God Fights for You

2 Chronicles 20:1–24 NLT

1 After this, the armies of the Moabites, Ammonites, and some of the Meunites declared war on Jehoshaphat. 2 Messengers came and told Jehoshaphat, “A vast army from Edom is marching against you from beyond the Dead Sea. They are already at Hazazon-tamar.” (This was another name for En-gedi.) 3 Jehoshaphat was terrified by this news and begged the Lord for guidance. He also ordered everyone in Judah to begin fasting. 4 So people from all the towns of Judah came to Jerusalem to seek the Lord’s help. 5 Jehoshaphat stood before the community of Judah and Jerusalem in front of the new courtyard at the Temple of the Lord. 6 He prayed, “O Lord, God of our ancestors, you alone are the God who is in heaven. You are ruler of all the kingdoms of the earth. You are powerful and mighty; no one can stand against you! 7 O our God, did you not drive out those who lived in this land when your people Israel arrived? And did you not give this land forever to the descendants of your friend Abraham? 8 Your people settled here and built this Temple to honor your name. 9 They said, ‘Whenever we are faced with any calamity such as war, plague, or famine, we can come to stand in your presence before this Temple where your name is honored. We can cry out to you to save us, and you will hear us and rescue us.’ 10 “And now see what the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir are doing. You would not let our ancestors invade those nations when Israel left Egypt, so they went around them and did not destroy them. 11 Now see how they reward us! For they have come to throw us out of your land, which you gave us as an inheritance. 12 O our God, won’t you stop them? We are powerless against this mighty army that is about to attack us. We do not know what to do, but we are looking to you for help.” 13 As all the men of Judah stood before the Lord with their little ones, wives, and children, 14 the Spirit of the Lord came upon one of the men standing there. His name was Jahaziel son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite who was a descendant of Asaph. 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!” 18 Then King Jehoshaphat bowed low with his face to the ground. And all the people of Judah and Jerusalem did the same, worshiping the Lord. 19 Then the Levites from the clans of Kohath and Korah stood to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud shout. 20 Early the next morning the army of Judah went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. On the way Jehoshaphat stopped and said, “Listen to me, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem! Believe in the Lord your God, and you will be able to stand firm. Believe in his prophets, and you will succeed.” 21 After consulting the people, the king appointed singers to walk ahead of the army, singing to the Lord and praising him for his holy splendor. This is what they sang: “Give thanks to the Lord; his faithful love endures forever!” 22 At the very moment they began to sing and give praise, the Lord caused the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir to start fighting among themselves. 23 The armies of Moab and Ammon turned against their allies from Mount Seir and killed every one of them. After they had destroyed the army of Seir, they began attacking each other. 24 So when the army of Judah arrived at the lookout point in the wilderness, all they saw were dead bodies lying on the ground as far as they could see. Not a single one of the enemy had escaped.

Great Attacks and Challenges Face Every Believer

This passage of Scripture begins with a three-nation army declaring war with Judah and specifically targeting King Jehoshaphat. While it is easy to miss, I feel it is of incredible significance to note the timing of this attack. You see one of the primary things Jehoshaphat is known for is being a righteous ruler who lead the people of Judah back to worshiping the Lord by his love and fear of the Lord in both word and lifestyle. In addition, Jehoshaphat tore down Asherah poles and statues to Baal which were the false gods Israel had turned to.

And while we do know that there was a season of blessing because he walked in the ways of the Lord, Jehoshaphat was on the enemies hit list so to speak and those rulers who were controlled by the false gods and evil spirits were now attempting to send the signal to Judah and Jehoshaphat in particular that they were bigger and stronger and coming after him.

Unfortunately, brothers and sisters there will be seasons in our walk when similar things will happen to us. Like Jehoshaphat, we will enter a season of great revival either personally or as part of a group when the Lord has grown us spiritually or is promoting us to a new chapter or season and we are giving God our all and all. While yes this is the way we should always live if we are honest with each other if you serve the Lord long enough while our love and worship for Him never changes there will be times when we are more on fire and active and times when we are less active, burned out or just unable to serve at our fullest potential due to some circumstance like a health issue for example.

However, when we are in the seasons of breakthrough, revival, and elevation we need to keep our focus on Jesus and the work He has us doing in us and through us while at the same time being aware that the evil one is working in others and in situations to plan our destruction. Again don’t spend much time worrying about those attacks but just be aware that they are coming so that you can apply some of the principles we will discuss today to make sure you keep pushing forward for the cause of Christ.

When You Are Afraid Seek the Lord and His Guidance

We can see in verse 3 that Jehoshaphat is terrified by the news and begs the Lord for His guidance. This verse is immensely powerful to me because we know and can read all throughout Scripture that we are not to fear but rather to trust God. I feel like at times this principle is misunderstood by people into saying that we will never experience any fears or anxieties as believers which is simply not true or realistic because as humans, we can’t help but feel these emotions at times. However, the Lord understands our humanity because He created us. He knows that there will be situations that are more than we can handle and that will scare us or cause us anxiety. What the Lord expects of us and teaches us through His word is that we are not to live in a fearful state and that when these feelings of fear or anxiety come upon us that we are to immediately seek His face and trust Him that He will do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

In any healthy relationship there is a trust that must be developed, and I can testify today as I am sure many of you can as well that Jesus Christ has never left me or forsaken me and has not only forgiven me of my sins and made a place for me in heaven but is there with me in every moment of everyday blessings me, guiding me, loving me and protecting me from any and all things which seek to harm me or those I care about.

