Assume the Position for Victory

Turn in your Bibles to II Chronicles 20. Today I want us to talk about how we position ourselves for victory. How can we live in a prepared and proactive way to be victorious in every circumstance? That’s what I hope to impart to you today.

We read in II Chronicles 20 that several different people groups got together to come against Jehoshaphat. King Jehoshaphat, King of the Southern Kingdom of Judah, caught word of the impending invasion. Those who lived in the ancient world lived with the constant threat of being ambushed, captured, and destroyed. War was common and constant. We take so much for granted as we move about our daily lives. 95% of the time we don’t give too much thought for our safety, but for those in ancient days, they had to stay vigilant. Truly, God was the protection for His people.

Though we live fairly protected lives in the physical sense, there are no shortage of threats to our spiritual health, our emotional well-being, our relational satisfaction, and our productivity. The armies that came against ancient Israel can represent the gods of this age, the satanic forces of evil in this world that conspire and connive to destroy God’s people. To attack God’s people was to assault His name. To attack God’s name was to attack God character. Satan is still employing the same strategies today to wage war against God and the power of His name. Let’s look at the story in II Chronicles 20.

Verse 3 says this: ³ Then Jehoshaphat was afraid AND set his face to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.

Notice that a physical threat produced a physical response in Jehoshaphat. He was afraid. I learned recently that when you become afraid, your brain is quickly impacted in a negative way. The fight or flight response kicks in. Your brain activates your sympathetic nervous system which in turns stimulates the adrenal glands to release stress hormones. Your heart beats faster. Your blood pressure rises to pump more oxygen-rich blood to your muscles. You breathe faster to take in more oxygen. Muscles tense up, preparing you for action, whether you are going to fight or flee.

In addition, your digestion slows, your pupils dilate, and your attention becomes hyper-focused on the perceived threat. Your cognitive ability becomes impaired, making it harder to think clearly and more difficult to make rational decisions. Your brain’s response can override the prefrontal cortex, the part of your brain that is responsible for reasoning and judgment.

In many ways, the fear response and how Jehoshaphat chose to respond to the fear that came on him, was more critical and consequential than the reality of the armies that had joined forces to come against Judah. Listen, we can either feed our fear and suffer debilitating physical, emotional and spiritual consequences or we can respond in faith and do what Jehoshaphat did. He was afraid AND he set his face to seek the LORD.

I don’t think we can choose to shut out fear. I don’t think we can pre-decide that we will never be afraid. I think there are moments when our minds and our bodies instinctually, naturally respond, and it isn’t something we have control over, but what we can pre-decide and pre-determine is that no matter what we face, when we are threatened in any way, when our peace is attacked, we can choose to set our face to seek the Lord.

1. Jehoshaphat chose a spiritual response to a physical threat. We can do the same.

Before fear can get a grip on you and become a stronghold in your life and ignite all of the debilitating responses that are possible, you can choose the empowering response of faith through prayer. Jehoshaphat set his face to seek the Lord. When you set your face to seek the Lord, you are intentionally turning away from the threat and all distractions and are turning to the throne of God where you will find help in your time of need.

Our text says Jehoshaphat called a fast. A fast represents a desire to turn away from all distractions, even the distraction of food, to seek the Lord. Fasting food is also symbolic that you aren’t going to depend on your own strength to see you through something, but that you are placing the full weight of your faith on God. Fasting represents an emptying of self, a denial of self to rely fully on God.

⁴ And Judah assembled to seek help from the Lord; from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.

2. The second thing we see here is that Jehoshaphat didn’t seek God alone.

Jehoshaphat got others involved. He didn’t have to get other people involved. He was the King. He could have relied on his military prowess and experience to make decisions regarding how to proceed. He had the authority to make the call regarding how Judah would respond, but he didn’t go it alone. He got everyone together to seek the LORD. I love that everyone came to pray, to fast, to seek the face of God.

