When The Battle Chooses You

This is an I Heart Podcast. Guaranteed Human. This is a certain number of you. I don't know how many and I don't know where you are. But a certain number of you are going to know that this one is for you when I read the verse. And I'm not saying it's for everybody, but it is for you and how you can know if it's for you. If you're currently facing a battle that is bigger than you, then this verse is for you today. And so when I read this verse, it's not for everybody. It's for those who are facing a battle that is bigger than you. And the scripture is found in 2 Chronicles, chapter 20. In just a moment, I'll read it. I want to give everybody who wants to turn to it a chance to do that. You got it? Rachel? When Rachel's ready, I'll read it. Because she knows the Bible so good. So she hadn't found it by now. I know somebody else is over in Galatians looking for 2 Chronicles. You got it? 2017. Listen to this. You ready? I don't think you are. This is the Word of the Lord. And really I'm going to minister off of the song that we just sang. We were singing, I'm going to see a victory. And we were singing Romans 8, 28, Genesis 50, 20, one of the major themes of scripture, how God takes what the enemy meant for evil. And he flips the intention of the enemy and actually uses it to produce a purpose through your life. And I'm going to minister off of that today. That song went so well with my sermon. It's almost like we planned it. It's almost like I texted L.J. Wednesday and told him to do that song before I preached. 2 Chronicles 20, verse 17. The Word of the Lord. You will not have to fight this battle. Six of y'all. All right, if you want that to be your word, shout when I read it. Come on, punch somebody, say not this one. Not this one. Take up your positions. Stand firm and see. Stand firm and see the deliverance. The Lord will give you O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged. Don't believe that devil when he tells you that there's nothing you can do about it. Go out to face them tomorrow and the Lord will be with you. Let's give God a shout of praise for his promise. Amen. You may be seated in the presence of God. I should mention that yesterday, Mark 17 years since I made the best decision of my life. In Monks Corner, South Carolina, at the old San T Canal State Park where I said my vows to the Haleena Boydnod of my dreams. Sweating through my SNK suit, two sizes too big, standing out in the 104-degree low country heat. Eric Phillips was a groom's man. Sweating in six ministers stood on the roster to share seven different songs that we sang. It was quite an occasion. We made a big deal about it and everybody had to endure it. It was a big day. I sang a song to Holly on my Taylor acoustic guitar that I could barely afford that I had written for the occasion. And I'm going to write her another song. She doesn't know it yet, but I've already got the chorus and I'm working on it before we get to the 20th anniversary. And I'm going to have it ready. It's a good song. It's kind of got a Tom Petty vibe with a little bit of edge shearing. And I'm praying that it'll help me to unlock the doors of love that I need unlocked in moments of my life where I want affection, attention and intimacy with my wife. So y'all pray for me about that as well. Already got the chorus. It's praying about the verse. So now I think I'm qualified to give marriage advice. 17 years. I have something to say. Not ready to do the parenting book yet, but the marriage thing. Maybe I feel unqualified to give marriage advice because I feel like our marriage is strong mostly because of who I chose. And that's the honest truth. I'm not pandering now. I'm telling you the truth. I think that selection is so important. And I don't mean that God can't take a relationship that starts rocky and turn it into something that is really, really beautiful. Of course, he makes beauty out of ashes. That's what he does. But I think I get sometimes credit for things about our marriage that are really just a product of the character of the person that I marry. And one person told me who has a very psychologically based knowledge that the healthiest part of me chose Holly. And I didn't even know what that meant when they said it, but it sounded true, so I'm saying it to you. And I chose her union with her strengths, but I also chose to cover her weaknesses as her husband. And then she chose to cover my weaknesses. And I definitely got the good end of it. I promise you that. But the thing about marriage is sometimes it's more helpful to look at an example than it is to listen to advice. Even Jesus, He loved the church like He wants a husband to love their wife. So it's more of an example than an explanation. And people will give you marriage advice or life advice or parenting advice, but they'll give it to you based on ideal situations. And the problem with that is when someone is advising you, but they don't know the exact nature of your challenges, they might give you a strategy that worked for them, but it might not work for you. Because every relationship, every challenge, every battle is not created equal. And I remember asking so many different couples before our wedding, what advice they would give. And mostly you get the same old cliches, the same old tired cliches about, you know, never go to bed angry, which I want to say is a horrible, horrible thing to try because the best thing to do sometimes is get some rest and come at it fresh in the morning before you say something you regret with