Stay strong til the end

January 2016 God woke me with the names Hilkiah and Josiah. I didn’t know who they were so I went to the Bible. God had been speaking to me in dreams for about 4 months when He showed me these names. I spent a good deal of time reading about these 2 and trying to discern what God was showing me.

Recently God brought them to mind again and I felt He wanted me to revisit these portions of Scripture.

I opened my prayer journal from 2016 where I referenced 2 Chronicles 34:22-28 and 2 Kings 22 and 23. I wrote, “Lord, protect us like Hilkiah and bring us a Josiah.”

What I meant by this prayer I think you will see shortly.

This was pre-election 2016.

The story of Josiah is pretty cool. Hilkiah was the priest who discovered the book of the law that had been lost/hidden from sight prior to Josiah, the king, calling for the repair of the temple. It was brought to Josiah. When Josiah heard the reading of the book, he understood God’s judgements to come because his ancestors had not obeyed God and had provoked God’s wrath by the shedding of much innocent blood.

Hilkiah and a few others sought a prophetess (Huldah), who spoke what the Lord said. Disaster was coming because the people had abandoned God, they worshipped false gods, they did much evil.

But God had this to say, “As for the words that you heard, because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they would become a desolation and a curse, and because you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I Myself have heard you – this is the Lord’s declaration – therefore, I will indeed gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not see all the disaster that I am bringing on this place.” Then they reported to the king. 2 Kings 22:15-20

Josiah brought forth reform. Major reform. Read all about what he did in chapter 23. He followed God’s ways and made changes in the nation that aligned with God’s heart and will. He reversed what had been done. Josiah was a good king after a string of evil kings. In fact 2 kings prior to Josiah, Manasseh was king and was one of the most evil of all the kings. He shed much blood and did extreme evil (sacrificed his own son, consulted mediums, practiced witchcraft, and so much more!)

While Josiah was king, the nation prospered. God protected Hilkiah and Josiah and they didn’t live to see the disaster that devoured their nation. After Josiah, only evil kings took the throne. They had short reigns and the nation was taken and deported to Babylon where they remained in captivity for many years.

Does this sound familiar to you?

Now, today, I see what God wanted me to see. I believe we’ve been blessed with one like Josiah, willing to bring reform and change that aligned with the will of God. But evil hates good because evil hates everything. No good resides in the heart of evil and its one goal is destruction.

During this season of dreams, on this same journal entry I wrote, “the enemy will use fear to separate us and divide us. When we resist fear, it’s like standing up to a bully.”

The urgency I feel is back to where it was in 2015/2016 when God began speaking to me in dreams. My urgency died when the world began to prosper in a sense and all was well. I thought I’d heard God wrong. All the warnings and alarms He sounded to me I now realize were in preparation for today, where we are right now in the timeline.

I know the tendency is toward fear. But we have nothing to fear, even death. We are to resist fear at all costs. You know how we do that? We press in and pray. We don’t stop praying. We meditate on scripture. Let it sink into our souls.

I believe we will see some very scary things soon. But I believe God’s Word. He tells us to persevere all the way to the end. We have crowns awaiting us friends!! When we stand with Him and receive our rewards for our faithfulness here, all of this will seem tiny. Hold tight. Stand strong. Don’t bow to fear. Ever.