A Christian Voice Nanosermon
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Nanosermon Script:
If you are anything like me you really want your prayers answered. Now there are a lot of things which need to come together in our prayer life such as faith, obedience, confidence, right thinking, determination. I’ll cover those, God willing, in the days and weeks ahead.
Right now I’m going to focus on just three simple things. So come with me to second chronicles chapter twenty. This is no less than your foundational chapter on prayer. Here’s the background: Judah and Jerusalem were being attacked by three armies at once. So what did righteous King Jehoshaphat do? Let’s look at verse three:
2Chr 20:3 And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. (KJV)
Number 1: Fasting
You might think it’s not a good start to be afraid, but the man is only human. Don’t get hung up on that, it’s his reaction to that which is important.
Our three key things are all in this verse and each one shows God your prayer is serious and fervent. Put them all together and just see what happens.
Number one is fasting. The Lord Jesus did not say ‘If you fast’ in Matthew chapter six and verse sixteen, he said ‘when you fast.’ With fasting you humble yourself before the Lord. You show God your prayer is serious.
Number 2: Unity
Number two is unity. It’s stressed right through this chapter King Jehoshaphat brought the people together in unity. He proclaimed a fast throughout ALL Judah, and out of ALL the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.
Don’t think the Jewish people of that day didn’t have differences and squabbles. Of course they did. But they set their disagreements on one side to come together in unity.
We know from Psalm one hundred and thirty three that unity commands a blessing. So pray in unity with your church or your house group or even with your family.
You know, just a husband and wife praying together releases spiritual power you can only imagine.
Number 3: Something to do
Number three is that Jehoshaphat sought the Lord for something to do. The Lord receives so many prayers which are ‘Lord, do this’, or ‘Lord do that’. Rarely does he hear someone pray ‘Lord, what can I do?’
And when that prayer arrives at the Throne of Grace, he will send the answer, in a dream, or a vision, or at the mouth of two or three people as points of witness coming to you with the same idea.
Here, Jehoshaphat laid out the problem and reminded the Lord of his promises in a prayer recorded in verses eight to eleven. Then in verse twelve he prayed:
2Chr 20:12 O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee.
The action plan arrives!
He prayed for something to do. Immediately, the prophet Jahaziel gave him an action plan:
2Chr 20:15 And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s.
If you’re tempted to stop there, and leave it all to God, seeing it’s his battle, the next verse says:
2Chr 20:16 Tomorrow go ye down against them:
Jahaziel said they would not need to fight in the battle, but they needed to do something: Go out fully armed, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD. They praised God after merely receiving the answer.
Do the little things and watch God do the miraculous
When they went out the next day, praising the Lord, he set confusion amongst their enemies – that’s always a good thing to pray for in itself – and their enemies all killed each other.
Read the chapter and see how long it took for the people of Judah to gather the spoil. There you are, fasting, unity, and some action.
Do those little things that only you can do, and watch God do the miraculous as he answers your prayer.
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