Opening illustration: AN ESKIMO FISHERMAN CAME to town every Saturday afternoon. He always brought his two dogs with him. One was white and the other was black. He had taught them to fight on command. Every Saturday afternoon in the town square the people would gather and these two dogs would fight and the fisherman would take bets. On one Saturday the black dog would win; another Saturday, the white dog would win - but the fisherman always won! His friend began to ask him how he did it. He said, "I starve one and feed the other. The one I feed always wins because he is stronger."
This story about the two dogs is apt because it tells us something about the inner warfare that comes into the life of a person who is born again.
We have two natures within us, both struggling for mastery. Which one will dominate us? It depends on which one we feed. If we feed our spiritual lives and allow the Holy Spirit to empower us.
Let us turn to 2 Chronicles and see what Jehoshaphat fed into the warfare he had with his enemies.
Introduction: The case with a few of the kings recorded for us in both Kings and Chronicles, they may have reigned as co-regents with their fathers so that the period of the reign dates to the time also that they shared their rule. If one reads II Kings 1:17, it can be seen that, although Jehoshaphat was still the king in Judah, it’s Jehoram, his son, who’s noted as being the king of Judah at the time of his namesake’s accession to the throne of Israel. This is only possible if Jehoram had been appointed as co-regent.
Life can be difficult. Being a Christian in a non-Christian world poses all kinds of problems. The world does not know Jesus. The world does not love Him. The world does not understand why He came. You, on the other hand, do know Jesus. You do love Him. And, you do understand why He came. He came to save you from your sins and to give you new life. He came to bring you peace and joy in the Spirit. He came so you might have fellowship with God.
These things you already know. And you also know that though you are saved from sin and filled with the Spirit of God, life in this world still is not perfect. It is still difficult.
The Christian is, in a sense, in a battle with the world. And the world is at war with the Christian - with you. The world offers vices, self-fulfillment, and greed. The world wants to convert you to its paganism, to its ungodly devotion to the unholy. And if you don’t conform, if you don’t bend the knee to its idols and sacrifices, you will be ridiculed, mocked, and attacked.
So the world is against you. The evil one is at war with you. And in the battle there are all sorts of struggles. On the inside, you struggle against sin: pride, lust, greed, boasting, and various wanting. On the outside, you struggle against illness, poverty, marriage problems, job difficulties, an unsure future, and more. Maybe right now you are facing a serious struggle. Or maybe you’ve recently had to deal with a difficult situation. Maybe you fear that one is coming.
As a Christian, what do you do when life is coming down on you hard, when there seems to be no way out, when your relationship with God is being affected? When you are worried or afraid? When you are in distress?
What do you do when you are facing such monumental obstacles? How do you resist temptation, flee from evil, or believe beyond your ability to understand how your problems can be solved?
• The worship and praise of Almighty God gives us victory over the enemy.
• Satan is allergic to praise.
• Worship and spiritual warfare go hand in hand.
How to worship God during spiritual warfare?
1. Set yourself to seek God and fast corporately (vs. 3-4)
Alarmed by the intelligence and conscious of his total inability to repel this host of invaders, Jehoshaphat felt his only refuge was at the horns of the altar. He found that he could not possibly stand against such a numerous army, and therefore could not expect to be delivered except by the strong arm of God. To get this assistance, it was necessary to seek it; and to get such extraordinary help, they should seek it in an extraordinary way; hence he proclaimed a universal fast, and all the people came up to Jerusalem to seek the Lord. This declares what the fear of the godly is, which is the prick to stir them to prayer and to depend on the Lord, while it moves the wicked either to seek after worldly means and policies or else to fall into despair.
Illustration: A wise Bible teacher once said, “Sooner or later God will bring self-sufficient people to the place where they have no resource but Him - no strength, no answers, nothing but Him. Without God’s help, they’re sunk.”
He then told of a despairing man who confessed to his pastor, “My life is really in bad shape.” “How bad?” the pastor inquired. Burying his head in his hands, he moaned, “I’ll tell you how bad - all I’ve got left is God.” The pastor’s face lit up. “I’m happy to assure you that a person with nothing left but God has more than enough for great victory!”
In today’s Bible reading, the people of Judah were also in trouble. They admitted their lack of power and wisdom to conquer their foes. All they had left was God! But King Jehoshaphat and the people saw this as reason for hope, not despair. “Our eyes are upon You,” they declared to God (2 Chronicles 20: 12). And their hope was not disappointed as He fulfilled His promise: “The battle is not yours, but God’s” (v.15).
Are you in a position where all self-sufficiency is gone? As you turn your eyes on the Lord and put your hope in Him, you have God’s reassuring promise that you need nothing more.
2. Remind and Praise God for His Past, Present and Future Testimonies (vs. 5-13)
In beginning his prayer Jehoshaphat asked four questions that he knew were to be answered with a resounding (i) "Yes!" "Are you not God in heaven?" (ii) "Do you not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations?" (iii) "In Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand You?" (iv) "Are you not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of the land before Your people Israel and gave it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever?" Of course these are absolute facts that Jehoshaphat himself felt necessary to be reminded of and his speaking this way would be refreshing to the heart of God.
He reminded God also that Israel had dwelt in the land and had built a sanctuary for God’s name (v. 8). This refers to Solomon’s building of the temple, and also he refers to Solomon’s prayer at its dedication, If disaster comes upon us - sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine - we will stand before this temple and in Your presence (for Your name is in this temple), and cry out to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save.’
(a) "... the God of our Fathers" ~ He is the God of History.
(b) He also lives in heaven ~ Therefore, He is the God of Holiness ~ He is pure, righteous, and incapable of sin.
