Do we really Believe?

This morning as part of my devotions I had one of those DUH moments! Understanding something in a conceptual way is one things, yet when all of a sudden we "Get it" and we can apply it to our lives... that is a DUH moment! This was one of those moments.

I was reading 2 Chronicles 20: 20 - 24 as part of my First Place 4 Health Bible Study. Here are those verses so you also can read them.

20 Early in the morning they left for the Desert of Tekoa. As they set out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, "Listen to me, Judah and people of Jerusalem! Have faith in the LORD your God and you will be upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful." 21 After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the LORD and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying:

"Give thanks to the LORD,
for his love endures forever."

22 As they began to sing and praise, the LORD set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated. 23 The men of Ammon and Moab rose up against the men from Mount Seir to destroy and annihilate them. After they finished slaughtering the men from Seir, they helped to destroy one another.

24 When the men of Judah came to the place that overlooks the desert and looked toward the vast army, they saw only dead bodies lying on the ground; no one had escaped."


So, the first thing I see here is that Because of the men going before the army singing praises to God, God is pleased and goes ahead of them and defeats their enemy before they ever arrive. I have to wonder since I know God is the same yesterday today and tomorrow. How many times God went ahead of me and defeated my enemies before I ever arrived in their presence and I never even knew it? and how if I had been singing praises to my God thanking Him for His loving kindness to me, praising Him for His faithfulness, How many battles could I have avoided?

The second truth that jumped up and smacked me in the head this morning was Sometimes the battle is not our but God's. How many times do I try fighting battles that God never intended for me to fight? How many times do I fret and fuss and worry about something, worrying about how I am going to accomplish something when it seems impossible. I play it over and over in my head. Let's go back t the verses above... in verse 20 Jehoshaphat tells them to "Have faith in the LORD your God and you will be upheld;" so if I truly had faith, If I truly believed in God's faithfulness to me I would not worry about it. I would not fret about it because I would know it would all be OK. Just like it was here for the army. because they had faith in God, because they went about their way praising God for His lovingkindness, God went before them and destroyed their enemies before they ever arrived. Now if you move on to verse 25 you will see not only did God fight the battle for them... He blessed them beyond measure!

So I ask you how many of us are missing out on blessings, overflowing blessings, because we fail to trust God and to Praise Him for His lovingkindness?

none of this is new information to me... But today I seen it in a very new way! Hopefully starting now and for all my tomorrows I will apply it in a whole new way!

Blessings,