Transcript: God's Victory in Battle: 2 Chronicles 20:15 Inspiration

Praise the Lord. I greet you all in the precious name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Let's turn to the Word of God this day, 2 Chronicles chapter 20 and verse 15, a part of this verse I will be reading. Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God's. The God, the Holy Spirit is telling us this day that the battle is not ours but God's. Many of us may be facing many problems in our lives, difficulties, financial difficulties, difficulties in our marriage, in our family life, and so many other things. And the enemy may be attacking us in many ways, in our thoughts, in our lives. He may be attacking our bodies or in other ways. But God says, do not be afraid nor dismayed, because the battle is not yours but God's. This portion is from something that happened in the life of King Jehoshaphat and we will be dwelling upon this part this morning. Jehoshaphat was facing a great problem in his life. There were great armies coming against him and against Judah and they were going to destroy Jehoshaphat and all of Israel. but when we see Jehoshaphat crying out in the presence of the Lord seeking God's face seeking his help and fasting in the presence of the Lord and God does a great miracle in their lives so let us see what happened in the life of Jehoshaphat during a certain period in his life 2nd Chronicles chapter 20 verse 3 and Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. Praise the Lord. He is proclaiming a fast there as we are starting this meeting. You know, Pastor Lalain was talking about fasting and here see the Holy Spirit he also speaks to us this morning regarding fasting. I don't know how we all fast and all that. But there is a time that we should fast in our lives and seek the face of the Lord. And Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek the Lord. Every time that we seek the Lord, there is always a blessing reserved for us in our lives. Not only when there are problems coming to our lives, but on other times also. You know, we never read that Jesus, when a problem came into his life, he went and fasted at that time. You know, he fasted those 40 days. Later on, we did not read about him fasting again. but he was preparing himself for the ministry and everyone who is in ministry should make it a point to fast and pray in the presence of God. It is very vital that we fast and pray in God's presence so that we receive the anointing of the Holy Spirit. We are rid of all the unbeliefs in our hearts so that we are strengthened and we believe in God. So here when a problem came into his life, he was a good king, Jehoshaphat. you read about Jehoshaphat, that he was a man who feared the Lord. If you read chapter 17 and verse 3 onwards, then it says, Now the Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the former ways of his father David. He did not seek the Baals, but sought the God of his father, and walked in his commandments and not according to the Acts of Israel. After David, this is the first king of whom it is said that he walked in the former ways of his father David. We did not even read about Solomon walking in the ways of David and all that because Solomon, he went astray as we know. But here is another king of Judah who comes and he walks in the ways of his father David and he did not seek the Baals, the idols. But he sought the God of his father and walked in his commandments and not according to the Acts of Israel. All of Israel was going astray. But here we see the king, he is walking in the ways of the Lord. There is always a blessing in walking in the ways of the Lord, obeying God's word and living a life that is pleasing to God. Because in the very next verse, in verse 5, we read, Therefore the Lord established the kingdom in his hand. So you will be established in all that you do when you walk according to the ways of the Lord, when you are living a life that is pleasing to God. and his heart took delight in the ways of the Lord. Praise the Lord. Verse 6, his heart took delight in the ways of the Lord. When you delight in the Lord, he gives you the desires of your heart, according to Psalm 37. All the righteous desires of your heart, God wants to fulfill it. He is not against your plans or anything like that. He is not against the things that you want to do in your life, but delight in him first. When you delight in Him, He will give you the desires of your heart. And He says His heart took delight in the ways of the Lord and He removed all the idols from His life. They removed the high places and the wooden images from Judah. There are so many idols that are there in our lives. It's not made of metal or cement and all that. But there are other idols that we have in our lives. We worship certain things and we give more importance to certain things and that is not pleasing to God. But if you live a life that is pleasing to God, seeking his word and seeking his face, definitely the blessings of God will be upon your life. Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek the Lord. So these days, set yourself to seek the Lord. For whatever, there may be problems in your life, in your married life, in your family life, in your ministry, and with your finances. It is always a blessing when you seek the Lord's face and you set apart a time for fasting in the presence of the Lord. Praise the Lord. It may be difficult for some of us to fast because of the sicknesses that we have in our body. So according to whatever our body allows us, we may think that we are not strong enough to fast. But God will help us and strengthen us to fast. I have a very hectic schedule and with the work that I do in the clinic and also the ministry, but the Holy Spirit, you know, He inspires me to fast and pray. And it's something that we have. We just do it secretly. We don't tell anyone. We just fast and pray. And sometimes I think, then how will I get to the next day of fasting? It's not one day, but, you know, several days of fasting together. every morning I need His grace to sustain me through the fast. It's very difficult because I know that it can be only done day by day. I cannot take it, you know, all together. But when it is over, you know, 7 days, 14 days, 21 days, then you realize that it is the power of God that has sustained you because by our own strength we may not be able to go through that fast. Now I don't take a full day fast and all, but a certain portion of the day I set apart for fasting and praying and doing things that is pleasing to God and doing the ministry. So God will strengthen you too if you take a decision. He will strengthen you. He will, you know, grant you the grace. Sometimes you may think that you are not strong enough, but God will strengthen you. And I say that he is there to support you in all the good things that you want to do in your life. If you want to seek his face, if you want to fast. And when you are fasting, there are certain principles that you have to follow. And it's all laid out in Isaiah chapter 58, where it clearly says that your fast should be something that is pleasing to God. Israel was fasting, but God was not listening. Israel was fasting, but God was not looking at these people who were fasting. Because when you go to Isaiah chapter 58, God mentions everything that the Israelites were doing wrong. Isaiah chapter 58 and verse 4 it says, indeed you fast for strife and debate and to strike with the fist of wickedness. You will not fast as you do this day to make your voice heard on high. He is saying that when you are fasting you are fighting with each other. How can I accept the fast that you are going through? Praise the Lord. So if you are taking a fast make it a point that it is pleasing to God. Here he says you strike with the fist of wickedness and your voice is not going to be heard by God. Next, he also says, God speaks to the Israelites through Isaiah and he says, Is it a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast? An acceptable day to the Lord. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. We are, you know, reaching the end of 2022 too and those who have not fasted fast for a few days because you know that is good for your body also it's good for your spirit and soul and also for you know speeding things that have been blocked by satan in your life what is a fast that is pleasing to god verse 6 onwards isaiah chapter 58 is this not the fast that i have chosen to lose the bonds of wickedness to undo the heavy burdens to let the oppressed go free and that you break every yoke. Praise the Lord. It should not become a burden on anyone else, you know, not another human being, not our brothers and sisters in Christ. Always have, you know, that attitude that Jesus had. Praise the Lord. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons of God, is what we read in the Beatitudes. Next he says, is it not to share your bread with the hungry? That you bring to your house the poor who are cast out. When you see the naked that you cover him. And not hide yourself from your own flesh. Then your light shall break forth like the morning. Your healing shall spring forth speedily. And your righteousness shall go before you. The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Praise the Lord. Some of the things that we don't realize. You know when we are not fasting. There are some sins that God starts revealing in our lives when we start fasting. He points out certain things in our life. It may be pride, it may be jealousy, it may be anger, it may be wrath. And sometimes we overlook all these things and go ahead in our lives and do things. We may be rebellious to God's word. But God always looks at a person who is always humble and he wants to answer the prayers of that person. We are not talking about the people of the world. And some may say that they don't even call upon God, still they are blessed. What do you say about that? Let's not look to that. God will deal with them at the appointed time. Their judgment is also coming. So what we look at is our lives and how God wants us to live. And we should set apart a time for fasting and praying and seeking God's face. So here, as Jehoshaphat was facing a big problem in his life, praise the Lord. A lot of people had gathered together, his enemies, the Ammonites, and the Moabites, and the Mionites, they were all coming together against Jehoshaphat. And someone gave him the news that a great multitude is coming against you And he set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah So Judah gathered together to ask help from the Lord Praise the Lord. Psalm 121. Praise the Lord. I lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. We may look to people. Praise the Lord. To help us. Someone who has helped us in the past, we may look to that person. Make him our God. But God only wants him to be our God. Praise the Lord. He himself is our God. He wants to be everything in our lives. Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords of our life. And he always wants us to look to him. Praise the Lord. And he will guide us, you know, in the right paths. Praise the Lord. So all of Judah is gathering together to seek help from the Lord. and we see that they were in the presence of God fasting and praying and then God started speaking hallelujah it was not through one of the big prophets that God started speaking it was through a you know just an ordinary man we see that God spoke to him through a man called Jehoshaphat and all of Judah they were strengthened by God praise the Lord hallelujah before that Jehoshaphat prayed to the Lord and he reminds God of the things that God has promised them and God has done in the past for them. So that's a wonderful thing that we can do in the presence of God. We can tell him what some of the things that he has promised us in his word and also some of the things that he has done for us in the past. We remind him of all those things. It's not that God has forgotten, but we can tell him that, God, you have done this for us, you can do it again. Praise the Lord. and also remind him of all the promises that are there in the word. When you tell, when you confess all those promises to God, like Jehoshaphat says, O Lord, God of our fathers, verse 6 in 2 Chronicles chapter 20, O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? And do you not rule over all the nations, kingdoms of the nations? And in your hand there is, is there not power and might so that no one is able to withstand you? Tell him how great a God is. Hallelujah. What can you tell God? Hallelujah. How great a God. How wonderful a God you are. Praise the Lord. And Jehoshaphat's details about what God has done for them in the past. How he has driven out all the nations and made his people settle and fulfilled the covenants that he had given to Abraham. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. So remind God of the promises that are in the word. But for that you should have a good knowledge of the word also. Spend more time with the word so that you can know what promises are there in the word of God. And he reminds him of all the promises that God had made to Solomon. When Solomon had built the temple and offered a great sacrifice. And God himself had said then what? When sword or judgment or pestilence or famine comes. If you stand before me in this temple and you cry out in your affliction. God will hear. Praise the Lord. God will hear you when you cry out to Him in your affliction and in your difficulties, in your problems. And then place your problem into God's hands first. Whenever a problem comes, take it to God first. Hallelujah. Don't run around doing things on your own, but take it to God first. Tell Him. Even if it is a small thing, just tell Him. Some people may tell you that they are going to give you money or finances for your ministry. praise the Lord and you wait for a long time thinking that they have promised they will give but you have to continue in prayer you know you have to seek God's face for that to come about to be fulfilled hallelujah you cannot just take things for granted saying that someone promised you so that it will happen even if God has promised you you have to pray for it like Elijah was told by God I am going to send rain after three and a half years but he goes up to Mount Carmel puts his head between his knees and he starts praying to God. Hallelujah. And then he sends his servant Gehazi to see whether there is anything you know, any small sign of a rain. He had to send him seven times and seven times he said, seven times Gehazi says, his servant says, I see a small cloud rising out of the sea like a man's hand. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. So till you see that sign from God and you see the rain coming down, You keep praying. Keep praying till it happens. Keep praying till it happens. Praise the Lord. And Jehoshaphat places his problem into God's hand. He says, verse 10, Here are the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, and they have come to destroy us. Praise the Lord. What is your problem this day? The Lord says the battle is not yours, but God's. place that problem that you are facing in God's hands seek his face if you are able to fast you fast and you pray to God and seek his face and he will you know bring the deliverance into your life praise the Lord not only you you know bring your whole family into the presence of God maybe they may not be fasting but they can come and pray with you isn't it pray together as we read now all Judah with their little ones their wives and their children, they stood before the Lord. They are all together there in unity, seeking God's face, so that they may get a