prayer – your first choice, not your last resort…

prayer is usually something you do way down the line after you've tried everything else.  people will say, “has it come to that?!?!  is it so hopeless that all we can do is pray?” 

but prayer should be your first choice, not your last resort.  if you want GOD to help you to overcome the odds in any area of your life you have to turn to him first.  2 chronicles 20.1, 3 (nlt/ncv), after this the armies of the moabites and the ammonites and the meunites declared war on jehoshaphat.  he was afraid so he decided to ask the LORD what to do. 

after this.  after this there came a battle.  after what?  in the previous chapter, 2 chronicles 19 there’s the story of a great national revival, a spiritual awakening.  there’s great joy in the country, prosperity, blessing.  it's good times!  then it says, “after this there came a battle.” 

we all know this principle, that with every high there is also a low, with every mountaintop there is a valley.  and after every victory, there is always a letdown.  and with every blessing there comes a testing. 

you may be in a time of blessing right now, soaring.  you’re on the mountaintop.  but you’re going to come down eventually.  so you need to expect blessing in your life but you also need to expect battles in your life.  you’re going to have difficult times. 

notice the king’s first reaction.  it says he was fearful, he was afraid.  that's a normal reaction.  here are three enemy nations teaming up on you and they’re going to come pound on you at one time.  it’s normal to be afraid. 

the things that are overwhelming you right now, your problem is not that you’re afraid of them.  it's not your fear.  your problem is what you do with your fear.

when you’re afraid in a situation, you feel overwhelmed, stressed out, the odds against you, do you let that fear de-motivate you, destabilize you, depress you, discourage you and cause you to want to throw in the towel and say “i give up!” even before the battle starts? 

you want to say, “i can't make this work.  why put forth the effort?  why even go into battle because i’m going to lose?  i give up.  the odds are stacked.  i’m not even going to try.” 

never let an impossible situation intimidate you.  let it motivate you to pray more, to trust more.  let it motivate you to expect more from GOD and to depend more on GOD.  let it motivate you to get your priorities right, to decide what’s not important and worth doing.  let it motivate you.  turn to GOD first.

that's exactly what this guy did.  he headed straight to GOD.

just a thought from the front porch…