When The Battle Chooses You | Pastor Steven Furtick

I would like to share with you a scripture verse that I pray will explode like a bomb like the promise that it is

when

I read it a certain number of you I don't know how many and I don't know where Only a certain number of you will know that this is for you

when

I read the verse and I'm not saying it's for everyone, but if it's for you and how can you know it's for you if you're currently facing a

battle

that's bigger than you then this verse is for you today and that's why when I read this verse is not for everyone, it is for those who face a

battle

that is bigger than you and the scripture is found in 2 Chronicles chapter 20 and in just a moment I will read it I want to give everyone who wants to turn to it the opportunity to do so you have it Rachel when Rachel is ready I will read it because she knows the Bible very well so if I hadn't found it I already know that someone else is in Galatians looking for 2 Chronicles, you have it 20:17 listen to this, you are ready.

I don't think you are. This is the Word of the Lord and I am really going to minister from the song. that we just sang we were singing I'm going to see a victory and we were singing Romans 8:28 Genesis 50:20 one of the main themes of the Scriptures how God takes what the enemy meant for evil and changes the enemy's intention and actually use it to produce a purpose in your life and today I am going to minister from that. That song went so well with my sermon that it's almost like we planned it. It's almost like I texted LJ on Wednesday and told him to do that song sooner.

I preach 2 Chronicles 20 verse 17 the Word of the Lord you will not have to fight this battle six of you well if you want that to be your word shout when I read it you will not have to fight this battle come on hit someone say no this one no this one you will not have to fight this battle you will not have to fight this battle tell them you will not have to do it you will not have to fight this battle take your positions stand firm and see stand firm and see the deliverance that the Lord will give you oh Judah and Jerusalem do not be afraid do not be discouraged do not believe When that devil tells you that there is nothing you can do about it, go out and face them tomorrow and the Lord will be with us.

Let's give God a shout of praise for his promise. Amen, you can sit in the presence of God. I should mention that yesterday marked 17 years since I made the best decision of my life in Moncks Corner, South Carolina, on the former state portion of the Santee Canal. where I said my vows to the Holly Anna Boitnott of my dreams sweating through my S&K suit two sizes too big standing out in the low country heat of 104 degrees Eric Phillips was a sweating groomsman and six ministers stood in the gallery to share seven different songs that we sang it was quite an occasion we made a big deal of it and everyone had to endure it it was a great day I sang a song to Holly on my Taylor acoustic guitar that I could barely afford and that I had written for the occasion and I'm going to write to her another song, she doesn't know it yet, but I already have the chorus and I'm working on it before we get to the 20th anniversary and I'll have it ready, it's a good song.

I have a sort of Tom Petty vibe with a little bit of Ed Sheeran and I'm praying that it will help me open the doors of love that I need at times in my life when I want affectionate attention and intimacy with my wife. so everyone pray for me about that too. I already have the choir just praying for the verse, so now I think I'm qualified to give marriage advice. 17 years. I have something to say. I'm not ready to do the parenting book yet, but the Marriage Thing I really don't feel qualified to give marriage advice because I feel like our marriage is strong primarily because of who I chose and that's the honest truth.

I'm not indulging now. I'm telling you the truth. I think selection is very important and I don't want to say that God can't take a relationship that starts out bad and turn it into something that is really beautiful, of course he makes beauty out of ashes, that's what he does, but I think that Sometimes they give me credit for things. about our marriage that are really just a product of the character of the person I married and I was told by a very psychologically knowledgeable person that the healthiest part of me chose Holly and I don't even know what that meant when I said it but it sounded true so I'm telling you when I chose her I chose a union with her strengths but I also chose to cover her weaknesses as her husband and then she chose to cover my weaknesses and I definitely got the Good ending I promise you but you know, The thing about marriage is that sometimes it is more useful to look at an example than to listen to advice.

