Praise Before Your Victory - Leaders' Talks

Hey, I'm Steve Holt, the senior pastor of the Road at Chapel Hills.

This is the Road Podcast.

Thanks for joining us.

My heart is to empower you to change the world.

I hope this message impacts you.

Here we are.

And it's the second day of the year.

Weird.

Calendar changes, but a lot of times our circumstances haven't changed that much.

The calendar would say it's different.

And some of you, undoubtedly, and even in your best efforts, will still sign your checks today 010221.

And we'll call you and let you know, but uh we just we can't honor that.

But um it's just we're gonna have that habit of changing the dates because in a lot of ways we're still we're still kind of, and not that we're stuck last year, but there's things that follow us into the next year.

And so whether we were ready for it or not, 22 is here.

Some of us are still working through hard moments and losses from 21.

Looking forward, planning ahead, and seeing obstacles and difficulties.

What's your strategy, right?

What's your game plan?

Do you have a good understanding of the situation?

Do you need a kingdom perspective on how to move forward?

A lot of times, as much as the calendar shifts and the world around us moves into the next year, we still have things that are tethering us to last year and even the year before.

So in the 1900s, right, 1920s, those were called the roaring 20s.

I dare say we've entered into a different kind of 20s now.

2020, 21, and now 22.

These would be the weird and kind of wild 20s.

These are just different.

They're gonna look different, they felt different.

And the one thing that's for certain is you can pretty much highlight, put in your diary, journal, pin it, that you can plan on uncertainty.

You can be certain of the uncertainty in our world.

And where we're living and where we're getting crisis, where we're facing challenges.

And so, how do we move forward?

What does that look like?

And I want to challenge us today as we go into our seminal passage, which will be in 2 Chronicles 20.

But before we get there, I want us to think about how we've moved forward in a new, kind of what we call the new normal kind of thing, right?

That's been played out.

We've heard that sound bite too many times.

We look at the new year, we think about what are the goals that we didn't hit last year?

What are the goals we did?

Where do we fall short?

Where did we come through?

What do we have hopes on, and what's our vision, what's our target in 22?

We all have those.

Our family sits down, we look at last year, you know, we kind of go through and revisit the words that we, our hopes, our goals, the things that we thought about, the things that we wanted to accomplish as a family, as individuals, and then we look and see where we've come through and where we've fallen short.

And so this isn't going to be kind of that New Year's messaging standard of like New Year's resolutions per se, but what I think is when we look at the scriptures and we look at the text today, we're going to get a playbook.

We're going to get an equation, a scenario about whatever 22 brings us, if we can be obedient to what's laid out, then we're going to have victory.

I think we could all use some victory.

We've had victory together this last year as a church.

We've come together, we've celebrated, we've mourned, we've had wins, we've had losses, we've continued to fight the good fight.

We've seen our faith increase, we've seen our faith tested.

And I don't think that that's going anywhere anytime soon.

I think we can anticipate more of that with what's on the landscape.

And I just want to say, knowing the signs of the times, having wisdom about the things that are going on around us.

Not this soothsayer looking into the tea leaves and kind of what does that look like, but we do need to know the signs of the times in which we live, church.

The signs of the times and the struggles and the trials that we're going to be facing, we face together, we face with one another.

And we corporately are here to be a church, to be a light, to be a city on a hill, and to live in the glory that God wants to bring through our lives and experience the victories that He wants to give us through the battles which are His.

So as we open in today's scripture, we're going to be teaching out of 2 Chronicles 20, 1 through 30.

I'm going to pray before we get going.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for this opportunity to have a table set before us that we can dive into your word for nourishment, for encouragement.

God, for the things that we're looking to, the future, where we need hope, where we need victory.

I pray that you would bless the reading and hearing of your word today, Lord, and we give you all the praise and all the glory.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Okay.

So I'm going to catch you up a little bit in the story.

2 Chronicles 20 picks up with King Jehoshaphat.

King Jehoshaphat would be counted among five of what they would call the good kings of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin.

All the others did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

So not counting Solomon and David, you have five good kings that stand out who did, according to the scriptures say, did what was pleasing in the sight of the Lord.

He was one of those.

Now, we're going to pick up with his story.

He's the great-grandson of Solomon, and would have heard all the stories of his great-great-grandfather David and King Solomon himself.

