Fasting Part 10

He is risen! The Easter fast is over at the completion of your Easter worship service! For those of you who have participated, you can  be sure the Lord has heard your prayers as you cried out to Him with your heart, soul, and body! Now, let us see what the Lord will do. It is in His merciful hands. He will give us exactly what we need as individuals, a church, and a nation! Glory be to You O God!

People are afraid of this invisible virus that has brought us to our knees, and in today’s devotional thought I want to address the matter of fear again.

Let's read from  2 Chronicles 20 beginning at v1: “After this the Moabites and Ammonites and with them some of the Meunites came against Jehoshaphat for battle. Some men came and told Jehoshaphat , “a great multitude is coming against you from Edom, from beyond the sea, they are in Hazazon-tamar (that is, Engedi) Then Jehoshaphat was afraid.”

He was what? Afraid! Great fear gripped Jehoshaphat! No wonder they called him, “jumpin' Jehosophat!” The enemies of Israel were  far superior to his forces and they were coming after him and they were already at a nearby city, the deadline was looming. There was no running, no escaping. (This virus is everywhere!)

What did this fear cause him to do? V3 – “And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.”

It was this fasting that set his face to seek the Lord. It was fasting and prayer that caused God to intervene. It was the fasting that caused God to jump into his field of vision, it was fasting that allowed him to see God instead of the problem!

What happened to Jehoshaphat  and the Israelites after their fast? Incredibly, the armies of the Ammonites, Moabites, and Meunites destroyed each other, and by the time the Israelites arrived for the battle , “they looked to the horde and behold there were dead bodies on the ground.” (2 Chron 20:24.)

 This is what God is able to do to your source of fear. He is able to scatter your fear like the dead bodies of the Ammorites And after this stunning victory Jehoshaphat addressed the people and said, "Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the LORD your God, and you shall be established; (Faith) believe His prophets, (Faith driven obedience) and you shall prosper."

Believe God! He is able! Just ask those who went through the Red Sea and saw the source of their fears drowned when the sea closed in over Pharaoh’s army.

Just ask Daniel, when the source of his fears had their mouths silenced and their jaws wired shut when he spent the night with his fears in the lion’s den.

Just ask Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego  when the source of their fears tried to turn up the heat in the fiery furnace.

Just ask Peter, when his head was on the chopping block and the way out was opened up to him. Wait a minute! When was Peter’s head on the chopping block? I don’t remember reading that in the Bible! Well, let me refresh your memory!

Ac 12:1 Now about that time Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church.

 2 Then he killed James the brother of John with the sword.

 3 And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also. (Um what do you suppose his plans were for Peter?)

Now it was during the Days of Unleavened Bread.

 4 So when he had arrested him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover.

 5 Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered (but what was offered?) to God for him by the church. (By who?)

 6 And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and the guards before the door were keeping the prison.

 7 Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, "Arise quickly!" And his chains fell off his hands.

“And the chains fell off his hands.” Oh Lord hear the prayers of Your church! Free us from fear! In Your mercy, free us from this plague

Think about it friends. What is God able to do in your life when fear grips you. I really don’t know, I only know when it grips you to the point of immobilizing you, it’s time to fast. It’s time to call out to God, and say “I can’t, but You can!” In fasting you call God into the picture, and He stands between you and the source of your fears.   

And His shadow alone is enough to scatter the enemy, and to give you the victory!