The Character Project
- Choose a trait
- Pray daily for that trait
- Listen for practical steps
- Memorize scripture about your trait
- Ask for another’s prayer
- Pray for help every moment
Courage: God confidence, given with God’s grace
Contentment: God has provided everything I need for my joy in him
Meekness: Strength under control
Hezekiah trusted God like no one else
2 Kings 18:5-7 Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. He held fast to the Lord and did not stop following him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses. And the Lord was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook.
2 Kings 19: 5-7 When King Hezekiah’s officials came to Isaiah, Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master, ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid of what you have heard—those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Listen! When he hears a certain report, I will make him want to return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.’”
2 Kings 19:14-19 Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: “Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Give ear, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God.
“It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands. They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. Now, Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, Lord, are God.”
2 Kings 19:29-31 This will be the sign for you, Hezekiah: “This year you will eat what grows by itself, and the second year what springs from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
Do what you can, but don’t trust in it
Ps. 127:1 Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat—for he grants sleep to those he loves.
Use your understanding, just don’t depend on it
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.
Trust with a praise sandwich
Praise Sandwich layer 1: Praise and remind yourself who you are talking to
Praise Sandwich layer 2: Tells God the problem and ask
Praise Sandwich layer 3: Praise and remind yourself who you talked to
2 Kings 19:20 This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I have heard your prayer concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria
God speaks back in prayer… so listen
Trust gets tested
Trust: Remind yourself who you are talking to