The song "Till the Walls Fall" by Martha Munizzi is a really powerful song that ministered to me this morning. It reminded me of a lesson that God had given me several years ago when I was teaching Jr. High age students. I went back and read through the lesson and WOW God really ministered to me through it! Today I am going to choose to "practice what I preached" several years ago!!! The battle is NOT mine it belongs to the Lord! And the great news is that it has already been won!!!
You can read in 2 Chronicles 20:1-30 about king Jehoshaphat. One day, King Jehoshaphat found himself in an impossible situation. Impossible for him but NOTHING is impossible for our God. The Moabites, Ammonites and Meunites came to start a war and to take over Judah including Jerusalem. Thankfully, Jehoshaphat did not try to join the battle and defend himself; instead the first thing Jehoshaphat did was seek God for direction.
When trouble comes our way we need to seek God for direction on how to handle the situation, FIRST, before we take matters into our own hands.
As Jehoshaphat is praying to God he says, “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.” 2 Chronicles 20:12b
When we find ourselves in a spiritual battle, we should not focus on the situation but we need to keep our eyes on Jesus!
In 2 Chronicles 20:15 we read God's reply to Jehoshaphat's prayer... “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. 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. 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.”
There are some powerful things in this verse:
1. Do not be afraid. We do not want to allow fear into a situation because fear will cause everything to be blown way out of proportion. (Kind of like viewing our situation through a high powered magnifying glass!)
2. Do not be discouraged.
3. The battle is not yours; the battle is God's. If we truly believe that the battle is not ours, then we should not try to get involved. We should not try to defend ourselves. We should let God fight the battle!
4. God says, "You will not have to fight this battle." So why do we tend to think that God needs our help and want to join in? If we choose to join the battle we are choosing to walk out onto the battle field and are putting ourselves out in the enemies line of fire! I think I will choose to stay 'off' the battle field and allow God to handle the situation.
5. Stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you. God instructs us numerous times in the Bible to stand firm but the one that comes to mind is in 1 Peter 5:8-10 "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast."
6. God repeats, "Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged." Hmmm... I wonder why this is repeated? It is extremely important that we do not allow the enemy to successfully use fear and discouragement against us. We need to stand firm in faith.
2 Chronicles 20:18-21 goes on to say that Jehoshaphat, all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down to the ground and began to worship God. Then some stood up and praised the Lord, with a very loud voice. Early the next morning they all left for the desert where God said that these enemies would be. Jehoshaphat stood and reminded everyone to have faith in the Lord and they would be safe. Then Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and praise Him as they went out ahead of the army. Now look in verse 22 to see what happens!
2 Chronicles 20:22 “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.”
It goes on to say how the men of Ammon and Moab started fighting against the men of Seir. After they destroyed all of them they starting fighting each other and destroying each other. All the enemies that were after God’s people destroyed each other and Jehoshaphat and his men were not even there yet. When the men of Judah came to a place that overlooks the desert where the enemy armies were they saw only dead bodies lying all over the ground; no one had escaped.
The battle was not theirs, it belonged to the Lord. The only weapon they used in this war was Praise & Worship. They did not use a sword, nothing else. They did not have to fight anyone.
2 Corinthians 10:3-4 tells us, “Though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.”
In Ephesians chapter 6 it talks about putting on the whole armor of God so that we can fight the enemy. In verse 12 it says that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, (that means other people) but against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
~ Our weapons are different than the world’s weapons.
~ It is easy to act like the world when we are being attacked but we need to step aside and allow God to fight our battles.
~ Let God fight your battles. When I let God fight my battles I know that He wins every single time! In fact, EVERY battle has been won already at the cross!!!
You may recall another time that God had His people use the weapon of praise. When Joshua and the army of God needed to defeat the city of Jericho they had a huge obstacle standing in their way to victory. A huge wall surrounded the city. This was not your ordinary wall. It was huge; it was built to protect the city. What happened to the wall? How did the army of God destroy the wall? They marched around it quietly for six days and on the 7th day they marched around it seven times and then let out a huge shout to the Lord and the wall fell down flat. Notice they shouted thanking God for their victory before the wall came down.
Now both of these battles took place prior to Jesus' finished work at the cross. The battles that we fight have ALREADY been fought and have ALREADY been won!!! We need to accept Christ and His finished work! When we join in and become involved in the situations and circumstances in our life we are choosing to hit the 'replay' button of a fight that has already been fought & won. I think I will choose to stand firm in the faith and stay off the battle field that the enemy is trying to drag me back on. I will choose to let God fight my battles. I will choose to praise God for the Victory that He has already provided!
