Throughout the Scriptures, we see that success of a person is in constant fellowship with God.
Second Chronicles chapters 14, 15, and 16 tell about king Asa. The story of his life is a vivid example of the fact that a good beginning is not yet a guarantee of a successful end. “Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God, for he removed the altars of the foreign gods… He commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers and to observe the law and the commandment…” (2 Ch. 14:2-5).
Because of doing God’s will, wars ceased, and Judah had rest and peace from the Lord. Asa started to build fortified cities: “‘…Because we have sought the Lord our God; we have sought Him, and He has given us rest on every side.’ So they built and prospered. And Asa had an army of three hundred thousand from Judah who carried shields and spears, and from Benjamin two hundred and eighty thousand men who carried shields and drew bows; all these were mighty men of valor” (2 Ch. 14:7-8).
But the hope of Asa was not in the walls and towers or the army. Praise God for this, because there is always someone who is stronger. Zerah the Ethiopian came out against Asa “with an army of a million men and three hundred chariots, and he came to Mareshah” (2 Ch. 14:9). Asa cred out to the Lord his God and said, “Lord, it is nothing for You to help, whether with many or with those who have no power; help us, O Lord our God, for we rest on You, and in Your name we go against this multitude” (2 Ch. 14:11). It is written, “So the Ethiopians were overthrown, and they could not recover” (2 Ch. 14:13).
Asa knew how to be grateful the Lord and bring Him sacrifices of thanksgiving: “So they gathered together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. And they offered to the Lord at that time… Then they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul… And there was no war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa” (2 Ch. 15:10-19).
There was peace in the country for twenty years. In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, king Baasha of Israel posed a military threat to king Asa, starting to fortify the city of Ramah. To avoid the danger, Asa turned to the Syrian king Ben-Hadad for help. He reminded Ben-Hadad that there was a treaty between their fathers, and proposed a treaty between them. He took gold and silver from the treasuries of the house of God and from his own treasuries and sent them to him, offering to break his treaty with Baasha. Ben-Hadad agreed.
It seemed peace was restored, and everything he had done was right; the danger was prevented, and moreover, Asa took the stones and timber from the fortified Ramah and built two new cities. “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. 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. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. In this you have done foolishly; therefore, from now on you shall have wars.’ Then Asa was angry with the seer, and put him in prison… And Asa oppressed some of the people at that time” (2 Ch. 16:7-10).
When a person stops his daily fellowship with the Lord and forgets the One Who strengthens him, the spirit of pride hardens his heart, and he loses everything he has built by the leading of the Lord.
In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, king Asa became diseased; however, because of his hardened heart, he again did not turn to God and died in the forty-first year of his reign. It is sad that he reigned for thirty-six years trusting in the Lord and receiving good things from Him, but afterwards he attributed that success to his own wisdom and diplomacy…
Pride blinded his spiritual ayes. Instead of heeding to the prophet, Asa imprisoned him. Asa did not repent from his sin; having left God, he trusted in man – Ben-Hadad the king of Syria. And because he had no repentance, he again put his hope in man – in physicians, when he had a disease. “Yet in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but the physicians. So Asa rested with his fathers; he died in the forty-first year of his reign.” (2 Ch. 16:12-13).
A good beginning is not a guarantee of a successful end. Walking with the Lord and constantly following the leading of His Spirit is an everyday process. Fellowship with the Lord helps a person to stay humble. Humility, meekness and obedience are the guarantee of a prosperous course of life and a successful end.
“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Mt. 11:29). Jesus says, “Learn from Me.” He never did anything of Himself. “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner” (Jn. 5:19).
Often Christian ministers take too much on themselves. They think that their experience of many years, human wisdom and skills will help them serve the Lord properly, but it is not so. Joshua had an army, commanders that ran the troops, and spies, but he experienced defeat, because he listened to the spies. He had to trust in the Lord all the time, like David who was a man according to God’s heart and inquired God about everything. Before a battle, seasoned spies told Joshua, “Do not let all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai” (Jos. 7:3). The result of that counsel was a shameful defeat.
When Joshua prayed, the Lord revealed to him the reason of the defeat – one person in the army violated the command of the Lord and brought curse on the whole army. When that sin was exposed and eliminated, the Lord ordered Joshua to take the whole army and gave him a strategy for the battle. This time, victory was secured. The spies of Joshua could not know about all that. The same thing can happen in our days as well, in the lives of each of us. That is why it is important to have constant fellowship with God.
For many, it is a daily habit to spend time in the social media or in front of TV, chat for hours over a cup of coffee or talk on the phone for a long time. You have probably noticed how time flies during such activities. I spoke about this with one of my friends, and she said that in this way, she gets away from everyday routine and learns new things. I understand her, because I too thought that way, until one day the Lord told me, “If you had a speck of diamond dust, would you throw it into a trash bin?” Of course, I would not do it, because even a speck of diamond dust is valuable. Valuable are every second and minute also. However, how much valuable time do we lose reassuring ourselves that we actually rest and develop our taste? I am not against the TV, social media or conversations over a cup of coffee; I am against wasting time. We need moderation in all things; no wonder people say, “Time is gold.”
The Lord has a lot of ways to give everyone of us rest, peace and knowledge. He wants a godly person to give Him all the days of his life wholly, becoming a temple of the Holy Spirit in the fullest sense. Jesus entered the Temple in Jerusalem and overturned the tables of moneychangers and the chairs of sellers of doves. “And He said to those who sold doves, ‘Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!’” (Jn. 2:16). Oftentimes, a person divides the day into Bible reading with prayer and personal matters. However, God wants every day of our life to be completely entrusted to Him. When we give Him our whole day, the Holy Spirit leads us. His suggestion might not be what we would prefer, but we will do well if we submit.
One day, when I was writing an article for my blog and was looking for a certain passage from the Bible, I heard the voice of the Holy Spirit. “Send a message to Arsen; he will help you, and you will rest during that time.” First, I did not understand that it was the voice of the Holy Spirit, and I thought, “I will find the passage I need myself; why disturbing him?” I looked for almost ten minutes, but when I saw that I was unable to find anything, I sent a message to Arsen; he often helps me in such matters. Before he sent the necessary passage from the Bible, I managed to have a coffee and rest. I was so surprised when I saw that the passage Arsen sent was much more complete than what I was looking for (it had to do with different Gospels, in which, as we know, each of the four Evangelists presents the same story in his own way). God’s will is always “good, pleasant and perfect” (Rom. 12:2).
I do not suggest asking the Holy Spirit all the time about every family or household decision; I speak about being in the Spirit and doing God’s Word all the time. A person must accustom himself to hearing God’s voice and obedience, which takes time. One must have commitment to read the Word and have fellowship with the Lord in the secret place. A godly person is a child of God, as well as a servant of the Lord: “Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle…” (Rom. 1:1). When a person is in constant fellowship with the Lord, the Lord will reveal to him the future and will show the dangers ahead, as well as how to avoid them. Abraham was a servant and worshipper of the Lord. Before destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing?” (Gen. 18:17).
In the next post, I will continue this article and will move on to another important topic – how to receive a prophetic word and how to understand whether it is really from the Lord.