How does knowing that God sees the end from the beginning and is intimately acquainted with your children’s hearts change how you pray for them? Listen to this week’s podcast to hear the story of Manasseh and how his heart was changed.Contributor: This week Sarah shares how her parents played a big part in supporting her through the rough times in life and how they did not give up on her. Listen to hear the power of a praying parent.

How does knowing that God sees the end from the beginning and is intimately acquainted with your children’s hearts change how you pray for them? Listen to this week’s podcast to hear the story of Manasseh and how his heart was changed.Contributor: This week Sarah shares how her parents played a big part in supporting her through the rough times in life and how they did not give up on her. Listen to hear the power of a praying parent.

Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.

Starting with Jesus

Reflect and Renew April 2023

Heather Bennett

Hezekiah, the Praying King

Treasure Found in the Temple

Katie Chitwood

Joash, the Boy King

God’s Special Messengers


Satan had injected lie after lie until his character was placed perfectly over God's character of love and I fell for the lie. Believing Satan's lies led me from darkness to deeper darkness. But God's rescue and the revelation of His love helped me to deep-root myself in God and those deep-roots have kept me abiding in God since. Welcome to Reflect and Renew. Hey, I'm Katie.

I'm so glad that you'll be joining me today. We will be learning and growing together in our walk with Jesus. You will surely be encouraged and challenged as we study week by week and hear from the experiences of others. Last summer I was walking by the front of our house, and I noticed a little green plant that appeared to have just started its life. It was growing in a strange place, under a tree, sort of out of the way, and it looked to be some kind of squash or maybe a melon plant.

Huh, that's really strange. But I just left it. I didn't water it. I didn't poke it. I left it alone and just watched it grow slowly day by day.

As it grew bigger, it did appear to be a squash plant. The leaves spread out and soon flowers were hanging out near the stem of the plant. Within a few weeks, there were little baby squash on the plant. People would comment when they came to visit because it was right out front. In a weird place, but it was there.

We're looking at the story of Manasseh this week. If you want to follow along with our devotional, you can always find it at startingwithjesus.com slash renew and you can check out the description box below for the link. Manasseh was the next king on Judah's throne. He reigned for 55 years. Although his father Hezekiah loved and obeyed God and brought about a revival for his people, Manasseh did not follow in his footsteps.

No, rather the Bible tells us that he rebuilt the high places. He set up altars for the Baals. He even set up altars in God's house for people to worship other deities. He had his sons pass through the fire. He practiced soothsaying.

The Bible tells us he also practiced witchcraft and sorcery, and the list goes on and on. Second Chronicles 33 verse 9 says, So Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel. God even spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they wouldn't listen. That seems pretty hopeless, doesn't it? How can anything change?

Just think about that list of evil things that Manasseh did. But God has ways of waking us up when we aren't following him. God brought another nation, the Assyrians, to come in and shake things up. Manasseh ended up being taken prisoner, bound him with bronze fetters, and was carried off to Babylon, as verse 11 says. The next 2 verses, 2 Chronicles 33, verse 12 and 13, tells us of an incredible, seemingly impossible, happy ending.

And now that he was in affliction, he implored the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers and prayed to him. And he received his entreaty, heard his supplication and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God. What an incredible, incredible experience. It was in that time of trial, of hardship, of embarrassment, that the seeds from his father's teachings took root.

It seemed impossible. It seemed hopeless. But nevertheless, that seed did take root. Just like my plant that just appeared out in front, some stray seed, maybe from compost, maybe the dogs or birds. I don't know how it got there.

I don't know from where that seed came from. But it took root, and it flourished and grew. That's what happened to Manasseh. The seeds of truth finally took root in his heart and he turned back to God. This week is a special testimony by Sarah.

Her story is amazing. And I think that as parents who are doing our very best to raise our children to love Jesus, there is so much hope in this story. Our key verse really resonates with her because although she was raised to love God, she turned away from it all and went her own way. And in her story, she shares that verse with us, but putting her name in it instead of Manasseh. 1 thing that stood out to me as I listened to it was that her parents didn't give up.

They prayed and prayed and they were there to support her through her years of wandering until she had had enough, until she cried out to God to save her. Not only will she share her story with us, but also some wonderful tips that we can use as we navigate relationships with our loved ones who are strained from God. My parents are cycle breakers. They grew up in totally different lifestyles. My dad grew up Adventist but lived in a home that felt two-faced.

You know, following God with the lifestyle and the way they treated each other didn't quite match up. My mom grew up in a Catholic home with her grandparents, over 7 kids, and they were too busy nurturing. But everyone was thankful to have an education built on the hard working backs of their grandparents and at least a roof over their heads. But as the kids got older, everyone did what was right in their own eyes after they left home. After my parents met and began having kids, me and my brother, they turned their whole lives towards God.

Implanted in their hearts was a deep desire to give their children something better than they had had. Thankful for what they did grow up with, but wanting to improve the next generation. My dad worked hard while my mother left her profession as a nurse to homeschool my brother and I. We had a garden in the backyard where we grew carrots and sunflowers and she taught us all she knew about English, mathematics, history, and art, and all the rest. Spanish was the primary language in our home while Dad was at work so that we could be armed with a bilingual education.

