Brown's Daily Word 5/17/11

Good morning,
Praise the Lord for this new day. I have been looking at one of the power and praise filled passages in the book of Second Chronicles. 2 Chronicles 20:19-22, "Then some Levites from the Kohathites and Korahites stood up and praised the LORD, the God of Israel, with very loud voice. Early in the morning they left for the Desert of Tekoa. As they set out, Jehoshaphat stood 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 and you will be successful." After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the LORD and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: "Give thanks to the LORD, for his love endures forever." As they began to sing and praise, the LORD set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated.The nation responded to God’s promise with praise. Jehoshaphat placed the praise singers out in front of the army because he believed that God would do what he said and deliver them without even having to fight.
Praise is simply the fruit of faith. The people were responding to what God had said. They were simply thanking God in advance for the victory. Before it even happened, they were thanking God. Praise is verbalized faith. If you thank God after the fact, that’s gratitude. If you thank God before it happens, that’s faith.
God defeated the enemy. They turned on each other and destroyed themselves while the Israelites looked on. 2 Chronicles 20:24, "When the men of Judah came to the place that overlooks the desert and looked toward the vast army, they saw only dead bodies lying on the ground; no one had escaped".
It takes great and deep faith to thank God for everything in your life – even the problems. When we start thanking God NOW when we are in the middle of the storm that is faith - thanking God in advance.
2 Chronicles 20:26-30, "On the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Beracah, where they praised the LORD. This is why it is called the Valley of Beracah to this day. Then, led by Jehoshaphat, all the men of Judah and Jerusalem returned joyfully to Jerusalem, for the LORD had given them cause to rejoice over their enemies. They entered Jerusalem and went to the temple of the LORD with harps and lutes and trumpets. The fear of God came upon all the kingdoms of the countries when they heard how the LORD had fought against the enemies of Israel. And the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was at peace, for his God had given him rest on every side."
BERACAH means BLESSING. May the Lord, grant us a Valley of Blessing in our lives today. Our God loves to demonstrate His power in those who will just believe Him and expect Him to work in their lives.
We are also called to be a people of courage. This means that we need to step out in faith. We must be willing to take risks, try new things – even if that means we may fail in the process. Elton Trueblood wrote, "It used to be that Christianity was a revolutionary faith that turned the world upside down. But today Christians sit in Sunday morning church services looking at their watches, wondering what time dinner will be served, or thinking about the kickoff. And we hope that church won’t interfere with the things we would really rather be doing."
God is doing a new thing in the world today. The world is changing, and while these changes bring many challenges they also provide opportunities to witness for Jesus our Lord, as never before.
In Christ,
Brown