God's Instructions For Victory

Good morning, New Light! Many of you know me, but for those who don’t, I am Barry, your pastor’s brother, and I am honored that he asked me to share the message this morning. My message is a very personal one that resulted from a job loss. It was a difficult and uncertain time in my life, and in the life of my family. During that time, I leaned upon the Lord, and I mean, I leaned upon the Lord, and in the process, He led me to a passage of scripture that, for me, was a roadmap of instructions that helped me weather the storm of joblessness. So, I’ve given the message this morning the title “God’s Instructions for Victory.”

The Thursday morning meeting with the president was a bit unusual, but I didn’t think too much about it. In recent weeks, we had been looking at ways to reduce agency costs in anticipation of state budget cuts. “She probably has some information to share with me,” I thought. And she did. “I’m looking at realigning several job functions,” she said, “and they include eliminating your position.” My poker face masked a mind that was exploding with questions.

But there was only one question that really mattered. How will I tell Doris when we have lunch today? We ordered our food and talked a little bit. After our food was served, I broke the news to her and reminded her (and me) that God had always taken care of us, that He had never abandoned us, and that He had always provided for us. I even quoted Psalm 37:25 – one of our favorite verses. “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor His seed begging bread.” I will admit that, at the time, the truth of this verse provided little comfort.

Although I had confessed the Word, my thoughts and actions lagged behind the words that I had spoken. It took nearly five months for my thoughts and actions to completely line up with my confession. Feeling separated from God, I beat myself up a lot during those first couple of months, and I had help. Each day, Satan was by my side whispering in my ears “If you hadn’t done this and if you hadn’t done that (he was very specific), you would still have a job.” “You left a safe job and now you don’t have one.” He came after me like sharks who smell blood in the water. Over and over again he tried to get me to agree with him that I wasn’t even on God’s radar anymore.

And he almost succeeded. He had so penetrated my mind with his lies that I was feeling far away from God. I had begun to see myself as the Gentiles described in Ephesians 2:12 – “That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.” Until then, my life had been one of minor disruptions – the ones that you feel don’t require divine intervention. I have learned there is no fighting Satan and his demonic horde without divine intervention. My “divine intervention” came the morning the Lord showed me how King Jehoshaphat’s response to a planned enemy attack saved him and the nation of Judah.

In Second Chronicles 20, King Jehoshaphat had just returned home after nearly losing his life at Ramoth Gilead. Chapter 19, verse four, says he went throughout all of Judah “and brought them (the people) back unto the LORD God of their fathers.” He removes all of the pagan idols and personally visits the people. He also appoints judges to administer the law of the Lord and settle disputes. Jehoshaphat followed in the footsteps of his father Asa, who “did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD” (First Kings 15:11). The first part of Second Chronicles 17 says Jehoshaphat sought God and walked in His commandments and because of this “the Lord established the kingdom in his hand” (verse 5).

One of the things that we see in Jehoshaphat’s life was a relationship with the Lord that was built on humility. That’s where our victory begins – having a relationship with God that flows from a humble heart. When we find ourselves going through tough times, feeling defeated, and wanting to give up, the FIRST INSTRUCTION for our victory is to humble ourselves to Jesus and focus on what He can do for us and not what the situation is doing to us. Trust me, this will not be easy. But, when we put our faith and trust in Jesus, He will take hold of our hand and walk us through the situation.