Key scripture- “Now it came about after this that the sons of Moab and the sons of Ammon, together with some of the Meunites, came to make war against Jehoshaphat. Then some came and reported to Jehoshaphat, saying, “A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, out of Aram and behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar that is Engedi” (2 Chronicles 20:1-2).

What do you do when you are in a desperate situation? When it feels like life is caving in on you. When all your options are gone, none of your contacts can help you, and your money can’t buy you a solution. When it feels like everything is wrong, and no matter what you do, no matter which way you turn, you can not fix the problem.

We have all been in situations that appear to be unfixable, when our problems run too deep, and they have gone on for a long time. When you are in that type of situation it is always the last place that you want to be but it is exactly the place where the Lord knows you need to be.

That is the situation that Jehoshaphat found himself in in 2 Chronicles 20. He and all of Israel were in a problem that they could not fix.

In 2 Chronicles 20:1, Jehoshaphat was in a bad situation because the Moabites, Ammonites, and some of the Menuites came to make war against Jehoshaphat and all of Israel. He was under attack and he was surrounded by a problem that he could not fix. In verse 12 he tells God that “they are powerless against this great horde that is coming against them.” He also says, we do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” This first thing that we see that Jehoshaphat did when he saw that he had a problem that was big and overwhelming is, he prayed to God and fasted.

In Verse 4 Jehoshaphat gathered all of Judah together to seek help from the Lord. They were saying, “God you have to fix this one, because we cannot do it. We need heaven to take care of this problem.”

Jehoshaphat prayed a beautiful prayer in Verses 5 -12.
“And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, and said, “O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you. Did you not, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? And they have lived in it and have built for you in it a sanctuary for your name, saying, ‘If disaster comes upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before you—for your name is in this house—and cry out to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save.’ And now behold, the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt, and whom they avoided and did not destroy—behold, they reward us by coming to drive us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit. O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” (2 Chronicles 20:5-12).

Jehoshaphat’s problem lead him to pray. Prayer is an invitation to heaven to address something going wrong here on earth. It is calling on eternity to visit time.

There are times in our lives when God will allow us to be overwhelmed, just like He did with Jehoshaphat, in order to give us an experience so that we will have a bigger view of the Big God that we serve. When we have a problem that is overwhelming and so big that there are no human solutions to fix it, that is when God wants us to see that He is our only answer, not only to the big problems, but to all of our problems.

Jehoshaphat cries out to God, not in his mind but he uses his voice to cry out to God about His problem and the victory that he needs over his enemies. Then something amazing happens in Verse 14. Jehoshaphat moved from his problem, to a prayer, and that led to a Prophet giving him a Rhema Word from God

In Verse 15 the Lord speaks through His Prophet who said, “Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: Thus says the Lord to you, ‘Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s.” The Prophet delivered a specific word, a Rhema Word, for a specific scenario.

A Rhema Word is different from a general word. For example, this Key scripture is a general word that is going out. But it can also be a Rhema Word to someone who is reading it, which is a specific word to them about what they should do regarding their specific problem. It is the job of the Holy Spirit to give each one of you your word from this Word. The Holy Spirit uses this Word to tell you what to do right now about your situation, and when that happens, that is a Rhema Word that is directed specifically to you about your dilemma.

After hearing the Rhema Word from the Prophet, Jehoshaphat and the people of Israel had victory in their voice. We see in Verse 19, they “stood up to praise the Lord God, with a very loud voice.” In Verse 21 they “sang to the Lord and praised him in holy attire”. Verse 22 they “began to sing and praise”.

We need to do the same thing that Jehoshaphat and the people of Israel did when they faced an impossible situation: when their problem came up, it lead them to prayer, which brought a Rhema Word from God, which led to praise.

Praise is so important to God. The Psalmist says in Psalm 22:3 that the Lord inhabits the praises of his people. “Yet You are holy, O You who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel.” (Psalm 22:3).

But what is praise? Is it the same thing as worship?

Worship is your adoration of God for who He is. What He has done, and what you are trusting him to do. It is the recognition of who God is. Praise is the visible verbal expression of your worship. There is such a thing as silent worship, but there is no such thing as silent praise.

You also need to understand that just because you worship God does not mean you are praising Him, because praise must be audible. It is just like being saved, you can be saved in private, however, you cannot be a disciple of Jesus in private, because a disciple is someone who has gone public. A disciple is the person who publicly declares Jesus as Lord.

