Fear showed up with a coalition army, and Jehoshaphat did the unexpected: he called a fast, gathered families, and sought God’s face. From that moment, everything shifted. A Spirit-breathed word reframed the fight—show up, stand firm, and watch the Lord save. We walk through the drama of 2 Chronicles 20 and the simple, powerful practices that turned panic into praise and a battlefield into a place of breakthrough.
We share how the community’s shared prayer and fasting aligned their hearts, why posture matters when worship gets real, and what it looks like to obey when obedience feels counterintuitive. The twelve-mile march becomes a living lesson in perseverance. Then comes the move no strategist would suggest: appoint singers ahead of soldiers. Their song—give thanks to the Lord, for His steadfast love endures forever—anchors identity and invites God’s action. When praise rises, God sets an ambush, confusion scatters the enemy, and the threat collapses on itself.
Along the way, we get practical about choosing worship over feelings, resisting easy distractions during corporate praise, and learning to hold position when anxiety screams for quick fixes. If you’ve felt surrounded by pressures you can’t beat in your own strength, this story offers a clear path forward: seek, listen, obey, and sing. Join us for a faith-stirring journey that will reshape how you face battles at home, at work, and in your heart. If this encouraged you, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs courage, and leave a review so more people can find hope.
Episode Transcript
What's going on, everybody?
Welcome to Be On Sunday.
I am Pastor Lee Day, and Ipastor Christ Family Outreach
Church located in Amelia,Virginia.
And on today's episode, I havewith me my wife, Erica.
Erica, how are you doing?
SPEAKER_00 (00:25):
I'm doing great.
Glad to be here.
SPEAKER_01 (00:28):
And I'm glad you are.
As you could probably tell, I'velost my voice.
I'm, well, not completely, butI'm working on getting it back.
And uh so if I squeal a littlebit, please just deal with it.
Do not adjust your volumes.
It is what it is, and I'm justgonna give you the best that I
got to give you.
But I'm excited about today'sepisode because we're gonna be
(00:51):
taking a look at the 20thchapter of 2 Chronicles.
So if you've got your Bibles, goahead and crack them open at 2
Chronicles chapter 20.
And Jehoshaphat, he is the kingof Judah during this time.
And he's about to be attacked bythe Moabites, the Ammonites, and
some of the Munites.
And Jehoshaphat gets word thatthese people are going to attack
(01:15):
him.
And the third verse tells usthat he was afraid.
And so this can be a very normalemotion, especially when you
find out all of these peoplegroups are coming at you.
And because he gets afraid, theBible says that he sets his face
to seek God.
And he proclaimed a fastthroughout all of Judah.
(01:40):
And the fourth verse tells usall the cities of Judah
assembled to seek help from theLord God.
Now I just mentioned this thing,Erica, a moment ago called fear.
Fear can be a normal tactic thatthe enemy uses.
But notice notice whatJehoshaphat does when he's hit
(02:02):
with fear.
He sets his face to seek God.
And as we get hit with fear, aspeople get hit with fear, as
Christians get hit with fear,our number one go-to should be
to seek the face of God, to seekhis counsel, to get wisdom from
him.
The 13th verse tells us that allthese people that gathered,
(02:27):
Erica, it wasn't just the men,but it's also all of the
children and all of the wives,and they come together to seek
God for help.
SPEAKER_00 (02:38):
I love that.
SPEAKER_01 (02:39):
Now, I wonder what would happen.
I'm gonna make this point, askthis question, I'm gonna get out
of the way, and I'm interestedin your take on this.
Erica, I wonder what wouldhappen if we had everyone,
everyone seeking God.
Imagine what would happen todayif our state, our nation, this
world, our communities wouldjust simply seek God for help.
(03:02):
What would that look like?
SPEAKER_00 (03:05):
Yeah.
I love that.
I love how the children, themen, the women, everybody was
involved in that.
SPEAKER_01 (03:12):
Everybody.
SPEAKER_00 (03:13):
And it's mentioned twice here that word seek.
