Provoked to Praise

2 chronicles 20: 1-4

It came to pass after this also, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle.

2 Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea on this side Syria; and, behold, they be in Hazazontamar, which is Engedi.

3 And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.

4 And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the Lord: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.

People of God, I want to point out that there are many, many reasons why we act on things in our lives. Some of us has had an ah ha! moment, some of us are tired of the way things are going in our lives and some of us just want to do something different and it cause us to begin to move differently. Life comes with many challenges. We have the option to rise up to the challenge or run from the challenge. Many times we run from the challenge becasue we havent yet grasp the concept that we all ready have the victory in Jesus Christ. Running only prolongs the process and sets you up for failure. Running removes you from the promise, the plan and the protection taht GOd has foset up for you. Running allows you the space and time to enter into agreements with the enemy and create environments that you were never meant to be in. Have you ever ended up in a situation or a circumstance that you didnt intent on being in and youve wondered to yourself how did I ever get here. How did I get to the place that I am in, how did I get myself into this mess, how did I begin to do the things that I said I would never do. Running form your challenges moves you out of position with God and put you in a place of uncertainty. Jonah was commissioned by God to help free ppl from their sins. Instead he ran the opposite way and ended up in the belly of a great fish. Althought the Lord delivered him. He still ended up in a place he had business being at.

Challenges mean invite (someone) to engage in a contest. Once you submit your life to chirst you are in an unsoliciated contest. Were heaven is the prize and your opponents are your flesh and the enemy . Ppl have sucha hard time in these areas becasue they have not yet allowed the word of God to come alive in them and they refer to it as needed. The bibile has the cheat code to overcoming your opponents but you dont have time to read it, but you do have time to continuely repeat the same cycles that you could avoid if you would just take time to read the bible. Galatians 5: 16

Galatians 5:16 KJV 1900

This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

walking in the spirit means to be in commune with God, praying to God and listening to God.

But you would never know taht that was the key to overcoming your flesh because you havent allow the word of God to come alive in your life. James 4:7

James 4:7 KJV 1900

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

so because you havent been studying to show they self approved. You only been doing part of the scripture, the part that says resist the enemy and he will flee. and we wonder why the enemy is still present in our lives and thats becasue we havent submitted our selves to God. This is the reason why we are constantly keep failing when we are faced with challeges becasue we have not submitted ourselves to God. Then we have those who rise up to challenges becaseu they understand that God is in control. Moses rose up to the challenge went he was commissioned b yb Gopd to help the children of Isreal escape bonadge. Esther rose to the challenge when her ppl were faced with geneocide. Joseph rose to the challange after he was hated on, trapped, sold, set up, sough after and imprisoned. King david rose to the challenge after he was choosen king and had to endure his life being threated by the person he served. mephboseth had to rise up and take his rightful place in the palace after he was dropped and injured by someone he trusted. Al of these great men and woman of god were faced with some of the same challenges you are faced with the only difference is they understood who they were serving and the power he possessed.

Jehoshaphat was the king of Judah and they were faced with a challenge and he had the option to either fight or run from the challenge. So he decided to fight by turning to God and allowing God to fight his battle. As a child og the most high, God promises to fight our battles if we turn to him and allow him to. The Children of Moab and the children of Ammon declared war on Judah. The children of Moab and the Children of ammon were the decendants of Lot’s sons and his daughters. So right off the back we understand that these groups of ppl that are coming up against Jehoshaphat are operating in dysfunction. You as a God of God must understand your opponent and understand that when ppl come up against you they are often times operating in the spirit of dysfunction. Dysfunction is a deviation from the norms of social behavior in a way regarded as bad. There are so many ppl that fall to the spirit of dysfunction because they think its normal. If you think its normal, then youll think its right and youll adopt it into your life.

Since we now understand that dysfunction means bad then thatll make it easy to idenity it when were approched with it. Cussing is bad, lying is bad, stealing is bad, cheating is bad, adultery is bad, fornication is bad, Smoking weed is bad, Drinking alcohol is bad, cigereetes are bad, vaping is bad, disrespecting anybody is bad, being unhanded is bad and not giving your life to God is bad. These are all classified has dysfunctional behavior or activities. Jehosphat was also faced by others who werent named becuase they werent important. the bible says and with them other beside the Ammonities. These groups of ppl werent even important enough to be mentioned in the bible. Stop letting ppl of no importance bother you. Ignor them theyre nobody and they cant do nothing to you. When someone talks about you first consider who they are. Dont let nobody beneath you take you down to where they are. Let it go and move on.

Jehoshaphat was faced with all this and of course others had to come and tell him what they heard. Expect as you move in God and in life that ppl will always do what they can to distract you in the form of informing you.