HealingStrong's Around the Word
Join us around the table with friends who love the Lord and want to dig deeper into God's Word. Hosted by Cheryl Collins and joined by friends of HealingStrong, this podcast is sure to peak your interest in learning more about God's Word, as discussions on each podcast are short, bite-sized morsels that help to go deeper and enjoy God's Word. Cheryl and the podcast team will discuss stories that build trust in God through the history of Joseph, Esther, Jehoshaphat, Daniel, Nehemiah, the Disciples, and of course, Jesus! These episodes encourage our faith in overcoming our fear, and who doesn't need strengthened faith?
HealingStrong's Around the Word
Episode 22 - The Jehoshaphat Series: Battle Ready (2 Chronicles 20:1-2 NIV)
King Jehoshaphat's powerful story of facing three armies teaches us practical tools for handling our own battles with faith and confidence. His example demonstrates how to respond when facing seemingly insurmountable challenges by turning to God first.
• Confronting the reality that everyone faces battles—we're either coming out of one, in the middle of one, or headed toward one
• Learning from Jehoshaphat's initial response to crisis as a model for our own challenges
• Understanding that personal battles come in many forms: disease, divorce, difficult relationships, anxiety, and more
• Recognizing that we can't be "more than conquerors" without facing battles
• Finding comfort in Romans 8:37-39—nothing can separate us from God's love, even when we make mistakes
• Applying spiritual tools like prayer, fasting, and praise during our difficulties
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Suggested Resources:
BIBLE PLAN - Trusting God's Plan in the Battle: Lessons from the Life of Jehoshaphat
PODCAST - Genesis to Revelation Bible Reading
TOOLS - Refresh Your Spirit through God's Word
You know, most of us are either coming out of a battle, in the middle of a battle or we're headed to a battle, and it's great for us to learn from God's Word how to handle that situation.
Speaker 2:Well, hey, my name is Cheryl and you're listening to Healing Strongs Around the Word. We're friends sitting around the table who love the Lord and we love digging deep into His Word. Each day you're going to hear me reading a Bible passage and then we'll chat about what we're learning from it. Today I'll be reading 2 Chronicles, 20, verses 1-2 from the NIV version of the Bible. So join us Around the Word. 2 Chronicles, 20, verses 1-2.
Speaker 2:After this, the Moabites and Ammonites, with some of the Munites, came to wage war against Jehoshaphat. Some people came and told Jehoshaphat, a vast army is coming against you from Edom, from the other side of the Dead Sea. It is already in Hazazon, tamar, that is, in Gedi. That was our Bible reading for today, and now you get to listen in on the discussion that a bunch of volunteers from Healing Strong had that Susie, angie, jeff and myself around the Word. A vast army is coming against you. Wow, that's the way to start a story. For sure it gets your attention right away. We are talking about King Jehoshaphat. He is a Jewish king that lived thousands of years ago and his story is in 2 Chronicles in the Bible's Old Testament. And wow, what a battle we're about to study because we're all facing a battle.
Speaker 1:right? You know, most of us are either coming out of a battle in the middle of a battle or we're headed to a battle, and it's great for us to learn from God's word how to handle that situation.
Speaker 2:Oh, angie, that's so good You're seeing in that verse. Right here is his pivotal moment. That's what we're seeing A guy that really lived, that had three major armies coming against him.
Speaker 3:So he is immediately faced with insurmountable circumstances, and it'll be interesting seeing what he does with that. How does he respond when adversity comes to him?
Speaker 2:Susie, why are you excited about learning about this guy?
Speaker 4:One of my favorite prayers is in this study We've got, you know, praising the Lord in the middle of the battle, fasting, I mean he gives us tools for the battle that maybe we've not thought about in our own battle.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and our own battle could be a disease. It could be you're going through a divorce. It could be an ornery child or a wayward child. It could be singleness. It could be so many different things. Cancer, you name it. Anxiety how many people do we know battle anxiety every day, that it feels like you're up against an army yourself just to get out of bed? We know that if you're listening, you're probably fighting a battle. We all are at this table.
Speaker 1:There's not one person that isn't oh, and, cheryl, that reminds me of the scripture, hundreds of years later, that Paul wrote in the book of Romans, chapter 8, I think it's verse 37. We are more than conquerors through Christ. Okay, and we can't be conquerors without a battle. Very true, yes. So that implies that, yes, the scripture always tells us you're going to go through battles because, as Jeff said, that's what makes us stronger Adversity makes us stronger. So if we're more than conquerors, that means we've been in some battles. I want to be more than a conqueror.
Speaker 4:Angie, as you were talking about Romans 8.37,. What's interesting, and I just want to highlight this, Romans 8.38 says, For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Speaker 1:Praise the Lord. Well, yeah, nothing, not even a battle nothing.
Speaker 4:you've done nothing, nothing. And the mistakes? We're going to read about Jehoshaphat. We know the mistakes that he's made. We know that his heart is turned towards the Lord in the beginning. We know that he walks through and there are mistakes that are made, but knowing we will never be separated from the love of Christ, no matter what, and I think that's important that we remember this, that even in our battles, even when we make mistakes, when we love Jesus and he is a part of our life, nothing that we do will ever separate us from His love.
Speaker 2:Wow, isn't that an encouraging thought to know that nothing can separate us from His love. Wow, isn't that an encouraging thought to know that nothing can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. I just love that, and I love that you are joining us for Healing Strong's Around the Word podcast. I hope that you were encouraged to dig deeper into God's word. If you have the time, please visit us at healingstrongorg, where you can find out more about our mission and our community groups. Until next time, remember faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.