Last week, we spoke about our having problems and how those problems will undermine our walk with Christ if we let them. I reminded you of just how important it is to stay on top of the storms in your life, and that you can only do that by fully relying, not on yourself, but on Jesus Christ to get you through.
It does not matter where you go, or in some people’s lives, where they try and hide. Jesus is still with you. He knows everything you do; He hears everything you say; and He sees exactly where you are. And what Jesus wants more than anything else is for you to stop running and just turn to follow Him. But you must know that to everything, there is a cost to pay.
If I am hungry and you put a sandwich on the table, I must make a sacrifice to get up and get that sandwich. It will not suddenly appear in my hands. If I need to go to the store, I must sacrifice my time to get in the car and go. And if I expect to be a Christian, I must sacrifice, too. Except this time, I must be faithful in my sacrifice, and I must be accountable enough to continue doing so.
The sacrifice, or the cost, of being a follower of Jesus, is that you have to turn your back on certain things of this world. What things are we talking about? I think that might vary a lot from one person to another. But anything in your life that keeps you from being fully devoted to Christ must be sacrificed.
What do you do, who do you know, or where do you go that you know in your heart you shouldn’t do, know, or go? Could it be that you are in a situation that you should not be taking part of as a Christian? Sometimes, it isn’t even any of the above, but a simple desire that you do not find church interesting anymore, or that you need your rest on Sundays because you have been so busy the week before. That would be Satan steering you away from the Lord. Are you accountable enough to Jesus to keep your focus – every week, no matter what? Especially if you have children at home.
Jesus wants you to be a follower, but He also expects you to take the responsibilities of being a follower very seriously. I wonder if today’s Christians really see it that way.
In the 1800’s, there was an Italian leader named Garibaldi. He had one of the most dedicated volunteer armies in history. What was his secret? He told the truth and laid in out on the line for them to know what they were getting into BEFORE they got into it.
He advertised by saying, ‘I offer no pay, no quarters, and times of little or no provisions. I offer you hunger, thirst, forced marches, and deadly battles. Let him who loves his country with his whole heart, and not just his lips, come and follow me!’ And in so doing, those that responded were truly dedicated men who followed him into battle and and trusted him enough to follow never slack off.
The Lord invites you into such an agreement today. And, just like Garibaldi, the Lord lays the total truth on the line for you before you even decide. Let me paraphrase Garibaldi if I might: ‘Let him who loves the Lord with his whole heart, and not just with his lips, come and follow Jesus!’
Now, we have something presented to us that requires us to make a choice, perhaps a real choice for the first time in our lives. Forget the words we love to use, and let us delve deep into the center of our hearts. Do we care enough about the Lord to follow Him or not? What are the consequences if we do, and what are they if we don’t?
We sometimes claim that we are being attacked by the enemy and we blame the enemy for stealing our focus from God. That is pure rubbish! The enemy cannot steal our focus, but we can decide to change our focus.
Just like the Israelites did, we often find ourselves in the midst of trouble, too. But we must always remember two things: First of all, by ourselves, we have no defense against the attacks of the enemy. And considering how helpless we really are, we must then come to terms that the only place we can find real help is to go to God and let Him battle the enemy on our behalf.
Our mistake is that we think we can handle the trouble by ourselves, without depending fully on God. And that leads many ill-informed Christians to challenge the devil with only their power to do it. This will always end in the devil showing you that you have no power. We are told in no uncertain terms that it is not our duty to battle the devil, but to stand in the shadow of God and let Him engage in that battle.
JUDE 9 gives us a perfect example of this when he writes that when directly faced with a challenge from the devil, even the archangel Michael would not dare bring slander or harshness against him. Instead, he told the devil that the Lord would rebuke him. Jude instructs us to not confront those things we know little about.
The Bible says that when we do these things, they will destroy us. Keeping in mind that we must rely fully on God to defeat our enemies, let’s go into the Old Testament and read about King Jehoshaphat and what he did when his entire kingdom was under attack from an army that was much more powerful than his army.