deliverance in their life. Then we read in verse 14, The Spirit of the Lord came upon Jehaziel. God will speak to you. Hallelujah. Maybe He may speak to you through a dream, through a vision. He may speak to you through a co-believer. He may speak to you through a prophet. anything. He may speak to you through his own word, but he will give you a sign that he is going to do something wonderful in your life. And that promise that you have, hold on to it. Whatever promise God has given to you, hold on to it till it is fulfilled in your life. The vision, you know, it awaits an appointed time. Praise the Lord. What we read in Habakkuk chapter 2, it says, the vision, it waits an appointed time. Don't blame people if your things are not working out. Don't blame other ministers. Don't blame your pastors. You can seek the face of the Lord. He is your father, isn't it? He is your good heavenly father. He is able to provide for you. Praise the Lord. Seek his face and he will answer your prayers. The spirit of the Lord, it came upon a man called Jehashiel and he started speaking to Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to King Jehoshaphat. Praise the Lord. God speaks through anyone. We don't have to be jealous. Someone has given a good gift, good blessing. Let us all be happy about it. Be happy about the blessings that someone else is having in his life. Some great ministry that they are doing for God. Let us not be envious of anyone who is doing the ministry. God has blessed them. God will bless us too. he has his good plans for our lives too praise the Lord thus says the Lord and that is what we read here in verse 15 listen all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem and you king Jehoshaphat thus says the Lord to you and God the Holy Spirit is speaking to you too this morning when I was praying he spoke to me and he said the battle is the Lord's and not yours hallelujah do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude for the battle is not yours but God's. And we read that wonderful phrase here do not fear. So many times in the word of God and some people say more than 365 times it is said do not fear. God strengthening his people. God wanting a blessing to come upon them. And then God will direct you, show you the plan. place the Lord. We may have many plans, but if you really want to do something for God, find out what is His plan for your life. You may all want to do many things for God, but what is He pleased with? What does He want you to do? That is the question. You may see someone doing some ministry and thinking that you all should do that. That may not be God's calling upon your life, and if it is not God's calling upon your life, you will fail in that ministry. Everyone wants to prophecy. Everyone wants to heal and bring deliverance. Praise the Lord. You don't jump and go into deliverance ministry because that is, you know, one of the ministries that, you know, so very difficult. You have to live very close to God, very holy life. If you want to go into a deliverance ministry, praise the Lord, because Satan is waiting to find out what is the flaw in your life. If he finds a sin in your life, he will exploit it. And he will destroy your ministry. He will destroy you also. Praise the Lord. So those who are in the deliverance ministry and or want you to, you want to do the deliverance ministry or to live a holy life. It is impossible to do a deliverance ministry without living a holy life, living close to God, living with fasting and praying. Praise the Lord. It may be very, you may see it as a very glorious ministry and all. People want to heal other people. But if you don't have the compassion of Jesus, how you are going to heal anyone? Praise the Lord. And also, if you have to understand what suffering that a person is going through, you know, that suffering, if you have not experienced in your life, how will you know what it is? Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. So if you are going for the bigger ministries, and the Holy Spirit is speaking this day and telling you that you have to spend more time in the presence of God. What you see on TV and all, some of it may be true, but there are a lot of hidden things that you don't see and you just think that these ministries, they are very glorious and all that. Praise the Lord. A lot of sacrifice that you have to go through. Ministers of God who really achieve things for the kingdom, they go through a lot of sacrifices in their life. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. and you also have gone through many in your life too, so you will know it. Praise the Lord. Now God tells them, the battle is not yours, but mine, and then God tells them about a plan. Tomorrow go down against them. They will surely come up to fight against you, and you will find them. And then God tells them, you will not need to fight in this battle. Praise the Lord. Many of the battles can be won by, you know being upon our knees praise the Lord if you are willing to spend time in prayer now think about the time that you spend in prayer each day how much time do you spend in 24 hours in prayer Paul the Apostle says pray always how is that possible it is possible wherever you are you can keep praying continually whether you are at your workplace or your kitchen or wherever it is people find a lot of time to gossip and all that but if you are a child of God you can spend time in prayer wherever you are Set apart a time for prayer Jesus used to set apart a time for prayer He used to go in the mornings and everyone was still sleeping, very quiet. He used to go to the mountains, sit there and pray and pray and pray. Seek the face of the Father so that the ministry that day would be successful. even you know the son of God had to pray you know just so that his ministry was a blessed ministry praise the Lord hallelujah it was not that everything was easy for Jesus he used to spend a lot of time in the presence of God and he used to travel so much just to save a person you know he used to go travel to the region of Gerasenes or Gadarenes to save a person he is traveling to Samaria to you know Jacob's well he is going and sitting there mid afternoon and just to save one soul. And because she was saved, the whole of the city came to know about Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. What you may think as a small start, God will expand it to a great ministry. Praise the Lord. But you have to be with Jesus. You know, when Peter and John did their great miracle of healing the person who was 40 years old, lame from birth, you know what the people said first? the first thing that they said that they were with Jesus praise the Lord and if you have that qualification that you are with Jesus, I mean not really just a label but you are really with Jesus, spending time with Jesus spending time with the Holy Spirit people will know about it you don't have to advertise anything praise the Lord, hallelujah people hallelujah will come to you they will seek you for prayers because you know they will know that you are with Jesus And here God tells them a plan. Find out what God's plan is. You know, and go according to that plan. Whether it is your secular thing, whether it is your spiritual thing, whether it is your ministry, seek what is God's plan. What do you want me to do, Jesus? 2023 is coming. Ask Him, what do you want me to do? Show me the way. Tell me what to do. Tell me where to go. And He will guide you by His Holy Spirit. And here God tells them, you will not need to fight in this battle. Praise the Lord. When the battle is the Lord's, you know, you don't have to fight that battle, but you have to still be there. You have to be praying. You have to be praising God. Hallelujah. Whatever you have to do by yourselves, you have to do. Praise the Lord. You will not need to fight this battle. Position yourself. Position yourself. Have you ever thought about that? Positioning yourselves to receive a blessing from God? What is that position that we can go in? God always expects things from his children that's why when he speaks to each and every church in the book of Revelation he speaks specific things he is not speaking the same things to each church for each and every person each and every church he has a different word for them the church at Ephesus he says you have forgotten your first love that has gone away from your love that has gone away from your life repent and do the things that you did at first is what he speaks to the church at Ephesus. And likewise, to each and every church, Jesus had the word for them. So what is God's word for you in this season, in the coming 2023? He'll speak specifically to you. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. He will guide you in the right path. You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourself, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. The standing still is very, you know, difficult. We still know that I am God, Psalm 46, we know all that, but sometimes it is very difficult. We get fidgety, you know. We want to do so many things together. Praise the Lord. When I was a child, you know, sometimes my father used to say, go and stand in that corner because I had done some mischief. You know, he used to tell me, go and stand in that corner for some time. maybe half an hour. That was the time that I could not stand still. I used to be so fidgety all the time. Somehow I wanted to get out of that corner and do my things. Praise the Lord. Sometimes as believers, as people of God, children of God we want to do so many things because we are fidgety. We cannot be still in God's presence. Praise the Lord. But God tells us, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. When they were going around the walls of Jericho, Joshua told the people, don't say anything. Don't speak anything. Don't open your mouth. Till I tell you to open your mouth. Sometimes when we open our mouths, all kinds of problems happen. And then there are no miracles coming. You can't see God working in our lives. Praise the Lord. Let's say God says, stand still. You have prayed to me. Wait now. My time is coming and I will do the thing that you want me to do for you, but stand still. And that's what God told these people. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Praise the Lord. when you receive a word from God and you know that it is God's word and if he is speaking to you this morning you know have an attitude like Jehoshaphat verse 18 and Jehoshaphat bowed his head with a face to the ground he did not start rebelling and saying who is Jehoshaphat? why should God speak through him? sometimes we don't like you know someone who is lesser than us speaking to us and you know guiding us Jehoshaphat bowed his head is the king of Judah and one of the commoners has given him a word from the Lord and he bows his head with his face to the ground and all of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, they bowed before the Lord worshipping the Lord. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Have their attitude in the presence of God. Position yourself. Stand still and see what God is going to do in your life. And one of the things that Jehoshaphat told all the people was, in verse 20 he says, Believe in the Lord your God and you shall be established. Believe in the Lord your God and you shall be established. Believe his prophets and you shall prosper. Praise the Lord. Sometimes you think that, you know, we have a lot of faith and all that. when all our faith crumbles in a moment when things don't happen at the time that we expect it to happen all our faith flies out of the windows praise the Lord God says believe I am doing a work let me finish it and it will happen in your life praise the Lord, hallelujah so let's wait upon the Lord these days because he will fulfill the things that we have prayed to him and he will establish us believe in the Lord Jesus said if you have faith as a mustard seed, praise the Lord. You can tell this mountain to uproot itself and land in the sea. Or you can tell this mulberry tree to land in the sea and it shall be done. Where do we generate all that faith from as little as a mustard seed? How much can a mustard seed actually hold? Praise the Lord. how much can a mustard seed hold now when you think about it like that you may think that it cannot hold anything but if you think about you know the fine grains of dust that are there here on earth and you put that into the mustard seed and fill it you know it shall be so full praise the Lord how does faith come about how can we generate faith faith is also a gift from God but also we can increase our faith because Jesus was approached by his disciples and says increase our faith. Praise the Lord. And the Bible gives us the clue to how to increase our faith. It is only on dwelling on the word of God. Continually dwelling on the word of God. Old Testament New Testament. Read what God has done. Read what God has done. Read what God has said and your faith will increase. Praise the Lord. Faith comes by hearing of the word. You know, dive into the word of God. Not a small passage. You keep reading, keep reading, keep preaching, keep preaching. Praise the Lord. And you will be full of the word of God. Believe in the Lord your God and you shall be established. Let's believe for small things. Let's believe for big things in our life. In this end of this 2022, God is able to do great things in our life. Confess the promises. you know, even if you are not seeing them being fulfilled, keep confessing them. Two years, three years, four years, keep confessing. Psalm 91, Psalm 121. Confess the word of God with your mouth because that is a great blessing in your life. Confess it in your house because that's a great blessing for your house. Praise the Lord. And when Jehoshaphat had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the Lord and who should praise the beauty of holiness. and as they went out before the army and were saying, praise the Lord for his mercy endures forever. This is one song that they sang all through the wilderness. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord for his mercy endures forever. And his God's mercy has endured in our lives too. If you look at the past year and the year before that, sufferings untold were there and people around us in our lives also. But God saved us. You know, He didn't let us die. Till this day, He has given us that breath of life. And He has kept us alive to bring glory to His name. Hallelujah. And when they started to sing, praise the Lord. Sometimes you may not feel like singing. Because of all the problems that you are going through, the sickness that you are going through, you don't want to sing. Praise the Lord. but the next day again the Holy Spirit will make you sing. That is the power of God. Not by power but by my Spirit says the Lord of hosts. That's how we keep singing. Don't let the enemy stop your song. Even if you don't have a good voice, keep singing. Keep praising God. God is not worried about the eloquence of your prayers and how rich you are in your English language when you are praying to God or whatever language you are praying to God. He is not bothered about your language. People may be bothered. People may be laughing at what you are praying. God is not bothered about the quality of your singing or your tenor or whatever pitch that you are singing in. He is looking at the faithfulness of your heart, the humbleness of your heart. He is looking at all those things. Praise the Lord. As a sacrifice in your life. And when they began to sing and to praise the Lord. Things start happening when you start worshipping. Praise the Lord. So let not your