2 Kings 18:1-8

2 Kings 18:1-8 ¹Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. ²Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Abi, the daughter of Zachariah. ³And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father did. ⁴He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan. ⁵He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him. ⁶For he clave to the LORD, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses. ⁷And the LORD was with him; and he prospered whithersoever he went forth: and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not. ⁸He smote the Philistines, even unto Gaza, and the borders thereof, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.

INTRO: Hezekiah…his name means: Strong in the Lord. If we are to do or to be what God would have us do and be this year, we need to be strong in the Lord. We can grab excuses. In fact we can cling to them. We can just be negligent. I mean God understands does He not? We can keep our promises we have been making, or, we can put off what we have been promising the Lord. Surely God want mind if we do our own thing first. We can be defeated, weak and miserable. Or we can be strong, encouraged and happy like Hezekiah and be Strong in the Lord.