Book The Essentials of
Effective Prayer
Week 2, Day 5, pages
23-24
Scripture: 2 Chronicles 20:5-12
Briefly summarize
Jehoshaphat's description of God.
- God of our fathers
- God in the heavens
- Ruler over all kingdoms
- Powerful and mighty
- No one can stand against You
- One Who hears and delivers
Compare Jehoshaphat's prayer
with the Lord's Prayer. What
similarities do you notice?
Worship-- showing
reverence
- Begins with acknowledging Who God is (v6)
- He used the names YWHW 'elohiym (which includes the understanding of a judge) to address God.
Declaration of
allegiance--stating where your loyalties lie
- Declares God as our God and the people as Your people (v7)
Request for
deliverance--pleading for protection
- We will cry out to you because you hear and deliver (v9)
And I would add that
in verse 12 Jehoshaphat recognizes the
people's powerlessness and lack of knowledge about what to do.
As we have been
learning, our communication/prayer relationship with the Lord grows as we
receive revelation about and acknowledge who He is... and recognize who we
are.
What did Jehoshaphat remind
God about in verses 7-9?
God's promise to
Abraham. Really though, isn't
Jehoshaphat reminding himself about God's promises? Sometimes when our situation seems bleak or
overwhelming, we need to remind ourselves of God's promises, don't we?
In which verse do you find
Jehoshaphat's request, or petition, to God?
What specifically did he ask for?
In verse 12, he asks
God to judge these nations who are trying to strip Israel of her inheritance.
What did you learn from
Jehoshaphat that you can apply to your own life.
As I researched the
background of this prayer, I found in Number 20:17-21 the story of verse 2
Chronicles 20:10. Upon leaving Egypt
while journeying to the promised land, Moses asked the king of Edom if the
Hebrews could pass through his land. The
king refused to allow the Hebrews to pass through, and so they turned away
(v21). Jehoshaphat can't seem to
understand why this group of people is now bent on destroying Judah. If God didn't allow the Hebrews to destroy
this group of people when they had the chance, why would God now allow this
group of people to try to destroy Judah?
It just doesn't make sense to Jehoshaphat.
Continuing to read
Chapter 20, we see that (like in the story of Lazarus) God had a bigger
revelation for His people:
- The battle is not yours but God's (v15)
- You need not fight in this battle (v17)
- Stand and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf (v17)
And verse 23 tells us
that this group of people destroyed one another. Israel did not have to fight at all.
Application:
The battle is always
the Lord's. Sometimes we need to fight
alongside Him (I think of the Book of Joshua); sometimes we need to trust that
He will do the fighting on our behalf.
In either case, God is teaching us what He always teaches His
people: Put your trust in the Lord your
God, and you will be established/'aman
(v20) (made to stand firm).
Linda
Moderator
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