THE HOLY BIBLE – 2 Chronicles 20:15-17 – (Jahaziel said), “Listen, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem! Listen, King Jehoshaphat! This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid! Don’t be discouraged by this mighty army, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. 16 Tomorrow, march out against them. You will find them coming up through the ascent of Ziz at the end of the valley that opens into the wilderness of Jeruel. 17 But you will not even need to fight. Take your positions; then stand still and watch the Lord’s victory. He is with you, O people of Judah and Jerusalem. (New Living Translation – NLT) 

THOUGHTS: I was touched in reading this passage, to be reminded that when we pray and surrender something to the Lord, that it is no longer ours to worry about, but rather it is then the Lord’s! King Jehoshaphat had asked his army to fast and pray, because he was very concerned about the huge army that was headed their way. God knew that it would calm many nerves if He told them ahead of time that they had nothing to worry about, so He shared the good news with them. Another eye opener was that God chose not to tell the king directly, even though he was the one that called this massive prayer meeting. First of all, as leaders we need to be humble enough to accept the fact that God can speak through any servant of His that he chooses. Secondly, as followers of Christ, we must always be aware that God will not necessarily speak just to our pastor, or Bible school teacher, but He could just as easily speak to another child of His who is closely in tuned with the Master. Also, it was very important that the servant stepped up and told the king, and not assumed that God would make sure that his leader was also told. Friends, there are so many lessons in this scripture today: (1) Pray with such confidence that you are ready to respond when God answers your prayer. Never assume that you were one among many that God delivered His message to; (2) Never sit back and do nothing because you are confident in the prayers of your pastor, or elders or deacons. God gave the answer to his servant Jahaziel and not to king Jehoshaphat; and (3) When you pray about a need and feel like God has answered your prayer, don’t go on worrying about the need. God told the king not to worry about the battle, because it was His (God’s) at that point. How often are we guilty of this? We either keep on worrying, or we feel like we need to stay in touch with God as he probably needs our advice! Imagine how confused unbelievers must get when They see us doing silly things like this? I am convinced that we have one major responsibility in our surrendered life to Jesus Christ – let’s learn to let him be God, and trust Him to be the awesome God that he is, who does not need our interference! He’s got this, friend!

PRAYER: Lord, I wonder if Jehoshaphat stopped worrying when told that God had the situation covered! Unfortunately, even after all that we have personally experienced in our Christian walk and all that we have read in Your Word, like in the case of this story today, yet we still worry, and we still tend to think that we need to stay involved in our issues, so that we could help you achieve Your will for our lives. Please forgive our littleness oh God. How dare the clay tell the potter what should be done next, or how to mold us (the clay in Your hands). Please teach us to totally surrender our battles to You, and most of all, teach us to get out of the way of Your work that only You can do. Please help us to stay attuned to all that You might say to us, and to be like Jahaziel in sharing your instructions with others, especially those who may not have heard from You. I am so appreciative that I serve a God who can handle my battles! What a relief! Oh what a Savior! Blessed be the name of the Lord! With sincere love, and ultimate appreciation, I ask that You continue to be my God and my King oh Lord! AMEN! 
FOOTNOTE: If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please speak with a local Bible Teaching Pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com. Allow someone to pray with you and give you help and/or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Words underlined in my blog could indicate a link to a song that came to mind as I wrote the devotional. Feel free to click on the link and listen as you continue to read or pray. If this devotional was forwarded to you and you would like to see more, please go to http://www.nuggetsfromgodsword.org and read more, or you may freely subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day’s devotional. If you are anywhere near the Highlands County, Florida area and do not have a church home, I would be thrilled to welcome you at Bible Fellowship Church, located at 3750 Hammock Rd, Sebring, FL 33872! Click the link to check out service times and/or other special activities. God is at work among us! Please consider coming to worship with us!