In 2 CHRONICLES 20:2-7, some men came and told Jehoshaphat that a vast army was coming against them. They said the enemy was close at hand. Alarmed, King Jehoshaphat went before the Lord and sought His help. He proclaimed a time of fasting for the nation, so they could better seek God’s help.
When the entire nation came back to seeking the Lord’s help, the king stood before them at the temple and said, ‘O Lord, are you not the God of heaven? You alone rule over all nations. Power and might are only found in your hand, and nobody can withstand you.’
We find that before the Lord would offer His help, the people had to do something first. They had to come together and refocus their attention from the troubles around them, and onto their submissive reliance upon God.
And that is the key; putting God back as the main focus of your heart and mind. When Peter walked on the water, as soon as his focus was taken off Jesus and put on the troubles around him, he began to sink. But we find that Jesus didn’t immediately reach out and save Peter. Peter had to ask for help first, and as soon as He did, he received it.
Sometimes, a problem can seem so huge and overwhelming, we don’t know what to do. And all-too-often, we get so focused on the problem that we forget all about the bigger picture, which is where God is. That big picture shows us that God is in control, even when we don’t know what to do. This is His world and we are His children. Sure, there are times when we have to fight the problems of life, but the outcome is in God’s hands, and He has already promised to protect us and heal us. All we have to do is turn to God in trust and devotion, and He will direct our steps from there, just as he directed the steps of King Jehoshaphat’s army.
So, if we know that our only help against the enemy is through God, just how can we access that help? God promises us over and over again that if we go to Him, He will come to us. Not only that, but if we seek His presence in our hearts, He will rescue us from our enemies. So where can we find help through God? We find our help through our faith that He will deliver us – just as He has promised.
In ROMANS 10:17 it clearly tells us that our faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the words of Jesus Christ. Read your Bibles; get to know what Christ said; and then through prayer and devotion, put those things into use in your life.
King Jehoshaphat and his people were afraid. They had a real problem. So they did the smartest thing they could have done: They faced the Lord God and put their faith in His ability to protect them.
VERSES 5-8 reads;
‘Then the king stood up in front of the assembly and said: ‘Oh Lord, are you not the God who in heaven? You rule over all nations. Power and might are only in your hand, and nobody can withstand you.
God, you drove out those who would hurt us before we even came into this land. You did this to protect us. And if calamity comes upon us, we will stand firm in your presence and cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us.’
Scripture tells us that God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He is absolutely unchanging. His truth remains unchanged throughout the course of time. And so we know that if God helped those who honestly relied upon Him then, He will likewise do the same for those who do that today.
The trouble is finding people who are really willing to put themselves aside so they can put God first. To all things there is a sacrifice that must be made. If I want to go to Arizona to see my kids, I must sacrifice whatever it takes in my time and finances to go. If I see a piece of cake sitting on the kitchen counter, I must sacrifice my energy by getting up and going to get it.
And if I want God to help me, I must sacrifice the things of this world that hold my attention, so that I can put that attention and focus back on God. Sacrifice. Something too many people are not willing to do. Sacrifice. We must give up something before we can receive something. And to give it up, we must be willing.
A young rich man once told Jesus he wanted to follow him. When Jesus told him he first had to get rid of all the things of the world that held his attention, the man walked away unhappy. He wanted Jesus. But he didn’t want him badly enough to sacrifice anything for Jesus. All Jesus wanted the young man to do was get ride of those things in life that meant more to him than Jesus did. And that is what Jesus wants from each of us today; to get ride of those things we do in life that we put in front of Jesus. Jesus cannot use a heart that is not willing to give up things for Him.
King Jehoshaphat realized the truth of the situation. He had no power to withstand an attack from a much bigger army. He said they didn’t now what to do, so they just stopped and put all their attention on God. The Bible says all the nation did this; the husbands, the wives, children, and even little ones.
And this is what I want you to see this morning. When we do that, we are showing God just how serious we are about seeking His help and presence in our lives. And when we show God how serious we are about Him, that is when He gets very serious about us!
