no matter how good that feels, no matter how confident or powerful or entertained that thing makes you feel, you’re choosing God over it every time.

In that moment, God will forgive you and wash you of all that UNrighteousness and put your prosperity back in place.

Choose well today, my friend. Choose well.

Coffee, Bible, Journal.