Short term revival (1 King 15:1-24; 2 Chronicles 13-16)

Whenever a leader in Israel's history chose to follow the Lord, the country prospered.  Likewise, when the leader chose not to follow the Lord, the country faced a lack of blessing.  It seems that there were a number of leaders who started the race off strong but ended in a rather disappointing way.  Asa is an example of that.  Asa followed the Lord, and Judah prospered.  He restored the places of worship, and he removed people who refused to seek God.  Sadly, Asa came to a point where he quit relying on God, and at that point, Asa lost the Lord's blessing.  At some point in Asa's life he relied on his own strength versus the strength of the God he served.  Asa is not the only leader that this happened to: Solomon, Jeroboam, etc. all faced similar fates.  I hope that never becomes true of me.  I want to be in this for the long haul.  I want to pursue a growing relationship with Christ no matter how old I am.  I never want to be too old to innovate.  I never want to be too old to be creative.  I never want to be too old to trust my own strength over the strength of my Heavenly Father.  No short term revival here; I want revival for a lifetime.