2 Chronicles 20:15 Listen, Pay Attention
Food for Thought
An all-creatures.org Guide to Kingdom Living

By Marni Montanez

2 Chronicles 20:15 New King James Version

15 And he said, “Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the Lord to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.

Have you ever noticed that God is always asking us to listen? Perhaps this is because we have a tendency not to pay full attention and really listen.  If we really listen we will hear with a greater ability to understand.  We can always hear the words and the inflections, but are we really taking in the meaning especially when God is talking to us?  It is very easy to become scrambled and listen halfheartedly.

When reading in this verse, the battle is the Lord’s, it could be confusing since we are told to fight the good fight of faith and we are told to put on the armor of God. In other words be ready to fight.

So we don’t understand how we could be instructed to fight and engage in warfare and yet, stand on the scripture which says, “the battle is the Lord’s.”   But we do have a part.  

Our part of the Lord's battle is to speak the words that are in scripture.   We must also listen well in order to hear Him reveal to us what He wants said or done in that moment.   This is what Jesus did in the desert.  His conversation with Satan was Him listening to His Father and speaking these words of power and authority.

John 12:49 New International Version

49 For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken.

All the power that defeats the enemy comes from the spoken word of God.   We are the conduit in which these words of God go forth and conquer. He chooses to include us in His battle and ultimately in His victories by His powerful word.  In God’s view we are victorious because He is victorious.

God also instructs His people not to be afraid. One of the ways the enemy is victorious over us is when he causes us to be afraid mainly through deception.   Once we become afraid we make fear-based decisions and lose our peace.  We can no longer make wise decisions because our ability to hear God is hindered. As soldiers in the faith we are to hold on to our peace as part of our armor. This is how we stay victorious. When we remain in peace, we are able to stand and believe God and speak His word with boldness no matter what the enemy throws at us.  As we stand believing God, we stand unafraid because we are confident in who our God is.

This battle between good and evil is the Lord’s.  We simply are the vessels He has chosen to use in order to pour His power through us to heal, save and change.  

Challenge: Find verses that deal with what you are going through in this season and speak them out loudly. Gain victory as truth (the word of God) flows from your mouth

God bless,

Marni

Go on to: 2 Chronicles 20:15 - Listen to God
Return to: Food for Thought
Return to: Christian Living Articles

The purpose of this series is to encourage people to live as loving, compassionate, and peacemaking children of God: Jesus tells us to pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10) God tells us through Micah (6:8), "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God." And we know from Revelation 21:4 that there will be no more mourning, or crying, or pain, or death. Thus, Christian living requires us to set the standards of these conditions here on earth for our fellow human beings, and for the other animals, as a witness to the rest of the world. To do otherwise is not Christian.