You are invited to stop relying on your own strength and instead fix your eyes on God in every situation, whether you are in success or struggle. Commit to a daily conversational relationship with Him where you listen as much as you speak, trusting that He is your deliverer. When you worship before the victory, you position yourself to experience the peace and abundance He has prepared for you.
Welcome to the Real Church podcast. Our mission is for you to know the love of Jesus and live out your God given purpose. Now, join us and listen in to the latest message from pastor David John Phillips.
*Father, just thank you for who you are. Lord God*, you're amazing and you're wonderful. And I thank you that you're here as my wife said earlier, where "2 or 3 are gathered", there you are in the midst of them and yet still we welcome you. We invite you, Lord God. This service is yours.
Every aspect of this is yours. I pray that every single person under the sound of my voice, both in service today and listening later on podcast, *Father*, I pray every single person under the sound of my voice hears you, Lord God, is impacted by your love, Lord God, and and and things in their life shift closer to you. In Jesus' name. Amen and amen. Alright.
So before we get going, we're gonna we're gonna do a just a quick recap. We started last week on talking about prayer and fasting, and we started in 2 Chronicles-20. Maybe about, I don't know, 4000 years ago or so, we we were talking about king Jehoshaphat. He's a king of Israel. And something was happening.
We had armies that had gathered at a place called Engedi that was really close to where they were, and they didn't know that they were coming. Then, all of a sudden, when it was almost too late, they came and told King Jehoshaphat that the armies are already there. When they were attacking, or about to attack, king Jehoshaphat, the first thing that he did, it's kind of it's not logical. Usually, you'd say, hey, we'll we'll amass the troops and and get ready. Let's put up the walls.
Let's put up the No. The first thing that he did was he resolved to inquire of the Lord. It was the very first thing. And we talked about last week how no matter what comes in your life, no matter what attacks you, the first thing that I wanna do, the first thing in every aspect of my life is I want to resolve to inquire of the Lord. I want to go to him in *prayer* first.
Amen? Why? Because God has the answers. His outcome, his plan for us is better in whatever situation we're going through. His his plan for us is better than our plan for us.
He is our deliverer. He is your deliverer, and you can trust him. So in going to God first, king Jehoshaphat, what did he do? He prayed and he fasted. That's what he did.
And he ended his prayer with *2 Chronicles-20:12*. He said, 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 on you". Now, that seems like, maybe in the natural mind, a terrible place to be. You're out of resources.
You're out of options. You know, if if it's a sickness that's that's attacking you, the doctors say there is no hope. It's time to go to hospice. Right? If it's finances, there's there's no hope.
You're you're drowning in debt. There are no options. If it's the different aspects of your life, you lost your job, there's there's no hope. There's no options. We have no idea what to do, but our eyes on are on you.
I want to get to that place first in my life, not when when the when it seems like I'm about to die. Not when it seems like I'm about to drown in my circumstance. I wanna stay at that place even when I'm in success, even when things are going well. I wanna say, hey, I don't necessarily know what to do. My eyes are on you.
I'm watching you for what you tell me to do, Jesus. For what you tell me to do, father. That's how I wanna live my life in relationship with him. That's how we're created to live our lives. And why do I say that?
**100% dependence** on God, trusting in him, trusting him with the outcome in every aspect of our of our lives. See, in John-15:5, Jesus said these words. He said, apart from me, you can do nothing. Apart from me, you can do no thing. I've said it before.
A lot of times we think, wait. Hold on a second, pastor. I can do a lot of stuff apart from him. And, yeah, you're right. You can start a business.
You can you can start a ministry. You can build a family. You can you can do a lot of things that seem good. But apart from him, it's going to amount to absolutely nothing. Because if it's not Jesus doing it in and through you by his grace and mercy, then it's gonna be for nothing.
There's gonna be no significance. There's gonna be no legacy because it was about you and not about him. What he builds lasts for eternity. What we build crumbles eventually. So, King Jehoshaphat fasted and prayed, and we asked, why did he fast and pray?
We talked about prayer. What is prayer? Prayer, we said, was communication with God. A lot of times we get used to the the talking when we need something, or talking to God. Right?
But there's 2 parts of communication. There's both speaking and listening. What would it be like to have a a relationship with the God of the universe where you can not just speak, but daily, in a daily conversational relationship with him, you can hear him speak? What would it be like to know the voice of your father? To know the voice of your savior?
