SEVEN SECRETS OF VICTORY

SEVEN SECRETS OF VICTORY

                Now that we have faced the challenges involved in taking care of Bonnie’s sister Alilia, we must next face the challenge of legal disputes concerning money and property and such. It is more or less a battle between lawyers, but such things can be emotionally draining. Where especially money is involved, people who are normally nice can suddenly turn very ugly. And in many cases it is not the ones that care the most or give the most that gain the spoils, but those with the most greed and the better lawyers.

                Bonnie and I did not take her sister in for money. In fact we had no idea that there would be anything to deal with other than unpaid bills, but somebody in the extended family knew and they went to court to get what they wanted and in the process of that court hearing we found out for the first time that there was a trust involved. So now what?

                So yesterday, during our communion and prayer time, I sat down with Bonnie and said:

“Bonnie, we are not going to get emotionally involved in this thing. We don’t operate the way those people do and win or lose I think it’s time to fully engage in God’s recommended way of doing things.

                In 2 Chronicles 20 we see an outline of warfare that led to victory in the life of King Jehoshaphat. The seven secrets are found in chapter 2o, but the whole thing is set up in chapter 19:11b where the instructions were this: “Act resolutely and the Lord will be with the upright.”

                The world may grovel over money and things, but we are not of this world. We are part of a royal family that doesn’t need the world’s goods in order to survive. After all our God fed and watered   2 ½ million people in the desert for forty years with manna from heaven. He operates on a different economy than the world does and if the truth be known, we are far more interested in God’s will being done, than we are in who gets what. If we won the case and yet did it in an ungodly way, what good would that be?

                In my Bible I had underlined these secrets to victory some years ago and in the margin I had written down “Secret # 1, Secret # 2 and so on. So Bonnie and I are going to review these things before God on a daily basis, thus reminding ourselves not to get emotionally tangled up in this case and we will stand back and see the power of God at work. However it turns out, we will accept it as God’s will and purpose in the matter.

                During Jehoshaphat’s reign, it was discovered that Judah was surrounded by a vast army made up of the sons of Moab, and Ammon and some of the Meunites and they drastically outnumbered the armies of Judah. As I look at this story with fresh eyes, it could really be called the 9 secrets of victory, for when the people of Judah heard of their predicament it says in verse 3: “And Jehoshaphat was afraid and turned his attention to seek the Lord and he proclaimed a fast throughout all of Judah.” Praying and fasting are certainly a part of it. Then in verse 4 it says “So Judah gathered together to seek help from the Lord; they even came from all the cities in Judah to seek the Lord.”

SECRET # 1    IS FOUND IN VERSE 6

                Jehoshaphat prayed saying: “O Lord, the God of our fathers, art Thou not God in the heavens? And art Thou not Ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations?         POWER AND MIGHT ARE IN THY HAND SO THAT NO ONE CAN STAND AGAINST THEE.”

SECRET # 2    IS FOUND IN VERSE 12

                ‘FOR WE ARE POWERLESS BEFORE THIS GREAT MULTITUDE WHO ARE COMING AGAINST US; NOR DO WE KNOW WHAT TO DO, BUT OUR EYES ARE ON YOU.”

SECRET # 3     IS FOUND IN VERSE 15

                “THE BATTLE IS NOT YOURS BUT GOD’S”

SECRET #4     IS FOUND IN VERSE 17

                “YOU NEED NOT FIGHT IN THIS BATTLE; STATION YOURSELVES, STAND AND SEE THE SALVATION OF THE LORD ON YOUR BEHALF.”

SECRET #5      IS FOUND IN VERSE 19

                The Levites from the sons of the Kohathites and of the sons of the Korahites, STOOD TO PRAISE THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL WITH A VERY LOUD VOICE.”

SECRET # 6    IS FOUND IN VERSE 20

                “PUT YOUR TRUST IN THE LORD YOUR GOD AND YOU WILL BE ESTABLISHED. PUT YOUR TRUST IN HIS PROPHETS AND SUCCEED.”

SECRET # 7     IS FOUND IN VERSE 22

                “AND WHEN THEY BEGAN SINGING AND PRAISING, THE LORD SET AMBUSHES AGAINST THE SONS OF AMMON, MOAB AND MOUNT SEIR, WHO HAD COME AGAINST JUDAH AND THEY WERE ROUTED.”

