We need a good family meeting this morning, God’s family. Praise the Lord.
Turn to 2nd Chronicles 20:
1. “It came to pass after this also, [that] the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them [other] beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle.
2. Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea on this side Syria; and, behold, they [be] in Hazazon-tamar, which [is] Engedi.
3. And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
4. And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask [help] of the LORD: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.
5. And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court,
6. And said, O LORD God of our fathers, [art] not thou God in heaven? and rulest [not] thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand [is there not] power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?
7. [Art] not thou our God, [who] didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever?
8. And they dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying,
9. If, [when] evil cometh upon us, [as] the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in thy presence, (for thy name [is] in this house,) and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help.
10. And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and mount Seir, whom thou wouldest not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them, and destroyed them not;
11. Behold, [I say, how] they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit.
12. O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes [are] upon thee.
13. And all Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.
14. Then upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of the LORD in the midst of the congregation;
15. And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle [is] not your’s, but God’s.
16. To morrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel.
17. Ye shall not [need] to fight in this [battle]: set yourselves, stand ye [still], and
see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be
dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD [will be] with you.
18. And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with [his] face to the ground: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the LORD, worshipping the LORD.
19. And the Levites, of the children of the Kohathites, and of the children of the Korhites, stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel with a loud voice on high.
20. And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.
21. And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the
LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy [endureth] for ever.
22. And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten.
23. For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy [them]: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another.
24. And when Judah came toward the watch tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they [were] dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped.
25. And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away: and they were three days in gathering of the spoil, it was so much.
26. And on the fourth day they assembled themselves in the valley of Berachah; for there they blessed the LORD: therefore the name of the same place was called, The valley of Berachah, unto this day.
27. Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat in the forefront of them, to go again to Jerusalem with joy; for the LORD had made
them to rejoice over their enemies.
28. And they came to Jerusalem with psalteries and harps and trumpets unto the house of the LORD.
29. And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of [those] countries, when they had heard that the LORD fought against the enemies of Israel.
30. So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet: for his God gave him rest round about.”
Father, we thank you this morning for this mighty word. We thank you that you are the same God yesterday, today and forever. So, Lord, we thank you now, this is of your kingdom, we are your people. Lord, we have your faith this day that you will move by the mighty power of your spirit, that we may confront the enemy; but only by you doing the battle. Lord, we ask you to help us stand still and have your salvation in this place. The enemy has battled it around long enough. We declare this day the battle is the Lord’s and He’s the victor. We’re going to let Him win and we will sing and give you the glory, for this is your work and not ours.
We thank you King of Kings and Lord of Lords. You’re in charge. So, Lord, we ask you now, according to your word, that you will do the battling for us as we stand still and know that you are God and know the enemy is defeated; because you are God. Lord, we thank you now for this word.
We praise you for what you have done in this place; but we need, this day, to know where we stand in you. We stand still and we don’t fight. We give you glory now, Jesus, and we thank you. We ask this in your wonderful name and we give you glory. Amen.
Turn to Ephesians 6. There was a battle.
10. “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.”
2nd Chronicles says to stand still; the battle is the Lord’s. We know that whatsoever good thing man does, the same shall He receive back. I have taught and this is God’s word it’s not my doctrine. God’s word says that we put on the Lord Jesus Christ and He has already put on the whole armor. I want you to hear what God is saying this morning.
Isaiah 59: 16. “And he saw that [there was] no man, and wondered that [there was] no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.
17. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance [for] clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloke.
18. According to [their] deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompence.
19. So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.
20. And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD.
21. As for me, this [is] my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that [is] upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.”
Eph. 6:10. “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 11. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [places].
13. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
15. And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16. Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
17. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word
of God:
18. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; He said and having done all stand.”
Why are we going to stand still? We have to be determined that we are going to let God fight our battles. We have to be determined to know that He is going to win those battles for us. In Ephesians He said, “Be strong in the Lord.”
Romans 13: 14. “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to [fulfil] the lusts [thereof].
Here in 2nd Chronicles we have an example of what God did. In Ephesians 6 we have also been told by Paul, by the Spirit of the Lord, that we must be strong in the Lord and the power of His might after we put the whole armor on. We are going to put Jesus on. I hear people talking about putting on the whole armor in the morning. Why do you take it off? Why are you laying it down, you don’t need to. He already has the whole armor of God. He put it on for us; because we are no match for that enemy out there or that battle. We have to know the Word of God. He says, “Be strong in the Lord.” That is the first command.