And so he's familiar, he's not too far removed from what we would consider the glory days of the United Tribes of Israel living in prosperity and flourishing.

But now he finds himself on a little bit of a different landscape, and he's going to get into a struggle here.

He's going to have strife, and he's going to have some issues come up right on the front end of this.

So, verse 1.

After this, the armies of the Moabites, Ammonites, and some of the Mennonites declared war on Jehoshaphat.

Messengers came and told Jehosaphat, a vast army from Edom is marching against you from beyond the Dead Sea.

And king, they are already at Hazan Tamar.

This was another word or another name for Engedi.

In our lives, whether it's this year, this week, last week, tomorrow, your world is going to be surrounded with enemies coming at you.

Some of you are right there in the middle of this.

This doesn't matter about what the calendar looks like per se.

But you're facing defeat.

You have enemies at your doorstep that are ready to take your land.

What's Jehosaphat's response?

Verse 3.

Jehoshaphat was terrified by this news and begged the Lord for guidance.

Let's pause.

He was terrified.

Now he had no small army.

He actually probably had about a million men at his disposal.

So not exactly a small force.

But he was terrified, as the scriptures say.

Now let me say this about neuropeptides.

And I'm by no means a neurophysician or anything like that, so I'm not going to speak very at degree or at length at that because I'll confuse you and myself.

But I will say this about neuropeptides is that you need to be careful about the diagnosis you receive.

You don't have to accept your diagnosis because what happens is you get news, somebody brings you bad information, you go to the doctor, whatever that looks like, you've all been in that space where you've been surprised with information.

And it wasn't good.

It takes your heart, steals your joy, and it probably brings terror, uncertainty, anxiousness, anxiety, stress, you name it.

And this can put you into a position about whether you're going to accept or deny that.

And chemically in your body, what's happening with neuropeptides is that physiologically, if you go in and accept that news, let's say it's grave or pretty bleak, your body physiologically will start to participate with that, and then you very well may start to deteriorate physiologically.

It's a choice to reject that diagnosis.

Jehoshaphat's just been hammered and just been hit with some pretty grave news.

The kingdom of Judah is on the throes of being overthrown, and there's a massive army that's far surpassing his large army.

To the point where he's terrified.

And he begged the Lord for guidance.

So there's going to be obedience here.

We're going to start to see right out of the gates Jehoshaphat and what he does with his heart, with the messaging that he's getting.

And what does he do with it?

Because even though this was penned, you know, thousands of years ago, still very applicable about how we live in, process, and filter our surroundings, our immediate situation, and the things that are going on in our lives.

So he begs the Lord for guidance.

He also ordered everyone in Judah to begin fasting.

He knew the value of prayer and fasting and called the people of Judah together in one accord, in unity, to pray and fast together.

Fast forward, Jesus is talking to his disciples.

The disciples are like, Well, I don't know.

And he's like, you can't get those demons out of those people without prayer and fasting.

And so we see Jesus again using the tools that we all have access to to teach his disciples, to which Jehoshaphat is also now calling upon his countrymen to come together, pray and fast, and seek the face of God.

First thing, you guys have to be obedient in that and come together.

And maybe right now the things that you're up against, you need to get real serious about how you're going to pray and fast and think about getting into God's presence.

Because that's what he's asking.

So, verse 4.

So the people from all the towns of Judah came to Jerusalem to seek the Lord's help.

They come together in community.

We've done that together this year multiple times as church bodies.

We've had one-off prayer meetings, we've had opportunities to come together for prayer, for fasting.

In the beginning of this year, right?

So not this weekend, but in two Sundays from now, we're starting off the new year as a corporate body.

Three nights of prayer, fasting, and learning and seeking God's face about what he has for the road in 2022.

Jehoshaphat, verse 5, stood before the community of Judah and Jerusalem in the front of the new courtyard at the temple of the Lord.

Now, in a minute, and I'm going to strongly suggest if you have whatever you're taking notes with, your Bible, your book, your phone, whatever, highlight, we're about to get into Jehoshaphat's prayer.

There are several key pieces which we'll go through and we'll unlock, and we're going to kind of break it down.

His prayer.

Because sometimes we're stuck with our circumstances in front of us, and we don't even know how to pray.

We don't know how to get in front of God and ask him for the things that we need that are heavy on our hearts.

So, what does Jehoshaphat say with ultimate doom at his doorstep?

With his countrymen around him and in front of the temple of the Lord.