Even Jesus loved the church like he would want a husband to love his wife, so it's more. more of an example than an explanation and people will give you marriage or life or parenting advice, but they will give it to you based on ideal situations and the problem with that is when someone advises you but does not know the exact nature of your challenges, they may give you a strategy that works for them but it may not work for you because every relationship, every challenge, every battle is not the same and I remember asking so many different couples before our wedding what advice they would give and most of all, You will get the same old clichés, same old tired clichés about "You know, never go to bed angry," which I mean is a horrible, horrible thing, because the best thing you can do sometimes is get some rest and start over. new. the morning before you say something you'll regret with your delusional, sleep-deprived self with the filter off and now you're tired of saying things you'd never say if it weren't 3:00 a.m. m. so go to your corner and come out tomorrow Good morning look I'm saying some of this advice it sounds good pick your battles that's advice you always get pick your battles don't fight about everything which is a great advice, you know you have to decide in any relationship, this is not a marriage. seminar, by the way, I'm just using it as an opening illustration, but you have to decide if war is really worth waging.

Is it really worth it if Holly, after 17 years, still doesn't know how to properly load cutlery into the dishwasher? and she thinks it's still okay to put the part of the fork that you put in your mouth up so that your hand touches the part that's going into your mouth when you take it out the next day if she really still thinks that makes sense later 17 years old is really worth fighting for no, I'm bigger than that I'm not a mean man I let it go so they can tell you pick your battles let your kids play the music too loud from time to time no Don't always pick your battles , don't trip over small things, choose your battles.

The question I want to ask you today, and I suppose you could also use it as a title for the message of 2 Chronicles 20: Is it wise to choose your battles? when you can, but what do you do when your battle

chooses

you? What do you do when something shows up at your door and it's not from Amazon Prime and you didn't order it? What do you do when the devil left you something? deal with that which you did not directly cause to definitively choose or anticipate as Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20 who is told one morning in verse one could add in a time of spiritual renewal for Judah the southern kingdom of Israel in a time of great momentum spiritual one the day just when everything is going well, you know how, just when you understand something and just when you get into your routine and just when you get into your rhythm and here comes some news that the Bible says after this verse one, the Moabites and Ammonites and even some of the Meunites came to make war on Jehoshaphat and some men came and said to Jehoshaphat, I'm not going to tell him, you tell him, I'm not going to tell him, you tell him, we'll all tell him, let's time him together, a great army is coming against you. from Edom from across the sea, this means they are sneaking up behind them, they are going around the dead sea and then they come back to attack God's people on an obscure route because they can't use the normal trade route and so that they are sneaking up behind and are 25 miles away, which means Jehoshaphat has no time to develop a strategy, no time to build up the Armed Forces to mount a defense, no time to rethink the occasions that led to to this event, it's getting closer and closer now, have you ever gotten that phone call, that text message, that moment when something sneaks up on you and it's just a day of marching? away that means I have to deal with it tomorrow I don't have time to read a book I don't have time to watch a TED talk I don't have time to nourish myself and sleep this one took me by surprise this one slapped me on the head this one left me buzzing ear this one I can't even believe it's happening this one I'm not even sure if it's real yet this one I don't have time to call 12 people about this one I don't have time to get everyone's opinion this I don't have time to get everyone's advice like this look what Jehoshaphat did he said I don't have time for all that so I have to go to God there is something about a surprise attack that will bring you into the presence of God there is something that you didn't see coming that will make you run to the place where you should have run all the time I'm getting ahead of myself but I said that they were coming and they were already in En Gedi and that's why it's urgent the king's response says that in verse 3 he was alarmed but he still resolved I really like it I really like it that he had determination to seek the Lord even in the Face of an unexpected attack, he had decided who he would turn to before knowing what would come against him and, of course, he did not always respond this way, no one comes, no one does, oh man, this is so hard to get. in front of hypocritical Christians who always want to act as if they always seek the Lord and pray for everything like you always prayed in tongues like you always raised your hands like you always prostrated yourself before the holiness of His Majesty the great Jehovah who fights your battles no Jehoshaphat connected with Ahab and they almost killed him two chapters ago because it seemed like the right strategy because when they wanted to attack a strategic city, the evil King Ahab and you may recognize his name in the prophetic account of Elijah, that's who Elijah went to. and he said, hey, it's not going to rain until I say it, the heavens will be like a voice activated shower system and until I say it, it's not going to rain, it was Ahab who said that to and then Jehoshaphat said that. he stayed with that same King. and they went out to do what seemed smart and they almost got killed, in fact Ahab was killed and the prophet Micaiah tried to tell these false prophets of Baal what they are telling you is what you want to hear, but it is not what you need.