Jehoshaphat said he couldn’t win over these enemies. He was disturbed because these three are the enemies that they wanted to do away with when they came out of Egypt. Why wouldn’t God let them do it then? He wanted to do a greater thing for them. He planned to destroy those enemies all at one time, not at their hand. We can get the picture. He tells them where the enemy is. He said, “Don’t go.” He tells where all three enemies are. He said, “Don’t be afraid of those enemies, the battle is not yours, it’s mine. “But stand ye strong in the Lord and the power of His might.”
It’s not how great we are; it’s how we allow Him to move in us. So the Lord says, “The battle is not yours but it is mine.”
15. And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle [is] not your’s, but God’s.
16. To morrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel.
17. Ye shall not [need] to fight in this [battle]: set yourselves, stand ye [still], and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD [will be] with you.
18. And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with [his] face to the ground: and all Judah
and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the LORD, worshipping the LORD.
They are starting up this mountain. They haven’t crossed over yet. He puts his feelers in the front line. While they were singing and praising God, they began to fight one another. As they fought one another, they did away with one another. They fought one another until there were dead bodies lying everywhere. It took three days to collect all the spoil from these three armies. The Israelites just listened and stood still, because God was showing who He was.
We want to fight the battle ourselves, yet God is saying stand still and know the will of the Lord. Sing praises unto Him with the high praises of God in our mouths and the two edged sword in our hand, He gave this honor to all of the saints. I’m not talking about doctrines of men, I am talking about the pure word of God that works and does not fail. If we put our trust in Him, He’s going to prove it to us by doing exactly what He says, in His word, that He will do. The battle is the Lords, not ours. We have to let Him change our lives so that we can take instructions from Him.
The problem with us is that we are too hard headed; we want our own show and we don’t want God to do it. It’s a strange thing in Ephesians 6. Why did He tell them to put on the whole armor? It didn’t make sense, did it? You put on the whole armor and you go pray. That’s what he said. You put your armor on and go pray. Does that make sense? Not to us. That’s what He said! Stand still, put the whole armor on, but stand still and pray.
That seems ridiculous that there is a battle, with a sword in their hand and they are ready to fight; but every command they get is to hide on their face before God and pray. Does that make sense to us? No, because we are going to do it our way, and we have a sure way to do it. He said, “The sword of the spirit!”
Turn to 149th Psalms. It tells the story pretty well.
Ps. 149:1. “Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song, [and] his praise in the congregation of saints.
2. Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.
3. Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the
timbrel and harp.
4. For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation.
5. Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds.
6. [Let] the high [praises] of God [be] in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in
their hand;
7. To execute vengeance upon the heathen, [and] punishments upon the people;
8. To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron;
9. To execute upon them the judgment written this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD.”
We put on the Lord Jesus Christ. We are strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. How are we going to be strong in the Lord? Psalm 149 says, 5. “Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. 6. “[Let] the high [praises] of God [be] in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand.”
Turn to Ephesians six. What is the two edged sword? The Word of God! Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. 6. [Let] the high [praises]… What am I giving you this morning? The word of God, the sharp two edged sword! How do we use it? Let the high praise of God be in your mouth and your two edged sword in your hand.
The Lord is going to do the warfare for us. He says, “The battle is not yours, it’s mine.” Paul says, “Put on the whole armor of God.” He said, “Then you stand, then you pray; but you praise Him.” We forget the praise that comes in there. The Lord fought and won the battle for them. They were still coming up that mountain and down to the other side. They hadn’t gotten there to see what God had done. The singers were ahead of the army. The singers were praising God. God set the ambush away from the army, while they were praising Him.
Don’t you think it was a big surprise when the army came up over that mountain? They had no idea what God was going to do, but they obeyed him and began to sing His praises and give Him glory and God did the rest. The battle isn’t ours. Quit trying to beat the devil down. You can’t do it, you have to arise and let the Spirit of the Lord come upon us, and worship and praise the Lord with the high praises in our mouth.
Where do they come from? They come from God, not from us. They have to come from God. The two edged sword is in our hand and he wins the battle for us. I think if we laid our sword down and we forgot to stand and started doing battle, we would be a bunch of wounded and worn out people; because we are doing the battle. God said, “Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.”
I know this is in the last days and all hell has come out. The pit has been emptied to come against the church of God. The first thing He wants to do is divide us, so there’s no unity and oneness, so he can then come in and slaughter everybody. We have no victory without the high praises in our mouth. We don’t know what’s going on because we’ve been busy trying to figure out what God’s doing. So we come to the conclusion that the Lord in us is the God of battle. He’s the God of battle! He wants us to know that He can handle it if we give it to Him.