First of all, he goes to the place where the Lord is.

He's at the Lord's temple.

So geographically, he's in the right place.

Now let's consider the posture and the position of his heart and how he prays in the words that he uses.

And he prayed, verse 6, highlight.

O Lord, God of our ancestors, you alone are the God who is in heaven.

You are ruler of all the kingdoms of the earth.

You are powerful and mighty.

No one can stand against you.

Now, let's just pause.

He's just identified who God is.

First of all, he's the God of the ancestors of the Israelites.

He's the God of Israel.

He strengthens his position with his authority, his power, and his position in the heavens and the earth.

He's just acknowledged many attributes about God.

God the Creator, God the Father, God the rescue, God the salvation.

Not unlike the way we hear Jesus teach his disciples how to pray.

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done.

Jehoshaphat, several thousand years before, praying this way to God, acknowledging his position in the heavens and the earth.

Number seven.

Oh our God, did you not drive out those who lived in this land when your people Israel arrived?

Did you not give this land forever to the descendants of your friend Abraham?

Your people settled here and built this temple to honor your name.

Now, we're going to hear him repeat this point, but in verse 7 and 8, you hear that he's actually not talking about his land.

Jehoshaphat hasn't taken this on as his possession.

He's acknowledged that God has given him this land.

They're standing in the land that God gave them.

They said, the ancestors, whenever we are faced with any calamity, such as war, plague, or famine, we can come to stand in your presence before this temple where your name is honored.

We can cry out to you to save us, and you will hear us and rescue us.

Now he's standing on a former promise here, and he's proclaiming it back to the Lord in his prayer.

He's saying, The things that you've said we can ask for, I'm asking for.

I'm about to ask you for this.

This situation that I find myself in, because I'm now in your presence on the land that you've given us, and you are our God.

What can we expect?

I want to pause here.

If we fast forward, we flip, you know, a couple pages to your right in the Bible.

Philippians 4.

You know this passage well, Philippians 4, 6 through 7.

And I'm going to paraphrase Paul here.

I'm paraphrasing this familiar passage about what we do with our worry.

And Paul is essentially saying here, worry about no thing.

Worry about no thing.

Instead, pray about everything.

Worship and give glory about anything.

Regardless of your individual circumstances and situations right now, there is good in your life.

You may have to look a little harder.

Some of us have been in those seasons where the good things have been a little bit harder to find, but you can still find the hand of God in your life working good out for you right now.

And so you can praise him in the anything.

But again, Jehosaphat's modeling this in the Old Testament.

Paul's reminding us in the New Testament that we worry about no thing.

It's up to you to participate with that.

God knows our hearts, He knows the humanity that we live in, He knows how He's created us and the things that we struggle with.

So Paul's just gently reminding us.

Yeah, it's hard.

You've got some things that you could worry about.

You can participate.

You can sit down at the table with the enemy and start working through those things, and he'll suck you into the vortex of stress, worry, anxiety, etc.

Or you can say, I'm not going to worry about no thing.

Instead, I'm going to pray about everything, and I'm going to give him glory and honor about anything.

So let's pick up the second half of his prayer in verse 10.

This is where Jehoshaphat goes.

God, now see what the armies of Aham, Amma, Moab, and Mount Sayr are doing.

You would not let our ancestors invade those nations when Israel left Egypt.

So we went around them, and we did not destroy them.

Now you see how they reward us.

And I think it's here where we get the phrase, no good deed goes unpunished.

Right?

They had the mass, they had the size, they could have overtaken them.

But they said, you know what, we're going to be obedient to God.

We're going to the land that God called us to.

See, God didn't call the Israelites to the land of Amon, Moab, and Mount Zaire.

He called them to the promised land, the land that He gave them, the land that He will stand firm on, the land that He will deliver them to victory.

But now these people who were left alone have now congregated because they like kind of what Jerusalem's got going on.

It's been a place of provision, opulence, wealth.

They will have taste of the good stuff, right?

For they have, and I'm on the second part of 11 here.

Now see how they reward us?

For they have come to throw us out of your land.

Key right there, I'd underline that.

Which you gave us as an inheritance.

He's basically saying, God, this is your land, you place us here, this is your stuff.

They're coming to take your land from your people.

What do you want me to do?

Oh our God, won't you stop them?

We are powerless against this mighty enemy that is about to attack us.

