by Joyce Meyer
Here are a few examples of what I’m talking about. If you live in a free country, someone paid the price for your freedom at some time, but you must do your part to keep it or it will be lost. God may have helped you get a good job, but if you don’t do your part to be a valued employee, the time will come when you will lose the job. Jesus paid for our salvation and it comes to us as a gift, but we must do what needs to be done in order to resist the devil and stay strong.
The way to bring about any change is to be active and do what you can do!
By now you may be thinking, Wait a minute, Joyce. I thought this book was about letting God fight my battles, but it seems that you keep telling me what I need to do.
Letting God fight our battles doesn’t mean we do nothing while we wait for God to do everything. It’s also not about trying to do what only God can do while we passively refuse to do what we can do. Someone said that between the big things we cannot do and the small things we will not do, the danger is that we will do nothing. If we don’t plant seed, we don’t get a harvest; and if we take no action, then nothing ever changes.
It is amazing to me how most people who do nothing expect other people to do for them what they should have done themselves. As much as God loves us, He will not do everything for us because that would just enable us to be lazy, inactive, and therefore, complacent and unhappy. The laziest person on the earth is the unhappiest person on the earth. Why? Because God did not fill us with abilities, gifts, talents, strength, and creativity so we could sit around and do nothing. We either use what we have or we end up losing it. Ask God daily to show you what you can do and also to keep you from trying to do what only He can do.
For example:
• You cannot change your spouse or your child, but you can pray for God to make whatever changes He wants to make. And while you are waiting on God, you can stay busy working with the Holy Spirit to let Him make the changes in you that He wants to make.
• You cannot make people like you, but you can be a likable person.
• You cannot make your employer give you the promotion you want, but you can be the best worker he has. You can be on time, or even come in early, every day. You can go the extra mile on your job and do more than is expected of you. You can do all of this unto the Lord because of your love and appreciation for all He has done for you. Then if God chooses to promote you, it won’t matter what your employer wants or thinks, because what God orders always happens.
• If you are seriously out of shape and tired all the time, and you know you need to exercise regularly, you can take small steps to become healthier. You cannot start a program and get in shape overnight, but you can begin by doing what you can do each day, even if it is only walking around the block.
When to Pray and When to Act
Once when I was praying and asking God to help someone with a problem, God whispered to my heart, “Stop asking Me to do things that you could do yourself, but just don’t want to do.”
What God said didn’t need any interpretation. I wasn’t at all confused about it, and I knew immediately that He was right. I was asking God to provide something I could easily provide, but apparently, I had not been willing to make the sacrifice necessary to do so. Inactivity is actually dangerous for the believer because when we are doing nothing, and the devil finds us passive and lazy—then he can gain access to our lives.
We should pray all the time, including times when we intend to take action. We should never take any kind of action without acknowledging God in it. For example, I might have prayed in the situation with my friend in need, “Father, needs money to pay her rent this month because of an unexpected car repair. I am willing to pay it for her if that is what You would like me to do.” Then, if I sense peace about my intended action, I should go ahead with it.
There are times when we pray and then act, and there are times when all we can do is pray because no action we can take will help or change our situation. We must discern between these two times and always be ready to act if we can and should do so.
Matthew 25 offers an example of people who did not do what they should have done and then expected those who had done it to get them out of trouble. In this parable, ten virgins took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five were foolish, thoughtless, silly, and careless, but the other five were diligent, wise, far-sighted, practical, and sensible.
The bridegroom was delayed and they all fell asleep, but the extra wait was no problem for the wise because they had brought extra oil with them just in case they had to wait longer than expected. The foolish ones didn’t consider bringing extra oil because they were not the type to do anything extra. When the bridegroom did come, the foolish virgins were not ready and were left behind, but the wise went into the wedding feast. This story ends with this instruction:
Therefore, be on the alert [be prepared and ready], for you do not know the day nor the hour [when the Son of Man will come].
Matthew 25:13
In other words, stay active, always doing what you can do, because that is the safest course of action. Letting God fight our battles doesn’t render us passive and inactive, but it does assure us that we don’t need to be stressed trying to do things we cannot do or don’t know how to do. God will fight for us!
Evil Isn’t God’s Fault
Many people say the reason they cannot or will not believe in God is because they see so much evil in the world. Their reasoning is that if God were good as people say He is, He would not allow all the hunger, murder, violence, drug addiction, homelessness, and other equally vile things we see around us or in the news each day. My question is: Are we waiting on God to solve all of these problems, or is He waiting on us? Think about this story:
A certain preacher and an atheistic barber were once walking through the city slums.
Said the barber to the preacher: “This is why I cannot believe in a God of love. If God was as kind as you say, He would not permit all this poverty, disease, and squalor. He would not allow these poor bums to be addicted to dope and other character-destroying habits. No, I cannot believe in a God who permits these things.”