your sleep deprived delirious self with your filter off. And now you're tired saying stuff that you would never say if it wasn't 3 a.m. So go to your corner and come out tomorrow morning. See, I'm saying some of this advice, it sounds good. Like, choose your battles. That's one advice you always get. Choose your battles. Don't fight over everything, which is great advice. You know, you have to decide in any relationship, this is not a marriage seminar by the way, I'm just using it for an opening illustration, but you have to decide, like, is this really worth waging a war over? Is it really worth? If Holly still after 17 years doesn't know how to correctly load the silverware in the dishwasher and she thinks it's still okay to put the part of the fork that you put in your mouth facing up so that your hand touches the part that's going in your mouth when you get it out the next day. If she really still thinks that makes sense after 17 years, is it really worth fighting about? No, I'm bigger than that. I'm not a petty man, I let it go. So they'll tell you to choose your battles. Let your kids play the music too loud every once in a while. Don't always choose your battles. Don't get tripped up over tiny things. Choose your battles. The question I want to ask today, and I guess you could use it as a title for the message as well from Second Chronicles 20, is it's wise to choose your battles when you can. But what do you do when your battle chooses you? What do you do when something shows up on your doorstep and it's not from Amazon Prime and you didn't order it? What do you do when the devil drops something off for you to deal with that you did not directly cause, choose or definitely anticipate. Like Jahashifat in Second Chronicles 20, who is told one morning in verse 1, "My day had in a time of spiritual renewal for Judah, the southern kingdom of Israel, in a time of great momentum spiritually, one day just when everything's going good." You know how just when you get something figured out and just when you get in your groove and just when you get in your rhythm. And here comes some news. The Bible says after this first one, "The moebites and ammonites and even some of the meonites came to make war on Jahashifat." And some men came. and told Jehoshaphat, "I'm not telling them you tell them. I'm not telling them you tell them. We'll all tell them. Let's all tell them together." A vast army is coming against you from Eden, from the other side of the sea. This means they're sneaking up from behind. They're going around the Dead Sea and then coming back up to attack the people of God on a little known route because they can't use the normal trade route. And so they're sneaking up from behind and they're 25 miles out. That means that Jehoshaphat doesn't have time to develop a strategy. He doesn't have time to build the armed forces to mount a defense. He doesn't have time to rethink the occasions that led up to this event. It's coming and it's coming now. Have you ever got that phone call, that text message, that moment in time where something is sneaking up on you and it's only a day's march away? That means I have to deal with it tomorrow. I don't have time to read a book. I don't have time to watch a TED talk. I don't have time to get my nutrition and my sleep. This one caught me off guard. This one slapped me upside the head. This one left my ear ringing. This one I can't even believe is happening. This one I'm not even really sure if it's real yet. This one I don't have time to call 12 people about. This one I don't have time to get everybody's opinion. This one I don't have time to get everybody's advice. Watch what your Hashafat did. He said, "I don't have time for all that, so I gotta go to God." There's something about a surprise attack that will drive you into the presence of God. There's something about the one you didn't see coming that will make you run to the place you should run to all along. I'm getting ahead of myself, but it said that they were coming and they were already in in Getty. And so the response of the King is urgent. It says that in verse 3, he was alarmed, but yet he resolved. I really like that. I really like that he had a determination to seek the Lord, even in the face of an unexpected attack. He had made up his mind who he would go to before he even knew what would come against him. And of course, he didn't always respond this way. Nobody does. Come on, nobody does. Oh man, this is so difficult to get across to hypocritical Christians who always want to act like they always saw the Lord and prayed about everything. Like you always prayed in tongues. Like you always lifted your hands. Like you always prostrated yourself before the holiness of His majesty, the great Jehovah who fights your battles. No. Jehoshaphat hooked up with Ahab and almost got himself killed two chapters ago because it seemed like the right strategy. Because when they wanted to attack a strategic city, the wicked King Ahab, and you might recognize his name from the prophetic account of Elijah. That's the one Elijah went to and he was like, "A, it's not going to rain until I say so." The heavens are going to be like a voice activated shower system. And until I say so, it's not going to rain. That was Ahab. He said that too. And so Jehoshaphat got with that same King and went out to do what seemed smart. And they almost got killed. In fact, Ahab did get killed. And the prophet Makiah tried to tell him, "These false bailed prophets, what they're telling you is what you want to hear, but