And I would highlight the second half of 12.

We do not know what to do, but we are looking to you for help.

Okay.

He has just unlocked, and that's the end of his prayer, but he's just unlocked and he's laid forth all the elements and an example about how we pray through the hard things in our lives and what we are supposed to call on in the name of God and how we call in the name of the Father in our specific situations.

He's just admitted it's God's land, not his, and he doesn't know what to do, and he's looking to God for help.

He's just set the table for God to show up and do exactly what God wants to do.

If we can learn how to pray this way in our own lives, God's going to unlock some amazing things in your future in 2022.

We have to admit that, and we have to give God permission and room to show up that way.

And when we do that, he's probably up there, and he's like, whoa, looking to Gabriel or Michael.

He's like, did you hear what they said?

Did you hear how they just prayed?

They don't know what to do.

They need my help.

All right, here we go.

Let's go do this.

And we give him permission.

Now, chapter or uh verse 13.

As all the men of Judah stood before the Lord with their little ones, wives and children, families here today, husbands, wives, don't miss this.

They're there as families, praying and fasting together.

There's something beautiful, there's something powerful when you invite your kids into this situation to partner with them so that they can see what do mom and dad do when things get rough?

How do we work through something?

This is a family process.

You're to be invited in.

They're going to need that later in their lives when they can look to you and see how you've worked with God to partner to get through over obstacles and hurdles in your own life.

By praying and fasting, intense times with God and worship.

Our family's not perfect, but we're growing in this discipline.

We've seen breakthrough, we've seen beautiful moments, we've experienced presence with the Father.

And the Spirit of the Lord comes and they get in the presence of God Almighty, Judah.

Comes and it gets to experience this.

The Spirit of the Lord came upon one of the men standing there.

His name was Jazeil, son of Zechariah, son of Beniah, son of Jael, son of Mattaniah, a Levite who was a descendant of Asaph.

Now, just pause here for real quick.

This is just a quick side note for you guys.

Historically speaking, the Holy Spirit would not come on a priest or a Levite in those days.

God would bring his word through a prophet.

Right?

The prophets were different.

They would come in the scene, they would give the direction, the word of God, through a prophet.

In this particular case, God uses a Levite.

So why is that important?

I would just encourage you that sometimes God's going to bring a word to you through somebody you might not expect.

Don't disqualify the messenger based on your own perceptions.

Jehoshaphat doesn't do that.

He doesn't stop him and say, wait a minute.

You're a priest, you have other priestly duties, right?

Those aren't your duties.

My prophet should be giving this word.

Jehoshaphat is in reverence, and he is just in complete obedience here, ready to receive what God has for them.

So now God is speaking through Jehezeel.

Verse 15.

And this is what he says.

Listen, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem.

Listen, King Jehoshaphat.

This is what the Lord says.

Do not be afraid.

Don't be discouraged by this mighty army.

For the battle is not yours, but God's.

Pause.

Highlight.

You guys are in the battles thinking it's yours.

It's not your battle.

It's not your battle.

God's going to bring you the victory, but you have to first recognize that it's not your battle.

He hasn't called you to the battle.

He has called you to the battle so that you can witness what he wants to do for you in your victory.

For the battle.

Is not yours but God's.

16.

Now God's gonna give them some marching orders, literally.

Tomorrow, march out against them.

You will find them coming up through the ascent of Ziz at the end of the valley that opens into the wilderness of Jerul.

But you will not even need to fight.

Hello?

Is this landing on anybody?

I mean, I don't know.

It's kind of quiet out there today.

I know it's the first year, we're tired, I get it.

But we don't even have to fight, guys.

Come on.

I mean, it's not our battle.

We don't have to fight.

This isn't like stuff that's so old that doesn't apply.

This applies to us.

This is exciting.

And God's saying we don't even have to fight.

There are some things we need to do, though.

We need to take your positions.

Then stand still.

Okay?

Our own understanding gets in the way of us so many times that we don't have the ability or the discipline to stand still.

We see the outcome.

We're sitting there, we're watching the enemy advance on us, and we can't stand still long enough to let God do what he wants to do in our lives because we can't trust or have enough faith to believe that he wants to and will bring us through to the other side.

So we don't stand still.

He's saying, stand still in this moment.

And watch the Lord's victory.

He wants you to be an observer in your life about the battle you find yourselves in to witness the victory that He's going to bring you to.