The minister was silent until they met a man who was especially unkempt and filthy. His hair was hanging down his neck, and he had a half-inch of stubble on his face.
Said the minister: “You can’t be a very good barber or you wouldn’t permit a man like that to continue living in this neighborhood without a haircut and a shave.”
Indignantly the barber answered: “Why blame me for that man’s condition? I can’t help it that he is like that. He has never come to my shop. I could fix him up and make him look like a gentleman!”
Giving the barber a penetrating look, the minister said: “Then don’t blame God for allowing people to continue in their evil ways, when He is constantly inviting them to come and be saved.”
from “The Preacher and the Atheist Barber,” sermonillustrator.org
We can easily see from this story that most of the world’s problems could be solved if only the people with the problems would do what they could do, or if other people who are praying for them would do what they could do. We have many problems in our world today. Actually there are so many problems that I admit they seem overwhelming, but perhaps of all of our problems the biggest one is not doing what we can do. We cannot do it all, but we must refuse to do nothing.
So any person who knows what is right to do but does not do it, to him it is sin.
James 4:17
CHAPTER 3
The Battle Belongs to the Lord
Be not afraid or dismayed at this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.
2 Chronicles 20:15
A great multitude was coming against King Jehoshaphat and all of Judah. When the king heard the report about this attack he was afraid. That is a normal response when we hear bad news, but it doesn’t have to be our final response. No matter how bad the report is, if we remember that God is on our side, we can move q
uickly from fear to faith.
As soon as Jehoshaphat heard the report and felt afraid, he determined to seek the Lord—not only to seek Him, but to earnestly seek Him “as his vital need” (see 2 Chron. 20:3). He also proclaimed a fast throughout all of Judah. He did not waste any time starting to seek God seriously.
I love this story in 2 Chronicles because it teaches us many lessons, one of which is that when the battle is more than we can handle, God tells us we don’t have to be dismayed because the battle is His, not ours.
We see clearly in this story the principle that I am writing about, which is that we should do what we can do and let God do what we cannot do. Jehoshaphat couldn’t win the battle because too many groups of people had joined together to defeat him and Judah. Seeking God was something he could do, and he wasted no time beginning to do so. He sought God diligently and seriously as his vital need. When something is considered vital, it usually means we cannot live without it. Jehoshaphat knew he was doomed to defeat unless God showed him what to do.
The people gathered together and sought help from God. According to 2 Chronicles 20:4, they were longing for Him with all their hearts. When we read this, we can sense their desperation and the depth of their realization that without God, they had no way to win the battle.
Another thing Jehoshaphat could do, and that he did, was give God praise for His power and majesty and confess that no one was able to stand against Him (see 2 Chron. 20:6). We should follow this example of seeking God and giving Him praise for all His marvelous acts. Sadly, many of us who become afraid when we get bad news begin to verbalize our fear or disappointment instead. We complain and may call our friends or our pastor to ask for advice. This is not what Jehoshaphat did, and it is not what we should do, either. Our first response to any problem should be to seek God while simultaneously giving Him praise for His greatness.
Next, Jehoshaphat reminded God that He had previously driven out these same enemies and given His people Israel the land. He actually reminded God that He gave it forever to the descendants of Abraham (see 2 Chron. 20:7). He said they had lived in the land and built God a sanctuary in it for His Name.
He also reminded God of the times they had stood before the sanctuary they had built to honor Him, confessing, “If evil comes on us, or the sword of judgment, or plague, or famine, we will stand before this house and before You (for Your Name and Your Presence is in this house) and we will cry out to You in our distress, and You will hear and save us” (2 Chronicles 20:9).
I hope you are seeing the wisdom Jehoshaphat used in approaching God. He had not yet made a petition for help with his problem, but he had sought God, fasted, given praise, and reminded God that He had given them the land. Only after doing all that did he mention his problem. But once again he reminded God that He would not allow Israel to invade those nations when they came from Egypt, and now their enemies were “rewarding” them by coming to drive them out of the land God had given to them as an inheritance (see verses 10–11).
I continue to be amazed by the wisdom of the way Jehoshaphat spoke with God and presented his problem. He respectfully told God that the problem was His: First, He gave them the land. Second, He wouldn’t let them destroy these same enemies when they could have done so. And third, the land and the people in it belonged to Him anyway.
Admit Total Dependence on God
The next thing that Jehoshaphat did was very powerful, and it is something we all need to do in times of battle. He admitted total and complete dependence on God.
“O our God, will You not judge them? For we are powerless against this great multitude which is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on You.”