it's not what you need to hear. If you go into that battle, you're going to get yourself hurt." And he did. And he barely made it out because he fought the wrong battle. Have you ever barely made it out because you fought a battle that you weren't supposed to fight? One time my father and law were driving. It was actually on the day of my wedding, 17 years ago. And we passed a couple who, on the side of the road, they were fighting physically. The interesting thing about it was the man was in a headlock. And the woman seemed to have the situation firmly in control. I didn't see that till I pulled the car over, I was going to get out and help. Because I thought that the man was beating up on the woman. But when I saw that the woman was taking care of the man, I figured, you know, just praise God for his sovereignty. That he knows what's best. And apparently this woman doesn't need my help, so I just drove off. But my father and law said, "Why did you stop?" I said, "I was going to get out and help." He said, "No, no, no. Never getting a fight between a man and his woman. Because you'll step in to help them. And then if you step into their fight, and it's not your fight, but you get in the middle of it, they'll turn around and both start fighting you." It's good life advice. Don't try to take on a fight that's not your fight. Because you might find out when you take on a fight that's not your fight, you might find out that the surest way for you to get yourself in trouble is for you to take on a battle that doesn't belong to you. This is why Christians don't always need to share their opinion on every subject that is presented as a cultural issue. You've got to choose your battles. And to know God, this is what your Haasifat wanted to know. Is this my battle? Is this my fight? Is this something that I need to be involved in? Is this something that I'm called to do? You'd be shocked how many people through the years have tried to get me to be more political from my pulpit. But that's not my fight. I vote. I'm involved. I lead thousands of people to make a difference in our community. I built something that represents and reflects unity to a broken fragmented world and we do it together every six days and through the week. But you've got to be very careful that you don't expend all of your energy fighting battles that are not yours. And then you don't have any energy left for the battles that are yours. And now you've gotten so tired leaving comments on Facebook posts with people that you don't know in Idaho that you don't have any strength to engage with the people who live in your own house. I'm not trying to run the White House. I'm trying to run my house and I got my hands full. I got three people in my house who are dependents. You know when you're wearing yourself out swinging at stuff that's not even yours to fight. I'm bad about this though. Sometimes it says if I don't have enough drama for my own self. So I start trying to control other people. You know how you can tell if you're fighting the wrong battles. If you are trying to control others, you're fighting the wrong battle. You can't control others. Past a certain point you can only manipulate short term behavioral results but you can't change somebody's heart. That's why even the New Testament says as much as it is possible with you live at peace with all men. There comes a point where the peace of another person is not your responsibility. Your peace is your responsibility. And there comes a point where you have to say that's not my battle. That's not my battle. I've done all I can do but that's not my battle. In fact, let me give you a great little line to use. The next time somebody tries to draw you into some gossips or draw you into some drama. Okay. And they'll usually say, "What do you think about so and so?" You heard about so and so. What do you think about people asking me this all the time? About another ministry. What do you think about so and so? And I learned this from an older minister. They taught me what to say. What do you think about and here's what you say back. I don't. (Laughter) It'll work for a variety of situations. It can work for a situation that you're ignorant about and you only read headlines. So you really don't have anything to say because we can't trust the information that we're given. It can work about Donald Trump. It can work about Kanye West. It can work about somebody else that drops their kid off at school next to you and they're having trouble in their marriage. I don't. My heart is a full-time drama factory. I do not need to borrow drama from anybody else's personal life. I got my own drama. B-Y-O-D. Bring your own drama. I got enough. You brought your own drama to church without judging somebody else from what you think about them from 10 seconds of their life compared to the entirety of it. I don't have time for it. And Jaha Shafat didn't run around looking at what other people were doing. He went to seek the Lord. He went to inquire of the Lord. And this is not just some glib prayer or this is not just getting some feeling and going with it and calling it God. just slap in a scripture verse on something that you wanted to do anyway so that you can blame it on God when it doesn't work out. This is really seeking the Lord. In fact, the Bible says that he was shaken, but he wasn't. He wasn't, maybe I should say it this way, he was shocked, but he wasn't shook. Who didn't see this coming? Ammon, Moab, and the Edomites? That's three of them. I could fight one, but there's three of