"WITHOUT A DOUBT, YOU WILL BE DELIVERED"

Your beliefs can destroy you or deliver you!


Seeing the victory and prosperity of the nation of Judah at the end of our last message probably brought hope to most of your hearts.

As the author of these messages, I can admit that even at the time of this writing, I have been encouraged by the victorious outcome of the battle and the riches that were carried back home from the battleground for three whole days! Wow! After I read that passage my eyes got big and I began to dream of how God might even bless me after he gets me through the impossible situations in my life! Didn't that thought cross your mind as well? Maybe, just a little bit of prosperity possibility thinking crept into your thoughts? There's nothing wrong with thinking about the fun stuff, but we must first remember the faith stuff!

Well, I thought about that and the next thing I knew, doubt began to lurk in the back of my mind as to whether or not God would ever do anything that great for me. After all, I've never just gone out to pick up riches and treasures for a few days and take it home with me. That would be equivalent to the local bank or jewelry store opening it's safe up and the Lord telling you to just go ahead and get all you wanted for the next few days. Maybe for some, it would be the local gun shop or sporting goods store, depending on what you consider as valuable in your life. I can imagine that you too may have felt a bit doubtful as you considered this idea of receiving prosperity beyond your imagination. Why do we begin to slide back into our doubting selves long before God even has a chance to prove His infinite power to us?

The nation of Israel was following the leadership of a king that believed with all his heart that his supreme God was the highest of powers above all the earth, all the kingdoms and all courts, all plagues, all famines or any weapons formed against them! I want to back up a few verses before the battle of God took place against Ammon, Moab and mount Seir. Let's look at the way that Judah believed and we may find out why we find ourselves doubting so quickly today,

2Chronicles 20:4 And Judah (nation) gathered themselves together, to ask help of the LORD: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.

This nation who prospered so greatly following their deliverance from their enemy had an attitude of reverence and honor for God long before the armies ever arrived on their sea shores. This is evident in their immediate response to the frightening news that spread across their kingdom of the approaching enemy. This passage tells us that they assembled themselves and the next thing they did was to ask for help of the LORD.

I'd like to share with you the literal Hebrew translation of this part of the passage above. The word "ask" in the Hebrew is "bâqash" and is pronounced as baw-kash'. The literal translation of this word is "to search out" (by any method;specifically in worship or prayer). The word "help" was added into the english text so we can leave that word out for now and the literal text would actually go like this, "Judah assembled themselves together to seek Jehovah in worship and prayer". You may be thinking that an entire nation would never be able to come together in one accord to worship; but look at the next part of this passage,

2Chronicles 20:4.....even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.

When you look at the literal Hebrew of this passage, where we see the words "seek the Lord" we would find one additional Hebrew word that wasn't in the first part of this verse. In the Hebrew it would say "bâqash 'êth yehôvâh" and the addition of the Hebrew word "'êth" causes this passage to literally mean "came to seek each for themselves in worship and prayer to Jehovah"!

It's the truth! An entire nation came to seek God in worship and prayer!

How hard is it today to just get the all the local members of a church out to a church picnic, much less to pray about something of importance? I was away from home once in a middle North Carolina town and had been looking at some of the churches in that area online. I saw a website post for a large prominent church in the area that had a special time of prayer on Wednesday nights. I believe it was called the "Power Hour"! I decided to go and get in on this powerful time with fellow believers as I had been very busy and needed to take time to recharge and fellowship with prayer warriors of the faith.

