Josiah activated reformation and God caused him to prosper!
Josiah uncovered patriarchal technology that was useful to others and raised a strong standard for God.
Notes for he sought the Lord and prospered.
When Josiah was confronted with the new standards his reaction was to reform and not to resist .
Josiah activated reformation and God caused him to prosper!
Josiah uncovered patriarchal technology that was useful to others and raised a strong standard for God.
Once a standard is raised others have to comply because God never goes backwards.
He made a covenant with God to serve him all the days of his life and to perform the words of the covenant and made all who were with him to take their stand for the word of God. He made them diligently serve the Lord. This consecration kept them from departing from the living God. When he died even Jeremiah the prophet lamented over him. (II Chronicles 35:15)
The three decades of Josiah?s reign were characterized by peace, prosperity, and reform.
. More importantly, however, at the age of 16 (stage one), Josiah personally ?began to seek the God of his father David? (2 Chr. 34:3).
At the age of 20 (stage two), Josiah began to cleanse Jerusalem and the land of Judah of idolatrous objects (2 Chr. 34:3?7).
At the age of 26 (stage three), Josiah ordered that the Temple be repaired under the supervision of Hilkiah, the high priest. In the process, a copy of the Book of the Law was discovered (2 Chr. 34:14?15). When it was read to Josiah, he was horrified to learn how far Judah had departed from the law of God. This discovery provided a new momentum for the reformation that was already in progress.

Hezekiah
Until the service of God ravishes your heart, makes your heart beat faster, you will not become intelligent about the things of God. What makes your heart beat faster? You will probably serve the thing that causes your heart to beat faster!

Rehoboam (?the people are enlarged?) ruled over Israel and Jeroboam (?may the people increase?) over Judah.
I Kings 12:28-30
He set up gods in Bethel and Dan in order to prevent his people from going up to Jerusalem to sacrifice?this is what religious traditions do: they captivate people and enslave them to false practices!
He also installed priests for every class of people to make sacrifices for the people and he copied everything that took place in Jerusalem. It looked just like the real thing but it was idolatry. His name spells out his ambition: ?May the people increase!?
Some ministers would do anything to make their churches grow! They do not mind whether it is from God or not ? as long as the numbers will increase.

Then a man of God went to pray at the altar at Bethel (The House of God) and the spirit of the Lord came upon him at this false altar because he was sincere with God. If people are sincere they will seek the Lord and find Him. He prophesied that God would raise up a king by the name of Josiah that would heal the backsliding of the people.
I Kings 13:1-6
Jesus must have read this portion and received faith to heal withered hands!
Matthew 12:9
We have seen several withered hands restored: Lisbon (Portugal: a lady?s hand was restored in pastor Joao Cardoso?s church and she was so happy that she picked up the pastor?s leather briefcase and ran around the auditorium with it! The Pastor chased her and commanded her to give the briefcase back to him. I still don?t know what was in that briefcase! But that first miracle in Portugal took me back several times and opened the door to France for us!) Milnerton (A man who owned a petrol station in Camps Bay had a young boy who had a withered hand. I prayed for him time after time and one day I noticed that he was serving as a petrol attendant using that hand!) Port Elizabeth (In Pastor Theo Rabe?s church,twice: a woman who had severed her sinews in a motorcar accident received a miracle to use her hand again! Another woman with two deformed hands could not use them properly but after prayer was able to manoeuvre them in a way that was useful.) Bapsfontein (an old Full Gospel pastor?s daughter, Framein Rabe?s sister, who lost the use of her left hand at the age of 6 and God healed her immediately so that she was able to pour tea after the meeting in the tent for all the people!)

Josiah means ?God heals?: God was about to heal the backsliding of his people by raising up a true man of God.
After this warning Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way but made himself one of the priests of the high places.
Abijah the son of Jeroboam became sick and the prophet came to announce God?s judgement on him: not only would Jeroboam loose the kingdom but his son would die the moment he sets foot in his city, as a sign to him.
I Kings 14:7-11
Rehoboam also continued in doing evil and allowed his people to copy the perversions of the abominati0ns of the nations around them.
I Kings 14:21-24

Moody heard a voice saying to him: ?The world has yet to see what God can do through a totally dedicated man!? Then he cried out: ?I will be that man!? The rest is history!
I heard that same voice in the streets of Brussels, Belgium on the 4th of February 1972: ?The world is yet to see what God can do through dedicated artists!? I cried out: ?I will be that man and train others to do the same!?
Reign of Hezekiah in Judah
II Kings 18:1-20:21
Reign of Josiah
II Kings 22:1-22:30