It says in verse 14-25, that the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel, son of Zechariah, to speak to the King.
And Jahaziel opened his mouth and the Spirit of the Lord said;
“Hearken,….The Lord says this to you: Be Not afraid or dismayed at this great multitude; for the battle is Not yours, but God’s. …..You shall not need to fight in this battle; TAKE YOUR POSITIONS, Stand still, and see the deliverance of the Lord [WHO IS] With you! …..And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord, Worshipping Him! …And they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; ….and As they WENT, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the Lord your God and you shall be established; Believe and remain steadfast to His prophets and you shall prosper! ….And when they began to sing and to praise God, the Lord set ambushments against their enemies and they turned on each other and killed each other dead.”
Now, lets look at how God gave this victory into the hands of Jehoshaphat. What made God honor him so?
First the King did what he knew was right-as we are taught from Philippians 4:6, the Word tells us this, when trouble comes upon us. We are told to do this:
“Do Not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with Thanksgiving, Continue to make your wants known to God.”
So in order to give a prayer of petition we Still have to have a Joyful and Thankful Spirit and heart.
The King knew this. He did not listen to his flesh and what he wanted to do. He did what he knew he believed in with his whole heart. He did not want mans best he wanted God’s best.
Then, the King entered into the Gates (His Presence), of God with thanksgiving and praise. So many people go to God without any praise to Him or any thankfulness, just with a grocery list of ‘things they want to make them feel better. They go with a selfish heart and spirit thinking that they are going to get what they want whether it is God’s Will for them or not.
We cannot go to God with a jacked up attitude expecting Him to honor our request os help in times of trouble. When my daughter comes to me to ask for something, do you really think I’ll honor her request if she comes rocking her head, talking sassy to me and telling me what I am going to do for her? Not on her life! It is the same way with God. How you approach Him determines if you receive your request from Him and also When you will receive it from Him.
The King did what He knew would show his faith and love to God. Jehoshaphat had the kind of faith that pleases God.
This is what He did, As it says in Psalm 100:4;
“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and a thank offering and into His courts with praise! Be thankful and say so to Him, Bless and Affectionately Praise His Name!”
We can’t even get into the Gates of God with a spirit and mouth full of, complaining, grumbling, murmuring, unforgiveness and fault finding. We can’t even get into the Gates to give petition of our needs and wants without approaching them with a Joyful and Thankful heart and spirit.
Meditate on this for awhile.
Now the King knew what would happen if he approached God the wrong way;
with worry, anxiety, with unforgiveness and a selfish and complaining, fault finding mind, heart and mouth- stemming from the root ball of fear.
Jehoshaphat knew as Paul also knew and spoke of in 1 Cor 10:7-12.
If you complain, mumble or have unforgiveness and a sour-selfish attitude centered on what you want and what you don’t have yet—you will be shut out of God’s ear and some may even fall dead on the spot!
In Verse 3, 4 and 5, we see that God supplied them with all their needs while they were in the wilderness. And the people of God took the blessings, ate and drank of it all. Afterwards, the people started complaining, and murmuring, having a heart and mind against God and being ungrateful for All He had already done for them.
In verse 5 it says; “Nevertheless, God was not pleased with the great majority of them, for they were overthrown and strewn down along [the ground] in the wilderness. Now these things are examples (warnings and admonitions) for us not to desire or crave or covet or lust after evil and carnal things As They Did!”
Go there and read about it yourself. We cannot use a selfish heart, a complaining mouth and a sour spirit to love God and give Him our prayers to help us through all the problems that live in this world.
Constantly badgering God about when is He going to give you something, or when He is going to tell you something, is not going to create a path for Him to do so. Just like we do our daughters, we don't tell them when we are going to do something, because they will keep coming back asking us when are we going? When, When, When!? lol. That is how we are with God. So He tells us to trust in Him and stay prepared. What He promised will come when His timing is correct!
If you wake up in the morning praising your problems instead of Praising God, then my goodness, the birds are out praising you when they wake in the morning!
Did you know that birds start to sing and chirp before the sun rises? They do. They are anticipating what they know to be coming. That is what we are to do. Ask yourself this, are the birds praising God more than I am? Animals don’t know anything about God. But God said, Let Everything that have breath, give praise unto ME!
So now, what are you going to do when a problem arises? I suggest that you=
TAKE YOUR POSITION AND TURN IT AROUND!
God wants you to know that when satan comes to you with memories of your past life, trying to guilt you into sadness and depression—trying to use your past against you—OR- if he comes suggesting that God is not going to help you right now and that you can do this or that on your own---This is what you do= Take Your Position as Jehoshaphat did and Turn It Around!
This is what The Spirit of Lord told me to pray to Him. I am giving you the same directions, the same path to use to strengthen your relationship with God through Jesus- so that What He has
Established in you will prosper in abundance for His glory through your life. God wants to establish us completely in Him. You have to have a relationship with Him. One of truth, obedience and faith in order to do what we have been called to do, by His purposes—not ours.
So many people pretend to know God that when He shows up they don’t recognize that He is Him.
Aren’t you tired of the best that man can give you? Are you ready for that season to come to an end by the hand of God? Well, if you are-then let us go into His presence and ask to be given the season in which He gives us His best.
What this means is that = The people that He tried to use to bless us through, did not completely obey Him and were too concerned with what they wanted, to concerned with what they didn’t have, or felt they would be missing out on something, or would have less of, if they helped you. Are you one of these people that God tried to use to bless another? Did you follow through completely in the timing that God instructed you to do? Or where you one that was too concerned with what you had to give up in order to help another?
These are friends in the shallow definition of the word. My goodness, how their actions speak louder than their words!
I have come to learn and to let go off, the fact that I know people that call me a good friend of theirs, but they will not take even 5 minutes to return my phone call or an email. I know what they will say-"gurrll, i have been so busy!" uh-huh...
My, My, My Lord, I forgive them all and I thank you for revealing it all and I lift them up to you so that you will continue to Work On Them! I love them. I know You are all over me! Stay all over them Lord, In Jesus’ name thank You, Amen.
I’m more than ready for God’s best to be given to me now that He has tested others that did not obey Him. I am ready to go! In Jesus name Amen.
How about you? Are you ready to grow?
My Lord, I am taking my Stand—Taking my position and I am starting with what I have! Praise Jesus! My feet are planted firmly—my thoughts are steady. I know that I cannot start with what I don’t have—so I start with all I do have!
I hear You Father, for it is time to begin. My feet are planted and I’ve made a decision, it’s time to begin. Amen.
I understand Lord that I have actually come to a time of Your Favor and that You have called for my strength! You Father God have called for an end to the past season in which something other than Your Best for me has worked, usurping the reality You intended for my life! Thank You God!
You know Lord that I have obediently pressed on with my faith—praying and believing Your Word to be the Final Authority in all situations concerning my life.
I confess and declare Lord that with what I have I am standing Firm in All that I know You have spoken to my heart! In the name of Jesus I am! I have written down everything that You have said and I go by the outline of what I’ve written.
You Lord have come onto the scene! Yes Lord! The predicted end of the challenge, including the sting of it—is visibly at hand—but Your Hand Father is stretched out on my behalf!! Thank You Lord!
“The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous; the right hand of the Lord does valiantly. The right hand of the Lord is exalted; the right hand of the Lord does valiantly!” Amen. Psalm 118:15-16
Part two of NO CROSS-NO CROWN, will be posted after this one.
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