them. This bigger than me, and it's coming up from behind me. You got something bigger than you that came up from behind you. Jaha Shafat's prayer is interesting because he's praying about Ammon, Moab, and the Edomites from out Sierra. But we got three different enemies. We got the world, the flesh, and the devil. That's from first John, that's your enemy. The world, the flesh, and the devil. That's the values that oppose your purpose, the world, the flesh, that's the patterns that oppose your purpose, and the devil. That is the principality that opposes your purpose. And I could fight one, but how do I fight the devil when I'm fighting my own flesh? How do I fight the world when actually there's a part of me that wants to do it like the world? I could fight one, but I can't fight them all, and they're bigger than me, and it's coming up from behind. How do I raise kids in a culture where the information of the history of the universe is in their pocket? How do I have a sex talk with kids when they don't have to go to a gas station to see pornography? They can do it right beside their Bible lap. The nature of the battle determines the nature of the strategy. When you don't understand the nature of the battle, you will not understand the nuance of the strategy. So you will fight the battle, not understanding the dynamics of the battle, and you will lose the battle because you will wrestle on the wrong level. Can I preach a little bit today? It's for 50 people that you are facing something that's snuck up from behind you. Didn't see this coming, and it's bigger than you. I don't know which one to fight next. When you understand the nature of the battle, you can understand the nature of the strategy. And that's why I got to ask God, "Jahasufat resolved to seek the Lord." That means he involved the priests, the Levites, and they got together, and he got surrounded by the right people. He's not going to A-hab this time. He's not asking all his friends what they think about it this time. He's not looking for celebrity culture to influence his decisions this time. He's going to the right place, but he doesn't have a plan. And I want you to see his prayer because it'll help you. If you're facing a battle that is bigger than you, and it's snuck up from behind you, every day this week, I want you to open your Bible to 2 Chronicles 20, verse 3, and following. Read what Jahasufat prayed, and then pray it. Because verse 5 says, "Out loud, I want you to pray this every day this week. If you're fighting a battle that is bigger than you, and it's snuck up from behind you, get in God's face this week for a few minutes every day and pray this prayer because Jahasufat stood up, verse 5, in the assembly of Judah, and Jerusalem at the temple of the Lord in the front of the new courtyard. This is Solomon's temple. This is the one they dedicated to God. This is the one where God promised to pour out his presence for any problem you face." And he starts reminding God of what God said. "O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven?" I love this man because he has already shifted his focus from what is coming against him to the one who reigns above him. "O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power in might or in your hand, and no one can withstand you. O our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel? You remind God of what he's already done when you're not sure what he's doing right now. Not so he can remember, but so you can. Come on, you need to remember this is not your first rodeo cowboy. This is not the first time you cried. This is not the first time you were short of breath. This is not the first time you didn't see a way clear. This is not the first time you were hurt. This is not the first time your heart was broken. This is not the first time you didn't have enough money. This is not the first diagnosis that came up from behind. Feel His presence. Did you not do it before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham, your friend? Watch this, he said, "You gave it forever. And since you gave it forever, it can't stop now. Since you promised to fulfill your purpose, no enemy from Ammon. No enemy from Moab, no enemy from Mount Sierra, no eat of my, can take it away." And when he says it, on one hand, he's praising God, but it almost sounds like he's blaming God. Notice the tone is shifts in verse 8. They have lived in it and have built in it a sanctuary for your name, saying if calamity comes upon us, whether the sword or judgment or plague or famine, we will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your name and will cry out to you in our distress. And you will hear us and save us. But now, God, great God, respectfully, King Sir, the righteous one. But now, here are men from Ammon, Moab, and Mount Sierra, whose territory you would not allow Israel to invade when they came from Egypt. Uh-oh. Jehoshaphat said, "This is not my fault." Now last time when I hooked up with A-hab, that's on me. But this one, somebody shot this one. This one we're doing the best we can. This one we're praying in the temple. This one we were acting according to the wisdom that we had for the situation we were in. This one nobody really knew how to do it. We couldn't have prevented by obedience. This one is different. And you're going through something right now. That's a little different. Sure you've got sin and you've got things you need to repent of and I do too. And if you dare look at me with an angelic face when I say that, I promise I will prophesy and God will