Good Battle

My devotional this morning came from 2 Chronicles 20:20-37. It is a portion of the story of King Jehoshaphat’s victory over his enemies. You can read the story and I am sure many of us have heard it told in church all our lives. Two very important points stood out to me in the story:

1. Our focus should remain on praising God and giving Him thanks before and during every battle of life. Jehoshaphat and his army praised God before going into battle. When they got to the place of battle God had caused their enemies to turn on each other and defeat themselves before Jehoshaphat and his army even arrived.

Amazingly so, as God always works in my life, He confirms. I spoke just last week to two people about how God will eventually cause your enemies to turn on each other. When people deal in evil devices and seek gain for the wrong reasons it will be brought to naught in time and they will become their own enemies. I believe the main reason for this is their motives are not pure. They seek personal gain at any cost and are not making allies in the process but they are only making envious partners that will surely stand against them when the day of reckoning comes.

Have you ever watched The First 48. It happens all the time on there. Partners in crime start out together and as soon as they get them in the interrogation room or “the box” as they call it on The First 48, they turn on each other!

2. The second point in the study just as noteworthy, but not often told is how Jehoshaphat later lost his reign. He made an alliance with a king of Israel who was guilty of wickedness. It was concerning a ship trade and the Lord caused the ships to wreck and they were not able to set sail and trade. Jehoshaphat also lost his reign

Hmmm…makes you wonder why we do not believe the circumstances and outcome of evil is the same on every side. It is the same for us as it is for our enemies. If we are to really prosper we must prosper based on God’s principles. We cannot pick and choose which situations we will respond to righteously but we must choose the right way in every circumstance.