Dancing in Dry Ditches

Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 3:1-2, 5-18, 20-24

One of the paradoxical statements of Christianity is that we are strongest at our weakeset. To the carnal mind, this statement seems to contradict itself. To Christians, this statement is a profound truth.

In the above scripture passage we find 3 kings that are going to attack the king of Moab. The kings of Israel and Judah found an ally in the king of Edom. So, they decided to attack Moab by going through the Desert of Edom.

To a strategist, this would look like a good plan. One would expect the element of surprise traveling through a desert. The plan looked good on paper, but in its execution, they came upon a problem. They ran out of water.

How often do you make plans, only to see them not work out the way you thought they would? How do you respond to these situations?

King Jeshoshaphat responded in proper fashion. He decided to inquire of the Lord about their situation. Going to God should be our first response.

Do you think they asked God about their plans before they even started marching?

Seeking Godly direction should always be the first thing we do when making any plans. The scripture does not say anything about whether or not they ever asked God what He thought about their plan. It appears they just decided to go to war because they felt it was the right thing to do, without making God a part of their decision making.

Do you pray before making important decisions in our life? For major decisions, do you have people you can council with that God could use to give you direction?

For a moment, let's assume they did pray before going to war (through the desert) and that they did not receive any warnings from God. The problem of the lack of water came as a normal circumstance of life, then.

Problems are fertile ground for miracles. When obstacles come our way, we should face them with faith!

God gave instructions through the prophet Elisha. The request to dig ditches might have seemed strange, but the people obeyed and God delivered them!

When we are engulfed in tribulation, we feel weak. In those situations, there is nothing we can do to fix the problem. We have to totally depend on God. He loves to show Himself sufficient when we humble ourselves and ask Him for help. We are at our strongest when we are at our weakest, because it is God's strength that empowers us and delivers us. (Read Psalm 147, focusing on verses 10-11 especially)

If you are facing hardship today, put on some Christian music, praise God and ask Him for help. That is what Elisha did!

If God directs you to do something, obey! Some miracles require you to dig some ditches!

The request to dig ditches may seem strange. If God would have told them to dig a well in a certain spot, that would have made more logical sense. But God's ways are above our ways, His thoughts are above our thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)

Obeying God is key to you getting your miracle.

Has God been dealing with you about some dirt that needs to be dug out of you? Pride? Selfishness? Apathy? A bad habit?

Remove the dirt and make room in your life for a miracle!

God will use desert times in our lives to teach us. His answer will come while we are in the desert. You can go ahead and dance in the ditches, the victory is near!

The Weapons of God

Text: Joshua 6:1-5 and 1 Timothy 1:18

War is a culture all its own. If you have ever studied war in general or even a particular war, you no doubt found it to be fascinating. There are some definite keys to winning war - you must have the right weapons and overwhelming power.

The Christian is involved in a spiritual war. To forget this or to choose not to engage the enemy will be lethal. If we choose to engage the enemy, we must use the right weapons. 2 Corinthians 10:4 tells us "the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds."

So, the question that comes to mind is: "What are the weapons of God?"

We can learn of 4 powerful weapons from the story of The Battle of Jericho mentioned in Joshua 6.

Weapon #1: Our Identity in God

Who we belong to brings fear to the enemy. "Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel" we are told in Joshua 6:1. Truth is, it was not because of the children of Israel themselves, but because of their God. For the Christian, Satan wants to introduce doubt into our concept of who we are.

Let me ask you another question, "Who are you?" No, not "What is your name?" but more specifically, "Who do you belong to?" If you and I belong to Christ, we are more than conquerors through Him that loves us. (Romans 8:37)

Weapon #2: God's Perspective

In Joshua 6:2 God told Joshua, "See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor." God wanted Joshua to see something from His perspective. God saw the victory at Jericho as something that was as real as if it had already happened. In fact, to God it already had! When we learn to see things through God's eyes, we wield a powerful weapon against our enemy.

Weapon #3: A Walk With God

God told the men of war to march around the city. Read that statement again. Did you catch that? Men of war walking around in circles. Sounds a little odd, don't you think? One of the most powerful weapons we have is just to walk with God daily. Just be faithful, even when it seems like you are just going in circles. Satan failed the "faithfulness test" and his desire is for you and I to do the same. If we will just get good at being faithful...we will deal a fatal blow to our enemy.

Genesis 5:24: "Enoch walked with God and he was not, for God took him."

God rewarded Enoch's faithful walk. He will reward ours too. Just get up every day and walk with God. When I was a teenager I was guilty of jumping with God. I would jump from emotional high to emotional high. In between the highs, I had not learned to walk with God, so the gaps between the highs were filled with doubt and defeat. When I learned to daily walk with God, I learned to enjoy the emotional highs, but to be steady in my walk.

Weapon #4: Faith Praise

Praising God in faith for what you believe will happen is another weapon we see in Joshua 6. In verse 5 God told all the people to "shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat." Notice the shout came BEFORE the walls fell. Yes, BEFORE. If we will learn praise in advance, God will bring the victory to us in His timing.

Remember whose you are as you endeavor to see things from God's perspective and walk with God daily in an attitude of praise as you thank Him in advance for what He is doing.

Points to Ponder

1. Think of specific times in your life when you let the enemy cause you to forget you identity in Christ. What can you do to fight against this tendency? How will you put this into action?

2. God's Word is powerful in helping us see things from His perspective. Make a list of Scriptures that you feel God wants you to remember so you can "see more clearly."