Listen if you go into that battle you will get hurt and he did and he barely made it out because he fought the wrong battle. Have you ever barely made it out because you fought a battle you weren't supposed to fight? The time my father-in-law was driving was actually on my wedding day 17 years ago and we passed a couple on the side of the road who were physically fighting, but the interesting thing about it was that the man was in a headlock. and the woman seemed to have the situation firmly under control. I didn't see that until I stopped when I stopped the car.

I was going to go out and help because I thought the man was hitting the woman, but when I saw that. The woman was taking care of the man. I thought just praise God for his sovereignty, he knows what is best and apparently this woman doesn't need my help so I left but my father in law told me why did you stop. I told him I was going to go out and help, he said no, no, never get into a fight between a man and his wife because you will step in to help them and then if you get into their fight and it's not your fight but you'll get in The middle will turn around and both will start fighting with you, it's good life advice, don't try to pick up a fight that's not your fight because you might find out when you pick up a fight that's not your fight, you might find out that the surest way to get into trouble is to take up a battle that doesn't belong to you.

That is why Christians do not always need to share their opinion on every topic that is presented as a cultural issue. you have to choose your battles and know God this is what Jehoshaphat wanted to know is this my battle is this my fight is this something I need to get involved in is this something I am called to do You will be surprised how many people throughout Over the years they have tried to make me be more political from my pulpit, but that is not my fight. I vote. I'm involved. I lead thousands of people to make a difference in our community.

I built something that represents and reflects. unity to a broken and fragmented world and we do it together every six days and during the week, but you must be very careful not to spend all your energy fighting battles that are not yours and then have no energy. You've left for the battles that are yours and now you've gotten so tired of leaving comments on Facebook posts with people you don't know in Idaho that you don't have the strength to engage with people who live in your own home. I'm not trying to run the White House. I'm trying to run my house and I have my hands full.

I have three people in my house who are dependents. You have to know when you're getting tired of hitting things that aren't even yours to fight with, yes I'm bad at this, although sometimes it's like I don'tI had enough drama for myself so I start trying to control other people you know how you can tell if you're fighting the wrong battles if you're trying to control others you're fighting the wrong battle you can't control others beyond a certain point point you can only manipulate short term behavioral results but you can't change someone's heart that's why even the New Testament says as much as it is possible with you to live in peace with all men there comes a point where another person's peace is not your responsibility your peace is your responsibility and there comes a point where you have to say that's not my battle that's not my battle I've done everything I can do, but that's not my battle.

In fact, let me give you a cool little line to use the next time someone tries to involve you in some gossip or involve you in some drama, okay, and they'll usually tell you what do you do? think about so-and-so, we hear about so-and-so, what do you think about people, ask me this all the time about another ministry, what do you think about so-and-so, and I learned this from a senior minister, they taught me what to say, what do you think and This is what you answer. It won't work for a variety of situations. It may work for a situation that you ignore and only read headlines, so you don't really do it.

I have something to say because we cannot trust the information they give us. It may work on Donald Trump. It can work on Kanye West. It may work about someone else dropping his kid off at school with you and having problems in their marriage, what do you think of so-and-so? Don't know. My heart is a full-time drama factory. I don't need to borrow drama from anyone's personal life. I have my own drama BYOD, bring your own drama. You've had enough, you brought your own drama to church without judging someone else for what you think of them for 10 seconds of their life compared to the entirety.

I don't have time for that and Jehoshaphat didn't run around looking at what other people were doing, he went to seek the Lord, he went to consult the Lord and this is not just a simplistic prayer or this is not just having a feeling and following it and calling it God and this is not just slapping a verse of Scripture. into something you wanted to do anyway so you can blame God when it doesn't work, this is really seeking the Lord, in fact the Bible says he was shaken, but he wasn't, maybe he should do it.

