Day 4: The battle is not yours
Some people came and told Jehoshaphat, “A vast army is coming against you…” Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Jahaziel… He said: “Listen, King Jehoshaphat…: This is what the Lord says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s" (2 Chronicles 20:2,14-15).
Our Father in heaven, the Lord Jesus taught us to enter into prayer with the immediate and overarching awareness of Your person, Your place, and Your position. King Jehoshaphat demonstrated this awareness when he prayed, “Lord, the God of our ancestors, are You not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand You…” (2 Chronicles 20:6).
Even as You invite us to come to Your throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16), You desire that we come with the right perspective—grasping what it means that You are the God who is in heaven, that You rule over all, that power and might are in Your hand, that no one can withstand You. Help us to know the God we serve, lest we become consumed with trouble, fear, and dread as we face the battles around us and before us.
Our battles are not the same as Jehoshaphat's, for we do not wage war as the world does (2 Corinthians 10:3). Instead, in the spiritual realm we battle against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12 - ESV).
Often we do not recognize the strategies, the wiles and the clever schemes (Ephesians 6:11) that are launched against us in the battlefield of the mind. Yet we constantly face a vast army of thoughts, attitudes, outlooks, mindsets, and temptations that threaten to destroy our joy, our peace, our productivity, and our spiritual, physical, mental and emotional well-being.
Lord, You give us the truth of Your word because You do not want us to be careless, unaware, or unprepared. So help us to continually resolve, like Jehoshaphat to inquire of the Lord and to pray for, and with each other, regularly joining together to seek help from the Lord (2 Chronicles 20:3-4).
We acknowledge our inability to defeat on our own, the vast army of fear, dread, doubt, discouragement, discord, discontentment, anxiety, negativity, and all the other lies and ruses that assault our thoughts. But You have given us weapons that have divine power to demolish strongholds. (2 Corinthians 10:4).
And as we pray and praise, as we wait and worship, we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). We fix our eyes, our thoughts, and our hopes on You alone, hearing Your voice ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army; believing Your reassurance that the battle is... God's (2 Chronicles 20:15).
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