Jehovah Gibbor

Trusting God is not an automatic transaction when you become a believer, but it is formed in a process of revelation, experience, and testing. And I’ve come to understand that we gain trust in God when our perception of God aligns with his revealed character.

Knowing God comes from being aware intellectually and relationally of who God claims to be according to scripture. God shows himself exhaustively to be consistent for he is the same yesterday, today, and forever more, he says lo I am with you, even until the end of ages. He shows himself to be covenantal, keeping the promise of Abraham to bring forth a son, the promise to Hannah, even the promise to Moses to bring his people out of Egypt. He is immutable, he is the unchangeable changer, the unmovable mover, and the unshakeable shaker. Proverbs says ‘there’s no shadow of turning in him’ in other words. The other aspect of our knowledge of God is our relational perception, how has God used situations to reveal himself to you. We see this in scripture when God provides himself a lamb and Abraham calls him Jehovah Jireh, the God that provides, When dealing with the death of Lazarus he reveals himself as the resurrection and the life, and in case you do not know where to place him, he tells Moses I am that I am, and I will be who I will be whenever and wherever and however I need to be.

Then we learn trust in God experientially, and this where our theology meets our reality, this is where we have to ask the theological question of ‘where is God in this?’. These are the conversations you have in the hospital, in the courtroom, at the table looking at bills, and if we are not careful we will allow the present circumstance to definite an eternal God, but you don’t see God through your circumstance, but start to see your circumstance through the lens of your theology, in other words, I knew he was a healer before they got sick, I knew he was a provider before I got the bill, I knew he was a deliverer because I broke that habit, I just had to change my perception to make sure I don’t allow my present to define his isness, tell somebody ‘no matter what, He is!’. I once was young, but now I’m old, and I’ve never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.

Lastly, we learn to trust God during testing and refinement, this is actually the most essential step in the process, because these are the seasons when God is often silent, and while we want to assume he has abandoned us, these are actually the times he uses to take your faith from conditional (trusting what I can see) to covenantal (trusting what I know about God). And my question is: why do you keep waking Jesus? Have you not heard enough and experienced enough to trust what God says? At what point do you move in the silence of God and still got the expected results? Because this next season is going to refine your dependency so that you can mature in your faith to learn how to operate during trying times.

And this is where we connect with our text for today…

Scripture reveals to us that the enemies Jehoshaphat is up against are those who God saved and did not destroy during the Israel’s time of invasion, and isn’t it something how you will help others out and they get amnesia when they are in self-preservation mode. This is why the trying of your faith works patience, because that get-back spirit is always warranted but never prosperous to save your own future.

But his response in the tension is perfect, ‘I don’t know what to do, but my eyes are on you.’ And you gotta know that it is in the moment of surrender that God is able to send comfort and instructions, but it’s not until you relinquish all control of the outcome to God

When I gave it up, thats when he blessed me

Leave it alone, because God can handle it better thank you

Let’s go further…

V. 3 - In times of fear, Jehoshaphat sought God for answers

Fasting removes external dependency

Could God be using your current situation to strip you of your external dependency?

V. 5 - Jehoshaphat stood (Soberness)/ Said (Authority)/ Reminded God (Cultural Awareness)

Not for God, but for us

God knows, but often time we can forget what he’s done for us when new situations arise

Believe again

V. 14 - The spirit of the Lord came on Jahaziel

do not fear or be dismayed at this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, it’s God’s

Any battle you can fight without God is self-initiated

V. 16 - your posture in battle is to stand still and see God work on your behalf

You were not called to war, your worship created