Day Sixteen - Praise

As you read this account of King Jehoshaphat, please note specifically verses 2-3, 15-17, and 21-22.

All of us have battles in our lives. On December 31st, I challenged you to refocus your focus on the Lord. I have preached, taught, prayed, and posted ever since about what that might look like in your life. A huge part of the process is laying it all down. Maybe you laid down a simple enjoyment for a few weeks, and you have every intention to return to it soon. Maybe you laid down a sin that you know you should never pick back up again. Maybe there is a battle that you, God, and Satan are fighting. Could be for your time with God, or it could be a heart or head issue. It could be an outside pressure from the world; It could be so many different things. We battle! This life is so precious and amazing, but, oh, how hard it can be for some, or any of us, at certain times.

As I write this, I am well aware of some of your specific and special battles. When I tell you I am sorry and that I am praying for you, I could not be more serious. I can only hope right now that the right ones will read this post. If you are not in an especially difficult place right now, please just shout out loud "Praise God!!!"

Praise God that you are pain free,
Your marriage is solid,
Your bills are paid,
Your children are walking in Truth,
You are saved,
You are growing in your faith,
You are happy,
You are not lonely,
You are not confused,
You are confident in yourself,
You are humble in Christ.

Everyone cannot say such things. They are in a bad place. Are you? How many people do we know that are hurting? How many are facing a battle that we know nothing about? What you are getting ready to read, I hope you do not need today. If you do, I pray it helps. If you do not, you may soon.

King Jehoshaphat was confronted with a vast army who had the power to devastate his kingdom. Verse three states, "He feared and set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout the land." Verse fifteen says that God responded: "Do not be afraid or dismayed because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours (alone), but God's."

Whatever you are facing, we serve a God who wants to fight our battles (with us)! When we depend on Him, He is faithful to go before us and aid us in winning the victory. Please read again verse twenty-one. They sang and praised God as they went to battle. Yes, before the battle began. Verse twenty-two states that: "Now as they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set the ambush against the vast army who had come against Judah, and they were defeated."

I wish I could tell you how or when your battle will come to an end victoriously, won by the right, but I cannot. This is the walk of faith. Praying believing means that you trust God when the walls (Joshua 6) seem as fortified as ever, and when the prison bars seem as shut (Acts 16) as they ever have been.

We read in the Gospel of Luke that Jesus began His ministry in Nazareth by speaking in the synagogues reading Isaiah 58:6 and 61:1-2. He declared to His listeners to be that One they had been awaiting.  He said that He had come to heal the broken hearted, set captures free, heal the blind and bring liberty to the oppressed. Battling the world, the flesh and the Devil is not for humanity to tackle alone. We need the Lord.

I ask you today to give up and give in. I ask you to bring your battle, your baggage, yourself, your heartache and pain to the alter and lay it down. Put your burden in the arms of the One who has all the power, and who has proven His love to you, for you, and in spite of you countless times.

Allow me to add this thought:
You may be praying for someone else that is a part or is causing your battle. Your "vast army" has a free will and God wants to break through to them as much as you want Him to, I promise. Do this for me: pray that God will change you. Ask Him to bring joy into your heart in spite of the circumstances of your life. Maybe it will make a difference in them, maybe not, but I want you to be well.

I want you to see the Hand of God on your life despite it all. Again, your battle could be beyond my imagination, but at the end of the day, a battle is a battle, from physical pain to a wayward child, to waiting on God to give direction for the future. Whatever it may be, I know it belongs to your God.

Our God is our rock and fortress. He is a very present help in times of trouble. If the Lord is for us, who can come against us?

Read Psalm 23

In Christ,
Pastor Todd