Jumped

2 Chronicles 20:15-17
New King James Version (NKJV)
15 And he said, “Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the Lord to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. 16 Tomorrow go down against them. They will surely come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the brook before the Wilderness of Jeruel. 17 You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.”

If anyone needs encouragement on this Monday morning, take strength today in knowing that the battle does not belong to you, the battle belongs to the Lord! That situation you are facing that seems insurmountable, it's not your battle, it's Gods. The marriage problems you face today, they belong to the Lord. The family problems you may face today, they belong to the Lord. Your financial struggles belong to the Lord. Your physical ailments, they are Gods fight. The anxiety that rules your mind, it belongs to the Lord. The depression that may try to plague you today, it belongs to God. It's not our battle to fight! We can't fight it. It's too much for us.

Have you ever been in a fight before? I have. Well, not really, I got beat up actually so you can't really call it a fight. I was 13 years old at the time and was walking home from a friends house and came upon a group of girls that proceeded to beat the ever lovin' daylights out of me! It was a very scary feeling, totally a helpless feeling actually. I wish I could say that I fought back with all that was in me, but I didn't. I'm pretty sure I just fell to the ground and let them pummel me until they had their fill, then I got up and hobbled home crying. I was just around the corner from my house so I didn't have far to hobble. And cry. Not my brightest memory to say the least!

I share that to say that fighting is not fun! Well, not that I would know, seeing as I didn't fight back. So I should say getting beat up is not fun. And yet, we allow ourselves to get beat up on a daily basis. We carry all these huge problems on our backs, we let them build up in our minds and become even bigger than they actually are! You ever done that? You play this thing up in your head to be so massive of an issue, and once you speak it out loud you realize the insanity of what's gone on in your head? Ok, maybe that's just me.

But we get beat up. The problem overwhelms us to the point that we can't see an answer anywhere on the horizon because our vision is so blurred from the beating.

I love how the scripture continues:
2 Chronicles 20:20-22 (NKJV)
20 So they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.” 21 And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the Lord, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying:

“Praise the Lord,
For His mercy endures forever.”

22 Now when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated.

When they began to sing and to praise, the battle was won! That's the ticket folks! The battle is won in our praise. The battle is won when we stand up, square our shoulders and refuse to get pummeled! The battle is won when we hand the situation over to God, and begin to praise Him for who He is; how merciful He is to us. When we take that thing off the pedestal in our mind, giving it over to God, we are on the way to victory. Our praise seals the deal.

Because even if the problem does not right itself immediately, even if God's answer is not made ready in our preferred time frame, the victory is ours the moment we praise. The moment we take our eyes off the issue and put them onto God's goodness, we win. The devil has no place to play in our mind when we do that. And when we kick the devil out of his playground, HE HAS NO HOLD ANYMORE!

So today I encourage us all to sing, to shout, to praise God for all He has done in our lives thus far. When our focus is off the problem, the solution is being made ready.

And when you are walking home from your friends house, maybe just walk a little faster ;)