Jehoshaphat was the King over Judah; He took the throne at the age of thirty-five and reigned for twenty-five years. Jehoshaphat spent the first years of his reign making his kingdom strong and destroying the idols of Baal and cult images. The author of 2 Chronicles praises his reign, stating that the kingdom enjoyed a great measure of peace and prosperity, the blessing of God resting on the people "in their basket and their store."
The last important event of his reign occurred when the Moabites and Ammonites with some of the Meunites came to wage war and march against Jehoshaphat (2 Chr. 20). The enemy forces were encamped at Ein Gedi. King Jehoshaphat and his people were filled with fear because they did not have the mighty army to fight against those that were coming against them, being the godly man he was, he and his people went to God in prayer. Here is his prayer:
2 Chronicles 20:5-13
5 Then Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem at the temple of the LORD in the front of the new courtyard. 6 and said: "O LORD, God of our fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you.7 O our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend?8 They have lived in it and have built in it a sanctuary for your Name, saying, 9 'If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague or famine, we will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your Name and will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us.' 10 "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; so they turned away from them and did not destroy them. 11 See how they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession you gave us as an inheritance. 12 O our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you." 13 All the men of Judah, with their wives and children and little ones, stood there before the LORD.
After hearing the prayer the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel and gave him these words for the people: 15 He said: "Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the LORD says to you: 'Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God's. 16 Tomorrow march down against them. They will be climbing up by the Pass of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the gorge in the Desert of Jeruel. 17 You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the LORD will give you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the LORD will be with you.' " 18 Jehoshaphat bowed with his face to the ground, and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down in worship before the LORD. 19 Then some Levites from the Kohathites and Korahites stood up and praised the LORD, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.
Before the battle Jehoshaphat went out among the people and the priest and assigned them worship duties. So as they went towards the battlefield they went in singing and praising.
2 Chronicles 20:21-22 (New King James Version)
21 And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the LORD, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying:
“Praise the LORD, For His mercy endures forever.” 22 Now when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated.
So they did as they were instructed to do and the next day the battle was between the Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, for they quarreled among themselves, and killed one another, leaving to the people of Judah only to gather the rich spoils of the slain. This was recognized as a great deliverance fought for them by God. Soon after this victory Jehoshaphat died after a reign of twenty-five years at the age of sixty (1 Kings 22:50).
WOW, now that’s the way I would love to go through a battle in my life. Picture this with me, It would be like me (You) to be sitting in my (your) lazy boy, reclined back with my (your) praise music playing and me (you) singing praises to God with no concerns for the battle knowing the enemy it’s on it’s way to try to kill me (you) and with total trust in God and knowing God is going to do all the work. And then at the end of the battle to go and gather the blessing that God had promised me (you) for simply trusting him and giving the battle to him. They are his battles in the first place, he says they are “The battle is not yours, but God’s.” I wish I could go into my storms, my battles and not worry thinking I have to be strong and fight a good fight, and defeat the enemy. In my flesh I guess it is easier for me to worry, cry, loose sleep, and stress out and perhaps I loose some unwanted weight, my hair falling out, and being miserable for how ever long the storm is. I find my self choosing the latter part. Oh my goodness, we stupid people. Oh wait…let me rephrase that, how stupid I am. Maybe I am the only one that has a hard time in my storms. It’s okay because God isn’t finish with me. And Satan will never be finished with me. So I am sure there will be plenty of times I will have to master this situation.
God has been teaching me through the storms of my life how to respond to them. The answer as we found in this chapter is to just place trust and faith in God. Also I received through my own trials is to “Praise” him. Praise him for the storm, I know what your thinking, “whoa back now, Praise him FOR the storms, you’re kidding me right?” Nope, praise him for the storms and this is why, during the storms in our life that’s when we learn to trust God and grow in him, become closer to him. God says in (James 4:8) Draw near to me and I will draw near to you. So if we handle the storms right we will get closer to God and he to us.
Okay so praise him for the storms; now praise him “IN” the storms. If we keep our eyes on him and our mouth engaged in praise we will not be looking at the storms and we will not be speaking words of defeat. I have learned to continue with praise and thanking God for the answers or perhaps healings before I receive them, again keeping our thoughts in order so defeat can’t sneak in.
Then of course there’s the “After” praise, being thankful for everything that God has brought you through and keeping you safe. The enemy didn’t defeat you because God was in the front line protecting you. Fighting the battle him self.
I have a friend that God gave her a dream one night, she was in the middle of the battle field and the enemy was all around fighting and killing. As she was walking through the battle with her hands raised, her head towards the sky with praises on her lips the battle did not touch her. But as soon as she started to look around at the circumstances, placed her eyes on the enemy and stopped the praising she found herself being attacked. The enemy was closing in on her. She quickly went back to looking up and praising. The enemy withdrew from her. What a great visual to have.
Do a search on “Praise” in Biblegateway.com and see just how many times “Praise” is used in the bible.
Pastor Carrie
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