20-20 Blog

Scripture Focus:

2 Chronicles 35:22-24 But Josiah was spoiling for a fight and wouldn’t listen to a thing Neco said (in actuality it was God who said it). Though King Josiah disguised himself when they met on the plain of Megiddo, archers shot him anyway.

The king said to his servants, “Get me out of here—I’m badly wounded.”

So his servants took him out of his chariot and laid him down in an ambulance chariot and drove him back to Jerusalem. He died there and was buried in the family cemetery

Observation:

Josiah was such a good king. He swept away all the idols and altars to false Gods in Judah and Israel. He reinstituted the Passover holiday after it had lain dormant since the days of the prophet Samuel. (Even David and Solomon hadn’t observed the Passover.)

Then we read this story about a foolhardy decision he made to fight Neco, king of Egypt, when Neco was busy making alliances with the King of Assyria to go after the Babylonians. Neco warned him that not to fight saying that he had no quarrel with Josiah, but Josiah went after him anyway.

The end of the story? Josiah got killed, even though he disguised himself.

It’s a sad ending to an otherwise exemplary life.

Application:

If I’m doing all the right things, I can get cocky and bull-headed and not listen to good counsel or good judgement. I should be humble and pray for wisdom no matter how much “success” I’ve previously encountered.

Prayer:

Father God, I want to finish strong. Too many leaders are great for a season and then poop out right at the end. Help me to keep my eyes on you.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Scripture Focus:

2 Chronicles 19:11 (Jehoshaphat to the leaders of Judah) “Be bold and diligent. And God be with you as you do your best.”
Colossians 4:17 (Paul to church leaders) “Do your best in the job you received from the Master. Do your very best.”

Observation:

I found it interesting that the same basic command is given to leaders in the Old Testament and the New Testament: Do your best—your very best. God does promise to do mighty things for us, but that doesn’t take away our responsibility to do our best, our very best.

Application:

I can’t do my very best tomorrow. I can only do my very best right now. This moment. Am I doing the things that will move me, my business, and the Kingdom of God forward right now? Or am I frittering my time away on pleasant, but unprofitable, activities?

Prayer:

Father God, help me keep on track today. I’ve laid out my schedule for the day to the best of my ability, and now it’s up to me to stay on task and do my best. My very best.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Scripture Focus:

Proverbs 16: 3 Put God in charge of your work,
then what you’ve planned will take place.

Proverbs 16: 9 We plan the way we want to live,
but only God makes us able to live it.

Observation:

God is available to be the boss of my work and of my life. If I let him be in charge, then what I plan will take place. God is the one who enables my plans to succeed.

Application:

I can feel like everything depends on me in my business and forget that God is willing to take charge and make sure my business plans will succeed. Why is it so easy to forget that God is the boss and begin to take on all the responsibility and stress of being the boss myself?! He’s much better at the job, so let Him do it!

Prayer:

Father God, you’re the boss. Please show me what I need to do today—and give me the grace and will to do it!

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Scripture Focus:

1 Kings 4:1–7
King Solomon was off to a good start ruling Israel. These were the leaders in his government:
Azariah son of Zadok—the priest;
Elihoreph and Ahijah, sons of Shisha—secretaries;
Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud—historian;
Benaiah son of Jehoiada—commander of the army;
Zadok and Abiathar—priests;
Azariah son of Nathan—in charge of the regional managers;
Zabud son of Nathan—priest and friend to the king;
Ahishar—manager of the palace;
Adoniram son of Abda—manager of the slave labor.

Solomon had twelve regional managers distributed throughout Israel. They were responsible for supplying provisions for the king and his administration. Each was in charge of bringing supplies for one month of the year.

Observation:

It was marvelous to read through today’s Scripture passages and see how amazingly organized King Solomon was for building the temple and running the day to day activities of his kingdom. He didn’t do a stitch of the work himself. He hired good people and had a great team that surrounded him, which gave him the time to do what he did best: gain wisdom and understanding and get the reputation of being the wisest man on earth!

Application:

This chapter comes at an appropriate time in my life. I, too, have a marvelous team of people who help me in my business, but I’m still getting stuck in the minutiae. I need to finish setting up my team and let them do what they do best, so I can do what I do best—lead my company and move forward!

Prayer:

Father God, I love how practical the Scriptures are! Thanks for this reminder of how teamwork is supposed to function.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Scripture Focus:

Jeremiah 26:11 And the priests and the prophets spoke to the princes and all the people, saying, “This man deserves to die! For he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your ears.”

Observation:

When Jeremiah went to the house of the Lord and spoke the words of warning from God, asking the people and priests to change their ways, he was vehemently opposed, especially by the “establishment”—the priests and prophets. They went as far as to ask for a death sentence for Jeremiah.

Application:

One of the pitfalls of becoming a leader is being blind to your own sins and desperately clinging to power no matter what. When someone brings an accusation, or simply disagrees, the one in leadership wants to squash the “rebellion.”

It takes true spiritual maturity not to respond defensively, but to respond with humility, being willing to carefully examine the accusation before God and with the other leaders to see how to respond.

Prayer:

Father God, help me respond with humility when accusations, or even suggestions, are posed.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Scripture Focus:

Psalm 92:12 The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree,
He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 Those who are planted in the house of the LORD
Shall flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They shall still bear fruit in old age;
They shall be fresh and flourishing,
15 To declare that the LORD is upright;
He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.