What would it be like at the end of the day when nobody else is watching to go into the living room, or to go into your bedroom where where no 1 else is, and just to say, God, here I am. Father, heavenly Father, I'm here. What would you have what would you say to me, God? I'm listening, God. Here I am.
And a still small voice, a thought creeps into your mind, this feeling, and it says and maybe you don't even feel anything else. All you all you have is this little thought that says, you're mine, and I'm here, and I'm with you. What would it be like to not just hear that, but to believe that it was actually God who spoke to you? What would it be like to believe his word and to really believe with all of your heart, 100%, that he is there as you just heard, that he is actually with you. Because really, his word already says that, And he's not gonna speak to you anything that's not already in his word.
So you can believe that with everything that you have inside of you. What would it be like to be able to hear him day in and day out? I submit to you, you are created to. You're created to know him in that way. Not to just get alone with him quote unquote when you're in a in a group of people, but to live your life in a daily conversational relationship with him.
Day in and day out where you're constantly listening to him and believing him when he speaks in such a way that when you move in response to his voice, he moves through you and impacts the world around you with his love. That's amazing. But to walk like that, it takes belief. It takes faith. And you're a faithful people.
You're a people full of belief. So Jehoshaphat is looking for a word from God. That's what he's looking for. Our eyes are on you, God. We don't know what to do, but our eyes are on you.
And he isn't just praying, he's fasting. Why? And to answer that, we went to the story of the epileptic and possessed boy that Jesus healed and delivered. We looked at *Luke-9* and verse 40. A father has a son who from birth was possessed and had seizures and and couldn't speak.
He was mute and he was deaf. He begged the disciples to cast out the demon, to heal the boy, and the disciples could not. *Luke-9:40*, he says, I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they could not. *Jesus* responds, you unbelieving and perverse generation, Jesus replied, how long shall I stay with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.
Even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him to the ground in a convulsion, but Jesus rebuked the impure spirit, healed the boy, and gave the boy back to his father. And they were all amazed at the greatness of God. What a sight. What a scene. Can you imagine it in your in your mind's eye?
I mean, we see videos, we see movies and stuff, and stuff like this happened, and we're like, woah. What would it have been like to actually be there, to be 1 of the disciples and see this happening, and and the father be asking you to drive the demon out. And you're like, oh my gosh. I I don't know. Can can you imagine what you have felt like?
What would it have been like? And we we we asked the question, well, why couldn't the disciples drive it out? Why couldn't the disciples heal the boy? And the popular answer may have may be, well, it's because they were just mere men. They're not Jesus.
Right? Isn't that what we would normally think? It's because they were just mere men. They're not they're not Jesus. You know, they they weren't equipped to do that.
I I see your point, if that's your thought. But we also went back. This is Luke-9:40. See, Jesus rebuked them as an unbelieving generation. Jesus rebuked them.
It was it wasn't because of their inability to do it. It was because of their unbelief. Unbelief in what? What were they not believing? I'll tell you what they weren't believing.
If you go back earlier in the chapter, just a little time before, *Luke-9:1*, When Jesus had called the 12 together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all everybody say all. All. He gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and heal diseases. He didn't say some. He didn't say everyone except the epileptic boy.
He said all demons. So they were not believing his *word* because Jesus told them, you have the authority. You have my authority to do this. And they couldn't do it. And it was because of their unbelief.
*God*'s will for their life was to cast out the demon, but God's will for their life didn't happen. Why? Because they didn't believe God's word. Where does fasting come in? We're getting there.
Let's go to Mark-9. Same exact story. *Mark-9:14*. When they came to the other disciples, now when they, that's Jesus and James and John and Peter, they were up on the Mountain Of Transfiguration, which it's just a place where Jesus, like, transfigured into his heavenly form with Moses and Elijah. It was awesome and wonderful.
But those 4, Jesus, James, John, and Peter, came down from the mountain and met with the other disciples. The other disciples were the ones that were trying the other that would have been 9. The other 9 disciples were the ones that were trying to cast out this demon. Right? It says, when they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them.
So around these 9, and the teachers of the law arguing with them. As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him. What are you arguing with them about? He asked. And a man in the crowd answered, teacher, I brought you my son who was possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech.
Whenever it seizes him so it's the exact same story. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not. Just a little tidbit for those that want to to dig deeper maybe after the message. I find it very interesting that they were arguing with the teachers of the law and couldn't do it. That is very interesting.