Put it this way, he was surprised but not shuddered. He did not see Ammon Moab and the Edomites, who are three, coming. I could fight one, but there are three. He's bigger than me and he's coming after me. something greater than you that arose behind you Jehoshaphat's prayer is interesting because he is praying for Ammon Moab and the Edomites of Mount Seir but we have three different enemies we have the world the flesh and the devil that is from 1 John that is your enemy the world the flesh and the devil are the values ​​that oppose your purpose the world the flesh are the patterns that oppose your purpose and the devil is the principality that opposes your purpose and could fight one, but how I fight the devil when I'm Fighting my own flesh, how can I fight the world when there's actually a part of me that wants to do it like the world?

I could fight one, but I can't fight all of them, they're bigger than me and they're coming from behind. How can I raise children in a culture where information about the history of the universe is in their pocket? How can I have a sex talk with kids when they don't have to go to a gas station to watch porn? They can do it well. In addition to its biblical application, the nature of the battle determines the nature of the strategy. When you do not understand the nature of the battle, you will not understand the nuances of the strategy, so you will fight the battle without understanding the dynamics of the battle.

You will lose the battle because you will fight on the wrong level. Can I preach a little today? It's for 50 people that you're faced with something that snuck up behind you, you didn't see it coming and it's bigger than you, I don't know. which one to fight next when you understand the nature of the battle, you can understand the nature of the strategy and that's why I have to ask God. Jehoshaphat decided to seek the Lord, that means he involved the priests, the Levites and they got together and he was surrounded. by the right people, this time he won't go to Ahab, he won't ask all his friends what they think about it, this time he won't look for celebrity culture to influence his decisions, this time he will go to the right place, but he doesn't have a plan. and I want you to see his prayer because he will help you if you are facing a battle that is bigger than you and sneaks up behind you every day this week.

I want you to open your Bible to 2 Chronicles 20 verse 3. and then read what Jehoshaphat prayed and then pray because verse 5 says out loud I want you to pray this every day this week if you are fighting a battle that is bigger than you and sneaked up behind you, you face God in the face. week for a few minutes every day and say this prayer because Jehoshaphat stood verse 5 in the Assembly of Judah and Jerusalem in the temple of the Lord in front of the new courtyard this is Solomon's Temple this is the one they dedicated to God this It is the one where God promised to pour out his presence for any problem you face and begin to remind God of what God said Oh Lord God of our fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven?

I love this man because he has already changed his mind from what is coming against him to the one who reigns over him O Lord God of our fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven you rule over all the kingdoms of the nation the power and The strength is in your hand and no one can resist? You, O our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel? Remind God of what he's already done when you're not sure what he's doing right now, not so he can remember it, but so you can come, you need to. remember this isn't your first rodeo cowboy this isn't the first time you've cried this isn't the first time you've been out of breath this isn't the first time you didn't see a clearer path this isn't the first time you've been hurt This is not the first time your heart was broken this is not the first time you did not have enough money this is not the first diagnosis that came from behind I feel its presence didn't you do it in front of your people Israel and give it to them? forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend look at this he said that you gave it forever and since you gave it forever it cannot stop now since you promised to fulfill your purpose no enemy of Ammon no enemy of Moab no enemy of Mount Seir no Edomite You can take it off and when you say it on the one hand you are praising God but it almost sounds like you are blaming God notice the tone that changes in verse 8 they have lived in it and built in it a sanctuary for your name saying if it comes calamity upon us whether it be the sword or the judgment or the plague or the famine we will be in your presence before this temple that bears your name and we will cry out to you in our distress and you will hear us and save us but now God great God respectfully King lord the just , but now here are men from Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, whose territory you would not allow Israel to invade when they came from Egypt uh oh Jehoshaphat said this is not my fault last time when I joined Ahab, that's up to me, but this one someone shouts this this we are doing the best we can this we are praying in the temple this we acted according to the wisdom we had for the situation we were in this no one really knew how to do it this we couldn't have prevented it through obedience This one is different This one is different and you are going through something right now that is a little different I'm sure you have sin and you have things you need to repent of and so do I and if you dare to look at me with an angelic face when I say that I promise you that I will prophesy and God will show me something about your life that you don't want in these picture screens I will but this this this battle coalition is three enemies that came together to fight me and the only reason they are here is because when Moses brought out the people You told him from Egypt that he could not expel him because they were relatives of Esau. who were the Edomites were the descendants of Esau and Esau was the son of Isaac he was not his favorite son but he was still his son he gave up his birthright but he was still a son and Isaac was the son of Abraham and Abraham was a friend of God and therefore God did not allow the Israelites to expel someone who belonged to their friend when you have a friend who knows how to fight will give you confidence when you have a friend who knows how to fight.