Can I get an amen?

Thank you.

He is with you, O people of Judah and Jerusalem.

He is with you, O people of the road.

He's with us, guys.

We're not in this alone.

It's not our own understanding.

He wants to fight this for us and bring us out on the other side.

Now notice King Jehoshaphat, like, I mean, every step of the way, this guy is like he's the cookie-cutter example of our response in the situation of what we should be doing.

18.

Then King Jehosaphat bowed low with his face to the ground.

And all of the people of Judah and Jerusalem did the same, worshiping the Lord.

Pause.

God's in heaven.

He's like, I mean, that was a good word I gave them.

I mean, I encouraged myself.

Okay, I'm paraphrasing.

I don't know what God's saying, but I'm saying this is maybe what it sounded like.

I haven't even given them the victory yet, and they're worshiping me.

They don't even have the victory, they don't know the outcome, but by their faith they're worshiping me back.

This grabs the heart of God in the most sincere way that we can ever produce this side of eternity with our own humanity.

See, some of you guys find yourselves maybe at the beginning of this process, with whatever you're facing today, facing you, whatever's following you in from last year, what you picked up in the new year, whatever it is.

You're at the front end, maybe you're praying and fasting, you're seeking God's face, you're looking for his word.

Some of you have got his word now.

You've already been through that, you've come through the other side, and now you've got his word on your heart.

What are you doing with that in that space?

Jehosaphat says, I don't know the outcome yet, but I'm trusting what God's saying, and I'm gonna start worshiping right now because I believe that he's the God who he says he is.

He's the God of my ancestors, he's delivered them from Egypt, he took them through the ten plagues.

We got the promised land, we're on his land.

He's not gonna let anybody take his land from us, his chosen people.

There's land that God has given you in your life that he does not want you to lose.

I'll say that again.

There's land and territory and inheritance in your life that God does not want you to lose.

Do you believe that people want to take that land from you?

Do you think the enemy wants to take some land from you today?

Are you experiencing some opposition from the other side that's trying to rob, steal your joy, your health, your vitality, your livelihood?

Some things on the landscape right now.

We all have different circumstances, but we all share in the larger circumstance of the environment that's been given to us, served up on a nasty platter.

Have a bite of this decrepit sandwich, enjoy.

Right?

We're all kind of participating with that.

And I know some of you we had in the fall, where Pastor Steve, Pastor Al, myself, you guys were coming to us on a weekly basis, and we were signing the medical, you know, exemption, religious exemptions for your work.

You guys, some I know some of your stories personally.

And you've either chose, you know, to take the courageous path and say, I will not participate with this particular mandate, I will not be forced to forced to uh or manipulated in, mostly forced, to take something into my body that I don't agree with.

Like I have the right to choose what I put in my body, okay?

And some of you guys have seen that, I know your stories, and some of you have said, I will leave my job and trust God in his provision for my family.

Some of you are young, you know, leaders and husbands of your families, wives.

You guys have stepped out in faith, not willing to participate in that direction, waiting for God's provision.

So you've already heard his voice, you felt his counsel, and you're out there doing the things that God has called you to do.

Jehoshaphat is worshiping in the middle of this.

Then, verse 19, then the Levites from the clan of Koath and Korah stood to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud shout.

In a little bit, we're gonna have a chance to praise God with a very loud shout, to bring in this new year corporately together in God's sanctuary, in this place where his presence comes.

His presence comes in your car, his presence comes in your home, at your family altar.

He will meet you if you're calling on his name.

Early the next morning, the army of Judah went out into the wilderness of Tekoah.

On the way, Jehoshaphat stopped and said, Okay, listen to me, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem, believe in the Lord your God, and you will be able to stand firm.

Believe in his prophets, and you will succeed.

Okay, so he's the king, he knows what he's up against.

He knows that maybe the hearts might be waning a little bit.

So he's giving them a little bit of like a pep talk here.

He's like, okay, we got this, we're gonna still stand firm, and he's encouraging them in their faith.

Now, after consulting the people, the king appointed singers to walk ahead of the army.

Now, I would highlight this.

21.

This is pretty cool.

What's gonna happen?

He's appointed people to walk ahead of the army, singing to the Lord and praising him for his holy splendor.

And this is what they sang.

Give thanks to the Lord, his faithful love endures.

God's in the heaven.

Again, speculation from a human perspective.

