Letting this God who LOVES us fight our battles

I love those mornings like today when I go out to get the paper and see a beautiful sunrise. I stood on our driveway for a couple minutes staring at this gorgeous scene that our Lord painted -- in awe of His power, His creativity. It was one of those mornings where I knew that I needed to have my quiet time outside. So I grabbed a couple chairs, my coffee and cereal, and my One Year Bible and sat on my driveway for about 30 minutes. What a glorious half hour it was.

I was in a particular thankful mood today because of what happened last night. Our Brazil 2006 team reported to the Highland church about the great deeds of the Lord that we saw during that week at the camp (of course, there was so much unseen that went on which, by faith, we claim that God did...continues to do).

It was a great evening. We heard testimonies of those who had been to Brazil the first time. Watched a video of the camp. And looked back on the six years of Highland's partnership with the church in Itu, including our four summer mission trips there -- and reflected on all the wonderful things God has done. And so, I was in a very thankful mood this morning.

Then I read one of my favorite stories from the Bible -- from 1 Chron. 20. I've used this story so much personally and even preached it two or three times. It's when King Jehoshaphat heard that he was about to be attacked by a huge army of several countries. He proclaimed a fast in all of Judah then went to the temple and prayed. It's so interesting that in his prayer he talked about the mighty deeds of the Lord in Israel's past -- something we talked about in yesterday's post.

I love this prayer of his! Here are a few quotes that have especially gripped me over the years as I've read and taught this story:

"Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you."

"For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you."

Then a prophet of the Lord appears and tells the king and the people:

"Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the LORD will be with you.'"

As they went out to battle, it says that "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."

What struck me especialy this morning was this song they sang. They could have been singing "The Battle Belongs to the Lord" (which would have been a good song, too). But instead, they thanked the Lord and praised Him for His love.

Made me think of the battles we face -- money struggles, parenting challenges, marriage problems, job problems. My tendency when facing problems has been to pray prayers like, "help me, Lord. Get me out of this." (when I was struggling with job problems in the early '90's, that was my main prayer). And yet the song of the praise band that led Jehoshaphat's army out to battle was about thanking the Lord and focusing on His love.

I think I'll do that all day today. Not just as I reflect about all the good things He's done for me and others lately, such as last night. But when I look towards the future and encounter the challenges and difficulties of the day. I want to be in a spirit of thankfulness and praise to the Lord -- convinced that through Jesus He LOVES me. And He loves you, too! And He WILL be with you in your battles, my friend. He promised you!

Jim