I remember. This kid we used to pick on in fourth grade was named Erik Pie, but then Erik Pie became friends with Harry Walker. Erik Pie couldn't fight, but Harry Walker could. Harry Walker was 17 years old and had chest hair in the fourth grade. Harry Walker had a criminal record in the fourth grade Harry Walker said you bother with him you bother with me now look at someone confident say you fight with me you have to fight with my friend this is a bold message this is knowing he could be bigger than me but He is not greater than God I I am calm, I am calm, you would not let us expel him, we would have done it, but you would not let us, this is not our fault, what do you have to do when you fight a battle that is not? your guilt sometimes you fight against things that are in your genetics but you still have to figure out what to do with that battle and when it's so deep it's so strong sometimes you fight against things that other people did and if you're ashamed and "Well, I take responsibility From my side, that's good, but it's complicated because before long shame will take you out of the presence of God, which is what you need when you're in a situation, even if you created it, it's complicated because you can find yourself in a battle. and you can say well, I can't expect God's help in this situation because it was created by my hand, but Jehoshaphat is transcending all that with his prayer and he says: O Lord our God, we belong to you. they are your possession and when we come to This land so many years ago you did not allow us to expel these enemies and they are greater than us and they came after us and we are not guilty of this battle and yet here this is how it is now verse 11 Oh Lord our God look how they are repaying us by coming to throw us out of the possession that you gave us as an inheritance now let me put this here I only go with the spirit that I have today I did not open my notes, I mean, I have in my heart, I am preaching, I am preaching spirit by spirit today for whoever needs to receive it and God He gave me this word before he gave you this word for the battles that I face that are. bigger than me and said look how they are paying us by coming to expel us from the possession that you gave us now if it is God who gave it to us then it is from God to protect it it is about possession it is not about how much power you have it is about possession and if you are God's possession and you are managing something that He gave you to possess, so it is not a question of how much power you have that determines what happens next in this battle when it is God's possession, it is God's problem.

I don't want to cry telling you this if it hits your heart that if it is God's possession it is God's problem and then you realize that you are his treasure you are his possession you are his daughter you are his son you are his friend and your friend knows how to fight against it it gives you trust Oh our God, won't you judge them because we verse 12 have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us is bigger than us came after us we can't do it we don't know what to do? do it if you are there right now raise your right hand I don't know what to do I don't know how to fight I don't know how to fix it I can't control what's coming against me but our eyes are on you and God says if you change the focus he will win the fight if you change the focus and you stop looking at how great he is but start praising him for how great a help he is in the way 13 all the men of Judah with their wives and children and little ones stood there before the Lord then the Spirit of the Lord came on Jahaziel the son of Zechariah son of Benaiah son of Jeiel son of Mattaniah a Levite and descendant of Asaph while standing in the assembly why?

Did you read all those names? Pastor Steven, why didn't you overlook that that's not important to the story? It absolutely is because each name that was represented represented a generation in which God was faithful and meant that each time God prepared. to pass his purpose on to another generation he didn't abandon it and he won't abandon it now and he won't stop with you and you won't lose the battle unless you lose your focus it's not about your power it's about your Position can I show you that you have like 10 more minutes? I'm so grateful that that prophet stood up and said what he said because you know everyone was starting to get ready to fight and you know if they had fought they would have lost.

