#562 While

The Spirit of God came[a] upon Azariah the son of Oded, 2 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. 3 For a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without law, 4 but when in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them. 5 In those times there was no peace to him who went out or to him who came in, for great disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands.6 They were broken in pieces. Nation was crushed by nation and city by city, for God troubled them with every sort of distress. 7 But you, take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded.”

8 As soon as Asa heard these words, the prophecy of Azariah the son of Oded, he took courage and put away the detestable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities that he had taken in the hill country of Ephraim, and he repaired the altar of the Lord that was in front of the vestibule of the house of the Lord.[b] 9 And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and those from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were residing with them, for great numbers had deserted to him from Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with him. 10 They were gathered at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. 11 They sacrificed to the Lord on that day from the spoil that they had brought 700 oxen and 7,000 sheep. 12 And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul, 13 but that whoever would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman. 14 They swore an oath to the Lord with a loud voice and with shouting and with trumpets and with horns. 15 And all Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and had sought him with their whole desire, and he was found by them, and the Lord gave them rest all around.

16 Even Maacah, his mother, King Asa removed from being queen mother because she had made a detestable image for Asherah. Asa cut down her image, crushed it, and burned it at the brook Kidron. 17 But the high places were not taken out of Israel. Nevertheless, the heart of Asa was wholly true all his days. 18 And he brought into the house of God the sacred gifts of his father and his own sacred gifts, silver, and gold, and vessels. 19 And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa. 2 Chronicles 15 ESV

Draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you. The Bible tells us to seek Him while He may be found. He delivered them from the Ethiopians, but lest they should be satisfied with an instance, He sends His word to them by the mouth of the prophet. Don't be complaisant, tomorrow will have it's own test, and don't be delusional, thank God for what has occurred today, for your little army was not sufficient in itself. Do not go home as if it is separate from the battlefield, whatever you do and where ever you are, be about His business. Listen carefully, for a long time you had no teachers, do not forsake the means when it is with you. Look back at the law, bring it to the forefront, let it be so woven in your heart that it finds its way easily to your lips. Asa not only hears but becomes a doer of the Word, he sets about immediately to tear down every idol, for what good is it to add the one true God to the shelf of all others? Christ said, I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by Me. Take away those that are not the path, remove those that are no light, and taste the bread of life. Many came to Asa from all over when they knew the Lord was with him. They deserted the false temples of Israel, where the calves were held up, the priests were no priests and idolatry was rampant. Come out of her, she says she serves the living God, but she has left the law of God to writer her own way, she has abandoned the truth and that is no life. Come out and seek the Lord with us. Again it mentions his mother, Maacah, for she was an idolater, and there is no more difficult influence to shake than that of your mom, but Christ again said, who is my mother, who is my brother, but those who do the will of my father. If you choose anything over Him, He says you are not worthy of Him. He makes it clear that He did not come to destroy the law or the prophets, that He would pour out everything to do the will of His father, that He only did what He saw the Father doing. Who are you then to take such license, to make your own pseudo "Christianity", to make so light of His cross?

On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, 6 with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. 7 And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, 9 if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. 11 This Jesus[a] is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.[b] 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men[c] by which we must be saved.” Acts 4: 5-12