I'm not gonna go there today, but if you want to go there, if you wanna research, you wanna look into that, write down Galatians, and I have it in the notes, Galatians-3:11-12. Look into it for yourself. Pretty amazing. Pretty wonderful. So he says the same thing, you unbelieving generation, Jesus replied.
How long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me. So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion.
He fell to the ground, rolled around foaming at the mouth. *Jesus asked the boy's father*, how long has he been like this? From childhood. People that have diseases and stuff from childhood can still be healed, guys. If you've been struggling with something since you were born, you can still be healed.
You can still be delivered. It's a good thing. It's amazing. From childhood, it's often thrown him into the fire and water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take if you can do anything is what he he said to Jesus.
Take pity on us and help us. That's a lot of times how we pray. If you want to, which is if it's your will. If you want to, God. Right?
How did Jesus respond? If you can't? Really? Don't you know I want you free? Don't you know I want you whole?
Don't you know I want you to experience my peace and my joy if I can? Everything. Everybody say everything. Everything. **Everything is possible** for the 1 who believes.
It's unbelief that prevents us from experiencing God's will in a lot of areas of our life. Unbelief. But when we believe his word, when we believe his promises, when we believe what he said, we're gonna get there. Everything is possible for the 1 who believes. Immediately, the boy's father exclaimed, "I do believe".
It's a confession. It was obvious that he didn't, but it's a confession. He says, I do believe. Help me overcome my unbelief. And that's the posture of my heart, ladies and gentlemen.
That's the that's always what I want the posture of my heart to be. See, I'm not walking exactly like Jesus yet, But in 1 John-4:17 it says, in this world we are like Jesus. So I believe that to some extent, but some extent I have some unbelief in my life. And the posture of my heart constantly is, I believe Jesus. Help me with my unbelief.
I wanna grow. I wanna believe everything your word says, and sometimes I get distracted by the demon in the situation that's throwing the thing around to the ground. The finances that are that it just looks impossible by the way that this circumstance is going. I get so distracted by what would see in the natural. But but I believe what your supernatural word says.
Help me in my unbelief until I believe your word so much that my natural situation mimics what your supernatural word says. Help me in my unbelief. When Jesus saw the crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit. You deaf and mute spirit, he said, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again. The spirit shrieked, convulsed, and convulsed him violently and came out.
The boy looks so much like a corpse that many said he's dead. But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to the feet, and he stood up. Don't listen to what everybody else says. Oh, he's dead. Oh, you'll never come back from that 1.
0 my gosh. You you know, you'll you'll never get better. Doctors say, well, you're you're gonna die in 3 weeks. You're gonna die in 3 months. Ask Phil Landry.
I don't know if he's here today, but they said he was gonna die in 3 months, 6 years ago. He's still alive and kicking and healthy and whole and tumors that were all over his body shrunk. Because in a moment, he chose to believe, got up out of the bed, and walked away. It's amazing. After *Jesus* had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, why couldn't we drive it out?
And he replied, this kind comes out only by prayer. Many other manuscripts some manuscripts say this kind only comes out by prayer. Other manuscripts say, this kind kind only comes out by prayer and fasting. Sometimes, we think and we've thought that this is a formula. It sounds like a formula.
Sounds like if I do this and if I do this, then this will happen in my life. But that is not how a relationship with the God of the universe works. It's a relationship. It's not based on your performance. I'll prove it to you in just a second.
It's based on your believing his word. So what is it that he means here? And we talked about it a little bit last week. What is it that he means that this kind only comes out by *prayer* and fasting? It's kind of what?
I'll tell you this, *fasting* is a tool that helps us to get rid of our unbelief. Let's go to Matthew-17. Same exact story, just a different version. Matthew, Mark, and Luke, 3 different guys that wrote 3 different accounts of the same exact situations in a lot of different areas. So you you you have a different viewpoint.
You have a different perspective. It's the same thing, but but some have a different a couple different extra verses because maybe Matthew saw and he he he noticed this point and Mark noticed this point. They all mesh. They all agree, but you can see some different things in in how it's written. It's pretty amazing.
*Matthew-17:16*. Same thing. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him. Jesus said the exact same thing. You unbelieving and perverse generation, Jesus replied.
How long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me. *Jesus* rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment. Now that's amazing.