But the craziest thing is that it's ironic that if they had fought they would have lost when you don't understand the nature of the battle you are in, you use the wrong strategy and some of us are losing because we are fighting at the wrong level. to unpack it you could use Ephesians 6:12 we don't fight against flesh and blood but that's what we fight against flesh and blood we fight every battlePhysically we fight with people, we even fight with people who tryhelp ourselves because we are insecure, we fight the battle to protect our ego and our pride and then we lose the battle in our spirit because we were more concerned with protecting our pride. then we were about to receive the power of God and the help of him and the provision of him in our lives.

I was talking to someone this week and they were telling me all kinds of crazy things and the Lord said, "Not this one, don't fight this one, learn the 20th." % who is saying that is true keep your mouth shut save your energy for the real battle sometimes I see a comment on Instagram about my preaching or my shoes or something like that and the Lord says no this one no this because if you convince a fool everything who you have as a friend is a fool, not this one, someone says, not this one mm-hmm I saw a movie about Jackie Robinson 42 and there was a scene in the movie where the owner told him: we are going to put you in the system and, hopefully getting you to Brooklyn to play professional baseball, but there's one problem: what are you going to do when racist threats are shouted in your face?

What are you going to do when they attack you at every stop? What are you going to do when they pressure you? It took you to your breaking point and jumped into the film's portrayal. I don't know if this happened in real life but I like to think it did and he said what do you want a player who doesn't have the guts to fight and he looked at him and said no I want a player who has the guts not to fight. fight back and here is the message, sometimes it takes more faith to not fight back, sometimes it takes more faith to just let God be God and be great in your situation because if you manipulate it you will ruin it, if you start pulling out the tares, you will uproot the wheat.

Sometimes it takes more faith to let God sort it out and the Prophet said you have to understand the nature of the battle. to understand the strategy that's why we don't fight much in our marriage after 17 years it's not because we don't disagree but we understand that it's not me against her, it's me and her against her, if we thought it was me against her, we would fight each other, but we have to line up on the same side of this issue or we will lose this battle and one time, when we had been married maybe a year and a half, a bill came across our desk for $3,000 and I didn't have $3,000 I wasn't just lying around I didn't have them there so I did what I do when I'm afraid I get angry.

Did you hear me when I'm afraid I get angry because anger is a camouflage for fear? which makes me feel vulnerable so I got angry because that makes me look strong because inside I feel weak and I was yelling at Holly about the bill and it was only 70% her fault and in the middle of the yelling I saw her. change of countenance and I'm not saying this excuses me for yelling, I should have been older, but she realized at that moment, he is not fighting with me, he is not angry with me, he is scared by this and if I can help him fight against your fear, we can do it.

Fix this together, but if you fight on the wrong level, you will get tired fighting where he shows up, but where he shows up is not where he started, so if you have someone and they have an addiction, you can't advise them to do it. Winning against addiction with willpower is not a matter of willpower it is a matter of worship something in your life has begun to meet needs that only God can meet and if you do not show them that God can meet those same needs, the Alcohol can do it. God can meet those same needs as pornography.

God can meet those same needs as overspending and overeating. If you don't solve the problem of worship, you can't win it by willpower. I'm right? So you have to fight with concentration. touch three people, say, focus, focus, fight with one focus and the Prophet said this is not even about you so don't be afraid if it is too big for you, don't be afraid this is what the Lord He tells you, you have it on the screen verse 15 don't be afraid don't get discouraged don't back down don't get in your own head and try to figure it out you can't figure this out and if you fight if you fight If you're going to lose it, if you try to meet the requirements righteous of the law in your own strength and you do not let the power of Christ flow through you and the Holy Spirit direct you, you will continue to lose the battles because they are fighting at the level of what you can see, but it is not against flesh and blood , it's spiritual, so he said, don't be afraid for this vast army, vast army is the phrase they use when they were just saying it's too big for you.

I know it's too big for you but the battle is not yours it's God's when I say this I want you to receive it as if it were just for you if it's too big it doesn't belong to you if it's too big you have to give it back to God and we say that the battle is the Lord's but we stress like it's ours we say the battle is the Lord's but we worry like it's ours now we've wasted all our strength worrying when we could have been worshiping the battle is not yours give it back stop doing the work from God for him God wants his battle to return God wants his battle to return it's too big for you it came up behind you you can't do it give it back you can't fight give it back you can't understand it, give it back, how do you give it back?

