The Face Off

The Face Off

2 Chronicles 20: 15 – 23

Let’s continue Jehoshaphat’s story. In response to an enemy threat, Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah began seeking God, begging Him to intervene on their behalf. As they came together for a time of fasting and prayer, a prophet delivered a message. Listen to verses 15 – 17, “15 He said, ‘Listen, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem! Listen, King Jehoshaphat! This is what the Lord says: ‘Do not be afraid! Don’t be discouraged by this mighty army, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. 16 Tomorrow, march out against them. You will find them coming up through the ascent of Ziz at the end of the valley that opens into the wilderness of Jeruel. 17 But you will not even need to fight. Take your positions; then stand still and watch the Lord’s victory. He is with you, O people of Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid or discouraged. Go out against them tomorrow, for the Lord is with you!’”.

Did you catch that? God said, “This is where your enemy will be. Go to where they are, prepare for battle, and I’ll do the rest. I’ll fight for you.”.

This is the key to victory in the Christian life. We don’t fight our battles on our own. God fights our battles for us.

Does this mean our position is completely passive, that we don’t do anything while God does everything? Not even close. Before God does all that He can do, you and I need to do all that we can do.

I want to share with you this morning 3 principles that will help us prepare for victory.

The 1st thing we must do is to…

#1: CONFRONT OUR PROBLEMS FACE TO FACE:

When Jehoshaphat asked for help, God could have said, “Don’t worry about the armies that have gathered against you in the wilderness. Just stay where you are and do nothing. It’s taken care of.”.

He could have said that, but He didn’t, because God never does it that way. Instead, He sent Jehoshaphat and his army into the wilderness to face the enemy.

Trusting God to solve our problems doesn’t mean that we ignore the problems. Neither do we run and hide. We must confront our problems face to face.

God wants to give us victory, but not from a distance. He wants to give you victory in the presence of your enemies. He wants you and me to get a good look at what we’re up against so that we can understand the fullness of His power.

I had a youth minister in my first church as Preaching Minister named Alan whose life was a financial mess. Every paycheck was spent the day he got it—to turn the phone back on, to get the utilities reconnected, to cover overdrafts, or to stop the finance company from coming after his car.

The stress never ended; his bad habits only made it worse.

One day he told me he couldn’t take it anymore. He decided to get serious about getting out of debt.

“Since you brought it up, just how deeply in debt are you?”, I asked.

“I honestly don’t know.”, he said. “Can you ballpark it for me?”, I asked.

He said, “If I collected all of my bills and put them together, they might fit inside a ballpark. That’s as close as I can get.”.

Months before, Alan had recommitted his life to Christ and in so doing committed to becoming a more responsible steward of the resources that God had entrusted him with. He knew that becoming more responsible in his finances would honor and glorify God and would improve his witness to others. He was making a sincere effort to walk in obedience, but this enemy kept trying to destroy him. Alan thought that if he avoided the problem long enough, eventually God would fix his finances for him. He kept wishing God would pull a rabbit out of a hat. He checked the mailbox everyday for an envelope full of cash with a return address of “Heaven” on the envelope. But the rabbit stayed in the hat, and Heaven kept its money. The things he wished for never happened, and the problem didn’t go away. It just got bigger.

Eventually, Alan came into my office, sat down, broke down, and opened up. We spent some time in prayer, and then I put him in contact with a tremendous counselor friend of mine that I knew could really help Alan deal with this problem. He added up his bills and put together a budget. In doing so, he confronted the enemy face to face.

In a matter of weeks, Alan started to experience victory. God came through for him, providing a little extra income here, helping him reduce an expense there.