God’s Word Residing in a Faith-Filled Heart is Equivalent to Prophecy Over Your Life
In 2 Chron. 20:20 we read “Hear Oh, Israel… believe in Lord so shall you be established, believe the prophets so shall you prosper.”
This is a very familiar passage, but few people can tell you what the back-story is to this statement. First of all, it is not a prophet who is saying this; it is Jehoshaphat. In 2 Chronicles 20 Jehoshaphat receives word that the Moabites and the Ammonites have come together against Jerusalem as a numberless multitude.
[2Ch 20:1 KJV] 1 It came to pass after this also, [that] the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them, [other] beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle.
This no doubt was discouraging to Jehoshaphat but even more so because these nations descended from family ties going back to Abraham. They are the descendants of Ammon and Moab, who were the children of Lot by his daughters after the fall of Sodom. It is one thing when strangers come against you, but it is another thing altogether more discouraging when family, those who are supposed to stand with you no matter what become your enemy. David went through this himself and penned a psalm to commemorate the experience:
[Psa 55:12-14, 16 KJV] 12 For [it was] not an enemy [that] reproached me; then I could have borne [it]: neither [was it] he that hated me [that] did magnify [himself] against me; then I would have hid myself from him: 13 But [it was] thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance. 14 We took sweet counsel together, [and] walked unto the house of God in company.
David is doubly discouraged because his troubles are not coming from strangers but from those close to him. Have you ever experienced this? Have family members or those close to you at one time become enemies of what God is doing in your life? We can learn from David’s response when he was in the same position. He didn’t get involved in trying to explain himself or defend himself. Neither does he wallow in self-pity or anger. In the following verse he not only expresses trust in God but he prophesies what God is going to do for him:
Psa. 55:16 As for me, I will call upon God; and the LORD shall save me.
Go back now to 2 Chronicles 20 and let’s see how Jehoshaphat reacted when he hears that “Family Feud” on steroids is at his door:
[2Ch 20:3 KJV] 3 And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
Now how would you finish that sentence? What do you do when you are afraid? Jehoshaphat feared and _______. We see then that the king was afraid. What do you do when you are afraid? Do you call the banker? Do you run to the lawyer? Do you call mom and dad to help you out? We need to do the first thing that Jehoshaphat did – he set himself to seek the Lord.
When we seek the Lord, He always answers but not necessarily as we would prefer Him to. How did God send an answer this case? He gave Jehoshaphat a prophetic word. Now think about that. Disaster was knocking at his door, and God sent him a personal prophecy. How would you respond? Would you say, “God, I don’t need a personal prophecy – I need some MONEY!” or “I need some help!” Jehoshaphat was crying out to God for OUTCOME, and God gave him process. What about you? If you will cooperate with God’s process, you will receive God’s outcome.
Another important thing to notice is who God sent to the king to speak in His name. What prophet did God send to Jehoshaphat? Elijah lived in Jehoshaphat’s day. So did Elisha, and Micah. These were heavy hitters in the prophetic. One of them wrote a book of the Bible for goodness’ sake. Did God send one of them?
No, He didn’t. When you are in panic mode, who do you want a prophecy from? Kim Clement? Bob Jones? Chuck Pierce? Who did God send in 2 Chron. 20?
[2Ch 20:14 KJV] 14 Then upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of the LORD in the midst of the congregation;
Who in the world is Jahaziel? He isn’t even on the senior leadership team. He is the son of the song leader! If a word from this minor figure was the key to deliverance for the nation, most of us would perish right here. Thank God Jehoshaphat was open not only to what God would say but who He would use to say it. Jahaziel prophesies to Jehoshaphat, but what does he actually say? Does he say, “God is going to come through for you…” and that was all to it? Actually no. He prophesied God would deliver, but there were instructions about sending the song leaders out first, and other things that the king had to do and make happen or deliverance would not come.