And that word seek is actuallyhas the basic sense of worship,
which we're gonna get into lateron in this chapter about worship
and the importance of it.
But it also means to discoverGod's will.
Here he had a higher trust inGod than in his army.
(03:34):
And I love it when it says inverse three, alarmed, because he
was alarmed, there was a vastarmy against him.
Jehosaphat resolved to inquireof the Lord.
And then he proclaimed a fastfor all of Judah.
And in that, just seeking God'swill for what do I do next?
(03:58):
And when you say the word fear,and how many times in our life,
maybe it's not a physical armyaround us, but we feel the enemy
around us.
SPEAKER_01 (04:10):
We feel the a spiritual battle going on.
SPEAKER_00 (04:12):
A spiritual battle, or you know, even in the
physical realm, the thing, thethings that go on in our life,
you feel like everything'shidden you from all sides.
And do we resolve, just likeJehosaphat, to inquire on the
Lord and what to do, or do weact in fear?
SPEAKER_01 (04:30):
Second Chronicles chapter seven, verse fourteen
says this if my people, whichare called by my name, shall
humble themselves and pray andseek my face and turn from their
wicked ways, then I will hearfrom heaven and will forgive
their sin and will heal theirland.
(04:50):
So the 14th verse of chapter 20tells us that the Spirit of the
Lord God came upon a man namedJehaziel, and today's episode is
all about one of the things thathe said.
So I'm gonna read that.
Second Chronicles chapter 20, 16through 23 says this.
(05:11):
Tomorrow go down against them.
Behold, they will come up by theascent of Ziz.
You will find them at the end ofthe valley, east of the
wilderness of Jerul.
You will not need to fight inthis battle.
Stand firm, hold your position,and see the salvation of the
(05:32):
Lord on your behalf, O Judah andJerusalem, do not be afraid and
do not be dismayed.
Tomorrow go out against them,and the Lord will be with you.
Then Jehoshaphat bowed his headwith his face to the ground, and
all Judah and the inhabitants ofJerusalem fell down before the
(05:53):
Lord, worshipping the Lord.
And the Levites of theKohathites and the Korahites
stood up to praise the Lord, theGod of Israel, with a very loud
voice, and they rose early inthe morning and went out into
the wilderness of Tekoah.
And when they went out,Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear
(06:14):
me, Judah and inhabitants ofJerusalem, believe in the Lord
your God, and you will beestablished.
Believe his prophets, and youwill succeed.
And when he had taken counselwith the people, he appointed
those who were to sing to theLord and praise him in holy
attire, as they went before thearmy, and say, Give thanks to
(06:37):
the Lord, for his steadfast loveendures forever.
And when they began to sing inpraise, the Lord set an ambush
against the men of Amon, Moab,and Mount Sierra, who had come
against Judah, so that they wererouted.
For the men of Amon and Moabrose against the inhabitants of
Mount Sierre, devoting them todestruction.
(06:59):
And when they had made an end ofthe inhabitants of Sierre, they
all helped to destroy oneanother.
So there's a lot right there.
I know I just read a lot, butbut but it is packed full of so
much good stuff.
And if you're riding down theroad right now, I just encourage
you, go home, get in yourBibles, and check it out for
yourself and just kind of taketime and marinate in it.
SPEAKER_00 (07:20):
Read the whole chapter.
It's really good.
SPEAKER_01 (07:22):
It's so, so good.
But Erica, there's a really lotof great stuff happening in that
text, and and we can pull a lotof it, all of it, really away
and and and put it into ourpersonal lives right now.
And so let's just go ahead andand get started.
What's your take on this rightnow?
SPEAKER_00 (07:38):
Just so much.
Um, I love how it says thatafter they had gathered, how the
spirit of the Lord just cameupon that prophet and just that
prayer and that prophecy is justamazing.
And King Jehosaphat and thosepeople had two options.
(07:59):
They could either believe whatthe Lord said and told them,
even though in the natural itdidn't make sense, or they could
decide we're gonna take up ourswords and we're gonna fight
because that's the only chancewe have.
SPEAKER_01 (08:32):
And it may not be the easiest route.
