Ambushing Satan With Song [Part ONE]

2 Chronicles 20:1-25

There are at least two ways by which God protects his people from danger.

1. Sometimes he prevents danger from even arising on the horizon of our lives.
2. Other times he allows the danger to attack, and gives us the victory so that we live on and serve him in gladness.

In this passage, God allowed the enemy to attack.

The story of Jehoshaphat under attack and the unusual victory God gave him has been one of my favourite stories over the years. What I want to do is to deliver this story in several short posts so that we can journey together in learning the timeless lessons this story brings to our soul

God Allows the Enemy to Attack

We learn back in 2 Chronicles 17:6 that Jehoshaphat was a good king in Judah: "His heart was courageous in the ways of the Lord." And verse 10 tells us that in those days the way the Lord protected him was that no enemy even arose: "And the fear of the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah, and they made no war against Jehoshaphat."

But in chapter 20 God loosens his sovereign grip on the nations around Judah and allows the enemies of Jehoshaphat to come against him. Verse 1: "After this the Moabites and Ammonites, and with them some of the Meumites, came against Jehoshaphat for battle."

God has ceased to protect Jehoshaphat by holding back his enemies. He could have continued to hold them back. But he doesn't. It is time for Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah to experience the protection of God in another way.

Jehoshaphat Seeks the Lord in Prayer

What should we do when God releases our enemies against us?

Watch what Jehoshaphat did. Verse 3: "Then Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah assembled to seek help from the Lord; from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord." When our lives are threatened—when our faith is threatened or our marriage or the morality of our children or the fire of our worship—when we are threatened by any of Satan's devices, we should seek the Lord and lock into earnest prayer. We do this because our victory comes from the spiritual realm, not the material realm.

God is looking for the soul that would pray like a Jehoshaphat [verses 6–12] He begins by ascribing sovereign power to God: "O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? Do you not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? In you hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you."

Would you pray like that today? Even when you are most desperate, and fear is making your insides melt, would you ascribe sovereign power to God? "In your hand are power and might so that none is able to withstand your!" When you begin your prayer by ascribing all power and glory to God, a strength and hope and confidence come into your prayer and you feel yourself in touch with the Ruler of the universe. This places you into the initial phases that leads to victory .