Joyce Meyer - How Do I Let God Fight My Battles? (08/18/2019)
This message from 2 Chronicles 20 teaches that God’s battle plan involves spiritual weapons, not carnal ones. When faced with fear and overwhelming "ites" (problems), the key is not to fight in our own strength but to take our position in praise and worship, stand firm in faith, and watch God deliver us.
Ginger: You know, there are times in our relationship with Jesus where we all feel absolutely helpless to do anything about our circumstances. Those are those times that we all face that we just feel completely out of control. We have battles to fight, and we don't know how to win. Well, I'm so excited about today's show because two of my very favorite women are gonna help us through that. Joyce and Darlene Check. I recently sat down with Darlene and discussed the most difficult battle of her life.
There are very few Christians around the world who haven't heard the music and heart of worship leader Darlene Check. It's estimated that Shout to the Lord is one of the most well-known modern worship songs today. She wrote it more than 20 years ago, and since then, she's traveled the world, bearing her soul through her music as part of Hillsong and now in her own ministry. Today, she continues to worship and glorify God, even while in the midst of a very personal battle.
God’s Spiritual Battle Plan
God has a battle plan. Anytime we get in a battle, we need to know how to fight the way that God wants us to fight. I said this morning that we have weapons, but the weapons of our warfare are not carnal weapons. They're not weapons you can see or feel or go to the store and buy. So, if they're not carnal weapons, then they must be spiritual weapons. In preaching the Word of God to you tonight, I am doing warfare with the enemy by speaking the Word of God. I'm helping you do warfare in your life, and I'm doing warfare in my own life, just because I'm speaking words that are full of life and power.
The Word of God is not just any word, it is a word that changes lives. The Word renews our mind, it drops down in our heart, and it makes changes for us. So, we do have spiritual weapons. Peace is a weapon. Walking in peace when the enemy is throwing his best at you is a weapon. Righteousness is a weapon. Knowing who you are in Christ is a piece of armor, but it's also a way for you to fight the enemy. Wearing the helmet of salvation, thinking the way a child of God should think. And the Bible talks about wielding the two-edged sword, which happens to be this. You notice it doesn't say, just wear it on your side. It says, get it out of your sheath and use it. Wield that two-edged sword.
You Don’t Have to Fight: Take Your Position
Second Chronicles chapter 20 and verse 17. "You shall not need to fight in this battle. Take your position, stand still, and see the deliverance of the Lord who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Fear not, nor be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you." Isn't that good news? You don't need to fight in this battle. Take your position, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord. Now, for a lot of years, I thought our position was standing still. I thought, "take your position, stand still," was what he was trying to say. But if you read this whole Second Chronicles 20 in context, that's really not the position that he's talking about. And so we're going to start over here in verse 1, and we're going to learn some good lessons tonight out of 2 Chronicles 20.
Verse 1, "After this, the Moabites, the Ammonites, and with them the Meunites, came against Jehoshaphat to do battle." Have you ever noticed that there's a lot of "ites" in the Bible? And you know what? I've decided that we've all got our own little brand of "ites." It may be the bad boss ites, the grouchy neighbor ites, the backache ites, the not having enough money to pay our bill ites, but we've all got ites that come after us. Things that want to upset us. "And it was told Jehoshaphat, 'A great multitude has come against you from beyond the Dead Sea, from Edom. And behold, they are in Hazazon Tamar, which is Engedi.' Then Jehoshaphat feared." And I want you to pay close attention to that, because our first natural response to any kind of bad news or trouble is going to be a feeling of fear. Now what we do at that point is very important.
The Power of a Word from God
One word from God can give you the courage to confront anything. 25 years ago, I had breast cancer. And it was a very fast growing type of cancer. The tumor was very small. But back then they did more radical surgeries. And so I had to have a very radical surgery right away because they said I would be playing Russian roulette with my life if I didn't get it out of me. It was an estrogen dependent tumor. And so naturally, cancer is a frightening word. And I remember being so, so frightened. I would just, this fear would just overwhelm me. And then I would confess the word and I'd feel stronger again and I would trust God. And then here would come that fear again.
About three o'clock one morning. I mean, I heard so clearly in my spirit. I will take care of you. You can trust me. I'll take care of you. Now, you know what? 500 other people had said that to me. I had said it to me. We need to talk to ourselves in times of trouble. It's good to get encouragement from other people. But I'm just saying that when God said that to me, it was like, then my faith rose up. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Faith rises when you hear God. And I'm glad you're here to hear me tonight. But frankly, I hope you hear God through me. Or I hope something that I say will cause you to go home and seek God in that area for yourself. Because one word from God is worth 10,000 words from people.