show me something about your life that you do not want on these i-mag screens. I'll do it. But this one, this battle, this coalition is three enemies. They joined up to fight me. And the whole reason they're even here is because when Moses led the people out of Egypt, you told him that he couldn't drive them out because they were the relatives of Esau. That's who the Edamite's were. They were the descendants of Esau. And Esau was the son of Isaac. He wasn't his favorite son but he was still a son. He gave away his birthright but he was still a son. And Isaac was the son of Abraham. And Abraham was God's friend. And so God did not let the Israelites drive out somebody that belonged to his friend. When you've got a friend who knows how to fight, it will make you confident. When you've got a friend who knows how to fight, I remember this kid we used to pick on in fourth grade called Eric Pie. But then Eric Pie made friends with Harry Walker. Eric Pie couldn't fight but Harry Walker could. Harry Walker was 17 with chest hair in the fourth grade. Harry Walker had a prison record in the fourth grade. Harry Walker said, you pick on him, you pick on me. Now look at somebody confident and say, you fight me, you've got to fight my friend. It's a bold message. This is to know it might be bigger than me but it's not bigger than God. I'm a calm down. You wouldn't let us drive them out. We would have done it. But you wouldn't let us. This is not our fault. What do you have to do when you fight a battle that's not your fault? Sometimes you fight against things that are in your genetics. But you still got to figure out what to do about that battle. And when it's that deep, it's that strong. Sometimes you fight against things that other people did. And if you go into shame and you're like, well, I take responsibility for my part, that's good, but it's tricky. Because before long, shame will drive you out of the presence of God, which is what you need when you're in a situation, even if you created it. So it's tricky. Because you can fight. find yourself in a battle and you can say, well, I can't expect God's help in this situation because it was created by my hand. But Jehoshaphat is transcending all of that with his prayer and he says, oh Lord, our God, we belong to you. We are your possession. And when we came into this land so many years ago, you would not let us drive out these enemies and they're bigger than us and they came up from behind us and we're not to blame for this battle. And yeah, here it is. So now, verse 11, oh Lord, our God, see how they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession you gave us as an inheritance. Now, let me put this in here. I'm just going with the spirit today. I have an open mind, I know. So I mean, I got in my heart. I'm preaching spirit to spirit today for whoever needs to receive it. And God gave me this word before I gave you this word for the battles that I face that are bigger than me. And he said, see how they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession you gave us. Now, if it's God who gave it, then it's God to protect it. That's about possession. It's not about how much power you have, it's about possession. And if you are God's possession and you are stewarding something that he gave you to possess, then it's not a matter of how much power you have that determines what happens next in this battle. When God's possession is God's problem. Amen. Amen. (audience cheering) I don't want to cry telling you this. If it hits your heart, that if it's God's possession, it's God's problem. And then you realize that you are His treasure. You are His possession. You are His daughter. You are His son. You are His friend. And your friend knows how to fight. It gives you the confidence. Oh, our God, will you not judge them for we, verse 12, have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. It's bigger than us. It came up from behind us. We can't do it. We do not know what to do. If you're there right now, raise your right hand. I do not know what to do. I don't know how to fight. I don't know how to fix it. I can't control what comes against me. But our eyes are upon you and God says if you will change the focus, he will win the fight. If you will change the focus and stop looking at how big it is, but start praising Him for how great He is. Help is on the way. (audience cheering) 13, all the men of Judah with their wives and children and little ones stood there before the Lord. Then the spirit of the Lord came upon Jaha'el, son of Zechariah, the son of Beninaya, the son of J.E.L, the son of Madinaya, Alibide, and the descendant of Asaf as he stood in the assembly. Why did you read all those names, Pastor Stephen? Why didn't you skip over that? That's not important to the story. It absolutely is. Because every name that was represented, represented a generation that God was faithful in. And it meant that every single time that God got ready to pass His purpose to another generation, He didn't drop it and He won't drop it now and it won't stop with you and you won't lose the battle. (audience cheering) Unless you lose your focus. It's not about your power. It's about your position. Can I show you? You got like 10 more minutes? I'm so thankful that that prophet stood up and said what he said. 