I think fear often escalates when we try to go it alone, when we assume the weight of a situation, as if it depends on us and not on God. Jehoshaphat could have been tempted to bear the weight of the situation because he was the king. He could have resigned himself to the notion that the people looked to him to make the right decisions and to keep them safe, but instead of them looking to him for answers and protection, he helped them look to God with him for answers.

Including others, asking others to pray with us, at the first sign of fear, is another good decision. We are in Christian community for many reasons, not the least of which is that we are to bear one another’s burdens, Galatians 6:2. Turning to trusted Christian believers in times of distress is strategic because God works through His body. He speaks through His body. The help that God wants to give you, is often going to come through the people you invite into your crisis. So, learn to share your burdens with others. If you cut yourself off from other believers, in times of fear and anxiety, you will be cutting yourself off from many of the resources God wants to use to bring clarity and help in your time of need.

Well, they all assembled together, and Jehoshaphat led in prayer. His prayer is one of the most exquisite prayers in the Bible.

⁶…“O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you. ⁷ Did you not, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? ⁸ And they have lived in it and have built for you in it a sanctuary FOR YOUR NAME, saying, ⁹ ‘If disaster comes upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before you—for YOUR NAME IS IN THIS HOUSE—and cry out to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save.’ 

3. The third thing I see here is that Jehoshaphat got radically focused on Who God was and what He had already done.

He declared boldly in his prayer that God was not only the God of Heaven, but He was also the God of all of the kingdoms of the nations. That was big because other ancient peoples only believed in localized deities. They believed the Moabites had their god, the Philistines had their god, the Ammonites their god, and so on. Jehoshaphat recognized that the God of Israel was in fact the God of all kingdoms, all nations on earth and was the God of Heaven itself. In my opinion, he was already waging war because he was declaring God’s authority over his situation.

Not only did he boldly declare who God was, but he went ahead and recalled all God had done for His people in the past. That was so helpful because when we aren’t thinking logically due to being afraid, it is helpful to be reminded that since God doesn’t change, if He came through in the past, He will continue to do great things for His people in the present and in the future. He was combatting the negative aspects of fear, namely that logic can go out the window, by reminding everyone of what God had already done.

God doesn’t abandon His people. Can we just sit with that for a minute? Jehoshaphat referred twice in his prayer to God’s name. The name of the Lord is tied to His character. He will never abandon His people. His character is faithfulness. He is a covenant-keeping God.

I love when Jehoshaphat mentioned that God’s people had built a sanctuary for God’s name and when he reiterated in verse 9 that God’s name was in that house. God is faithful to His name, to the people who bear His name. Jehoshaphat had great confidence that where God placed His name, He would be at work to hear and to save. God’s people weren’t on the line as enemy armies banded together to take them out. His name was on the line, and He wasn’t going to allow the people who had taken His name to be disgraced and decimated.

¹⁰ And now behold, the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt, and whom they avoided and did not destroy— ¹¹ behold, they reward us by coming to drive us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit. ¹² O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”

Once again, we see a radical focus on God rather than on the circumstance that can escalate fear. Step by step, Jehoshaphat was putting fear in its rightful place. He was putting fear in subjection to God.

Let’s move on in the story: ¹³ Meanwhile all Judah stood before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives, and their children. (I love that the little ones got to be in the mix and to watch the faith of their parents and to get to witness what was going to happen next.) ¹⁴ And the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly.

There it is. There is the reason we need to include other people in the response of faith. God didn’t come to Jehoshaphat with the plan, He gave it to Jazaiel. Jazaiel was given a prophetic word from God to deliver to the people of Judah.

 ¹⁵ And he said, “Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: Thus says the Lord to you, ‘Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s. ¹⁶ Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz. You will find them at the end of the valley, east of the wilderness of Jeruel. ¹⁷ You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you.”