3. What impresses you about faithful people? What one thing can you do to walk more faithfully?

4. There are several instances in Scripture where people praised God in advance. Make a list and plan to read these stories over the next few days or weeks. If you have trouble thinking of any, ask a friend to help.

Leaving Changed

This message was preached at New Life Church on Sunday, February 28, 2010.

Have you ever had to leave your car in a vast parking lot at an airport, shopping mall or hospital complex? While the answer for most would be an emphatic “yes” one task that cannot be forgotten is finding a way to remember where we left our vehicle! So, on any scrap paper that I might have handy, I’ve scrawled “Section T9” onto it, placed it for safe keeping so I don’t find myself aimlessly searching for my lost parked car at the later date or time. It’s important to remember our beginning.

While it is vital to pay attention to the trivial details of everyday living, I find it to be entirely important to acknowledge how we enter into the presence of the Lord. We should take notice of this in Ezekiel 45: 10-17, we find the prophet Ezekiel writing this to the people of God:

¹⁰ “You shall have honest scales, an honest ephah, and an honest bath. ¹¹ The ephah and the bath shall be of the same measure, so that the bath contains one-tenth of a homer, and the ephah one-tenth of a homer; their measure shall be according to the homer. ¹² The shekel shall be twenty gerahs; twenty shekels, twenty-five shekels, and fifteen shekels shall be your mina. ¹³ “This is the offering which you shall offer: you shall give one-sixth of an ephah from a homer of wheat, and one-sixth of an ephah from a homer of barley. ¹⁴ The ordinance concerning oil, the bath of oil, is one-tenth of a bath from a kor. A kor is a homer or ten baths, for ten baths are a homer. ¹⁵ And one lamb shall be given from a flock of two hundred, from the rich pastures of Israel. These shall be for grain offerings, burnt offerings, and peace offerings, to make atonement for them,” says the Lord GOD. ¹⁶ “All the people of the land shall give this offering for the prince in Israel. ¹⁷ Then it shall be the prince’s part to give burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings, at the feasts, the New Moons, the Sabbaths, and at all the appointed seasons of the house of Israel. He shall prepare the sin offering, the grain offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offerings to make atonement for the house of Israel.”

And again in Ezekiel 46: 8-10:

⁸ When the prince enters, he shall go in by way of the vestibule of the gateway, and go out the same way.⁹ “But when the people of the land come before the LORD on the appointed feast days, whoever enters by way of the north gate to worship shall go out by way of the south gate; and whoever enters by way of the south gate shall go out by way of the north gate. He shall not return by way of the gate through which he came, but shall go out through the opposite gate. ¹⁰ The prince shall then be in their midst. When they go in, he shall go in; and when they go out, he shall go out.

As mentioned in verse 9 above, Ezekiel outlines specific instructions as to how to enter into the house [of worship].

1. HONESTLY

When we enter into His presence it is so vitally important that we are honest about how we enter in. We must absolute recognize how enter in the house of worship. No better example can be found of how to reverence his presence than in Psalms chapter 24. We must be honest in our worship to God because we must leave changed.

If we enter depressed, disheartened, unloved or lonely; we CAN leave changed. Too casually we walk into and out of the presence of God. We mustn’t forget that He is the God of Glory, the Healer of our Body, and He is still Great, Glorious, Holy and Mighty! Our experience at church should be one of good fellowship, but the MAIN FOCUS is that someone can come into his presence and be completely changed. We can feel His presence and feel good, but we must refuse the tendency to leave the same way we came in.

2. ACKOWLEDGE the PRINCE

As Ezekiel 46: 10 states, the prince shall be on their midst- as long as we enter into and leave His house correctly. The ACTIONS of the Kingdom of God will determine the actions of the prince. How we determine to act in the house of worship will determine if the Prince shall come in or step out. Through this, we cannot get away from the sacrifice! (Isaiah 9:6) We must remember the sacrifice that the Prince made for us.

3. We must access worship CORRECTLY

God will not supersede human nature and force us into his presence- The Prince is waiting on someone to enter into the house of worship with Him! We must not wait for a greater moment- just simply worship Him now!

Scriptures continues to paint examples of how and when to leave the presence of God. A great example is that of Luke 24:47-49:

“⁴⁷ and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. ⁴⁸ And you are witnesses of these things. ⁴⁹ Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem^[a] until you are endued (a reference of changed clothing or to array) with power from on high.”

It is safe to say we are to be in HIS presence, until it completely changes us!

4. WE must know ALL of who the Prince IS

John 5:1-9 tells us the story of the man at the Bethesda who had been waiting 38 for his healing. In verse 6, Jesus asks the man, “Do you want to be made well?” We an obviously simple “Yes” would have sufficed, the man explains he had no one to put him in the pool when the waters were troubled, and someone would rush in before he could get there (verse 7). The man had learned to merely “cope” with his condition, for he did not realize who JESUS is!

He is:

· The Most High over all the Earth, (Psalms 83-18)

· my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold (Psalms 18:2)

· The Chief cornerstone (Ephesians 2:20)

· Our peace (Ephesians 2:14)

· The resurrection and the life. (John 11:25)

· He is Lord of all (Acts 10:36)

· The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus(Acts 3:13)

· He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Revelation 19:16)

· I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star (Revelation 22:16)

· The Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End (Revelation 1:8)

· The Savior from our sins (Matthew 1:21)

· The sun of righteousness with healing in his wings (Malachi 4:2)

· Our Salvation (II Peter 2:15)

· I am the light of the world (John 8:12)

And the list can go on, and on! The Prince is here, he is in our midst! He desires to do something immediately in our lives- NOW. Let’s leave his presence CHANGED.