'Cause you know everybody was starting to get ready to fight and you know if they had fought, they would have lost. Isn't that the craziest thing is I run it. If they had fought, they would have lost. When you don't understand the nature of the battle that you're in, you use the wrong strategy. And some of us are losing because we are fighting on the wrong level. To unpack it, I could use Ephesians 6, 12. We wrestle not against flesh and blood. But that's what we fight against, flesh and blood. We fight every battle physically. We fight people. We even fight people that are trying to help us. Because we're insecure. We fight the battle to protect our ego and to protect our pride. And then we lose the battle in our spirit because we were more concerned about protecting our pride. Then we were about receiving God's power and His help and His provision in our lives. (congregation applauding) I was talking to somebody this week and they were saying all kinds of crazy stuff to me. And the Lord said not this one. Don't fight this one. Learn the 20% that He's saying this true. Keep your mouth shut. Save your energy for the real battle. (congregation applauding) Sometimes I see a comment on Instagram about my preaching or my shoes or something like that. And the Lord says not this one. Not this one. Because if you convince a fool, all you got for a friend is a fool. (congregation applauding) Not this one. Somebody say not this one. I watched the movie about Jackie Robinson 42 and there was a scene in the movie where the owner was telling him, we're gonna put you in the system and hopefully get you to Brooklyn to play professional baseball. But there's one problem. What are you gonna do when they're screaming racist threats in your face? What are you gonna do when they attack you at every stop? What are you gonna do when they push you to the breaking point? And he jumped up in the depiction in the movie. I don't know if this happened in real life, but I like to think it did. And he said, what do you want? A player who doesn't have the guts to fight? And he looked back at him and said, no, I want a player who has the guts not to fight back. And here's the message. Sometimes it takes more faith not to fight back. Sometimes it takes more faith to just let God be God and be great in your situation. 'Cause if you manipulated, you're gonna mess it up. If you start plucking tears, you're gonna pull up wheat. Sometimes it takes more faith to let God sort it out. And the prophet said, you have to understand the nature of the battle to understand the strategy. This is why we don't fight much in our marriage after 17 years. It's not 'cause we don't disagree, but we understand it's not me against her. It's me and her against it. If we thought it was me against her, we would fight each other. But we gotta line up on the same side of this problem or we're gonna lose this battle. (audience cheering) And one time when we were first, maybe a year and a half married, there came across our desk, a bill for $3,000. And I didn't have $3,000. Not just laying around. I didn't have it. So I did what I do when I'm afraid, I got angry. Did you hear me? When I'm afraid, I get angry. 'Cause the anger is a camouflage for the fear which makes me feel vulnerable. So I gotta get angry 'cause that makes me look strong. 'Cause on the inside I feel weak. And I was yelling at Holly about the bill. And it was only 70% her fault. (audience laughing) And in the middle of yelling, I saw her countenance change. And I'm not saying this excuses me, yelling I should have been more grown up. But she realized in that moment, he's not fighting me. He's not mad at me. He's scared about this. And if I can help him fight his fear, we can fix this together. But if you wrestle at the wrong level, you'll wear yourself out, fighting it where it shows up. But where it shows up is not where it started. So if you got somebody and they have an addiction, you can't counsel them to win against addiction with willpower. It's not a matter of willpower. It's a matter of worship. Something in their life has started meeting the needs that only God alone can meet. And if you don't show them that God can meet those same needs that alcohol can, that God can meet those same needs that pornography can, that God can meet those same needs as overspending, over eating can. If you don't fix the worship problem, you can't wear it with willpower. (audience cheering) Am I right about it? (audience cheering) So you got to fight with a focus. Touch three people, say, focus, focus. Fight with a focus. And the prophet said, this is not even about you. So don't be afraid. If it's too big for you, don't be afraid. This is what the Lord says to you. You got it on the screen, verse 15. Don't be afraid. Don't be discouraged. Don't back down. Don't get in your own head and try to figure it out. You can't figure this one out. And if you fight it, if you fight it, you're going to lose it. If you try to meet the righteous requirements of the law in your own strength and don't let the power of Christ flow through you and the Holy Spirit direct you, you are going to keep losing the battles because you are wrestling on the level of what you can see. But it is not against flesh and blood. It's spiritual. So he said, don't be afraid for this vast army. Vast army is the phrase they use when they were just saying, it's too big for you. I know it's too big for you. But the battle is not yours. It's God's. When I say this, I want you to receive it, like if it was just for you. If it's too big, it doesn't belong to you. If it's too big, you got to give it back to God. And we say the battle is the lords, but we stress like it's ours. We say the battle is the lords, but we worry like it's ours. Now we've wasted all of our strength