So, God’s people weren’t going to have to fight, but they were going to have to position themselves as if they were. They were to go and find their enemy. Talk about facing your fear! They were to go on the offense against the invading armies and take up a position of faith. They were to stand firm, to hold that stance, and to watch God work. Did God get you here today so He could prompt you to face some fear? Is He instructing you to move out and advance against your enemy? I know this, Jehoshaphat, and all with him, moved from a position of fear to faith. Tell your neighbor, “Assume the position. God’s gonna move.” It’s time to get into position, friends.

After Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah heard the word through the prophet, they bowed down. They fell to the ground in worship. I love that picture. They knew they were heading out to face their enemies, but they weren’t panicked. They weren’t running to and fro trying to gear up. They had accepted the Word God gave them and they took time to worship and thank God ahead of the battle, ahead of the victory.

Anyone here this morning need to be reminded to slow down and worship? To stop worrying and start praising? Worship is the appropriate response when God speaks to us, and worship is an antedote to fear.

4. They received what God said and worshiped Him ahead of the outcome.

The next morning, Jehoshaphat called the choir together. Seriously, he assembled those who were to sing to the LORD and praise Him in holy attire, hallelujah, and he gave them the song lyrics they were going to sing as they led Judah into battle. The lyrics to their song went like this: “Give thanks to the LORD, for His steadfast love endures forever.” What were they singing about? The character of God. They knew because of God’s unchanging character, the character tied to His name, they knew that they could count on Him to win the battle for them.

They knew they were going out to battle, and they did bring an army, but the army was in the back. The worshipers went first! The Praise Team were frontline warriors on that day. Once again, Jehoshaphat chose to fight a physical battle with a supernatural weapon. Church, worship is warfare. Worship was evidence of their faith. Worship routes the enemy. They believed that God was for them and that He was with them and that He inhabited the praises of His people. They believed supernatural power flowed when people worshiped the Lord in faith. They believed they had the victory. They worshiped before the battle. They worshiped on their way to battle.

²² And when they began to sing and praise, the Lord set an ambush against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah, so that they were routed. ²³ For the men of Ammon and Moab rose against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, devoting them to destruction, and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they all helped to destroy one another.

Judah’s enemies fought and killed themselves! Only our God can cause such confusion and chaos.

 ²⁴ When Judah came to the watchtower of the wilderness, they looked toward the horde, and behold, there were dead bodies lying on the ground; none had escaped. 

All they did was pray, worship, and show up with God, and the LORD did the rest. Their enemy was destroyed. Pray, worship, and show up with God, believer. He’ll do the rest!

Don’t miss this truth: Because Jehoshaphat positioned himself for victory, victory came to all of Judah.

The rest of the story goes like this:

It took them three days to carry off the plunder of the enemy—uniforms, equipment, and weapons. On the fourth day they had a praise gathering in the Valley of Beracah—which means “Valley of Praise.” When they got back to Jerusalem, they had another praise gathering at the temple—this time with an Old Testament combo—harps, lyres and trumpets.

Church, the story reads more like a worship service that never ended rather than a war that never really got started.

When the other nations heard what had happened, they decided to leave the people of God alone. Verse 30 says this:  So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet, for his God gave him rest all around. Rest all around. Peace. Rest on every side.

Listen, at the first inclination that fear has come upon you, you can assume the position for victory by choosing spiritual responses to physical circumstances and feelings.

If you aren’t experiencing victory in your life, ask yourself the following questions:

• Have I turned my face away from fear, and set it to seek the Lord?
• Have I put away distractions to make time to earnestly pray?
• Have I asked others to join me in prayer for my victory?
• Have I declared the sovereignty of God over my circumstance?
• Have I received what God has already told me about the victory that is mine in Christ? (You know, the Bible already gives us a lot of wonderful promises that victory is ours.)
• Have I worshiped in response to those revelations?
• Am I worshiping on my way to the battle line?
• Am I taking my position in faith, expecting God to move?

Position yourself for victory by taking these steps, and move away from fear to peace and rest on every side.