Observation:

I must be on an old age theme. This is the second day in a row that scriptures about old age have caught my eye! These verses in Psalm 92 speak of old age as not diminished in fruitfulness. First comes being planted in the house of the Lord, though. If you aren’t planted in the house of the Lord with enough time to mature, you can’t bear fruit. But if you are, the promise is there:

They shall still bear fruit in old age; They shall be fresh and flourishing. For what purpose? To declare the person and character of God.

Application:

Now is the time to cause my roots to go deep with God. Don’t wait until later. If I water and sow spiritual things into my life now, I will begin to bear fruit and not stop, even in old age.

Prayer:

Father God, you’ve given me a vision today of what life can be at 80—declaring your faithfulness to the next generations!

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Scripture Focus:

2 Chronicles 24:4 Now it happened after this that Joash set his heart on repairing the house of the LORD.

1 Timothy 6:17–19 Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

Observation:

Joash set his heart on a worthy goal: repairing the house of the Lord. That required money, and because he had set his heart to do the task, he came up with a great idea of how to get the money to do it.

There is a principle here. Whatever we set our hearts to do, we can usually accomplish, but more important than getting something done is making sure that what we do is in line with God’s vision for us and benefits those involved.

Paul instructs Timothy to command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God. Therein lies the balance. If we can set our hearts to do the thing that God wants us to do, and do it with humility and trust in God, we can accomplish great things that are a blessing to ourselves and others.

Application:

I’ve had a sense of direction from God recently. Will I set my heart to pursue this worthy goal, and will I do it in such a way that all are blessed and God’s kingdom is advanced? May it be so!

Prayer:

Father God, keep my heart steady, trusting in you to bring about the goals and dreams you place in my heart, and may I be passionate about my goal without being self serving, so the outcome can be a blessing to many.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Scripture Focus:

1 Kings 12:13–14 Then the king (Rehoboam) answered the people roughly, and rejected the advice which the elders had given him; and he spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges!”

Philippians 2:3–4 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

Philippians 2:5–8 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

Philippians 2:19–22 But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, that I also may be encouraged when I know your state. For I have no one like-minded, who will sincerely care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus. But you know his proven character, that as a son with his father he served with me in the gospel.

Philippians 2:29–30 Receive him (Epaphroditus) therefore in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such men in esteem; because for the work of Christ he came close to death, not regarding his life, to supply what was lacking in your service toward me.

Observation:

In these scriptures you see the heart character of four leaders. The first one, King Rehoboam, answered roughly, harshly, to the needs of the people he served. He saw himself as the top dog, deserving the best. He didn’t care how the people he ruled felt, and how they were burdened down.

The last three examples, Jesus, Timothy, and Epaphroditus, are examples of godly leadership, which is servant leadership. Servant leaders understand that their true role is to serve the people under them.

Application:

Servant leadership goes contrary to the norms of our culture and to the natural character of people. It takes a supernatural empowering to do leadership the Jesus way—giving up your own glory and comfort to help those under you.

Paul sums it up in Philippians 2:3–4: Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

May this be the kind of leadership I choose.

Prayer:
Father God, as I lead my business and household today, may I truly exhibit servant leadership.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Scripture Focus:

Proverbs 28:1 The wicked flee when no one pursues,
But the righteous are bold as a lion.

Proverbs 29:25 The fear of man brings a snare,
But whoever trusts in the LORD shall be safe.

Observation:

The imagery in this verse is evocative. You have one set of people (the wicked) who are startled by their own shadows, retreating when no one is pursuing them, and you have the other side—the righteous who are as bold as a lion.

What makes the wicked flighty? What makes the righteous bold?

Part of the answer comes in a the next chapter of Proverbs: The fear of man brings a snare. There’s a lot we won’t do because of the fear of man. What would people think? What if I fail and look stupid? What if they don’t like me?

The antidote to that kind of thinking is found in the next phrase: but whoever trusts in the LORD shall be safe. It doesn’t say we’ll never fail, but we’ll be safe.

Application:

How often is the fear of man holding me back, keeping me from being as bold as a lion? How much could I accomplish if I would trust in the Lord? Wow! I want to be bold today!

Prayer:

Father God, fill me with your boldness today. May I approach each task you set before me with confidence, as I trust in you!

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Scripture Focus:

Proverbs 20:7 The righteous man walks in his integrity;
His children are blessed after him.

Observation:

A righteous man, a good man, is a man of integrity. These kind of men are hard to come by. No wonder this verse says that his children are blessed after him. The influence of a good father is staggering. Oh, that every family had such a dad!

Application:

When I met Charlie, one of the qualities I loved about him, and a big reason why I ended up marrying him, was his integrity. He still is honest to a fault, good for his word.

I frequently tell Charlie that he’s the sun around which our family revolves. We all look to him for guidance and help and companionship. This would not be the case if he was not a man of integrity. Once integrity is lost, what good are any other qualities?

Prayer:

Abba Father, thank you for giving me a partner with a high degree of integrity. I don’t realize how blessed I am until I read a verse like this, or until I see a man without integrity. I pray you’ll bless my guy today.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites