HealingStrong's Around the Word

Episode 36 - The Jehoshaphat Series: Worship Before Victory (2 Chronicles 20:18-21 NIV)

• HealingStrong • Episode 15

Share episode

King Jehoshaphat's story teaches us to praise God for victory before we see it, demonstrated by his radical military strategy of placing worshippers at the front of his army. His example shows us how to respond to adversity with faith-filled worship rather than fear, trusting God's promises even when circumstances look impossible.

• Jehoshaphat showed remarkable humility by falling face-down before God in front of his people
• When faced with overwhelming enemies, the king led with worship instead of weapons
• Putting the choir at the front of the army was spiritually strategic though militarily unconventional
• The worship team sang songs of thanksgiving before the battle was even fought
• Praising God for "what will be" rather than just what has been demonstrates true faith
• Spiritual victory often begins with thanksgiving and worship rather than strategy

If you've been listening and haven't done anything yet, please click subscribe to get the latest episodes and consider writing a review or giving us that five-star rating. It helps with the search engine so more people can find us.

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


Please visit our website at healingstrong.org to learn more about our mission and community groups.

HELP US GROW:

Your donation enables us to continue offering this podcast and other resources for free supporting those facing cancer and chronic illness, caregivers and others. Every donation makes a big difference. Please donate here.

Speaker 1:

When we're in adversity and we don't have the answers, we need to begin praising God for what will be. Praise and worship Him for what is going to come.

Speaker 2:

Why? Hello, good listener, my name is Cheryl and you're listening to Healing Strong's Around the Word. We are friends that sit around the table and dig into God's Word and see what treasures we find in it. 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 18 through 21 from the NIV version of the Bible. So join us Around the Word Bible. So join us Around the Word. 2 Chronicles, 20, verses 18 through 21.

Speaker 2:

Jehoshaphat bowed down with his face to the ground and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down in worship before the Lord. Then some Levites from the Kohathites and Korahites stood up and praised the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice. Early in the morning they left for the desert of Tekoa. As they set out, jehoshaphat stood and said Listen to me, judah and people of Jerusalem. Have faith in the Lord, your God, and you will be upheld. Have faith in his prophets and you will be successful. After consulting the people, jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness. As they went out at the head of the army saying give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever. That was our Bible reading for today, so now let's listen in on the discussion that Angie, jeff, susie and yours truly had around the Word.

Speaker 3:

Look at the humility of the King. Scripture says he fell to the ground. When the Spirit of the Lord comes upon you, sometimes you feel it in a physical way. It says the King fell to the ground. Now, this is in front of all of his subjects. The people of his kingdom fell to the ground, with his face to the earth.

Speaker 1:

I love that because you could see the pressure, the amount of anxiety that he was feeling, the fear that gripped his heart and to be given a fresh word from the Lord. It was just like he falls down on his face worshiping before the Lord to say thank you so much. Now he can go and we see that going further. He reminds the people, reminds the people put your trust in the Lord, your God and you will be established. And it was just a reminder because once we receive a word from the Lord that gives us peace and that peace inside of our hearts, others that may not have heard the word like we have are still full of anxiety and fear and, as a leader, it's important for him to remind them. Turn your eyes to the Lord, put your trust in the Lord, remember he is faithful, he will walk us through this.

Speaker 3:

And it says he worshiped. Now the battle was still out there.

Speaker 2:

That's right.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, the enemy didn't go anywhere, yeah they're still marching and he began to worship. I believe that spirit in him became so confident because the word of the Lord had spoken and he began to worship. That was evidence of his belief in what the spirit had told him.

Speaker 2:

He appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness. As they went out at the head of the army Guys, they put the choir at the front of the army. That's strategically not good from a military perspective. That's the last thing you want to do is show where your position is, if you are fighting, if you're doing guerrilla warfare or anything like that. That happened in Jericho too. Yeah, they circled the entire city.

Speaker 3:

And the minstrels went first.

Speaker 1:

What I love about that is that in a spiritual battle, he put praise and worship first. So when we're in a midst of adversity, you look at Psalm 23. He moves us through the valley of the shadow of death. So we need to be reminded in a story like this what Jehoshaphat did. And so when we're in adversity and we don't have the answers, we need to begin praising God for what will be. Praise and worship him for what is going to come. Even though you can't see right now in front of you and all your enemies, all of the adversity is around you. Praise him now for what will be, because he is faithful.

Speaker 3:

And belief is vital. In verse 20, there it says the king told the people believe in the Lord, your God, not believe in me. I'm your king, I've got power. Believe in the Lord, your God, and you shall have success. Believe his prophets and everything will be all right. That took some courage.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely.

Speaker 2:

And guess what they were singing. Give thanks to the Lord for his love endures forever. Thanksgiving.

Speaker 1:

Thanksgiving. Where have?

Speaker 2:

you heard that song, yeah, so yes, I mean he's thanking, like Thanking the Lord for the battle and the enemy that's in front of him, but more importantly, thanking God that he's got it. God already said this battle's not yours, it's mine, and so he's just thanking God before even the first arrow has been shot, before the first cannonball, whatever. None of that has gone. I don't think they had cannons back then, no, but before the last rock was hurled out, nothing has they're praising God beforehand. Nothing has changed on the outside.

Speaker 3:

It's all changed on the inside, but there's still a community and they're reminding each other.

Speaker 1:

That's the importance of being in community with other believers. They were one of heart and mind, sold out to the Lord, reminding each other let's trust in the Lord as a leader. He's reminding them trust in the Lord and you feed off of that when you are with brothers and sisters together.

Speaker 2:

That's a great word from Jeff. We have to be in fellowship. We can't do this life alone. That's why it's so important to be plugged into a Bible-believing church, get involved in a small group, a group of people praying with you too, a discipleship group, just a group of people that are seeking the Lord and seeking His perspective on their life and learning from Him. I promise you you will not regret doing that, and thank you so much for joining us for Healing Strongs Around the Word. We hope that you are encouraged to dig deeper into God's Word.

Speaker 2:

Join us next time for more discussion around the Word and about Jehoshaphat. And if you've been one of those listeners that have been listening in and you haven't done anything yet, a big thing that you can do to help us out is to click subscribe so you'll get the latest episode and consider writing a review or a rating for us. Give us that five star rating. That'll help us with the search engine so more people can find out about us. We would love that, and we would also love you checking out our website, healingstrongorg, where you can find out about our mission and our community groups. They're pretty amazing. Until next time, remember, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.