The disciples then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, why couldn't we drive it out? Jesus Matthew writes some some extra stuff here that he remembered or that God told him to put into this book. It was a little different or a little extra from what Mark and and Luke said, not different, but extra. Jesus replied, verse 20, because you have so little faith. Why couldn't you drive it out because you have little faith?
What is a lack of faith? It's unbelief. It's the same thing. It's it's not believing his word. Truly, I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, "move from here to there", and it will move.
**Nothing will be impossible** with you for you. Everybody say nothing. Nothing. Can you think about that? Nothing.
No thing will be impossible for you if you have faith. Now we have to understand what faith is once again. Faith is not, I see this, I want this, now I believe it, I'm gonna believe as much as I can, and boom, I'm gonna have it. I see this and I think it's possible, So if I believe hard enough and I claim it hard enough, then all of a sudden boom, it's gonna be possible for me because that says nothing will be impossible for me if I believe. Right?
No. No. That's not how it works. You have to understand what faith is for this for you to to to be able to walk like this. What is faith?
**Faith comes by hearing** and hearing by the word of God. *Romans-10:17* or 10 19. Faith comes by hearing, another version says, and hearing by the word about Christ or the word of Christ. So nothing that he says that I believe and I receive will be impossible for me. If he speaks it, if he says it, it's as good as done.
I'm gonna take his word over what I see and know that if he said this, if he if he proclaimed this for my life, if he said to to do this job or to do this business or to start this or to or to go here, or if he said that I'm gonna have a child and it looks impossible because my wife doesn't look like she can have babies right now, or if he said this right here, if he said I'm gonna be healed but it looks like I'm I'm on my deathbed. If he spoke it, I'm gonna look at what he said over what I see and know that nothing, no thing, not even this circumstance, not even this situation is impossible because my god spoke it. *Unbelief* prevents us from experiencing that. The very next verse in some versions, once again, some manuscripts have it, some don't. It says, this kind comes out only by prayer and fasting.
This kind of what? I submit to you, it's this kind of unbelief. This kind of a lack of faith only comes out by prayer and fasting. If you wanna hold fast, it's being this type of demon or this kind of demon. I'll go with you there.
What did that demon do? That demon created a natural circumstance that looked impossible for anybody to handle. So the only way that you were gonna be able to handle casting out that demon was to focus on what he said over what you saw. It's still unbelief. Makes sense?
So this kind of circumstance will only shift. You'll only believe my word over what you see by prayer and fasting. Why? Why is it that? Why?
What's so important about that? What is fasting? You have to understand what fasting is. It's not a formula to make things happen in your life. What is fasting?
It's amazing. Remember, *faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God*. So it's all based on what he said. It's all based on relationship. It's all based on knowing him more.
It's all based on that conversational daily relationship with the God of the universe who loves you and cares about you. But not just that. See, within what we smell, by what we feel. We live by what he says and not by by his supernatural word and not by our natural intake into our senses. It's so important.
So because let let me ask you. If if if what I see right here, this table this table is a natural table, and it is 100% fact. It is in front of me. I know it's in front of me. But if his word says that table is no more, and his word, the bible says his word is true, what what is greater?
This natural fact or his supernatural word? Is supernatural greater than natural? Well, then I'm gonna trust his supernatural word until this table is no more. And eventually, this table will be no more because his supernatural word is more true than what I see in the natural as true. You get that?
You follow me? So then what is fasting doing? Fasting is I'm denying. And and the Bible says the Bible says it doesn't say if you fast. It says when you fast.
*Jesus* said, when you fast. So as believers, this is a part of our lives when you fast. And in acts multiple times, they fasted when they were appointing leaders because you want they wanted to hear God's word and believe his word. *Fasting* is a tool that helps us to get rid of our unbelief. So what is it?
What about it? So remember, you have what you naturally intake into your eyes, and sometimes you you lean on that constantly. A lot of times when people fast, they fast food. And naturally, you you you you naturally need food, and and we get to lean on food and and intake food. But when you fast, and if you fast food, if that's what you're fasting for a day or for a few days or whatever, you're fasting what your body normally naturally needs to lean on his supernatural word.