Okay, I'll receive your emails later on this conjecture.

But my point is that God's gotta be thinking in that moment.

I would think he would be thinking in this moment.

Like, I haven't even given the victory.

They don't even know what I'm doing, they haven't seen it, but they're singing to me as they walk up.

Oh, that's awesome! Like I can get behind that kind of faith.

Heck yeah, let's go, let's do this.

And so what happens?

We're praising the Lord before the victory is delivered.

This is the point in their story that victory was secured for them.

This can be the point in your story where victory is delivered to you.

Where we praise him before our victory comes.

My praise?

Something kind of like this.

I've actually taken a chorus line from Angus Day, one of uh it's a song that ministers to me.

And I've and I sing it out in a chorus where I feel like stuck, or I need like an answer, I need God to come through on something, right?

But it's praise the Father, praise the Son, praise the Spirit, three and one.

God of glory, God of majesty, praise forever to the King of Kings.

Now, before we get to 22, and this is the really exciting climax of the story, I want to pause for just a second.

Because we know what Hebrews 11:1 says about faith.

Hebrews 11:1

Faith is the substance of things hoped for yet not seen.

They are fully living in that faith moment, singing about a praise before the victory comes.

Where have we seen this again?

Fast forward, Acts, right?

Paul, Silas, they're in the jail.

They start singing after they've been beaten, they're in jail.

Future looks pretty gloom.

God sends an earthquake, he sends resurrection, he sends breakthrough, like chains and shackles literally fall off.

And then on the heels of that story, they take the jailer and his whole family and they get saved, and then they start baptizing them the same night?

What?

That is so cool to me.

I mean, I love that.

It's like these guys just stayed in it and they knew the power of that.

They were certainly familiar with Jehoshaphat's story, and again, now they're modeling it out.

They're modeling out praise and worshiping God the Father, not knowing what the outcome is gonna be, but they're trusting him with the victory.

It's not their battle.

They're there to spread the kingdom and the gospel and bring the glory of his kingdom to these people, and they got thrown in jail for it.

So, like, you know what?

I'm just doing the Father's will.

I'm not standing on my land, I'm standing on the Father's land, which he told me to come to to bring the word that he gave me to these people.

And if I get put in prison, then I'm gonna trust that he's gonna break me out of that for his glory.

20, thank you, sister.

Appreciate you.

22.

At that very moment, at the moment they start singing back to God, right?

What are they singing?

Yeah, it's in my notes.

Give thanks to the Lord.

His faithful love endures forever.

At the moment they started singing that, the Lord God caused the armies of Amon, Moab, and Mount Seir to start fighting among themselves.

That's weird.

That's kind of cool, right?

What happens next?

The armies of Moab and Am turned against their allies from Mount Seir and killed every one of them.

The power of praise to the God who wants to unlock victories in the battles of your life.

After they had destroyed the army of Seir, they decided to kill each other.

They began attacking each other.

So when the army of Judah arrived at the lookout point in the wilderness, all they saw were dead bodies lying on the ground as far as they could see.

Not a single one of the enemy had escaped.

Which I actually thought about this a little bit.

There had to be one last guy.

And maybe he did himself in.

I don't know, but there was one guy who still, I mean, let's say everybody else had wiped it down, and one guy's like, oh man, all my countrymen are dead.

We came to fight the Israelites.

What happened?

And I don't know.

I don't know what happened.

Neither do the Israelites, because what happens is by the time they show up, the arm, the battle, the armies are dead as far as the eye can see.

There's so much power and promise here in these texts for us in these days ahead that I pray that we all get encouraged by the victories that God wants to give us.

But even deeper than that, the obedience to start singing through prior to our victories, giving praise back, exhortation back to the Father, back to the Lord about the victories that He's going to take us through.

Let God fight your battles.

He brings a victory that far surpasses our own ability.

The Israelites could not have done that kind of work.

If they would have taken them head on and they won, you know, then probably some of those guys or a good chunk of those guys are getting away to fight another day.

Not today.

Every one of those guys, as far as the eye could see, that's a lot of bodies.

The battle was finished by the time Jehosaphat and the army of Judah arrived on the scene.

They walk up, and if I'm one of the guys in the Judah army, I'm like kind of walking up saying, I don't know, God, I'm singing praises and I believe you, but I don't know how this thing is going to play out.

