Spiritual letters
To Matthew, my spiritual son,
From the time you were 5, you believed in the Lord. Your faith was real. I've seen it grow as you are becoming a man. You've always wanted to know how to follow the Lord perfectly, which is rare. I only know one other believer, my spiritual brother, who wants what you and I want: to be perfectly pleasing in the sight of God for the day of judgment, and to know that this is so in the present. Because we want the same thing, though I'm your spiritual father, I'm encouraged and strengthened by you. I want to encourage and strengthen you with what God showed me today in the scriptures.
I've been reading about the kings of Israel. It's sometimes discouraging because they seem inconsistent at best in their relationships with God. Most of them were evil and did evil. With each king, more evil is done. From father to son, more evil is done against the Lord. But every now and then in the scriptural accounts of Hebrew Kings, a good king comes to the throne. But he either leaves God at some point, or his son undoes every good thing he did. I've only found one king so far in my readings who was faithful to God from beginning to end. This king reminds me of you because he started following God as a boy. You were 5 when you began with Christ. He was eight. His name was Josiah. This is what the Spirit said about him:
"Josiah was 8 years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for 31 years. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and followed in the ways of his father David, not turning to the right or to the left."
Like you, Josiah was single-mindedly focused on the Lord from the time he was a boy, following the example of his father David, as you are following in my example. Keep doing what you're doing Matthew. Don't turn to the right or the left. Stay focused on God, like Josiah did.
"In the 8th year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David."
The 8th year of Josiah's reign would've made him 16 years old. You're about to be 16 Matthew. You've already begin to seek my God. To seek Him means to pursue an intimate relationship with Him. You're studying the scriptures and meditating on God's words. You do this to learn not only what God thinks, but how He thinks. You are seeking to understand and know God. Keep doing this Matthew, and you will be like Josiah.
"Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did--with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his strength, in accordance with all the law of Moses."
At first I thought Josiah had an advantage over us--that he had the law of Moses, which gave the Israelites exactly what they were supposed to do in every area of their lives. You seem like you want these kinds of divine instructions Matthew. I understand if you do; I used to want the same thing. But I now see that the Spirit is our law; His will and mind are written on our intuition and conscience. So all you have to do to be like Josiah is turn to the Spirit as Josiah did--with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your strength, in accordance with the leading of the Spirit. In other words, completely focus on following the Spirit. Obey the Spirit with all of your heart, soul, and strength, not doing anything He doesn't lead you to do.
I hope my words strengthen and encourage you. Let me know what you think as you pray about my words.
I love you my son in the Spirit,
Your spiritual father.
From the time you were 5, you believed in the Lord. Your faith was real. I've seen it grow as you are becoming a man. You've always wanted to know how to follow the Lord perfectly, which is rare. I only know one other believer, my spiritual brother, who wants what you and I want: to be perfectly pleasing in the sight of God for the day of judgment, and to know that this is so in the present. Because we want the same thing, though I'm your spiritual father, I'm encouraged and strengthened by you. I want to encourage and strengthen you with what God showed me today in the scriptures.
I've been reading about the kings of Israel. It's sometimes discouraging because they seem inconsistent at best in their relationships with God. Most of them were evil and did evil. With each king, more evil is done. From father to son, more evil is done against the Lord. But every now and then in the scriptural accounts of Hebrew Kings, a good king comes to the throne. But he either leaves God at some point, or his son undoes every good thing he did. I've only found one king so far in my readings who was faithful to God from beginning to end. This king reminds me of you because he started following God as a boy. You were 5 when you began with Christ. He was eight. His name was Josiah. This is what the Spirit said about him:
"Josiah was 8 years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for 31 years. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and followed in the ways of his father David, not turning to the right or to the left."
Like you, Josiah was single-mindedly focused on the Lord from the time he was a boy, following the example of his father David, as you are following in my example. Keep doing what you're doing Matthew. Don't turn to the right or the left. Stay focused on God, like Josiah did.
"In the 8th year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David."
The 8th year of Josiah's reign would've made him 16 years old. You're about to be 16 Matthew. You've already begin to seek my God. To seek Him means to pursue an intimate relationship with Him. You're studying the scriptures and meditating on God's words. You do this to learn not only what God thinks, but how He thinks. You are seeking to understand and know God. Keep doing this Matthew, and you will be like Josiah.
"Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did--with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his strength, in accordance with all the law of Moses."
At first I thought Josiah had an advantage over us--that he had the law of Moses, which gave the Israelites exactly what they were supposed to do in every area of their lives. You seem like you want these kinds of divine instructions Matthew. I understand if you do; I used to want the same thing. But I now see that the Spirit is our law; His will and mind are written on our intuition and conscience. So all you have to do to be like Josiah is turn to the Spirit as Josiah did--with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your strength, in accordance with the leading of the Spirit. In other words, completely focus on following the Spirit. Obey the Spirit with all of your heart, soul, and strength, not doing anything He doesn't lead you to do.
I hope my words strengthen and encourage you. Let me know what you think as you pray about my words.
I love you my son in the Spirit,
Your spiritual father.
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