Turn to Psalm 24: 3. “Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place?
4. He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.
5. He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
6. This [is] the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.
7. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
8. Who [is] this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in
battle.
9. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift [them] up, ye everlasting doors; and the
King of glory shall come in.
10. Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he [is] the King of glory. Selah.”
So here we are with Jehoshaphat and his army. I’m sure they were utterly astonished when they came over that mountain and saw dead bodies everywhere. It says while they were praising the Lord, the Lord set the ambush against the enemy. While they were praising Him, the Lord set the ambush. “For his mercy [endureth] for ever.”
2nd Chronicles 20:22. “And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten.” Not one alive among them. They left all their spoil and Judah collected it. God will not only let us defeat the enemy, through Him, but He will collect the spoil for us or give us the ability to collect it. I’m giving you the picture of God with Jehoshaphat. Also what God has given to us, through Jesus Christ that He is what we are to put on.
Let Him come in, let Him rule and reign in us; then He will win the battle for us. But if we get in there thinking we’re somebody, watch, we’re going to get way laid by the enemy. It doesn’t matter what the problem is, we have to not allow the circumstance to affect us, for God will handle the circumstances if we will stand still and praise Him. That doesn’t mean we are lazy and we aren’t doing anything, but our trust is in Him. It says, “Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.” He is mighty! I just read it to you in Psalm 24. The Lord is mighty in battle.
Why is He preparing for a battle? Because we have an enemy to defeat, not through our flesh and blood, or our ability; but because we are going to allow, Jesus in us, to fight the battle for us! If we trust Him He will do it. We can’t think we are going to do it; because He will let us think it, and we will fail because we aren’t strong in the Lord. When we’re strong in the Lord, something is going to happen.
I’m determined this morning that we are going to be strong in this place and God’s going to come to our help. The reason He hasn’t in the measure He wanted Him to, is because we haven’t let Him. We are trying to handle it our way, but God has a way and we have to do it God’s way. He said to Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah and Jerusalem, “You don’t fight this battle, this is God’s battle.” This is God’s property and we are God’s people. This is His training center and it’s His battle. We have to hear Him and let Him do the battling.
This is the thing we have taught from day one and is the most important thing for you to learn. Hear the Lord and be taught of Him. You have every opportunity in this place to do it; but maybe you don’t like the method that He is doing it. Maybe those soldiers were very anxious to get in the middle of the battle. No! They were frightened, at least Jehosphaphat was, and he was wise enough to call on the Lord. All the people followed him and because they all followed him, God could do what he had to do to bring the victory. We have to unite in God’s purpose so God can bring the victory. The battle isn’t ours. It’s His. We have to know where He stands and we have to know where we stand. There’s a world out there that must know Jesus before He can come again.
There’s a work that God has for this hour that has never been in the world before. We are going to let Him prepare us for battle. We are going to let Him come in and take His place as King of glory in our lives and let Him fight the battle for us. If we think we can win it, we are mistaken. We will be taken down by it. But if we let Him do it then He will show us that He is the King of glory and He’s ready to do battle for the billions out there that don’t know Him.
I’m sure you didn’t hear this doctrine before because our church world is still in the beginning, but God is saying, “Now is the time for His kingdom to come forth in us.” Do you think His kingdom is in heaven and we’re all going to heaven, so we can be in His kingdom? You’ll not go to heaven, ever, if you’re not in His kingdom here. If His kingdom isn’t in you, forget about going in there, because you won’t get inside the door. His kingdom is inside of us.
What is His kingdom in us? His salvation, the new birth, the baptism in water and the Holy Ghost! That’s to prepare us to let Jesus take control of our lives. Who do we think we are that we can control our own lives? The devil controls it, God doesn’t, you just think you do.
Now Judah is down to business because of the situation. They are going to get destroyed by the three armies and they are upset about it. They decided to ask the Lord to do something about it. We are so desperate that we don’t know where to turn. We have to call upon the Lord! He saved them all of the anxiety and the fretting.
We’re in over our heads. No! Jehoshaphat said, “You didn’t let us destroy them back there. Why didn’t you? Now the three of them are going to destroy us.” Wait a minute Jehosphaphat, the battle is God’s. We have to remember this. We think the things in the natural are so important. But we have to remember, God is dealing with us to set us free to move by the Spirit of God and to let Him use us. His armor not ours; His armor! And to use the sword of the spirit: the Word of God.