worship, you know, go down. Keep worshipping God. Keep praying to God. Keep fellow believers. Ask them to pray for you. Those whom you know that they will truly pray for you. Ask them to pray for you And when they began to sing and to praise the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon Moab and Mount Seir who had come against Judah and they were defeated God can you know do mighty miracles. The enemy coming against you plotting many things, he can just destroy them. You don't have to do anything just praise the Lord and worship him, give him glory and if he is telling you to do something, do that and let the glory be God's at all times. God himself is setting ambushes against the people, against the enemies of Jehoshaphat. And what happened? The people started fighting among themselves. The enemies started fighting among themselves. It's not the first time that God did that. If you read about several accounts in the Old Testament, we read that the enemies who came against God's people, they started fighting against themselves. And they destroyed each other. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. For the people of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill and destroy them. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir they helped to destroy one another. A big army has come against Jehoshaphat but they are not even involved in the battle up to this moment. Till God says they did not enter the battle. They are just praising God. They are worshipping God. And when Judah came to the place of wilderness, we see that they saw a lord of dead bodies fallen there. All their enemies had been destroyed. And the battle was long. And the fourth day, verse 26, they assembled in the valley of Barakah, praise the Lord. So there is a valley of decision, that is the valley of Jehoshaphat. And there a value of Barakah, that is the value of blessings. So today, if you are taking a decision in your life, you know where it will lead to. If you take the right decision, if it lead to the value of Barakah, where is the value of blessings in your life. If you are willing to seek the face of the Lord like Jehoshaphat and all of Judah did, add a little fasting to it, praise the Lord, present your request in the presence of God the Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit. Seek guidance from God as to what to do and also tell him about all the things that he has done in the past for you and that he has promised in his word. They assembled in the valley of Barakah for there they blessed the Lord and therefore the name of the place was called the Valley of Barakah until this day. Praise the Lord. then they returned every man of Judah and Jerusalem with Jehoshaphat in front of them to go back to Jerusalem with joy for the Lord had made them rejoice over their enemies so they came to Jerusalem with stringed instruments and harps and trumpets to the house of the Lord keep praising, keep worshipping, keep glorifying God and God will give you rest as he gave rest to Jehoshaphat and the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of the countries when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. Praise the Lord. When God does a great miracle in your life, in your family, in your church, more people will know about it. You know, when the people of Israel, they were in Jericho, you know what Rahab told? She said that, we know what your God has done for you. Praise the Lord. So, the word will spread far and wide that God is doing great things in your life. And that's why they will come to you for prayer. Praise the Lord. If you seek His face and they know that you are with Jesus and Jesus is with you, they will come to seek your prayers. And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries because they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. Then the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet for his God gave him rest all around. It's not always strife in your life. Remember that. There are times that God will give you rest, joy, fulfillment in your life. Don't think that your Christian life is full of strife and all kinds of problems at all times. Because Jesus has said that he wants to give your life in abundance. It's the truth. He has said it himself. The thief, he comes to steal, to kill and to destroy, but I have come to give you life and life in abundance. Praise the Lord. So let us go through this sermon once more. A problem has come to Jehoshaphat. The first thing is that he is doing is seeking God's face. Praise the Lord. And he is fasting. He asks help from the Lord. everyone is gathered together you are facing a problem in your married life you don't know what to do there are always strife at all times fast together in the presence of God don't say anything just be in the presence of God the Holy Spirit when you are fasting and praying to God for peace and joy and happiness and fulfillment the Holy Spirit will start speaking the problem is you know many of us we transgress the word of God we break the word of God and then that is the place where all the problems start coming in either it's the husband or the wife or both husband and wife they start you know not obeying the word of God keeping it