I cannot even begin to articulate how good God has been to me and how much I love Him with everything that I am or will ever be. Hallelujah praise you Jesus! Thank you, Lord. I love you Jesus! Amen!

God’s People Must Come Together to Face Threats to Our People and Land

The Bible says that Jehoshaphat ordered everyone in Judah to begin fasting and that people form all the towns of Judah came to Jerusalem to seek the Lord’s help.

Think about what would happen today saints if instead of complaining about the issues of our land that the people of God would come together fast and pray for the His mighty hand to heal us.

2 Chronicles 7:14

14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

A person would have to be completely out of touch of world events to not recognize this country and more importantly the Christian church are under attack today.

Yes, it is true that many church leaders have simply failed to lead properly and allowed the ways of the world to enter the holy sanctuary of God. In addition, many congregations have failed because they no longer seek sincere godly instruction or respect their Pastors God given authority as leaders of the local churches but instead want to go somewhere where they are rarely if ever challenged in a meaning full way to grow in their walk and instead desire to have a feel-good experience every week. Worse still is that while there are exceptions the collective majority of believers have lost their willingness to fight for Christian values and holiness in fear of governments or popular opinion and some even turn a blind eye to those in need such as the homeless, helpless, those in human trafficking situations, addicted or abused.

Church look around because the Lord is giving us wake-up call after wake-up call and we are either going to come together, pray, fast, repent and seek the face of the Lord or those who wish to destroy us will just keep attacking and attacking until Lord returns.

Our desire should be as the church to save as many people as possible and help the next generation save as many people as possible while there is still time.

We can see a great example to follow in Jehoshaphat because as the leader of the land he assembles the people of God together and leads them in prayer in the house of God. He begins worshipping the Lord by declaring that our God is the only sovereign God of the universe. Jehoshaphat then thanks the Lord for the honor of being allowed to assemble together in the temple to worship Him.

Hear me today in times of need have confidence that God hears our prayers and will stand strong on our behalf.

Next, Jehoshaphat and the people declare that they cannot defeat what is coming against them and that they seek the help of the Lord.

Some Battles Belong to God

Verse 13 tells us that as all the men of Judah stood before the Lord with their wives and children that the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel, and the Holy Spirit spoke through him.

The Lord declares to the people to not be afraid or discouraged because of the vast army coming against them because this battle God will fight personally.

List to the Pastor today, there are things you are battling in your life that God never intended you to fight. There are issues that have been weighing you down or causing you anxiety and stress that in the natural realm you can never possibly defeat.

Here me please there are some giants which we are to slay and there are some giants that can only be killed by the Spirit of the Lord so stop exhausting yourself trying to do what you were never meant to do and give it to God today and let Him fight your battle so that He and He alone can be glorified. Hallelujah!

Our Faith and Worship of the Lord Ensures Victory

After the Lord had spoken Jehoshaphat and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem bowed low with their faces to the ground and worshipped God. Then the Levites stood to praise the Lord with a loud shout.

Once you seek Jesus and He gives you the word you have been seeking the first thing you must do is to worship and praise Him! Amen!

The next thing you should do is to be obedient to His instructions which is what Jehoshaphat, and the army of Judah did as they went into the wilderness of Tekoa.

In verse 20 as they went into the wilderness, Jehoshaphat stopped them and reminded them to trust and believe in the Lord and they would be able to stand firm and be successful.

Again this comes down to the trust relationship of seeing God working in your life and the life of others time and time again and knowing He will not abandon you in your time of need.

And in perhaps one of the most amazing scenes in Scripture, as the people began to sing praises unto God, the Lord caused the enemy armies to begin attacking each other instead of the army of Judah. The Lord completely destroyed the enemy armies so when the army of Judah did arrive at the lookout point in the wilderness, all they saw were the dead bodies and that not one of the enemy soldiers escaped.

Hear me today saints when the devil or circumstances or people try to come against you do not try to handle everything on your own but give it to God. God tells us in His word that we can trust Him and that He will fight our battles for us when we trust Him and walk in His ways.

I can testify from personal experience that there have been several times in my life when people have come against me by saying or doing awful things. When I was younger in my walk my response would be fleshly or I would try to handle it myself and it always made things worse and hurt my reputation even though I had not done anything wrong. But a few years ago I have had some people really try to destroy what the Lord was doing in me and through me and while I did get angry and was about to react instead, I stopped, I thanked God for revealing to me the character of these people and I asked Him to handle the situation. Not only did God handle the situation but He did so in a way far better than I ever could have. I have had to do the same thing a few times since and every time I just give it to God then He handles things and does so perfectly.

While our flesh will say revenge or justice what God can do is to touch the other persons heart or mind so that they can repent and learn, and many times come back to apologize which really is the best way. Other times when the people or situations did not repent and change then He has given me victory in the very face of my enemies not because who I am but because God will protect and bless people who love Him and walk in His ways.

God Fights for You

In closing, whatever it is that you are faced with today give it to God and trust Him to fight your battle.

Jesus loves you and does not want you to be afraid or feel defeated.

He paid the price for you on the cross and defeated death, hell and the grave so that you could have a right relationship with Him, and heaven can be your home.

Jesus has given you the Holy Spirit the very Spirit of God to dwell in you so that what we cannot do in the natural God can and will do in the supernatural and the natural.

All it takes is that we trust the Lord enough to believe that if we follow Him and walk in His ways we too can pray and worship Him to move victoriously in our lives and the lives of others so that He may be glorified.

Let us pray

Thank you for joining me today and remember our joy is in Jesus!