That is an approach that looks beyond what is coming against you and looks to what is within you to know that greater is he who is in me than he who is in the world. and God wants his battle to return the battle is not yours but Gods and tomorrow I want you to march against them I want you to march against an enemy that you will not even have to fight I want you to get into position not so that you can fight not so that you can fight but so that you can see the deliverance that the Lord will bring to Israel this day God is fighting for Judah but he is fighting for the worshipers God is fighting for the praisers God is fighting for his people God is fighting for you you are his friend you get his help you get his strength you get his miracles you get his wisdom you get his provision you get his angels if you worship you wage the war of worship it's too big for me what to do?

You do it when the battle

chooses

you, you worship your way now that sounds good but it feels stupid because here come the Ammonites Moabites Edomites they were all great in their own right and they are all fighting together and so how are you going to fight? them, what are we going to do Jehoshaphat? What are we going to do with this situation? What are you going to do about it? The prophet said: verse 17, you will not have to fight this battle, but you will experience victory not by fighting but by concentrating yes. They would have fought, they would have lost, but because they focused on the goodness of God, you know what they did.

I love this writing. I think this scripture is a beautiful illustration and picture of the weapons of our war tearing down strongholds in our lives. says that Jehoshaphat verse 18 bowed his face to the ground and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down in worship before the Lord then some Levites who are the priests some Levites who administered the Levitical law the priestly law of the Qhathites and Korahites arose and he praised the Lord God of Israel in a very loud voice why because early in the morning they set out for the desert of Tekoa and as they set out Jehoshaphat stood up and said listen to me Judah Judah means praise and the people of Jerusalem have Faith in the Lord your God and You will be held, it's fight or flight time, it's fight or flight time, but when you can't win the fight and you can't run away from it, look at this, it's amazing, they didn't have to fight. but they had to face it and God wants to give you the faith to face it and trust in him to fight it.

Do you have the faith to fight it not in your flesh but to deal with it in your spirit? Jesus said to Peter: put your Sometimes it takes more faith not to fight, sometimes it takes more faith just to go to the cross and get over your pride and get over yourself and let him fight your battles, but what What they did next is remarkable, especially considering that the enemies were on their feet. To his face, the Scriptures say that after consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord. Singing is a strange strategy for fighting three nations at once, but sometimes the battle is so big that you know I can't fight this alone.

I always thought this scripture meant that when you are in trouble you should sing, but some people can't carry a tune and don't like music. Now I realize that the passage is not about music, it is about concentration and I love you. to look beyond your enemy and I want you to sing it says that Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and praise him for the splendor of his holiness let's focus on him let's focus on what is right in God instead of what is wrong in our life and if you focus on that, if you focus on that, if you look beyond what is in front of you that is bigger than you and look at the God who is bigger than that and praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they progressed. at the head of the army saying give thanks to the Lord for his love endures forever give thanks to the Lord I wonder if there are praisers from the tribe of Judah who are willing to use gratitude as a strategy for the battle I am in Come in and magnify the Lord in In the middle of the battle and when they began to sing in praise, the Lord set ambushes against their enemies and they were defeated by the armies of God's angels.

God is going to fight what you can see by sending what you can. Don't you see, I declare an ambush against insecurity, an ambush against addiction, an ambush against oppression, an ambush against darkness in your life and look at this and I will pray for you, the men of Ammon and Moab rose up against the men of the Mount Seir, that is the The enemy will destroy and annihilate them. The enemy began to eliminate the enemy. That's what happens when you let God fight your battles. He will use everything that came against you. He will use everything the enemy intended for evil.

He will use a cross to create space for a resurrection to the glory of the Lord He is in this place give him a shout of praise thank you for watching the Elevation Church YouTube channel but don't stop here join eFam our extended online family and join to us live every Sunday subscribe to this channel so you don't miss a single video or live stream and share this with a friend, you can also support the ministry by clicking the give now button to help us continue to reach people around the world for Jesus Christ, thank you again for watching God bless you.