But all of this paled in comparison to her diligent effort to make sure that we knew the Bible well, that we had our own personal time with God as little kids, and learned to love and respect him. She taught us the discipline of memorizing scripture, taking up roles in church, even before we were teenagers. And they always made sure that Sabbath was something we could look forward to by making it special with delicious food, Bible games, and gathering with community. My parents poured over our little souls to make sure that we had everything we needed and that we were taught to love and honor God. We had a great childhood, perhaps 1 that many would covet, but Satan wasn't going to let this little God-fearing home go without trying his hand at destroying it.

Through my teen years, our faith community had become really legalistic, unfortunately. My brother and I were judged harshly for even putting a little cheese on our plate. The feeling of being forced to spend time with God cast a dark shadow on my early experience with the divine. I was sad, sad that most Christians I knew were miserable. I was anxious and miserable and addicted to coping mechanisms as a kid.

But my good childhood and some better friends and parents who tried to meet us in the middle kept me afloat in the process. A couple of years went by and my peers began leaving home, slowly and perhaps somewhat delicately leaving the church and the spirituality behind. They just inched away. The grief and hopelessness that swept through my parents and many other parents was too much for me to bear. A friend and I tried to be the good ones to make up for the anguish that the others were causing by leaving, but it became too much for us to bear.

1 day, I decided to leave too. None of this was working for me anyways. Months and years went by. I was lost in abuse. I was suicidal and alone.

But all through that heavy time I did what my mother had taught me to do. Just pray. Just say it to God. He's always listening anyways. My dark days were my parents' dark days.

If I'm honest, I don't know how she and my dad made it watching me suffer, not wanting anything better for myself either. Later, I'd find out that she fasted, prayed, contended with demons that tried to suffocate her as she was begging for my liberation. My dad was always a present help when I needed a kind man to lean on. He bore the family burdens with composure. My parents were ready to offer wisdom when I wanted it.

What helped was that they let me know if they didn't agree with my actions, gave me warnings as they saw fit, but they didn't push past that. They decided to do what they were called to do and leave the rest to God and allow me to choose for myself. I'm so thankful they leaned on God the way they did to get through this tough time while also not suffocating me and what they thought I needed to be doing. They placed boundaries around what they allowed in their home and what they needed and I respected them for it even though I didn't like it at the time. They always expressed that they loved me and missed me and wanted the best for me.

They were always there for me day or night when I couldn't handle the panic attacks or the abuse anymore. They were just so present and wanting to talk and work out our disagreements. They wanted to understand. I can't emphasize the value of hearing that my mother and my chosen sister's mom were prayer warriors together. My chosen sister and I were brought even closer together knowing that we were prayed for and that our mothers gained the victory through Jesus as they saw us forsaking what wasn't good and their prayers began to be answered.

In the midst of my wandering, I did have my family. They were the present help. They were always ready to make repairs. They were the friends I needed even when I wasn't a friend to them. The boundaries helped me to understand they were there, but I also needed to respect them and not walk all over them with my issues.

Toward the end of 5 years in misery is where I truly can place my name in this episode's key text. Now when Sarah was in affliction, she implored the Lord her God and humbled herself greatly before the God of her fathers and prayed to Him. And He received her entreaty, heard her supplication, and brought her back to Jerusalem into her kingdom. Then Sarah knew the Lord was God. I was in so much misery that I'd rather return to the previous misery that I was in than continue in this.

So I begged God for rescue and He did. I wanted to believe that there was a God of love that existed, so I decided to humble myself and begged for the God of love to show up in my life and to show me who he really was. During this process of recovery, leaving my ex, leaving abuse behind, leaving my old spirituality behind, I moved back into my family's home. Their arms were open wide to receive me, and I went through recovery and got back on my feet while being in that safe nest. God landed me in a beautiful church community where I was loved, supported, Where survivors of abuse taught me about the God they knew, what his character was like.

And that's when I realized that somewhere along the way, Satan had injected lie after lie until his character was placed perfectly over God's character of love, and I fell for the lie. Believing Satan's lies led me from darkness to deeper darkness. But God's rescue and the revelation of His love, through a myriad of ways I don't have time to tell here, helped me to deep-root myself in God, and those deep roots have kept me abiding in God since. The people at the church who would become my church family didn't blink for a second at my ex-boyfriend, my jewelry, or my worldly behaviors. I never once felt judged.

I was loved. I was embraced. And by being in a circle of people who welcomed me and taught me without judgment was what I needed to let my guard down towards God again. I felt safe. I wondered if God could be safe too.

As I entered into ministry a while later, I realized so keenly that being a godly friend is the greatest gift you can give anyone who is wandering or searching. Let me put it this way, someone who isn't connected to God feels a deep vacancy whether they realize it or not. I believe so deeply because I've experienced it, that being someone who is grounded and hopeful in God, being someone who is not intimidated by appearances, and being someone who has open arms and is loving, forgiving, and can be a true friend is worth gold. We all need someone to walk alongside us, to journey with us, to be that source of wisdom and guidance when we are lost. When we're not open to receiving God's presence, at least through a friend we can receive His guidance and His wisdom and His presence.

