East End

6-8-08

Text: 2 Chronicles 20:1-30

Have you ever faced a problem that you thought was simply too big to handle? Have you ever felt like you were completely surrounded by trouble with no way out? Many of us at different times of our life have felt this way. We as a church or at least myself as God’s man here have felt that way. But in the quietness of a moment God spoke or spoke through someone to me to calm my fears and assure me He is still God and He still is in control. The truth of the matter is that we many times take on more battles than we ought to. We fight them in our strength and only call out to God when we are in trouble or if we have already been defeated. We are not alone, in fact we mirror the ways of the nation of Israel. However, our text today shows us one of the times that Israel got things right. A great number of people were coming to destroy Israel. The interesting thing is, they never made it. It is kind of like a tornado or a hurricane that looks certain to destroy everything in its path but then all of the sudden turns the other way or just goes away. Was it a coincidence that the armies never made it or that sometimes storms never come? Absolutely not, it is the handiwork of the Lord! You see even when we are out of control in our life, God is still in control. What God desires from us more than our service is our heart felt worship. He wants us to not only praise Him when things are going good, but He desires our praise when life’s storms or armies are surrounding us. Notice what the nation of Israel did, because they give us a great model of what to do when life seems stormy. First of all the king prayed and fasted (v. 3). Secondly the king (or church leadership in today’s culture) asked the nation (church) to pray and fast as well (vv. 3, 4). Then they remembered who God is and praised Him for who He is (vv. 5-8). Next the declared their total dependence upon Him to preserve them (vv. 9-13). Next they willingly received a word from the Lord (vv. 14-18). Then they praised Him even before the battle was waged (vv. 19-22). Finally after it as all over the nation of Israel (our the church today) gathered together to praise God for their deliverance (vv. 27-30). If you want to know how to live a life of victory, there it is in black and white in God’s word. Pray individually, pray as a church, remember God for who He is, what He has done, and His faithfulness, praise Him everyday no matter what, receive God’s word as you read it and hear it, and then praise God again when He delivers you from any situation. When we do those things, the powers of hell are defenseless because we have the promise from Jesus that “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in your is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). God bless you and may you have victory in your life this week!