SPEAKER_00 (08:34):
Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01 (08:36):
You know, they still had to go and face their enemy,
and I think that's the importantpiece to understand here.
Just because God is gonna fightthe battle for them doesn't mean
that they don't have to show upto the battlefield.
The 16th verse tells us that.
And so let me just say this Godfighting your battles for you
does not mean you do not have togo to the battle line and do
(08:57):
anything.
You you still got to go therebecause he gives them some
instruction.
SPEAKER_00 (09:00):
I mean, they fasted and prayed before they even
received the word, right?
They fasted and prayed.
SPEAKER_01 (09:06):
Absolutely.
I mean, what we don't need to doin life is pretend that our
enemy doesn't exist.
Jesus says that there is anenemy out there that wants to
steal, kill, and destroy.
And so the 17th verse says thatthey did have to go down against
them.
So they don't just uh they don'tget to just stay home.
SPEAKER_00 (09:23):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (09:24):
The 17th verse says they do have to go down against
them.
They had to face their enemy,and they still had to take a
stand.
It actually says this you don'tneed to fight this battle, but
you do need to stand firm andhold your position.
Those are the directions givenby the man of God.
Stand firm and hold yourposition.
SPEAKER_00 (09:44):
Yeah, I like that.
And I and not only when they gotinstruction that day, it said
early the next morning they hadleft for where they had to go.
And this was actually a 12-miletrack that they had to walk in
order to get there.
So can you imagine walking those12 miles?
(10:05):
It tells us in verse 20, whenthey left for the desert of
Tacoa.
This was a 12-mile track away.
And so just think about what wasgoing on in their minds as
they're trekking to where thisvast army was.
And how this is spiritual.
Yeah, it wasn't like it was justlike right there.
(10:26):
Um, and just having to praythrough that.
And so I think about some treksin our life where the Lord
allows sometimes things to go onmaybe a little longer than we
think, and we have to endurethat.
But during that time, he's juststrengthening our faith.
SPEAKER_01 (10:45):
Yeah, absolutely.
When the people get this word,as God is speaking through
Jehaziel, the people all bowdown and worship.
I love that piece.
They all bow down and worship,and that heart posture continued
on onto the battle line.
Rather than take a naturaldefense and put the warriors out
front, you know, just in case,they so trusted God that they
(11:08):
put people in front of thewarriors to worship God.
So we've got the worshipers outfront of the warriors.
SPEAKER_00 (11:16):
Yeah, and don't you think it was just the Lord
preparing their hearts evenbefore they had to go that
12-mile track of getting theirheart posture ready before the
Lord and true worship of him andwho he is?
SPEAKER_01 (11:33):
Oh, absolutely, because as the enemy has mounted
up for this attack, they had tobe ready.
And so here the enemy is they'regetting ready for the attack,
but the worshipers, they're justfaithfully worshiping.
And that the 21st verse saysthat they gave thanks.
They gave thanks to the Lord forhis steadfast love endures
(11:53):
forever.
Think about that.
They're praising God for hisfaithfulness and his steadfast
love.
Meanwhile, there's there's thesethese three people groups,
there's these enemies advancingthat want to annihilate them and
wipe them off this earth.
And they're out there justthey're out there just praising
God right there, literallypraising God on the front lines
(12:16):
here, on this battlefield, ifyou will.
And so it's like, God, if youhad us then, then we believe in
faith that you got us right now.
SPEAKER_00 (12:25):
I like right here as well, where, and I think there's
something to this, where it saysthat Jehoshaphat, he bowed down
with his face to the ground, andall the people of Judah and
Jerusalem fell down and worshipbefore the Lord.
Then some Levites fromCahoaphites and Korites stood up
and praised the Lord, the God ofIsrael, with a very loud voice.
(12:48):
Early in the morning they leftfor the desert of Tokoah.
As they set out, Jehoshaphatstood and said, Listen to me,
Judah and people of Jerusalem,have faith in the Lord your God,
and you will be upheld.
Have faith in his prophets, andyou will be successful.