worrying when we could have been worshipping. The battle is not yours. Give it back. Quit doing God's job for him. God wants his battle back. It's too big for you. It came up from behind you. You can't do it. Give it back. You can't fight it. Give it back. You can't figure it out. Give it back. How do you give it back? That's a focus. That's looking beyond what's coming against you and looking toward what is within you. To know that greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world. And God wants his battle back. The battle is not yours, but God's in tomorrow. I want you to march down against them. I want you to march down against an enemy that you're not even going to have to fight. I want you to get in position, not so that you can fight, not so that you can struggle. But so that you can see the deliverance that the Lord will bring about to Israel this day. God is fighting for Judah. God is fighting for worshipers. God is fighting for prazers. God is fighting for his people. God is fighting for you. You're his friend. You get his help. You get his strength. You get his miracles. You get his wisdom. You get his provision. You get his angels. If you worship, you age the war of worship is too big for me. What do you do when the battle chooses you? You worship your way through it. Now that sounds good, but it feels stupid. Because here they come, ammonites, moabites, eedamites. They were all big in their own right and they're all fighting together. And so how are you going to fight them? What are we going to do, Jahashabat? What are we going to do about this situation? What are we going to do about it? The Prophet said, you, verse 17, will not have to fight this battle, but you're going to experience the victory. Not by fighting, but by focusing. If they would have fought, they would have lost. But because they focused on the goodness of God, you know what they did? I love this scripture. I think this scripture is a beautiful illustration and picture of the weapons of our warfare that pull down strongholds in our life. It says that Jahashabat, verse 18, bowed with his face to the ground and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down in worship before the Lord. Then some Levites, that's the priests. Some Levites, the one who administered the Levitical Law, the priestly law, from the coathides and choralites stood up and praised the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice. [Applause] Why? Why? Because early in the morning, they left for the desert of Tukhah and asked they set out, "Jahashabat stood and said, 'Listen to me, Judah.' Judah means praise.' And people of Jerusalem have faith in the Lord your God, and you will be up hell. It's fight or flight time. It's fight or flight. But when you can't win the fight and you can't run from it, watch this. This is amazing. They didn't have to fight it, but they did have to face it. [Applause] And God wants to give you the faith to face it and to trust Him to fight it. Do you have the faith not to fight it in your flesh, but to deal with it in your spirit? Jesus told Peter, "Put your sword away. Sometimes it takes more faith, not to fight. Sometimes it takes more faith just to go to the cross and get over your pride and get over yourself and let them fight your battles." [Applause] But what they did next is remarkable, especially considering the enemies were standing right in their face. The Scripture says after consulting the people, Jahasabata pointed men to sing to the Lord. Singing is a strange strategy to fight three nations all at once. But sometimes the battle is so big that you know I can't fight this on my own. I always thought that this Scripture meant that when you're in trouble you should sing. But some people can't carry a tune and they don't like music. Now I realize that the passage isn't about music. It's about focus. [Applause] And I want you to look past your enemy and I want you to sing. It says that Jahasabata pointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness. Let's focus on him. Let's focus on what's right about God rather than what's wrong with our life. And if you will focus on that, if you will focus on that, you will look past what's standing in front of you this bigger than you. And look to the God who is bigger than it and 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." "Give thanks to the Lord." I wonder are there any prazers from the tribe of Judah who are willing to use gratitude as a strategy for the battle that I'm in and magnify the Lord in the middle of the battle? [Applause] And as they began to sing in praise, the Lord said, "Ambushus against their enemies and they were defeated by the angel armies of God. God is going to fight what you can see by sending what you can't see. I declare an ambush against insecurity and ambush against addiction and ambush against depression and ambush against the darkness in your life." [Applause] And watch this, and I'm going to pray for you. The men of Ammon and Moab rose up against the men of Mountseer. That's the enemies to destroy and annihilate them. The enemy started eliminating. creating the enemy. That's what happens when you let God fight your battles. He's going to use everything that came against you. He's going to use everything that the enemy meant for evil. He's going to use a cross to create a space for a resurrection, for the glory of the Lord. He's in this place. Get the man's shadow praying. Share it on your social stories and tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God bless you.