Going into VERSE 14, it reads:
‘Then the Spirit of the Lord came and said, ‘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 – it is God’s.’
‘You will not have to fight this battle. Take your positions, stand firm, but just stand and see what I do for you. The Lord will be with you to deliver you before your enemies. When the Holy Spirit had finished, everyone in Judah and Israel bowed down to the ground and worshiped the Lord.’
And here is how God fought the battle, defeated their enemies, and kept them safe.
VERSE 22-25 explains it this way.
‘As the kings men marched, they began to sing praises. And while they sang, the Lord began setting ambushes for their enemies. Parts of the vast army turned and fought against other parts of the same army, and in the end, they destroyed each other.’
‘When Jehoshaphat’s men came upon the scene, all they found were dead bodies. Not one enemy had escaped the Lord’s vengeance. And so they began taking the plunders of war, but there was so much valuables it took three days to collect it all. On they devoted the fourth day to praising the Lord for what He had done.’
Another reward for following God with your heart is the after affects of His help.
In VERSES 29-30, it tells what God did for Jehoshaphat and his people.
‘The fear of God came upon all the countries when they head how the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. And because of their fear, all of Israel and Judah remained at peace, for God had given them the blessings of rest on all sides.’
You have problems in this life, and some are more difficult to get through than others. And we have no clue as to which way to turn or what to do next. We feel trapped and we tend to panic. These problems might concern your finances, or your relations, your employment, or much more.
If we are willing to allow the power of Christ to flow through us in times of difficulty, He will see us through the storm; He will guide us over the mountain; and He will get us across the raging rivers. All we need to do is stand firm in our faith, listen as He speaks to us through the Holy Spirit; and be ready to receive the deliverance our obedience to Him as brought.
You might wonder how God directs us today. He directs us by something the Israelites did not have – the Bible. For instance, being led by a cloud during the day and a pillar of fire at night gave the Israelites the assurance they were on the right path as they followed Moses out of slavery. Today, the Bible gives us detailed information on how to know we are in God’s will.
Last week, we talked about the problems in our lives, and how the disciples had a very big problem in the form of a vicious storm while they were at sea. They knew they were in danger of drowning, and they went to Jesus for help. But they found him asleep. They woke him up saying, “Master we are going to drown, don’t you care?’
They fell to the same temptation that we fall to today. The temptation to be self-focused in stead of Christ-focused. The temptation to feel sorry for ourselves, at the cost of sacrificing what we want, so we might follow Jesus.
The Israelites did the same thing after Moses led them out of harsh slavery conditions. In EXODUS 14, they were griping about wandering the desert and said if they went back to Egypt to being slaves again, it would beat wandering aimlessly through the desert. Our great temptation is to have it all about us; our comfort; our being taken care of, when it should be about our devotion to the Lord God; and sacrificing whatever we need to sacrifice so we can get closer to God.
When we are faced with troubles, the first thing we want to do is go back to wherever we were before the trouble came. Running backwards never helps – it always hurts. Avoiding responsibilities never help – it always hurts. Shirking one’s duty never helps – it always hurts. And these are the things we would rather do than to stand firm, have faith, and watch what God does for us!
In our text today, we find that the king and his people devoted themselves to prayer and thanksgiving. Think about that word, ‘devotion.’ Miriam-Webster’s defines that word as; ‘being ardently dedicated to’ and ‘fully loyal to.’ In other words, when we devote ourselves to anything, everything else comes in second place or under.
When we worked at the Post Office, our minds were trained to be devoted to getting the mail on its way as quickly as possible. Nothing came before that. We were fully loyal to the idea of prompt mail delivery.
My mother died on a Sunday morning. It turns out that Diana was delivering Express Mail at the time. I called the office and requested they send someone out to replace her, and I told them why. Their reply angered me, but did not come as a surprise. They said there were no replacements available and they would tell her when her job was done for the day. Fully devoted to a purpose or cause.