                “When Judah came to the lookout of the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude; and behold they were corpses lying on the ground and no one had escaped. And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take their spoil, they found much among them including goods and garments and valuable things which they took for themselves, more than they could carry. And they were three days taking the spoil because there was so much. Then on the fourth day they assembled in the valley of Beracah, for there they blessed the Lord…” 2 Chron. 20:24-26

                Now, verse 23 tells us how it was accomplished saying: “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.” In other words, the armies that had joined to fight against Judah turned on each other and destroyed each other down to the last man. God didn’t do it and Israel didn’t do it. They got entangled in an age old feud and ended up destroying each other instead of Judah.

                Well, we are not praying for such extreme measures. We certainly don’t want anybody to end up dead and as far as our winning or losing the case, we are placing that in God’s hands as well

                Our worship team often sings this song called, “This is how I Fight My Battles” and in the song it says, “It may look like I’m surrounded, but I’m surrounded by You.”

                Whatever may be the outcome of this battle, our top priority is to be surrounded by the Lord. We want to live and act in such a way that we will continue to be surrounded by the Lord, dwelling in the Secret Place of the Most High. Why fight over temporary things, when eternal things are already in our hands?

                We need to understand that God’s concept of winning is not always our concept. We may think that winning means getting the money or whatever, when in fact winning,  God’s eyes may be focused on how we have learned to handle situations in faith and not in covetousness or greed.

                In Luke 21:16, 17 Jesus said a strange or funny thing. He said: “But you will be betrayed by parents and brothers and relatives and friends and they will put some of you to death, and you will be hated on account of My name. Yet not a hair of your head will perish.”

                And I am saying, “Hey, wait a minute Jesus, You first said that “we may be killed and then you go on to say that not a hair of my head will perish.” Well, which way is it? Are we killed or is every hair of my head preserved unto life?

                Here God is showing us how He looks at winning. We may be killed, but not a hair of our heads will perish. What does this mean? Well, verse 19 gives us the answer. It says: “By your perseverance you will win your souls.”

                In God’s way of thinking then, dying is not the worst thing…but  losing your own soul… that is the worst thing. So if by persevering we win our souls we are winners in God’s eyes, whether we live or die. God forever has His eternal view in mind and not our temporary view. Paul also seemed to think that death was of little consequence. He said, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Phil. 1:21

                In fact, Paul would have preferred to depart and to be with Christ, but he was willing to stay on as long as God wanted him to. He knew that winning meant remaining in the center of God’s will even though he would have much preferred to go and be with the Lord.

                In our lesson for this week we find an exhortation to persevere for as it says in Heb. 10:36

“You have need of patience, that after you have done the will of God you might receive the promise.” Hebrews 10:36

                Our priority in this Christian life is to learn how to walk in lock step with the Lord. Everything else is way down the ladder from that. We are predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ and it is within our reach to reign with Christ in His coming kingdom, if we will learn to reign with Him now.

                Faith is not some kind of mental pressure that we exert to force God’s promises to come true.

                Faith is not holding God’s feet to the fire until He keeps His promises in the way we want them                 kept.

                Faith is not positive thinking… faith is believing that God is and that He is the rewarder of              those that diligently seek Him. Heb. 11:6. Faith is in knowing that God causes all things to work            together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purposes. “        Rom. 8:28. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Heb.             11:1

                Faith is in believing that the invisible things are eternal while the visible things are temporary     and passing away. 2 Cor. 4:18 If we really understand this then we will seek first the kingdom of         God and His righteousness and all the other things will be added as we need them.” Mt. 6:33

                If you are currently going through a battle of your own, then perhaps you should review the 7 secrets of Victory. These secrets are not contrived by man. They are not like “Seven steps to a better you.” Rather this is God’s formula for victory in this life, given to us in a type and shadow, for everything that God displayed physically through Israel He applies spiritually through the church. The Old Testament is a template for New Testament spiritual realities.

                Can you see it? Everything that is happening physically and politically and socially in Israel today is finding its spiritual counterpart in the church and like Israel, some are working together to form the kingdom of the Beast, while others are becoming a remnant people of God… the sons and daughters of God. Likewise in every church, there are those who are conforming to the kingdom of the Beast and those that are conforming to the image of Christ. "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

Mt. 6:21. So… here’s to victory!