2 Chronicles 20:2-4
"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. And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. 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."
By the time King Jehoshaphat got this bad news, there was very little he could do about it. And at this time the, great force of multitude was less than thirty miles away from Jerusalem's gate. This means it was very close and there wasn't enough time for strategies or a plan of action. All the same the King decided to take stock of what he had on hand. And frankly, it wasn't much! He had no chariots, no defence, no allies, no time and no army worth riding home about. You can imagine at this point how stressed and under pressure the King was not knowing what the next move was going to be. However, whether he knew it or not, He had a secret weapon - Prayer and Praise!!!
So he went down on his knees before the whole nation and poured out his heart before God. He didn't bluff, he didn't rattle his saber neither did he make any patriotic speech. He just prayed an honest prayer - as though his life depended on it and mind you it did. Then right after that, he consulted his elders and the people and decided the choir should lead the march, clothed in sanctified garments singing "His loving kindness is forever" praising and thanking God for His continuous faithfulness whilst they walked and marched along. Wow, talk about out of the ordinary weapon of warfare. I am sure you are probably thinking what a looser! Who ever heard of putting a choir out in front of an army. With harps and lyres leading an infantry instead of tanks and artillery. This got me thinking too. How could this work? And yet it did!
The Bible says, the moment they began to praise, the Lord caused the armies of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir to begin fighting among themselves and destroyed each other one at a time. Hallelujah!! For me the story of King Jehoshaphat isn't just a historical event. Actually, it has meaning for you and I as Believers in this very day. Like the King, as Believers we are surrounded by multitudes of enemies. Well trained and well equipped. The armies of Satan are experts at battling our faith as Believers when we need it the most. And the enemy knows that none of us by our own strength can withstand his fiery darts so he comes unexpected when we are low in our faith towards God to attack us. But what he doesn't know is, we have a secret weapon - "Praises." The demons hate it. Human opponents are irritated by it.
That is why you and I need to learn to Praise God in such a way that our enemy will be thrown into a complete rout. When we step into our spiritual warfare which by the way happens every day, we won't be frightened by the adversities or the schemes of the enemy; because we know we have the resources in Christ Jesus to totally confuse and destroy our foes - Hallelujah!! For some of us this might be a very difficult lesson for us to learn. Because usually when things in our lives goes haywire, the first thought is to do something and anything to rectify the problem. And for some of us fighting back with revenge, anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, legal systems seems like such a logical fronline defence. However from reading 2 Chronicles 20 we are told our first reaction to any attack of the enemy should be prayer then followed by our "Praises" unto the Lord.
Apostle Paul put it in a nutshell for us in 2Corithians 10:3-4, "For the though we live in this world, we do not wage war as the world deos. The weapons we fight with are not weapons of this world." Please remember today that when all those legions line up against you, they will turn on themselves one after the other when they hear you lifting the name of the Most High God higher in your praises offered unto Him. As Believers, we have power over our enemies. So right now, where ever you are whatever you are doing, lift up the name of the Lord your with a shout of praise with every ounce of breath in you.
MEMORY VERESE:
"Sing praises to God, sing praises: sing praises unto our King, sing praises. For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding." ---Psalm 47:6-7
By Enyonam Gbekle. All rights reserved.
"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. And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. 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."
By the time King Jehoshaphat got this bad news, there was very little he could do about it. And at this time the, great force of multitude was less than thirty miles away from Jerusalem's gate. This means it was very close and there wasn't enough time for strategies or a plan of action. All the same the King decided to take stock of what he had on hand. And frankly, it wasn't much! He had no chariots, no defence, no allies, no time and no army worth riding home about. You can imagine at this point how stressed and under pressure the King was not knowing what the next move was going to be. However, whether he knew it or not, He had a secret weapon - Prayer and Praise!!!
So he went down on his knees before the whole nation and poured out his heart before God. He didn't bluff, he didn't rattle his saber neither did he make any patriotic speech. He just prayed an honest prayer - as though his life depended on it and mind you it did. Then right after that, he consulted his elders and the people and decided the choir should lead the march, clothed in sanctified garments singing "His loving kindness is forever" praising and thanking God for His continuous faithfulness whilst they walked and marched along. Wow, talk about out of the ordinary weapon of warfare. I am sure you are probably thinking what a looser! Who ever heard of putting a choir out in front of an army. With harps and lyres leading an infantry instead of tanks and artillery. This got me thinking too. How could this work? And yet it did!
The Bible says, the moment they began to praise, the Lord caused the armies of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir to begin fighting among themselves and destroyed each other one at a time. Hallelujah!! For me the story of King Jehoshaphat isn't just a historical event. Actually, it has meaning for you and I as Believers in this very day. Like the King, as Believers we are surrounded by multitudes of enemies. Well trained and well equipped. The armies of Satan are experts at battling our faith as Believers when we need it the most. And the enemy knows that none of us by our own strength can withstand his fiery darts so he comes unexpected when we are low in our faith towards God to attack us. But what he doesn't know is, we have a secret weapon - "Praises." The demons hate it. Human opponents are irritated by it.
That is why you and I need to learn to Praise God in such a way that our enemy will be thrown into a complete rout. When we step into our spiritual warfare which by the way happens every day, we won't be frightened by the adversities or the schemes of the enemy; because we know we have the resources in Christ Jesus to totally confuse and destroy our foes - Hallelujah!! For some of us this might be a very difficult lesson for us to learn. Because usually when things in our lives goes haywire, the first thought is to do something and anything to rectify the problem. And for some of us fighting back with revenge, anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, legal systems seems like such a logical fronline defence. However from reading 2 Chronicles 20 we are told our first reaction to any attack of the enemy should be prayer then followed by our "Praises" unto the Lord.
Apostle Paul put it in a nutshell for us in 2Corithians 10:3-4, "For the though we live in this world, we do not wage war as the world deos. The weapons we fight with are not weapons of this world." Please remember today that when all those legions line up against you, they will turn on themselves one after the other when they hear you lifting the name of the Most High God higher in your praises offered unto Him. As Believers, we have power over our enemies. So right now, where ever you are whatever you are doing, lift up the name of the Lord your with a shout of praise with every ounce of breath in you.
MEMORY VERESE:
"Sing praises to God, sing praises: sing praises unto our King, sing praises. For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding." ---Psalm 47:6-7
By Enyonam Gbekle. All rights reserved.
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