It’s His word that will destroy the enemy. There are two weapons that we have never seen used in the today’s world. God is using the high praises of God and the mighty God, changing our lives, so that He can command us from within, to obey Him. What are we going to do? First, let Him take your lives and then let Him be what He wants to be in you. How am I going to do it? You’ll never have the experience in your life until you let God take that life and make it what He wants it to be.
What is it that He wants it to be? He wants us to be filled with His love. His first commandment is to love the Lord and then you have to have ears to hear and a heart to obey. “Hear, oh Israel, the Lord thy God is one Lord. Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy soul, all thy mind and all that is within thee.” Now you’re ready to love your neighbor as yourself.
He prayed a prayer for our use in John 17, “Father the glory that thou givest me I give to them.” He asked God to give Him the glory that He had from the beginning so He could give it to His disciples and us. He gave His love, His glory and His kingdom; what more could He give? Where do they fit together? Human love doesn’t enter in; we are the exact opposite of God’s love. We are living in the hour when the truth has come. It is here and, if we hear it, we’ll live in the truth. If not, we’ll go into deception. A lot of the Christian world is going into deception, only because they haven’t had the right training. They left out the kingdom of God.
What is in the work of the Kingdom of God? Meeting the needs of the people in the natural and the spiritual! We can’t get high and mighty and save souls. You’re not going to save souls, only God is. If you think you’re going to do it your way you are mistaken. We need, very quickly, to realize that we can’t depend on our ability; but we depend on His, for He is mighty and He is a God of battles. The fieriest battle that has ever been on this earth is about to be waged.
The church of Jesus Christ must realize that His kingdom is within them. They must know what Jesus taught when He walked on the earth and what the Bible says about that kingdom. When you go and read the four gospels, you will find out what they talked about. You’ll find out what He expects of us.
Someone asked a church, “Do you feed the people?” Their answer was, “Oh, no! We don’t feed the people. We are teaching the Word and getting souls saved. We don’t need to feed the people or take over; because they are more important than the Kingdom of God in demonstration.”
It has to be God’s way. Pride comes our way and we rise up, but God says, “Stand still and let God do it.” Things are happening that are shaking the whole world and the churches. God says, “This is the hour, there isn’t much time left.” That’s why we have to get in there and decide quickly. It’s God’s decision time for every one of us. Are we going to be willing to stand still and let the King of Glory come in? We must be filled with the high praises of God and His love and glory.
Now we are ready for Him to send us out to battle against the enemy. If jealously and envy and all these things are in us, God can’t use us. The prejudice that’s in man hinders what God wants to do. We have to allow Him to remove these things from our lives and let Jesus, as the King of Glory rule and reign in us.
He is going to do it with or without us. You are not here by accident you are here by God’s planning. It’s still in your hands. If you want to sing the high praise of God and allow His love to fill your temples, when you go out to the nations, they will know that it is the Living God of Israel that is going to do the warfare.
We are going to have the joy of the high praises and His love and glory in us. The battle isn’t ours. It’s His! The sooner we step down from what we think we are, and humble ourselves; He will reveal who He is and what He wants to do, then we can get our selves ready by standing still. Letting Him remove from us everything that will hinder; we have to strip for the race.
Paul said, “After you have done all, stand still.” For this is God’s appointed time for His open door, that no man will close. We don’t have play time. We just have time to let Him get us ready to go wherever He wants to send us. We need to strip ourselves of excess baggage and be filled with His love and glory through His high praises. Then He will send the mighty praises and we will see the Mighty God do the battling for us. He has it for us and if we accept it, He will give it to us.
Father, we thank you for this word this morning. We ask you to impart it into our mind and every part of us. Let the people know that there is a God of Glory and of Might and Power. God, we give you glory. We praise you right now. The enemy thinks He is going to win but you are. I thank you God for your glory. I thank you that you are the King of Glory and you are ready to show your power and glory and show that you are the mighty God of battles.
We lift up the nations to you. We lift up China who has so many men that kill and destroy. Lord, you know how to pull down the enemy, but you have told us to be strong and stand still and intercede. You’re the one that’s going to solve every problem in our lives and every circumstance. God, you are going to do battle for us as we put our trust in you and we allow you to do it. We know the battle is yours. We ask you to impart this to us; that you are going to let the King of Glory have the victory in us. We thank you for the word; this word that you have given to us for these people. Lord, I ask that they may understand what you want of them; because they are going to stand in the Lord and the power of His might.
We thank you for this word this morning. We ask you to impart to each and every one the understanding that they quit struggling with the enemy. We ask you, King of Glory, to bless the people. Amen.
January 18, 1997