2 Chronicles 20:12
Jesus says that apart from Him we can do nothing (see John 15:5), and the sooner we learn this truth the more battles we will win. He is the Vine and we are the branches, and no branch can survive very long if it is separated from the Vine, which is its life source. I think it is wise to verbalize our dependence on God several times a day. “God, I need You. I am nothing without You, and I can do nothing without You.” These are powerful confessions that please God and remind us of the position that belongs to Him in our lives, which is first place. God leads and we follow! Nothing works if that order is reversed.
After the people declare that their eyes are on God, they wait!
So all Judah stood before the Lord, with their infants, their wives, and their children.
2 Chronicles 20:13
Scripture does not tell us how long they waited, but I sense they were prepared to wait as long as it took for God to speak to them because they knew they would be defeated without Him. How long are you prepared to wait on God in order to get clear direction from Him? I think God knows our hearts, and if we are determined not to move without His direction, we can be assured that it will come at just the right time.
As they waited the Spirit of God came upon Jahaziel and he said, “Listen carefully, all [you people of] Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and King Jehoshaphat. The LORD says this to you: ‘Be not afraid or dismayed at this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s’” (2 Chronicles 20:15).
Can you imagine the relief they felt when God spoke through Jahaziel? I am sure that excitement spread through the crowd who had been waiting to hear from God. They might have wondered what exactly the message meant. Was there anything God wanted them to do, or should they just keep standing there? Perhaps they should just go back to their homes? They had to be wondering what was next, and God told them.
He said they were to go down against the enemy tomorrow, and He told them exactly where they would find them. Then He said these crucial words:
“You need not fight in this battle; take your positions, stand and witness 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.”
2 Chronicles 20:17
This seems a bit odd. They were told to go out against their enemies, but they were also told they would not need to fight. In this verse God said something else of great importance, which we don’t want to miss. He said, “Take your position.” The people obviously knew what their position should be, because the next verse says, “Jehoshaphat bowed with his face to the ground, and all Judah… fell down before the LORD, worshiping Him. The Levites, from the sons of the Kohathites and the sons of the Korahites, stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel, with a very loud voice” (2 Chronicles 20:18–19).
Some bowed and worshipped while others stood and praised with loud voices. In this instance their battle position was one of praise and worship! They did have something to do, but it was perhaps a little different from what they would have normally done in a battle.
J. Oswald Sanders in his book Enjoying Intimacy with God quoted John R. W. Stott, who said, “We evangelicals do not know much about worship. Evangelism is our specialty, not worship. We have little sense of the greatness of Almighty God. We tend to be cocky, flippant, and proud. And our worship services are often ill-prepared, slovenly, mechanical, perfunctory, and dull… Much of our public worship is ritual without reality, form without power, religion without God” (Grand Rapids, MI: Discovery House, 2000, p. 23).
J. Oswald Sanders himself said, “Worship is simply the adoring contemplation of God” (Ibid.). There is a time for our petitions, but during worship we are not asking for anything. We are simply focused on God and how amazingly wonderful He is. When we have a problem, our first response is more than likely to petition (ask) God to help us with our problem. But King Jehoshaphat didn’t do that.
After worshipping, Jehoshaphat reminded the people to believe and trust in God and to believe and trust in His prophets, and they would succeed (see 2 Chron. 20:20). Sometimes we simply need to be reminded to continue trusting God. Perhaps some of the people were so afraid that they struggled to believe, so the king reminded them to stay strong in faith all the way through
their situation. The same is true for us when we are facing battles. We may not always understand why God is dealing with our need the way He is, but our part is to continue trusting Him.
Then King Jehoshaphat consulted with the people and “he appointed those who sang to the LORD and those who praised Him in their holy (priestly) attire, as they went out before the army and said, ‘Praise and give thanks to the LORD, for His mercy and lovingkindness endure forever’” (2 Chronicles 20:21).
These instructions were very specific: They needed to be dressed in the right attire, and they were to speak specific words. Try to get a mental picture of what this must have looked like to Judah’s enemies: They were ready for a fierce battle—a military conflict—and what they see is Jehoshaphat bowing with his face to the ground in worship and all the inhabitants of Judah doing the same. People were praising God with a very loud voice and singers were singing, thanking God for His mercy and lovingkindness, which endure forever.
In the remainder of the story we find that the Lord caused confusion to come upon the enemy and they actually started killing one another. They continued to do so until they were all dead. The enemy wiped themselves out. As the men of Judah went to the lookout tower, all they saw were dead bodies lying on the ground. No one escaped (see 2 Chron. 20:22–24).
Your Battlefield Becomes Your Place of Blessing
To me the end of this story is one of the best parts. Jehoshaphat and his people went to battle to take the spoils of war. This means they took what was left of their enemies’ weapons, equipment, garments, goods, and other valuables. There was so much plunder to carry away that it took them three days to accomplish the job. On the fourth day they renamed the place where the battle was fought the Valley of Beracah, meaning “valley of blessings.”