And after consulting the people,Jehoshaphat appointed men to
sing to the Lord and to praisehim for the splendor of his
(13:11):
holiness.
So Jehosaphat consulted thepeople after that.
And then he appointed certainmen to sing to the Lord in the
front.
And it wasn't that everybodywasn't worshiping, it was he
appointed certain ones to be inthe front line.
It wasn't just whoever went upthere.
(13:31):
And so I and I have to wonderwere those the ones that praised
the loudest or had the mostsincere heart or knew how, you
know, you know, those peoplethat just really know how to
worship and you just want toglean from them and worship like
them.
I I have to, I have to thinkthat it's not the quieter
worshipers that were in thefront that he consulted, that he
(13:54):
put up front.
SPEAKER_01 (13:55):
The ones that can worship in spirit and truth.
Yes.
Those are the ones that God isis looking for.
The 22nd verse tells us thatwhen the people began to sing in
praise, God set an ambushagainst the enemy.
Let me just say this, friends.
Maybe something is in your waytoday, in your way tonight.
And the only reason it hasn'tmoved yet is because you're too
(14:16):
busy focusing on that thing orthat person or that problem,
that storm, rather than placingyour faith in God concerning the
situation.
In faith, begin to sing andbegin to praise.
In faith, trusting God is goingto deal with what you've got
going on in your life.
SPEAKER_00 (14:37):
Yes, amen to that.
I did want to talk about Psalms95, 6.
It kind of goes with this alittle bit.
And it says, Come, let us bowdown and worship, let us kneel
before the Lord, our Maker.
And in so many of thesescriptures right here, it does
talk about one, their heartposture, but two, their physical
(14:57):
posture of bowing down.
And I think that that'simportant for us.
There's times where the Lord hascalled me to physically get on
my knees and bow down.
And there's just something aboutgetting down on your knees or
either lying prostrate beforethe Lord that just enhances that
(15:21):
time of worship before Him.
SPEAKER_01 (15:23):
Yeah.
Yeah, the enemies, according tothe text, they go on destroying
one another.
And they had begun united inwanting to destroy Judah, but
then God gets involved and theenemies destroy one another.
And so the key takeaway to thisentire chapter, in my opinion,
is worship came before thebattle, and it was worship that
(15:46):
won the war.
SPEAKER_00 (15:47):
Yeah.
And how many times can we dothat in our own lives?
How the enemy really wants us todestroy ourselves or destroy
each other with conflict or umarguing or looking around at the
enemy and what could happeninstead of first, just like
(16:08):
Jehosaphat did, seek and inquirethe Lord and what his will is
and what you should do next inyour next steps.
And then just listening to whatGod has to say and worshiping
him through it.
SPEAKER_01 (16:19):
I think worship is something that should be a huge
discipline in our lives.
And it is something that ifwe're honest with one another,
that we have to grow in, wemature in.
Uh, worship is something that weall should be doing to our
Heavenly Father because he'sworthy of it all.
(16:40):
He's he's worthy of all praise,all honor, glory, uh, all the
credit, all of our worship.
He he's worthy of it all.
And I think that worship doesbring breakthrough, which is why
the enemy does not want thechurch to worship in spirit and
truth.
SPEAKER_00 (16:57):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01 (16:58):
Because the enemy knows that when the body of
Christ does that, thatbreakthrough does come, that
that miracles happen, prayersbegin to get answered.
The spirit of God is moving.
As God's people cry out to himand they worship in spirit and
truth, people are set free,walls fall, people are
(17:21):
delivered, and the enemy doesnot want to see Christians
becoming stronger through thisthing called worship.
God is pleased.
The word of God says that heinhabits the praises of his
people.
And so when we come into churchor um as a family on Sunday
mornings, you know, we have tohave the mindset, what am I
(17:42):
bringing to my heavenly fathertoday?
What what what type of noise amI going to make?
What type of song am I gonnagive to my father?
And it doesn't have to be thethe best noise in the house, but
it but it has to come from theheart.
And it has to be genuine and ithas to be real.
And that's what God is lookingout for.