aside thinking according to the worldly ways thinking according to the wisdom of men and all kinds of problems start creeping into their lives go back to the word go back to the word listen to what the word is saying to you what is the word is speaking to you in your life and we read the Jehoshaphat he started telling God of all the things that God had done for them and all his promises that he would do for them remember that also tell him what he has done and also tell him what he has promised to do and as they were fasting and praying God spoke to them praise the Lord Acts chapter 13 we read that the prophets and the teachers, they were in the presence of God, fasting and praying, and the Holy Spirit spoke. What did he say? Separate to me, Saul and Barnabas, for the ministry that I have called them to do. This is how the Holy Spirit speaks. Very clearly. Nothing fuzzy. Nothing, you know, blurry. Everything very specifically he speaks. Praise the Lord. Ananias, he was praying to God. Saul is in another place. Three days he has not eaten food. not had any water. He's gone blind. And God speaks to Ananias and says, Go. Tells him the address. Go to that house and lay your hands upon a man called Saul because he is praying. And that's how Ananias went to Saul and prayed and he received the Holy Spirit. His blindness was healed and he started preaching the word of God very soon. God is able to do great miracles in your life too. And then when God spoke through Jehaziel, he said, the battle is the Lord's and not yours. You don't have to fight in this battle. Position yourselves and be still in the presence of God. They praise God. And when they praise God, God set up ambushes against the enemy and they were destroyed. Finally, they come to the valley of Barakah, a valley of blessings. I sincerely pray that you reach the valley of blessings that you are seeking from God. You are seeking the Lord for a certain problem in your life. Valley of Jehoshaphat is the valley of decision. Take the right decisions in your life this day. And God will lead you to the valley of Barakah, the valley of blessings. May God bless you with these wonderful verses. Praise the Lord. Loving Heavenly Father, thank you for this morning. Thank you for your goodness in our lives, your mercy. Thank you for blessing this meeting this morning. Thank you for bringing your children, O Lord, together, your people, O Lord, together to pray and to intercede and to dwell on your word, O Lord. Thank you for helping us to worship you this day, O Lord, in spirit and in truth, O Lord. Thank you for the wonderful songs that we could sing this morning and glorify your name, O Lord, and pray for each and every person who was there here this morning. as individuals, as families, O Lord, I pray that you bless them. Whatever problems that they are facing in their lives, O Lord, I pray that you may bring about a deliverance in their life, O Lord. If it's a healing, grant healing, O Lord. By your stripes, let them be healed, O Lord. I pray for provisions, O Lord, those who are praying to you for provisions, or finances. Pray that you may provide them naturally, supernaturally, O Lord. Bless them that their needs may be met, O Lord. I pray this day especially that as we heard this morning, we may seek your face, O Lord. Seek your help, O Lord. And grant us the strength to fast and speak to us, O Lord, through your word. Grant us faith, O Lord. Help us to believe that the battle is yours and that you will do great things for us, O Lord. Help us to walk in the ways that Jesus has shown us, O Lord. Help us to live a life that is pleasing to you. Help us to live a holy life, Lord. Many a times, there is no holiness in our lives, O Lord, with the things that we see, things that we think, things that we say, things that we do. I pray, O Lord, that your Holy Spirit may strengthen us, O Lord. Sanctify us, O Lord, by the blood of Jesus each day, O Lord. That we may be ready for your coming, O Lord. Let us not miss that, O Lord. Let us be found faithful at that time, O Lord. Have mercy upon us. Have mercy on our families, O Lord. Protect us by the blood of Jesus Christ at all times. in our travels, O Lord, in our homes, in our workplaces, wherever we are, O Lord. Let the angels of God be continually protecting each one of us, O Lord. And we thank you for all that you are doing for us in our lives, doing in our ministries, O Lord, for you. Thank you that it is all your grace and all your mercy, O Lord. We glorify your name, Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, and we place the next meeting into your hands, O Lord. We pray for blessings upon that meeting on the 11th. Thus far the Lord has helped us and we pray that the Holy Spirit may take charge of that meeting even now, O Lord, with all the arrangements and everything that goes on, O Lord. We pray for your continual blessings upon that meeting, O Lord. Bring more people, O Lord. Let them hear your word, O Lord. Let them seek you and find you and find your blessings upon their lives, O Lord. as we depart this day. Let your presence go with us and give us rest, O Lord. Bless each one of us. Let your name be glorified in all things. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.