When Facing Challenges

II Chronicles 20

When facing challenges, we pray. We should have afoundation on twhich to base that prayer.

1. God is interesated in what I'm facing. He's interested in every challenge I face in my life.

20:2--Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, "A vast army is coming against you from Edom, from the other side of the Sea. It is already in Hazazon Tamar" (that is, En Gedi). Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the LORD , and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah.

2. God is greater than our challenge.

20:6--"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.

Jehoshaphat knew that God was interested in his challenge, God knew his challenge, and God was greater than the challenge.

3. Seek the LORD in prayer.

20:3--Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the LORD , and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah.

God is the God if heaven. He is the Lord over all nations. The smartest, wisest thing to do is to lie before God in prayer. In our prayers, we should include the attributes of God in them. This will add power to our petition. Fix our eyes on God.

Jehoshaphat included others in his prayer. He humbled himself and told his people, "I can't do it." It is a sign of wisdom, not weakness, to say you can't do it and include others in your prayer. There's strength, power, boldness in that.

God will give you a solution to whatever you're dealing with. Don't shout-out someone through whom God will send that solution.

20:14--Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite and descendant of Asaph, as he stood in the assembly. 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. 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.' "

Focus your prayers on the attributes of God and your prayers will have more power because they will. What God requires of us will be simply but it will always require faith. God works on our behalf on the basis of our faith in order to increase our faith.

20:20--Early in the morning they left for the Desert of Tekoa. As they set out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, "Listen to me, Judah and people of Jerusalem! Have faith in the LORD your God and you will be upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful." After consulting the people, 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. The men of Ammon and Moab rose up against the men from Mount Seir to destroy and annihilate them. After they finished slaughtering the men from Seir, they helped to destroy one another. When the men of Judah came to the place that overlooks the desert and looked toward the vast army, they saw only dead bodies lying on the ground; no one had escaped.

God was sending a message: Jehovah God, the God of Israel, is the only true God. Israel didn't even draw a sward. God defeated 3 armies on their behalf. Trust Him and He will bless you, no matter what.

Faith versus Reason

The first battle between faith and reason occured in the Garden of Eden between Satan and Eve. The world's reason is insufficient. People who use the world's reason apply this to the things of God. They make decisions based on reason not faith.

1 Corinthians 1:18-21--For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate." Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.

1 Corinthians 1:27-29--But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things--and the things that are not--to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.

God's message appears foolish to those who are perishing. To the world, God's message seems absurd. But God has chosen the weak things.

Many people operate under the idea that life is about doing more good than bad. This is man's "clever approach." Cults, too, are performance based; acceptance is based on performance. But rejecting/refusing God's word is just as foolish.

What are they to perform? How much? How long? How do they know when they've performed? When will they know that the quality of their performance meets the standard for their god?

Nobody can come to know Jehovah God Almighty without knowing Jesus Christ.

2 Cor 4:?

1 Cor 2:12-16--We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment: "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.

The way of reason dethrones God. People reason set up their own values and standards. This leads to destruction. Believers do this too. When God tells us no and we say yes, we dethrone God. The way of fiath requires our presonal acceptance of Jesus Christ and His atoning work on the cross.