So you're teaching yourself, you're renewing your mind, you're teaching your body that, wait, my first and foremost need is his word. And I'm gonna show myself that I don't need this as much as I need that. So I'm gonna forsake this because sometimes I my life and and my hearing gets clogged up by what my natural intake is. For instance, when you're when you're looking at things, like you you you're you're constantly different colors and different movements and stuff are constantly coming into your eyes. But if you close your eyes for a while, you put a bandana on your eyes or something happens to your eyes and you can't see, after a a amount of times, maybe hours or days, your hearing gets better.
You you you get to to hear more clearly the different things, and you learn to hear better with your ears because you you you took out 1 of your natural intakes, and it just heightened your sense of hearing. In the same way, that's what fasting is doing. You're taking out a natural intake in order to focus on what he's supernaturally saying. So you can more clearly hear what he's saying. But not just that, when you more clearly hear him you're more likely to believe him and trust him.
You're because you're you're not leaning on what you naturally see. Because it's it's so human nature to believe just what we see, but God wants us to believe what he says over what we see. *Fasting helps us to get rid of our unbelief* based on the circumstances. Is that clear? Yeah.
Does that that come across clear? Okay. Okay, good. Nothing will be impossible to you. That's amazing.
I wrote this and and just just to to kinda reiterate, fasting is intentionally denying our natural intake to focus on our supernatural intake. It's intentionally denying what we naturally lean on to teach us to supernaturally trust his word and to believe his word over what we see. It is relationship, not a formula. We started a a fast last week. Some of us are fasting together.
Some maybe you're fasting food, maybe you're fasting what you normally intake with your eyes, TV. Right? Or or social media or maybe some type of music you normally intake with your ears. Here here's something. Bible even talks about Paul talks about married people fasting sex for a time, for a season.
So it talks about that. Not not it's not, hey, punishing your spouse. Don't do that. It says, if you mutually agree because sometimes if you're married, you lean too much on this physical sensation or physical intake or whatever. We're like, wait, I'm satisfied in Christ, and I'm satisfied in him first and him alone.
So I'll fast whatever I normally lean on in order to be leaning on his supernatural word first. So I encourage you, if you've never fasted before, we have 1 more week of our fast together. Pray and ask God what he would have you fast. And I I I promise it's gonna be amazing. Don't don't broadcast it to the world.
Don't tell everybody, and because it's not about other people knowing what you're doing. It's about a relationship thing between you and him. It's gonna be amazing how you hear him and you believe his word. But when you believe his word, you see supernatural results more in your life. It's amazing.
Okay. Now, let's watch and see how this affected king Jehoshaphat. Let's let's wrap this up. *2 Chronicles-20*. Because remember, there was an imminent situation.
King Jehoshaphat and all of Israel were about to be doomed to destruction, and they needed a word of God. They had to have God intervene, and they needed to not look at the circumstances because if they looked circumstances, they would have surely died. They needed to trust what God said. So King Jehoshaphat proclaimed a fast. Pray and fast.
*2 Chronicles-20*. Once again in verse 12, our God will will you not judge them 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 on you. Verse 13, all the men of Judah with their wives and children and little ones stood before the Lord. They're there waiting.
*God*, we're waiting on you. We don't know what to do. Now this is so cool. Watch this. In verse 14, and I'm so glad that they were doing what they were doing because it helped them to hear him more clearly and to believe what he said.
Watch what verse 14, then the spirit of the Lord came on Jehaziel. The spirit of the Lord came on a man, and God spoke through a man. God loves to use his people, and he wants to use you to speak to the people around you, to impact them with his love. Isn't that awesome? Then the spirit of the Lord came unto Hazael, son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jael, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite, and a descendant of Asaph, as he stood in the assembly.
Now, I got the list of names up there. I think we yeah. There they are. It looks like, hey. What does that even mean today?
But I want you to know that every word in the bible matters. Every word in the bible is proclaiming his love for you. Every word in the bible is pointing to his love and pointing to Jesus. See, even the way that God spoke, what he was gonna do and he wanted Israel to do, even who he spoke through and the lineage of who he spoke through proclaimed his character and his nature in the way that he wanted to save. See, Jehaziel, what does it mean?
Jehaziel means God sees us. Second, what does the next 1 mean? Zechariah means the Lord remembers. The next 1. Benaiah means built by the Lord.
Next 1. Jeel means treasured of God. Next 1. Mataniah means gift of God. And the next 1.
Asaph means collector or gatherer of the people. Through the very person that he was saying in his lineage, God was proclaiming to all of Israel, I see you. I remember you. You've been built by me. You're treasured of me.