The king and all the people devoted themselves to prayer and thanksgiving. God expects us to devote ourselves to Him. He wants us to devote a lot of our time to talking to Him in prayer. But at the same time, He wants us to devote just as much time to listening to Him as He speaks to us. It is one thing to have a monologue, and quite another to have a dialogue.
On the other hand, we may sometimes hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, but the voice may not be telling us what we want to hear, so we continue to pray, hoping that if we pray hard enough or loudly enough, we will finally get what we want.
We must be willing to pray for God’s answers, not our answers. We must be willing to listen to God as He answers, not turn Him off if it isn’t what we want to hear. In short, we must be willing to put ourselves aside so that we can follow God.
King Jehoshaphat went into battle, knowing full well that he would lose and be killed if God didn’t keep His promises. He stood firm in the Lord and went into battle, trusting in God to protect Him.
Moses approached the Pharaoh, walking in his faith that God would go before him an pave the way. And he encouraged all the Israelites to do the same. And when they did, they all saw how God changed Pharaoh’s heart and set the Israelites free.
I said God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He never changes. And if He did that for the king of Judah then; if God did that for Moses and the Israelites then; He can and He will do the same for you and me today! After all, it was the God of Heaven that said He would never leave you nor would He ever forsake you.
All we have to do is resolve ourselves to be more God-focused. And what is the chief obstacle in our doing that? I believe it is the desire in our hearts to have more of what the world offers us. We do not understand, and so far we are unwilling to try and understand, that we need to die in Christ and rise anew in Him. Put our old selves, with our selfish desires, away. Let that part of us die. And then let us be reborn in Jesus Christ, fresh and new; focused and devoted; to living like we belong to Jesus.
Remember, you cannot do both. You have to make a decision. What does the way you live say about the decision you have already made? Is it time for a change? Is it time for assurance? Is it time for you to finally make that decision? All I can say is when I see people who are purposely more interested in the world than they are in church or in Jesus, I feel great amounts of pity and sorrow for them. For they really do not know what they are doing – they just think they do. They are absolutely lost and don’t realize it.
I remember the day I made the decision that I had to finally start getting serious about the Lord. I knew that if I delayed further, my whole family would suffer because of my selfish pride. It was uncomfortable; it was a little scary; and I was very unsure of myself. But I made that decision because I knew it was the best for my wife, my kids, and me. And I knew that was what God wanted me to do.
And since then, everything in my life has changed. Let me tell you who I am today, not because of me, but because I have made myself truly available to God.
I am a soldier in the army of my God. Jesus Christ is my commanding officer whom I submit to. The Bible is my code of conduct, my faith, and prayers are my weapons in war.
I have been humbled by God’s love, taught by the Holy Spirit, tried, and tested in the fires and storms. I am a volunteer, and I enlisted for eternity. I will either retire from this army at the Rapture of the true church, or I will die in this army and go to Heaven to be with my Commander.
I am faithful, dependable, accountable, and trustworthy. I know that if I need my God, He is there for me. I also know that when He needs me, I am there for Him. I have given all I have away so that I might follow Him. Have you given anything away so you can do the same?
I am a soldier in God’s army, a member of His personal household. And it is my duty to keep my walk with Him, not someone else’s duty to pamper me, visit me, lure me, pet me, or otherwise try to convince me to have full faith in God. It is my responsibility, and as a child of Christ, I am accountable to do my job.
I cannot have my feelings hurt bad enough to turn me away. I cannot be discouraged enough to turn me aside. I cannot lose enough to cause me to quit. If I end up with nothing, I will still come out ahead.
My God has, and will continue, to supply all of my needs. I am more than a conqueror. I am a winner. I can do all things through Christ. Devils cannot defeat me. People cannot disillusion me. Sickness cannot stop me. Battles cannot beat me, nor can governments silence me.
And because of my unwavering walk with Jesus Christ, hell cannot even begin to handle me. I am a soldier in the army of God and with each step; I claim victory for God’s sake. I cannot give up, and I will always encourage others to join me.
Will you join me? God is waiting for you; will you show up this morning?
INVITATION