My friends, I cannot express the way I felt when I walked into their sanctuary. I went to the sanctuary and found no one there! I walked all through this majestic church facility and found nobody anywhere in the first and second floors. Finally I got to the basement and walked into a room where a large group of teens were listening to music and playing games, so I asked if this was the prayer service. They looked at me kind of funny and said that they didn't know of any meeting of that type there. So I figured that I must have gotten confused and went to the wrong church. As I was making my way back through the huge basement to the front of the building I saw a small single piece of paper taped to a door which read, "Power Hour". I got kind of excited for a minute as I peaked into the small window in the door and must have bumped the door as the man who was leading the meeting waved for me to join them. As I opened the door, I realized that the window hadn't obscured my view as I had thought originally. There were only about six people in the room and most of them had canes or walkers with which they were able to make the hike as I had down the long modern halls of this huge church to the only prayer meeting that night. Oh, how shocked I was! Strangely enough, they didn't seem to be surprised when I asked if this was the prayer service upon my arrival. They just nodded their heads and smiled.

I had only been there for a short while when I realized why the group was so small and why there were not any new believers in this meeting. This was probably the core group that had been there since the church began. They began to pray one by one and as they prayed, their prayers were doubtful. They only asked God for what they could have even done themselves in the first place! How often do believers today find themselves praying while in doubt and too fearful to ask for something beyond all human power and comprehension? I heard them ask for relief of the pain of terminal illnesses, for people to find guidance to get help, for someone able to go and reach the lost and for someone to give to help those in need. I didn't hear one request of anything impossible that night! I didn't hear any worship or praise that night! When they had all prayed, I almost broke out in prayer, but I seriously was concerned that I would have certainly sent some of those precious elderly Carolinians to the hospital with cardiac arrest had I begun to ask God for all those humanly impossible situations that were listed on their prayer list. I wanted to just shouted out at that very moment, as Jehoshaphat did in verse six;

2Chronicles 20:6 And said, O LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest (not) thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there (not) power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?

Except that I would have said it without the "not" that was added in the english translation. That would remove the doubt in this message that our God is above all. I truly believe that Judah was not doubting this for a moment, but the word ("not") was added twice in the making of this translation. It would have been fitting for the king of a believing nation as Judah and Jerusalem, who worshipped and praised God, to cry out,

"Jehovah my God of our fathers, Aren't you our God in heaven above? You rule with all dominion over any nation and your hand is forceful and mighty, without any other existence equal to you!".

Our wars today are no different than the war in this passage! The only real difference is in our beliefs! How would the people of Judah have felt if they had walked with you or I today and experienced the things we spend our day talking about, laughing about and what we do for entertainment and most importantly,to experience how we worship our God each day? Would they know by our actions that we believed in the same God that they worshipped and praised as the armies were approaching them that day to destroy their homes, families and their place of worship? How is our home, our families and our place of worship under attack today?

Is the battle growing nearer every hour? Are you in the middle of the battle already? Has the enemy got you afraid and ready to give up; ready to break down?

Are you thinking, "How can I possibly be delivered from this impossible situation in my home, my family or my church?"

I want you to know something today!

I can tell you this without a single bit of DOUBT whatsoever in my heart!

Without a DOUBT(IN YOUR HEART), you WILL be DELIVERED!

BELIEVE IN GOD'S POWER AS YOU PRAY & FAST!

SEEK & WORSHIP GOD FOR GUIDANCE!

PRAISE GOD FOR HIS PROMISE TO DELIVER YOU!

Matthew 6:33-34 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

"WHEN YOU KNOW YOU CAN'T WIN"

Have you ever fought a loosing battle?

I know that life can take sudden turns for the worse and when that happens we tend to react with panic, fear and sometimes even feel like running for our lives. Isn't this so true of almost everybody in the world today? Yes, there are still a few unusual people who bow their backs, hold their heads high and will fight on to the death. There are those people who will begin to plan another strategy and another angle of attack to hold off the approaching army, but there are times when even those brave and stubborn people must realize that they too must seek help to win.

In the Word of God we find a King who had just experienced that feeling of fear and panic and just didn't know what he needed to do. His name was Jehoshaphat and he had just been given the message that he was going to be attacked, not by one, not by two, but by three armies. These armies were of the children of Moab, Ammon and the Ammonites. He was informed that the group was of a very great multitude coming from the sea and they were getting closer every minute. Don't you think that this king who had been placed over the children of Israel and had served the Lord in all his ways may have been a pretty fearless kind of guy? After all he had the Lord of all creation on his side! how would you have reacted to this message knowing that you had a much smaller army? Let's read a passage that shows his reaction to this message;

2Chronicles 20:3-4 And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. 4 And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the LORD: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.

Wow! Can you believe that? It says that Jehoshaphat feared! What did he fear? He was afraid of the armies headed his way and he felt that he was in a situation that was impossible to win. He couldn't help his feelings of fear and panic, BUT he could help how he responded to this feeling that had come over him at that moment of surprise! Don't we all get surprises in our lives that shock us and leave us feeling helpless or in a total state of panic? Yes, I have experienced this and I know that anyone alive today has also been through this feeling and some may have felt this feeling quite often. My friend, let's learn from the reaction of this King to his fearful situation, his helpless situation. He had no hope of winning. He knew he was doomed to loose this battle and also to loose all that he had received from the Lord himself! What did he do though?

He set himself to the LORD! This means that he turned his face to the LORD and turned his attention to the LORD for help. Then he proclaimed to all of his kingdom to fast and pray. You see, the prayer and fasting come before the impossible over and over in the Bible. When I read this my first thought was how the fasting would have made the warriors of Judah even weaker physically as the armies of their enemies gained ground towards the great attack. Knowing that they would grow weaker without food and continuing to proceed with the fast was a complete and total move of faith in the LORD! As a matter of fact, it was the only option that Jehoshaphat had that presented any chance of victory ion this hopeless situation!

Think about this for a minute! Every life was in jeopardy and their very existence was at stake at this moment of their lives! Is this where you are in your life today? There are millions of people in the US right now that don't know where there sustenance will come from for the next day, week or month. There are millions of Americans who are without jobs and the Senate just voted and announced that the unemployment would be cut off for anyone who had been unemployed for six months or longer; leaving many families without. Think about how the layoff of thousands of fathers has impacted the lives of the single moms raising their children alone who depend on that child support to care for their children. Think about the businesses that will no longer receive business from all those families who are now without any income whatsoever! It's a fearful time for most Americans today! Yes, my friend, things are looking hopeless and many are fearful for their families and their own survival! Couldn't we relate in some ways to the feeling that Judah was going through before they began to fast and pray? I think so! Maybe you or someone you know is fighting a losing battle with an addiction, disease or emotional abuse of some kind. Those are the kind of battles that we must trust God to win! Those are the battles man cannot fight on his own!

Let me tell you something encouraging now, my brothers, sisters and friends! Let me tell you how Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah won the war that was IMPOSSIBLE TO WIN! Let's look at another passage a little further down when the Spirit of the LORD spoke to Jahaziel a Levite, in the middle of the congregation of Judah. Let's see what Jahaziel said;

2Chronicles 20:15 And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's.

He said not to be afraid or dismayed because of what you see when you look at your circumstances! Isn't that how we feel too sometimes? Why did he say this? He told them that the battle ahead wasn't going to be their battle to fight, but God's! Your fight to survive, your financial struggles, your clothing an home are not yours to battle for in the time of hopelessness! You may think it is and you may fight and struggle until you are sick and exhausted and in tears, but the LORD will fight this battle for you if you will do what we see these many families doing in Judah thousands of years ago!

They didn't even raise their hands to fight this battle and they not only won; they went home with treasures that they didn't have before? Isn't that just like our LORD to fight our impossible battles and send us home with something more than we had before? I have personally seen God's hand at work so many times when it seemed like there was no way to win! I know that the LORD will do the same for ANYBODY that turns to HIM! I know he will hear our prayers and attend to our fasting when we are experiencing pain, hunger and see no possibility of winning. Put your trust in the LORD!

Don't be afraid; for the battle is not yours, but God's!

TO BE CONTINUED....
In the next chapter we will look at what the families of Judah were expected to do when the enemy was upon them and how the LORD rewarded their prayer, fasting and obedience.