(c) He is also the ruler of all the nations ~ therefore; He is the God of Sovereignty.
(d) He is all powerful ~ therefore; He is the God of power.
Who is God to you?
Is He big or small?
Is He all powerful or is He a wimp?
Does He love you or does He just put up with you?
How you perceive God affects how you respond to Him.
The people of Judah knew who God was and that is why they looked to Him and trusted Him.
In other words, you should trust God because He is holy; He is a King; and He is all powerful, and because He loves you very much.
Illustration: There are some programs on television that will misguide even Christians as to how to handle your hard situations and daily battles. I won’t name them but will make you aware that they make you more concerned about you and drive your focus to be on you and everything revolves around you so that you are pleased and everything else will only then be taken care of … whereas God’s Word stands in complete contradiction to the worldly stance and ways in handling our daily battles. The focus has to be our worship to and for God alone; for He alone is able to either take us out of the battle or win it for us or make us go through it to transform and shape us in His likeness. The choice apparently belongs to Him alone. We just have to learn to wait on Him and learn our lessons of faith through these trials and battles.
3. Be fearless, not dismayed, position yourself and wait on the Lord (vs. 14-17)
Jehoshaphat had prayed in confiding faith to God, and God answered by choosing a Levite, Jehaziel to give the message of God in clear, decided terms, "Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the Lord. Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but the God’s. Tomorrow go down against them. They will surely come up by the ascent of Zig, and you will find them at the end of the brook before the wilderness of Jeruel. You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem! Do not fear or be dismayed, tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you" (vv.15-17). Who could doubt that this was the plain answer of God to the prayer of Jehoshaphat?
The people of Judah did not know what would happen. But they trusted in the Lord.
Please look with me at:
v. 15 - Do not fear or be dismayed... for the battle is not yours but God’s.
v. 17 - Stand and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf.
These were statements in the future tense. These were God’s words of Promise!!
So they people rested, they feared not.
v. 30 - So the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was at peace, for his God gave him rest on all sides
What do you do when you face trials and tribulations? Do you praise God? Do you put your trust in Him? Do you give thanks to God?
• Did you know that a Christian’s true character is often revealed when he faces a real problem? How do you handle your problems? Do you panic? Do you complain? Do you raise your fist in the air and shout at God? Do you begin to doubt and then run for a quick fix (run to a sin, the television, or "not talk about it")?, or do you go the Lord in prayer, humility, praise, and trust, and refuse to give fear and worry any place?
As you can see, God had already done great things for the Hebrew people. He has already done great things for you as well ... and more.
Satan has had you in a hole so long he has you believing there is no solution.
4. Bow down and sing amplified praises unto God (vs. 18-22)
But how good it is to see the effect this had on the godly king. He bowed his head before the Lord, and this influenced Judah to do the same, worshipping the Lord. This humble worship was followed by the standing up of the Levites to praise the Lord God of Israel with loud and strong voices. If we have prayed for God’s intervention in any matter, do we remember to really thank God when He answers our prayer?
In our culture today, bowing down to anyone is demeaning and looked down upon as inappropriate. But Biblically the physical posture in private reflected the condition of the heart. Are we willing to bow down before our Lord, Savior and Creator as an act of worship during our spiritual battles and even otherwise?
In firm decision of faith the people rose early in the morning to meet their enemies. On their way, however, Jehoshaphat stood and addressed them simply and pointedly, " Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established: believe His prophets, and you shall prosper" (v.28). But then he did something most unusual for the benefit of an army going to war. Consulting with the people, with whom he desired to be in concord, he appointed singers who would praise the beauty of holiness, emphasizing the words of the psalm, "Praise the Lord, for His mercy endures forever" (v. 21). These went before the army, a beautiful testimony of faith in the living God.
The Lord always responds to faith and He did so very remarkably on this occasion. He set ambushes against the three enemies, evidently ambushes of their own people, so that they were confused as to who was for them and who was against them. Moab and Ammon evidently thought that those of Mount Seir (Edomites) were Israelites, and vigorously destroyed them. Then in the heat of battle the Moabites and Ammonites turned against one another, possibly also confused in thinking the other army was that of Israel (v. 23). It was a simple matter for God to cause this confusion, and as He had foretold, Israel would not have to fight!
Result (vs. 22ff): Won the battle! But in leaving the scene of battle they did not forget to thank God for His great grace toward them. They assembled in the valley of Berachah (which means "a blessing"), and there expressed their thanksgiving together in blessing the Lord. They did this before they actually returned to Jerusalem. With great joy, with stringed instruments and harps and trumpets they came to the temple, the house of God (vs. 27-28). How fitting a recognition of God’s honor at this time! We must not forget to praise the Lord when we are victorious in our battles.
Application: Is God any different now? Are His words of Promise any less true?
Jesus said,
• Come to Me all who are heavy laden and I will give you rest (Matt. 11: 28).
• "I am with you always, even to the ends of the earth" (Matt. 28: 20).
• He said that His words will not pass away (Mark 13: 31).
• He said that He would raise you up on the last day (John 6: 40).
• He said that whatever you asked in His name would be given to you. (John 14: 14).
• He said He would disclose Himself to you (John 14: 21).
• He said that He would reveal the Father to you (Matt. 11: 27)
• And He said He would return in the clouds and that every eye will see Him (Mark 13: 27).
Will we be a people who will ~
• Set yourself to seek God and fast corporately
• Remind and Praise God for His Past, Present and Future Testimonies
• Be fearless, not dismayed, position yourself and wait on the Lord
• Bow down and sing amplified praises unto God
