Strategy - Jehoshaphat
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Strategy - Jehoshaphat
Strategy - Jehoshaphat
Strategy: A plan of action or policy designed to achieve a major or overall aim.
When God is displeased with our decisions!
Now Jehoshaphat had great riches and honor, and he made a marriage alliance with Ahab. After some years he went down to Ahab in Samaria. And Ahab killed an abundance of sheep and oxen for him and for the people who were with him, and induced him to go up against Ramoth-gilead. Ahab king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, “Will you go with me to Ramoth-gilead?” He answered him, “I am as you are, my people as your people. We will be with you in the war.”
King Ahab - Was the King of the Northern Kingdom
And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him.
He was married to Jezebel who was a Pegan woman.
Ahab began to serve Baal and the goddess Asherah (Ash -sha - ra) which were false Gods in Canaan
Jehoshaphat should’ve learned from His father:
King Asa made a covenant with the King of Syria (Explain).
Asa had he own Strategy!
When our strategy has eliminated God as the source.... We will make unhealthy connections that will compromise our convictions!
God was not pleased with Asa
At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, “Because you relied on the king of Syria, and did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you. Were not the Ethiopians and the Libyans a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the Lord, he gave them into your hand.
Jehoshaphat makes the same mistake!
How can you entertain evil?
Comprise for a connection…
Not only do have have to watch the character of a person but you have to watch who people are connected too…
If a person can entertain and sleep with evil, called Jezebel.... Trust me! they will turn on you at some point in life.
God was not pleased with Jehoshaphat and the alliance with Ahab takes Jehoshaphat into war without God’s blessing.
Our decisions are a reflection of our thought pattern and process..
News Flash! God is not pleased when we try to create our own way:
Our game plan
Our blueprint
Our Method
Our Policy
Our Procedure
Our Scheme
Our Ingredients…
The Blender is the thought process… It’s automatic....
Perception
Association
Evaluation
Decision Making
The ingredients are our thought pattern…
Then we wonder why:
(Example)
#1 We are not pleasing to God…
#2 Pleasing to others...
#3 Pleasing to ourselves…
God spares Jehoshaphat’s life but is not pleased…
But Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat, “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord? Because of this, wrath has gone out against you from the Lord. Nevertheless, some good is found in you, for you destroyed the Asheroth out of the land, and have set your heart to seek God.”
“Some good is found in you” - When I have made a mess of things… God still saw the good in me!
He appointed judges in the land in all the fortified cities of Judah, city by city, and said to the judges, “Consider what you do, for you judge not for man but for the Lord. He is with you in giving judgment. Now then, let the fear of the Lord be upon you. Be careful what you do, for there is no injustice with the Lord our God, or partiality or taking bribes.”
Jehoshaphat got it together for the moment…
He knew that God’s strategy was the only way things could be in order…
I Cleaned Up What I Messed Up!
After this the Moabites and Ammonites, and with them some of the Meunites, came against Jehoshaphat for battle. Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, “A great multitude is coming against you from Edom, from beyond the sea; and, behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar” (that is, Engedi).
This is your moment of truth....
What are you going to put into the blender of your mind!!!!
Jehoshaphat was afraid… Remember will we have moments when we are afraid!
It’s what we do next…
How about this strategy… (Example)
Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
#1 Pray - Seek Him for direction
#2) Fast - In the midst of disruption, fasting comes to symbolize hope. Through repentance and prayer, fasting can signify the centering of the self in humility, the renewal of the relationship to God’s sustaining force.
Sometimes I need to silence all the voices… So I can hear the only voice that is important.
When you desire to seek God’s strategy He will give you the next step…
And the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly.
And he said, “Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: Thus says the Lord to you, ‘Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s.
Powerful!!!
#3 Thanksgiving
And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to the Lord and praise him in holy attire, as they went before the army, and say,
“Give thanks to the Lord,
for his steadfast love endures forever.”
God’s strategy will always produce the taste!!!