You're a gift of me, and I'm gathering you together like a bird under his wings protecting you. I am your refuge. Even the details of how he speaks to us matters. So what did he say? He said, verse 15, listen, king Jehoshaphat.
This is God speaking through Jehaziel. Listen, all who live in Judah and Jerusalem. This is what the Lord says to you. Do not be afraid or discouraged of because of this vast army, For the "battle is not yours" but God's. He says that over and over and over in the bible, all throughout, and that's his word to his children.
**Do not be afraid**. When you think the battle is yours, you feel the weight of the battle. You feel the weight of what's coming on. But when you realize that the battle is not yours but God's and you believe his word towards you, you don't have to have fear no matter what's happening. It's not just do not be afraid.
Do not be discouraged. What is discouraged? Not dis means not. Not courage. That means be encouraged.
Be encouraged because I'm with you. Because the battle is not yours, but God's. Let him fight your battles for you. Don't try to take control. Verse 16, tomorrow march down against them.
They will be climbing up the paths 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. Now, they have to believe that. They have to believe that they will not have to fight this battle. Right?
And they did believe it, and I'll show you why. She believes it. You will not have to fight this battle. He says, take up your positions, stand firm, and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do he says it again.
Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged. Go out and face them tomorrow. The Lord will be with you. See, when you understand the battle's not yours, you can face your problems.
A lot of times, we just wanna pray, God, you take care of it, and you run and hide. That's not faith. Stop that. God says the battle's not yours, so stand and face it and know that I'm gonna do it for you. Look it in the face.
Do not be discouraged, but do it with courage. No fear. I am with you. That's good stuff. Go out and face them.
Now, the question is, did they believe it? Because God spoke and God spoke to us in many areas of our lives. And sometimes we believe it and we see the deliverance of the Lord, and sometimes we go and hide in fear and we don't. *Faith* is the substantiating, the subs the making substance of the things hoped for. Hebrews-11:1.
It's God speaks it and by faith it becomes our reality. I want to walk in faith in everything that he says so that I can experience all the good purposes that I should walk in that he's created for me. Amen? So did they believe it? Jehoshaphat bowed down with his face to the ground, and all the people Judah and Jerusalem fell down in worship before the Lord.
There's a there's a telltale sign. They began to worship. Thank you, Jesus, for what you're doing. Thank you for what you're you're gonna do. Then some of the Levites and Koalites and Koha Kohaites stood up and praised the Lord, the God of Israel with a very loud voice.
So their worship turned to praise. You know, sometimes I'm praying, and it seems like there's been multiple times in this church where things are going on and it's discouraging, man. Or multiple times before, it's like, man, how is this gonna happen? Are we gonna actually get the auditorium of the school and it looked like it would, and then then we wouldn't hear back from them? Or are people actually gonna come on our first Sunday?
Or are people gonna continue to come, or are lives gonna be transformed? And and man, I'm I'm sitting in my room or my living room at night praying sometimes, and and all of these thoughts and doubts and different stuffs coming to my head, and I just go back to what he said. He said, I told you to plant this church. The battle's mine not yours. You move forward and you face it.
You continue on stepping 1 x 1 and watch what I do my son. Now, despite what you feel, and when he said that I didn't necessarily feel great. I was still feeling discouraged, but he told me. And over and over, no matter the situation, he would speak in that way. And then just or sometimes just based on what his bible says, on on what the bible says.
Maybe I don't hear a voice like that. Maybe I just read in his word and his word says this. Well, I can trust his word for my situation today. So in that situation, I just begin, no matter how I feel, no matter how sick I feel in the moment, no matter how down, no matter how depressed, no matter how discouraged I feel in the moment. The bible says rejoice in all circumstances.
Even in those times where I feel this certain way. We don't walk by feeling, we walk by faith. The bible says be thankful in all circumstances. So in that moment, thank you Jesus. Thank you God for what's happening.
I know the enemy is in this person to discourage me, this person, but Lord, you work all things together for good. That's what your word says. You said rejoice. Lord, I'm just gonna worship you. Lord, I praise you.
And I just begin to sing in my room. Thank you, Jesus. And then all of a sudden, despite how I feel, I choose to dance. Thank you, Jesus, for what you're doing. It turns to praise and worship.
And you might think I'm crazy. I don't care. This is my personal relationship with Jesus. And what happens in secret, *God* produces fruit in the public. Don't just worship him together with everybody else.