When you worship that is your personal adoration and declaration to God. When you praise that is your visible verbal declaration to God that you’re proclaiming it to everybody, and your praise is what God inhabits. Sometimes praise is no more than a whisper and sometimes it is a loud voice, but it is always audible. When you are willing to express audibly how you feel about God, that is praise, and that is what God inhabits.

The difference between praise and worship is like a man who is married and never tells his wife he loves her. He may love her, it may be true, but she never feels it because he never says it. God wants to feel your worship and the way he does that is he feels it in your praise. People say, I worship God, but do you praise him. Is there a verbal declaration of the worship that you say you feel for God deep in your heart. If it is worship unexpressed then it is worship that God doesn’t feel, because it is your praise that He inhabits. God knows that your worship is there but he wants more than knowledge, He wants to feel it through your praise. Unfortunately far too many of God’s people are either: to sophisticated to praise Him; to cute to praise Him; to educated to praise Him; or to reserved to praise Him.

Sometimes you have to praise God when you feel like there is no apparent reason to do so. This is when you praise God even though you have not seen any change in your circumstances. Hebrews 13;15 calls it the “sacrifice of praise”. “Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.” (Hebrews 13:15). The author of Hebrews understands that sometimes it is a sacrifice for you to praise God, because nothing has changed, your situation has not gotten any better, but you have to praise Him anyway. Job praised God when his whole world collapsed, when he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21). Job was saying, “I am going to praise God even though my circumstances are horrible and I cannot see how it is ever going to be alright again.”

Why is praise so critical? In addition to God inhabiting your praise, it is also in your praise that God brings about your deliverance.

“They rose early in the morning and went out to the wilderness of Tekoa; and when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, O Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, put your trust in the Lord your God and you will be established. Put your trust in His prophets and succeed.” When he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who sang to the Lord and those who praised Him in holy attire, as they went out before the army and said, “Give thanks to the Lord, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.” When they began singing and praising, the Lord set ambushes against the sons of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; so they were routed. For the sons of Ammon and Moab rose up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir destroying them completely; and when they had finished with the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another.”
(2 Chronicles 20:20-23).

It says when they started praising God that He confused the enemy. “When they began singing and praising, the Lord set ambushes against the sons of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; so they were routed.” When God heard their praise, not when He read their heart, when he heard their praise, He confused their enemy because they were uttering, declaring, speaking, and singing praises. “Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, O Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, put your trust in the Lord your God and you will be established. Put your trust in His prophets and succeed.” When he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who sang to the Lord and those who praised Him in holy attire, as they went out before the army and said, “Give thanks to the Lord, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.”

In the New Testament, we saw praise do the same thing for Paul and Silas when they were in prison. “When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely; and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; and suddenly there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened.” (Acts 16:23-26). Because they were singing and praising God, He confused the enemy and the ground under the prison shook, their chains fell off and the prison doors were opened.

If you want to send your enemy, Satan, into confusion, then get your praise on. Let God hear your praise because He knows that Satan cannot handle your praise.

The reason why Satan hates for us to praise God is because according to Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 Satan used to lead all the other angels in Heaven in praise of God. He was the praise and worship leader in Heaven and one day his pride got the best of him and he decided he should be receiving the praise not God, and that is what got him thrown out of heaven with a third of the angels.

So Satan tried to take the praise away from God and put the praise on himself, and one third of the angels followed him. So the reason why God wants you to praise Him is because He wants to take back legitimately what Satan stole from Him illegitimately. So when God hears your praise, He reroutes the enemy with your praise. Satan wants to keep you quiet and he will do whatever he can to stop you from praising God. He likes it when you are to reserved or ashamed or intimidated to praise God publicly because he knows that if he can keep you from praising God then he can have his way in your life. So let the Lord hear your praise, especially when your problem is overwhelming you, and He will confuse and take care of your enemy so that you do not have to.

So go on and get your Praise On!!!

Pray this – Our Precious Heavenly Father, I praise You be proclaiming out loud right now how much I love You, and how much I thank You for Jesus, the Holy Spirit, that I have eternal life, for Your loving kindness, goodness, patience, strength, and forgiveness. Forgive me for not praising You like I should. I admit, there have been times that I held back from publicly expressing praise because I was to embarrassed. I am so sorry for that. From here on out, no matter who sees me, and no matter what is going on, I will get my praise on. Father, I want You to feel at home in my praise and feel how much I appreciate Who You are and what You have done for me. I will get my praise on and never take it off!! In Jesus’ Name, I pray, Amen.

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