Coming up to the edge, thinking very well that I'm going to see, probably in a massed army, and probably anticipating and with excitement how God's going to deliver this thing.

But instead you walk up and it's just a sea of corpses.

And you're kind of like, oh man, I wish I could have seen what happened here.

Like it's already happened, but something, wow, that's grotesque.

But God won for us.

When we stand with Jesus, we overcome more than we ever thought possible.

When we stand without him, we will eventually always fall.

King Jehoshaphat and his men, picking up in verse 25, went out to gather the plunder.

They found vast amounts of equipment, clothing, and other valuables, more than they could carry.

There was so much plunder that it took them three days just to collect it all.

Alright, we should pause here.

God's not only going to deliver you the victory, he's going to bring you abundance in the victory.

It took them three days to gather all the loot, all the valuables.

He doesn't want to just bring you a victory, church.

He wants to bring you resources and abundance, opulence on the other side of it.

On the fourth day, they gathered in the Valley of Blessing, which got its name that day because the people praised and thanked God there.

It is still called the Valley of Blessing today.

Then all the men returned to Jerusalem with Jehoshaphat leading them.

Overjoyed that the Lord had given them victory over their enemies.

They marched into Jerusalem to the music of harps, lyres, and trumpets.

Let's hang there for a minute.

Jerusalem marched back in to the music of harps, lyres, and trumpets.

They were praising and making music, and they proceeded to the temple of the Lord.

The first place they go back after the battlefield is to the temple, praising his name.

I need to pause again one more time before we wrap up, and I invite the worship team up in just a second.

They're giving praise again after.

And that's appropriate because they've had the victory, they're exhorting God, they're lifting him up, and they're very much overcome with relief that they've now been rescued.

The doom is gone.

We actually learn that in 29, all the surrounding kingdoms heard that the Lord Himself had fought against the enemies of Israel.

And the fear of God came over them.

Now let me say this.

When you allow God to do the work, you allow him to take the victory, claim the victory, and do it in a way that only he can, it puts fear in the hearts of your enemies.

When you allow him to do the work and get the victory for your life, it puts fear in the hearts of your enemy.

That had to be repeated.

That discouraged everybody else around them from even thinking about trying something else later.

Well, bodies.

Three days of plunder.

30.

So Jehosaphat's kingdom was at peace, for his God had given him rest on every side.

God doesn't just cover your 12 or your three or your nine, he covers your six, too.

He's going to give you rest on all sides when he delivers you from this specific battle that you're in or facing or contemplating or about to get into.

We're going to get true rest and peace till the other side of eternity, and then it's glory and it's amazing.

And I know so many of us right now are so excited for that day.

But I want to say that there's two ways you can do this.

And I think, I mean, God, God appreciates our praise, no question about it.

But you all know as well as I do that when we praise Him after our victories, it's from a sense of relief.

It's from a sigh of like, wow, thank you for coming through.

Okay?

Yeah, I needed that for sure.

It's different.

It's a different kind of faith, it's a different kind of obedience.

And I dare say it's a different kind of victory if we were to start to praise him before that moment.

Rewind the clock.

Egyptians are leaving Egypt on the end of the lash of Pharaoh.

They just come through ten plagues, escape the tenth one, the most evil of all, right?

The sons are killed, but they get out, and it's Passover, and they're making it through the wilderness, and they're coming up to the Dead Sea.

They've just witnessed some amazing miracles.

But what do they say to Moses?

Was there not enough graves in Egypt?

Why did God bring us to this place just to kill us?

Their focus was narrow.

They needed more faith in that moment.

God was still going to deliver them.

He's like, Why would I take you all the way out here just to drown you?

That doesn't even make sense.

Moses does his thing with God.

Red Sea parts, they get through, waves crash, crush the enemy, and on the other side of the Red Sea, they're praising him.

And there's something deeper that we get access to.

And we anchor in the Father's heart.

Hey, thanks for listening to the Road Podcast.

It's been my joy to be a part of your life today.

And you know, that's part of what we do here at The Road, and this is what I do in having this Road Podcast is to empower people to change their world.

My passion and desire is that you would take God's word through the power of the Holy Spirit and make that relevant for your life.

You know, the reality is that God has placed your life here on this earth to make a difference.

And if you'd like more information about how to grow in Christ, if you need prayer, if you want more equipping in different areas of your life, go to the road.org.

God bless you.