2 Chronicles 20 The Fear of a King

Yesterday I listened to a wonderful message from the Bethel weekly sermons on the Creative power of Thanksgiving. It was so good and something I talked a little about on Wednesday about giving thanks in all circumstances and how that changes our circumstances.

These are some of my thoughts as I searched the scriptures he brought;
He talked from 2 Chron 20 about how Jehosphophat (King) feared the armies that were coming against him. Here was a king who was afraid. That gave me great encouragement right there, if a King can be afraid, then it's okay too if I am. I know for myself I am often afraid of things that I see coming and I don't know how to handle it. Neither did Jehosophophat and so he called all the people together and sought the Lord.

First position in our place of fear is to seek the Lord. Verse 12 "For we have no power against the great multitude that is coming against us, nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon you." So often we don't know what to do but we need to turn our eyes upon Him. As we turn our eyes on Jesus our focus changes and we remember how big our God is and our small our problem is. We get things into perspective as usually the problem has become greater than God.

V15 "Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude for the battle is not yours but Gods" Point two is its not your battle but Gods.
V17 " You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord who is with you." The word here is to position yourselves and so I wonder what it means to position yourself?
V20 "Believe in the Lord your God and you shall be established, believe His prophets and you shall prosper". For me the position is to "believe in our God". But also there is the 'stand still'. We often want to jump in and do something about it but sometimes we just need to wait to allow God to work it through. As we stand still, as we believe that God can make a way through it, hope returns, as we look to Him and seek Him, he shows us the way through.

People, it doesn't matter if you are afraid, who of us isn't at times, but in that we need to change our focus and seek the Lord and believe and as it says in verse 30; "Then the realm of Jehosphophat was quiet, for his God gave him rest all around". There was a battle but it was won in the strength and strategy of the Lord, not in the fear and running around of man. God will give you rest and peace as we position ourselves and believe in Him and allow him to make the way.
If you listen to the message its great, a bit different, but what I have written here is what the Lord was showing me so well worth a listen.

http://www.ibethel.org/podcasting/SOTWpodcast.xml

podcasts.ibethel.org

The Bethel Church podcast reflecting the Sermon of the Week download from iBethel.org

Do you have time for breakfast?

I had this dream last night where I saw my sister busy working in her restaurant. She had advertised in the paper and she was so busy she had no time for her family. I was sitting eating breakfast with my other sister feeling almost lazy in comparison with the first sister, but knowing that I was not lazy, but busy too in a different way. I had no idea when she would have time for her family. She was doing what she loved, she was bringing people into her restaurant and it was going really well, but her family life was suffering. In pondering on this, it speaks for itself really. But added to that is that we can often compare with one another or judge one another in the way things are being done. I think regularly of Nehemiah these days and how we are all called to rebuild the wall, but we all have different parts of the wall we are called to build and look after and each part is important to the whole wall. So lets please as a body of Christ, ...

6 legged sheep???

In the weekend I saw a vision of a sheep that had six legs. And what I believe the Lord is saying, there are many sheep, (followers of Christ), but they are trusting in their own strength and not in mine. When we trust in our own strength and abilities we forfeit the grace that can be ours, the enabling that comes from stepping out in faith in the impossible, the testimonies that give God the glory rather than the expectation of what should be because we have put our hand to something. God is the God of the impossible and in order for the miracles, the testimonies, we need to be a people that step out in what we can't do and allow God to come in and do the impossible. That may simply be asking the Lord to help you to forgive someone that has hurt you so much, to getting on a plane with no finances because the Lord has asked you to, to continue to stay in a job/church/marriage/relationship you don't want to because that is where God has placed you, to pra...

Is the reality of your heart different to what people see?

I had this dream and in this dream I went to stay with some people but they had no room in the house for me so I stayed in my caravan. But as I went into their house, the kitchen was a disaster, it was full of rotting food so much so that there were maggots growing and moving, there was stuff everywhere. The people in the house were off helping a handicapped person which was good, but the state of their kitchen was a disaster. So even though I didn’t know where to begin in cleaning up I started to clean up as they needed a hand and as I started to clean up the people in the house came and helped and switched on the waste disposal unit and the kitchen began to take shape again. I believe this is a word for some of you. Although you are helping others and doing good things, in the process, your own house, your own heart, is in a mess and you need others to come and help you get started. The kitchen in dream language often means the hear...

Expectations and frustrations

Last night I had this dream and I saw myself going up the mountain with my husband and as we went up the mountain to the snow I saw the most beautiful waterfall flowing in the bush and the scenery was just beautiful and as we reached base camp there were many people waiting to go on the ski lift to the mountain but they were having to wait because as I watched the snow was melting so fast because the sun was coming out so strong the the snow was melting like right before your eyes and people were no longer able to ski. People were getting frustrated because they had come to go skiing and now no longer were able to, but for others like myself I so was enjoying the scenery that because the snow was melting there was so much beauty all around. At the same time there was aeroplanes flying around doing acrobatic flying in the sky and other people were in stands watching the planes flying around. As I looked at this this morning, I believe we are coming into a time where the ...

Soften my heart Lord....I need a miracle.

Those in Egypt who were taken and led out of slavery with Moses and crossed the Red Sea saw the miracles of God, they saw their God working in mighty ways before their very eyes and yet not long from where they saw these things take place, they come into quarrelling and times of testing and in this place they forget the miracles, they forget the bigness of their God and all he can do and has done and they harden their hearts. Many of us through times of testing, through trials, through believing for things and not yet seeing it happen, find ourselves unintentionally hardening our heart to what we have seen or know that our God can do. We stop moving in faith in which we first did at the beginning in our relationship with the Lord and we end up living along like all those around us and accepting our states in life and no longer step out in faith on the bigger things in which the Lord has called us to. Perhaps we have stepped out in faith before and God 'seemingly' didn...

Kiwi Culture verses Kingdom Culture

The above is the title of a book that I have on my heart. Whether or not it ever makes it there we will see but in the process I want to put some thoughts down and see what it opens up. I grew up with phrases like "God helps those who help themselves" or "Too spiritually minded to be any earthly good". There are many many more that I am sure you know of - I would love to hear them so please blog me about them or Facebook me so I can add them. But phrases like that that we grew up with that actually have become a part of world view and things we base our lives on. Things of our culture that are so much a part of culture that we think is actually a part of the bible or at the very least is no big deal in God's eyes; like sarcasm. I have had to question some of these phrases - "where does it say in the bible God helps those who help themselves?" "What actually is sarcasm and does it build up and encourage people?" etc. Jim and I lived ...

Glory Release Ministries

Search This Blog