That's what he's listening for.
(18:03):
That's what he wants to receive,that's what he wants to inhabit
right there.
Praises of his people that areworshiping in spirit and truth.
This whole thing wasn't aboutJudah defending itself.
This whole chapter is aboutJudah receiving instruction from
a man of God and then beingfaithful to trust God, believe
(18:26):
in God, believe in what he said,and worship God even in a tense
moment when the enemy ismarching towards them.
That's what this whole chapteris about.
Being able to worship God evenwhen the flesh may say, no, you
don't have time to do that rightnow.
Being able to worship God evenwhen the flesh says, no, no, no,
pick up your sword, pick up yourshield, pick up your spear, pick
(18:48):
up your whatever, go here, gothere.
Your calendar is busy, theagenda is full.
Being able to worship God evenwhen it may not be easy, and
that is what it's all about.
SPEAKER_00 (19:00):
Yeah, I think that comes too um in your maturity in
Christ and some decisions youhave to make of am I gonna
choose to worship Christ thismorning, even if I feel like
things aren't going in thedirection I want them to go.
And if I'm battling with asickness, I'm battling with a
wayward child, I'm battling withum a spouse that we're just not
(19:23):
getting along, whatever it is,and you may not feel like you
want to worship, think abouttheir circumstance.
Their circumstance was they weregetting ready to go against a
vast army, and they chose toworship in the midst of that.
And can you and I choose to dothe same?
(19:44):
And there's times, you know, inmy in the beginning of my walk
with the Lord, it was more of afeeling, okay.
Well, I really don't feel likeworshiping, or I'm worshiping
and I don't necessarily feelanything.
And it's not about feelings,it's about God being worthy of
our praise, no matter thecircumstances, no matter what
(20:05):
you feel.
But what I've learned throughthat is in the battle sometimes
of worshiping, no matter if Ifeel like it or not, that if I
continue to push through withthat, he breaks through every
time.
SPEAKER_01 (20:20):
Every time.
SPEAKER_00 (20:21):
Every time.
SPEAKER_01 (20:22):
Every time.
You know, being a pastor of achurch, I've heard all different
reasons on why people don'tworship.
And it to me, it's only naturalbecause the enemy doesn't want
God's people worshiping.
So so many distractions can cancan catch people off guard if
they're not willing to breakthrough and really go worship.
But, you know, just things likethe music is too loud or the
(20:44):
songs are too long, or the kidsover here crying.
Yeah, the the the the the thebabies crying over here, or the
room's too cold, or you know,people one row back say, Well,
it's too hot, you know, and allthese things.
And and and we forget what we'rereally there for.
SPEAKER_00 (20:58):
We're there to usher the Holy Spirit in.
SPEAKER_01 (21:00):
We're not we're not there to be comfortable.
SPEAKER_00 (21:02):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (21:03):
We're not there.
The church is not there to bemade comfortable.
We are there to worship, we arethere to give God what He
deserves.
We're there to worship.
And and it's not about thetemperature in the room from the
thermostat.
You know, we are there toworship, but how easy it is for
(21:23):
small things to distract us, andreally that should just prove
the point to how importantworship really is.
SPEAKER_00 (21:31):
Yeah, in our 920 prayer meeting before church, I
usually always pray, Lord, mayour worship please you.
May our worship please you inspirit and truth.
And and that is just my heart'sdesire for for me and for our
congregation, is that we wouldfinish our worship service and
(21:54):
that it would be pleasing to theLord.
SPEAKER_01 (21:55):
Yes.
When it's all done and theinstruments are done playing and
the people are done singing,have we pleased the heart of
God?
Yeah.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much forthe opportunity that you give us
to encourage the listeners tominister to them.
Father, what we get from yourword and the teaching from your
(22:16):
Holy Spirit, the importance ofworship, even in the midst of a
battle in life.
Father, we thank you that wehave this opportunity to draw
closer to you.
And we ask all this in the nameand the blood of Jesus Christ
and all God's people said.
Amen and amen.
SPEAKER_00 (22:38):
Amen.
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