Get along with Jesus. Pray, worship and praise, and know his word is applicable for your life. That's what they did. 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. See, it's not over. They're still making some steps. They're still taking some steps of obedience.
Obedience happens because of faith in his word. Have faith in his prophets, and you will be successful. After consulting with the people, I love this, 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. Now watch this. Can you imagine this for a second?
They're going out about to meet a vast army. Sure destruction if it wasn't for God. Right? You logically, you would think that they would send the horses and chariots in the front or or have the arrows ready. They'd send the the people with the swords, right, in the front?
But no, they send the choir. They send the worshipers. If if God doesn't come through on his word, it's sure destruction for those people. But they believed his word so much that they didn't go with logic, but they went with what he said. And they worshiped not from the they didn't worship to be victorious.
They worshiped because they believed they were already victorious because of what he said. Come on. That's good. See, don't know about you, but I wanna live a life of worship, not because I'm worshiping in order to fight the battle. The battle's already been won because of what he said.
I'm worshiping because I believe my God despite what my circumstance says. I wonder if they would have believed him without *fasting* in this circumstance. I don't know. But I know the Bible says this kind comes out with prayer and fasting. They might have just been so focused on the circumstance and their sudden death that they would have prayed, maybe not waited on God to speak and then done what they thought they should do and said, well, we prayed and God didn't move.
Let's blame him. *God* loves you. His plan for you is so much better than you can imagine, and it's a faith walk. It's grit. It's saying, I'm believing you no matter what.
I'm walking forward as a good soldier no matter what. Teach me to believe. Lord, help me with my unbelief. I'm making steps and I'm making moves. I know what you've promised me.
I know what you've said. And even if it doesn't happen tomorrow, I'm just gonna say thank you for the process. Thank you that that when the enemy comes and and it looks like this this promise that you've given me and this stuff that you've given me isn't happening. I know that enemy attack, you're gonna turn it out for good and just that suffering is gonna create perseverance and character in my life that's gonna create a hope that doesn't disappoint. And I'm just gonna be more ready.
Thank you, Jesus. I'm gonna rejoice in the trial. Amen? So what happened? Verse 22, as they began to sing and praise, the Lord sent set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Ser who were invaded Judah, and they were defeated.
The Ammonites and Moabites rose up against the men from Mount Ser to destroy and annihilate them. They fought 1 another. Israelites didn't even have to lift a finger. All they did was praise God because God said he was gonna fight their battle and he did. After they finished slaughtering the men from Syria, they helped to destroy 1 another.
Verse 24, when the men of Judah came to the place that overlooked the desert, they didn't even see all this happen. They didn't even see it. They didn't have to see it. It wasn't for them to see. When the men of Judah came to the place that overlooked the desert and looked toward the vast army, they saw only dead bodies lying on the ground.
No 1 had escaped. So Jehoshaphat and his men went to carry off their plunder, and they found among them a great amount of equipment and clothing, articles of value, more than they could even take away. There was so much plunder that it took 3 days to collect. On the fourth day, they assembled in the Valley Of Barakkah where they praised the Lord. We don't just praise him after the victory.
We praise him before the victory. We praise him in the middle of the struggle, and then we praise him afterwards as well. We live a life of praise and worship. This is why it's called the Valley Of Barakkah to this day. That means see at the bottom, Barakkah means praise.
Verse 27, 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. They rejoice before based on his word, and then they rejoice after. They rejoice when it looked like they had no cause, and then they rejoice when they did have cause too. Rejoice in all circumstances. They entered Jerusalem and went to the temple of the lord with harps and leers and trumpets.
The fear of the lord came on all the surrounding kingdoms when they heard how the lord had fought against the enemies of Israel and the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was at peace for his God had given him rest on every side. And that's God's will for your life, to be at peace, to live in a state of rest on every side of your life because in Hebrews, it says strive to the only thing we strive for in this life is to enter into his rest because he's already paid the work. He paid paid the price. He already said on the cross to tell us die, which means it is finished. "It is finished" in your life.
It is finished. Jesus already paid the price for your sin. He paid the price for your redemption. He paid the price for your healing. He paid the price for your deliverance.
He paid the price for you to experience the abundant life that he's created you to live in. Believe what he says. Trust him and move forward in him. That's the benefit of relationship, *prayer* and fasting.
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