fighting
This last Sunday my eyes hadn’t even opened yet but deep sadness penetrated my heart. Such a sadness that my insides physically hurt. My mind wasn’t at full capacity yet but my Spirit began to wage war against the sadness.
Dozing in and out of sleep my Spirit continued to fight. Yet about an hour or so later and my mind became active and I tried to figure things out. Straining my eyes to open, the light of my phone glared 3am.
Now I began to toss and turn.
Finally I no longer could lie in bed. I needed to process my sadness in my quiet space with the Lord. Stumbling out of bed I grabbed my Bible and my journal. I plopped on my couch and opened my journal. Complaining naturally poured onto my journal yet as I continued, the Holy Spirit began to nudge my heart.
Was this REALLY where I wanted to stay? Did I REALLY want to continue with the heavy heart and the sadness. Yes there were things not working out how I had planned and people were hurting that I could not fix. But was complaining REALLY where God wanted me to set up camp?
Suddenly story after story of God sending His armies into battle with praise teams as the sole weapon began to flood my heart. The story of Jehoshaphat lingered longer then the rest.
Jehoshaphat sat in fear. A massive army was on their way to destroy the tribe of Judah. Fear could of made him immobile but instead he choose to motivate his people to fast and pray. He was then inspired to send out worshipers ahead of his army.
As the worshipers praised the Living God ahead of the army the Holy Spirit brought confusion amongst the enemy’s camp. This confusion caused the enemy’s army to fight against themselves.
As the worshipers and the nation of Judah’s army came up over the hill there spread across the land bodies of their enemies. God had fought for them. Not one of God’s people were slaughtered in the battle. (2 Chronicles 20).
Wow, just WOW!
Jehoshaphat knew how to fight his battle. He knew that in his strength or wisdom it was not going to happen but with God all things are possible. In praise and thanksgiving God came down and moved on His people’s behalf.
The realization that I may not be able to fix all my problems but that I can praise the living God in the midst of the attack and let His Holy Spirit go out before me sunk in. The intensity of my sadness began to lift as I poured out my praise.
So often in our sadness, worry or fear we look inward and try to figure things out. Yet God beckons us. Do we trust Him? Do we trust Him in the storm? I choose to trust Him. I choose to praise Him, honor Him, and believe in His Word. He will take care of His people, it may not always look how we think it should but we can trust Him.
He longs for us to pour out our praise to Him believing that He will fight our battles! Today, let’s choose to praise the Living God, thanking Him for fighting our battles. Knowing and trusting He WILL move on our behalf.