We can all be those channels for the Holy Spirit to guide someone, to love on someone, and to bless them with friendship. We're supposed to be God's image bearers, right? As they get to know us, they get to see what God's love and companionship is like. As I saw that, I wanted more of God, and through those friendships, I was led straight into God's loving arms. You know, maybe you're someone, a parent, a friend, a sister, a daughter, whose heart is broken over the ones you love who aren't walking with God.

Maybe you've seen many other youth walk away and wonder if yours will too. Even though we've walked in our calling and perhaps failed along the way, there is only so much we can do, even though it grieves our souls. We can't force someone's will. God doesn't, so neither should we. But we can trust that God loves them vastly more than we ever could.

We can't save them, but He can. And while He's moving heaven and earth to reach them, we can be part of that pursuit through listening to their story without judgment. Instead of trying to convert them, get to truly know their heart, why they do what they do, why they think the way that they think, what are they struggling with. Be a friend they can count on and make time to love on them genuinely. Something that really helped me as I repaired my relationship with my parents was owning up to what I did and receiving their forgiveness.

Even though it took years and many hard conversations, hearing their side of the story, hearing them take accountability for their failures, and just hearing what hurt me and offering their apology meant the world. It's hard to hear when you failed someone, but taking ownership and offering forgiveness and or apologies takes us deeper into each other's hearts. It helps us to see what wasn't helpful and move forward on a path of love and repair. Asking those investigative questions, what have we done to hurt that person, goes miles and miles into making that person feel really cared for and loved. As I conversed with my parents, we both know that being a young 1 and a teenager in this world is hard, and our parents may teach us things that we just aren't ready to adopt or that we can't see clearly yet or understand the same way they do.

We are all combating Satan's lies and wrestling with our own genetic tendencies and work perspectives even as little humans. It's okay. Just as God brought you on your journey with him, he will do the same with your loved ones. He is faithful. Pray for soft hearts.

Be a true friend. Be present for those you love. Ask God for guidance and to loop you into his plan for them as he directs. Before, my family lived in a lot of grief as I wandered, but soon they recognized that they had to rest in God. And seeing my family start to live in joy as much as they could, even though I was wandering, helped me to restabilize and not feel like I had to come back to make them happy again.

They were joying in God, and I wanted that joy and peace too. So take heart dear 1. Ask God to make you a channel of love for the lost. If you're a struggling parent, trust that God has many of his people and many means through which he can reach your loved 1. It's okay to grieve.

We as humans can only do so much. But with God, nothing is impossible. Rest in Him and receive His joy in this process. Yes, we are called to war for our children, but don't forget that God is their Savior. He loves them more than we could ever, and He's never done moving heaven and earth to reach your loved 1.

He reached me when I was willing and open, and He was orchestrating before I even left His side for how He would redeem me. And when I was ready, he had people there waiting to embrace me, to love me, and bring me back to him. I have no doubt that as your loved 1 is willing, he too is just as present to romance their heart, rescue them, and lead them into a deep-rooted, lasting, loving relationship with Him. Their story is not over and I can't wait for you to see your prayers answered too. Isn't that beautiful?

I love how Sarah says that when she was ready, God had people there to embrace her and love her and bring her back to him. Are we those people that God can use to help bring the wandering ones home or do we just sit back and judge, fault find, or point out all the mistakes that they're making. Start harping on them. Is that going to help anything? No.

Let's pray for our loved ones. Let's embrace our loved ones. Let's hold the boundaries with our loved ones, but always, always love unconditionally. This week our challenge is a fun 1 to do with our kids. Maybe at family worship or as a special Sabbath afternoon challenge.

Hezekiah was a witness to Manasseh, right? And it's very possible that Manasseh was a witness to his grandson Josiah, who followed God and helped his people to follow God as well. So let's talk about the witness that we are to others. This week, find a time to talk, to think about how we see Jesus in others. How do we see Jesus in mom?

How do we see Jesus and dad? What about grandpa or grandma, brother or sister? It's a great way to get a conversation started and also a great way to affirm each other. Dear Lord, thank you so much for this story for the hope that it gives that even though there may be time of wandering with prayer with dedication With love there can be a time of coming back Thank you so much for the hope that you give us in the story of Manasseh and the hope that you give us in the story of Sarah and her parents and what they experienced. I pray that each person listening today will be that loving friend, will be the 1 who embraces our loved ones, who encourages our loved ones, who loves our loved ones.

Even when we don't agree with the things or the actions or the choices that they're doing. Help us to still be that loving example of Jesus in their lives. In Jesus' name, Amen. This podcast is sponsored by Starting With Jesus. To find out more about other programs or to find out the links that were shared in this podcast, just check out the description box below.

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Reflect and Renew April 2023

Treasure Found in the Temple

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Other Teachings in Series

Hezekiah, the Praying King

12m

Treasure Found in the Temple

20m

Joash, the Boy King

16m

God’s Special Messengers

11m

God’s Special Messengers

11m

Sound Doctrine