Seeking God to Hear from Him
But we're not gonna hear from God if we won't set apart time to seek God. If you really don't know how to seek God, He will meet you where you're at. You don't have to go find Him where He's at. Come on, I need to say that again. I said, if you really don't know how to hear from God, the good news about God is He'll come and meet you where you're at. All you gotta do is sit down somewhere and say, "God, I need you. I'm in trouble. I don't wanna just react in fear. I don't wanna just react emotionally. I don't know what to do. Speak to me and lead me and guide me." And then if you don't hear something right away, don't get all frustrated and upset. When your time is over, then just say, "okay, God, I haven't heard a thing yet, but I believe that you're gonna lead me and guide me as I start taking steps." I always say you can't drive a parked car. Some of you gotta get your life out of park and start going somewhere for God to lead you anywhere. Right?
A Battle Plan of Worship and Waiting
It's all about worship. It's all about putting God first. Even if you notice the Lord's Prayer, I've been thinking about that today. "Our Father who is in heaven, holy is your name". We worship him before there's any mention of any kind of petition. "Give us this day our daily bread". No, we don't just go in and say, give us this day our daily bread. Our Father who is in heaven, the greatest of all. Holy are you, God. You're the most awesome. You're the best. You're the greatest. Give us this day our daily bread. Deliver us from all of our enemies. Deliver us from evil. I'm giving you a battle plan tonight.
Verse 12. "Oh, our God, will you not exercise judgment upon these people? For we have no might to stand against this great company that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you." You're never going to get help from God until you admit that you can't do it yourself. One of the reasons why we wear ourselves out is because we just keep trying to do it and not need help. According to Bible theology, only the humble get the help. And sometimes it's hard for people to say, "I can't do this. This is too much for me, God, but it's not too much for you. I don't know what to do."
I, for the life of me, I don't know why it is so hard for us to just say, "I don't know. I don't have a clue. But I know the one who does know, and I'm going to go to him, and he's going to show me what to do." Let me tell you something. As a child of God, you are never without answers. You may not know right this moment, but when God is ready, and the time is right, God will lead you and guide you, and he will show you what to do. And half of the time, he's leading us, and we don't even know he's leading us.
The Crucial Step of Waiting
"And all Judah stood before the Lord with their children and their wives," and I wrote here in the little space, they waited. And see, this is where we lose it a lot of times. We go and we present our petition to God, and then nothing happens right away, and so we go try to get a backup plan to do things ourselves. Just in case God doesn't come through, we're going to have another plan. They waited. They're like, we can't do this, God. So, you know, sometimes God will just wait a little bit to see if you're going to wait, or if you're going to go ahead and get into works of the flesh.
"Be not afraid or dismayed, for the battle is not yours, but God's." You take it to God, you seek Him, you separate some time, you worship first, you present your need, you tell Him that you can't solve your own problem, then you wait. Then here comes the Word from God. You can just forget about it, honey, because I got it taken care of. I've already got your breakthrough plan, and it'll come through just at the exact right time.
Worship as Spiritual Warfare
We want you to learn to worship God. And tonight, we entered into worship. We worship God. What do you think it did to the atmosphere over this city? How much darkness do you think was pierced here tonight? When all these different people from all these different denominations come together, everybody with their hands lifted up, some with tears streaming down their face, people with smiles on their face. I mean, you weren't just singing a song. You were worshiping God. And let me tell you something. You did yourself a favor of being here tonight, because the first 30 minutes you were here, you did nothing but pure spiritual warfare. And you enjoyed yourself while you were doing it. This is called How to Fight the Devil and Win.
"And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem all fell down before the Lord, worshiping him." Okay, now verse 21, we're getting close to something major. "And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers to sing to the Lord and praise Him in their holy priestly garments. And they went out before the army saying, 'Give thanks unto the Lord, for His mercy and loving kindness endure forever.'"
God’s Battle Plan: Praise Before the Victory
So just try to imagine this is what's going on. Here are the enemies coming against them. And this is what God has told them to do. This is God's great battle plan. Okay, you're not going to need to fight in this battle. The enemies that you've seen today, you'll never see again. Take your position. Come on. Make your request to God. And then don't live in fear after that. Just thank Him that He's working. God, I thank you ahead of time. We pray with Thanksgiving, the Bible says in Philippians 4. With Thanksgiving. So just imagine, all these people are walking around. "Oh, give thanks unto the Lord for He is good, for His mercy endures forever. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord for He is good, and His mercy endures forever."
Now, what would happen if you'd try this one day in your house instead of hanging on the phone all day complaining to all your friends? "Oh, give thanks unto the Lord for He is good, for His mercy endures forever." Somebody calls up, "so what are you doing about your problem?" "I'm not doing anything. I'm waiting for God to do something. I can't do anything. I don't know what to do, but I do know God. And I believe He's working." We talk ourselves right into a pit sometimes. Are you ready? I don't know if you're ready. Here it comes.
When Praise Confuses the Enemy
"And when they began to sing, verse 22, and praise, the Lord sent ambushments against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah, and they were self-slaughtered." Their praise and worship got the devil so confused that the enemies turned on each other, and they killed themselves. Come on, give God praise. Let God fight your battles. Take your position, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.