This (above) is how the post by Holley Gerth started. But I am not a lover of battle scenes, armies and power struggles, so I was about to push delete on this post …
until …
until I read the following :
“Has your heart ever echoed what’s expressed above? You’re weary. You’re overwhelmed. You feel under attack. And you don’t have a single strategy or plan or idea about what to do. You just know something has to give–somehow this battle must be won.”
insert instant interest.
If you, too, are feeling more compelled to hear what Holly has to say in her post called, When You Need Help Fighting a Battle in Your Life, keep reading :
Has your heart ever echoed what’s expressed above? You’re weary. You’re overwhelmed. You feel under attack. And you don’t have a single strategy or plan or idea about what to do. You just know something has to give–somehow this battle must be won.
God answered Jehoshaphat with courage-giving words and His response can encourage us, too. He tells the King to go and fight his enemies. And as the people prepare to go, Jehoshaphat does something interesting. He doesn’t put the warriors at the front. He puts the singers.
Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying:
“Give thanks to the Lord,
for His love endures forever.”As they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated.
{2 Chronicles 20:21-22When the people arrived at what should have been a battleground, all they saw were bodies. The enemy had already been defeated. The threat eliminated. The victory won. The only thing to do was take the plunder and go home.
Then, led by Jehoshaphat, all the men of Judah and Jerusalem returned joyfully to Jerusalem, for the Lord had given them cause to rejoice over their enemies.
{2 Chronicles 20:27}.
When you go out with praise, you come home with praise.
In this story the victory is instant and obvious. In our day-to-day battles the same might not be true. But here’s what is always true: Worship is an act of war. When we feel under attack, praise isn’t what we tend to think of first. We’re more likely to reach for our swords or run away in fear. But what if we paused and worshiped instead?
Then we’re not going into battle alone. We’re going with the God who spoke the universe into being fighting on our behalf. That changes everything. Because He never loses. Even when it looks like He’s been defeated, like when Jesus died on the cross, it was only a matter of time until His ultimate victory became clear.
What’s overwhelming you today? What’s coming against you? What situation is causing you to feel fear? Take a moment right now to say to God what Jehoshaphat did: “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”
Then worship.
And watch God work.
This battle will not be won not by your power but by God’s might. Nothing can defeat Him and He lives in you…that means nothing can defeat you either.
Now that’s a reason for praise today.
XOXO
itsawonderfilledlife 