I praise God that He loves me so much that He was willing to send His one & only Son to die for me! I praise God that NOTHING can separate me from His love! I praise God that no weapon formed against me can prosper! I praise God that He is an awesome God! I praise God that the enemy has already been defeated! I praise God for His grace! I praise God that I was saved by His grace! I praise God that the truth will always prevail! I praise God that He is my defender! I praise God that I am standing on the Rock! I praise God for the victory! I praise God that the battle has been fought and I am on the winning team!
Jesus cried out as He hung on the cross, "It is Finished!"
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
"Most people in the world love God, they just hate church! There are a lot of great churches, but by and large most churches have lost their way. They are so busy building ministries they have forgotten that we are supposed to build people." ~ Jim Richards
I read that about a week ago and can't seem to get it off my mind! Interestingly enough, over the last few months I have told people numerous times, "We are NOT trying to grow a ministry! We are simply following God one foot step at a time." We have many people tell us that they are praying for our ministry and for the church to grow. While I appreciate their prayers and I know their intentions are good, every time I hear it I want to shout, "It's not about growing a ministry!" I told someone a month or so ago, "If anyone ever gives me a book on how to grow a successful church/ministry it is going straight in the trash!"
Go into any Christian or secular book store and you will be able to find a whole slew of books on how to grow a successful ministry or church. As I was thinking about this fact, my first thoughts were, "Why in the world would anyone want to read a "how-to" book about how to build a ministry? Why would anyone want to 'model' their ministry after another 'successful' ministry? What works for one may NOT work for the other! What God wants for one ministry many NOT be what HE wants for the other! We need to listen for and follow after God's voice... plain & simple!" Then I heard that still small voice that said, "I NEVER asked men to build ministries!" I then remembered what Psalms 127:1 says, "Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain." We need to focus on what God has called us to do, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation." Mark 16:15 and let GOD take care of building His house!
The church is not a building! The church is not a ministry! The church is not a denomination or a non-denomination! The church is the body of Jesus Christ! The Church is people!!! It's time for the 'walls' (built by man) of the church to come down so that Christians can go about their Father's business and go out into their world (their neighborhoods, their families, their workplaces) and share the good news!
Lord, I NEVER want to focus on building a ministry; I ONLY want to focus on YOU! Lord my desire is to share the GOOD NEWS with others so that they can truly know who they are in Christ and be whole and healthy in YOU! I want people to realize that they do not have to be dependent on the "church" or a ministry or a leader; they can depend COMPLETELY on YOU!! I want people to accept the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work so that they realize they are in right standing with God at all times so that they are well able to go out into their world and make an impact!
I read that about a week ago and can't seem to get it off my mind! Interestingly enough, over the last few months I have told people numerous times, "We are NOT trying to grow a ministry! We are simply following God one foot step at a time." We have many people tell us that they are praying for our ministry and for the church to grow. While I appreciate their prayers and I know their intentions are good, every time I hear it I want to shout, "It's not about growing a ministry!" I told someone a month or so ago, "If anyone ever gives me a book on how to grow a successful church/ministry it is going straight in the trash!"
Go into any Christian or secular book store and you will be able to find a whole slew of books on how to grow a successful ministry or church. As I was thinking about this fact, my first thoughts were, "Why in the world would anyone want to read a "how-to" book about how to build a ministry? Why would anyone want to 'model' their ministry after another 'successful' ministry? What works for one may NOT work for the other! What God wants for one ministry many NOT be what HE wants for the other! We need to listen for and follow after God's voice... plain & simple!" Then I heard that still small voice that said, "I NEVER asked men to build ministries!" I then remembered what Psalms 127:1 says, "Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain." We need to focus on what God has called us to do, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation." Mark 16:15 and let GOD take care of building His house!
The church is not a building! The church is not a ministry! The church is not a denomination or a non-denomination! The church is the body of Jesus Christ! The Church is people!!! It's time for the 'walls' (built by man) of the church to come down so that Christians can go about their Father's business and go out into their world (their neighborhoods, their families, their workplaces) and share the good news!
Lord, I NEVER want to focus on building a ministry; I ONLY want to focus on YOU! Lord my desire is to share the GOOD NEWS with others so that they can truly know who they are in Christ and be whole and healthy in YOU! I want people to realize that they do not have to be dependent on the "church" or a ministry or a leader; they can depend COMPLETELY on YOU!! I want people to accept the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work so that they realize they are in right standing with God at all times so that they are well able to go out into their world and make an impact!
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