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THE MYSTERY OF DIVINE INTERVENTION Conversation One: When God Moved Them · PAMOJA PODCAST | PAMOJA MINISTRY, A LIFE OF CHRIST INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES

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  Welcome to Pamoja Ministry. There are moments
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  in life when you have time to think, time to
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  pray, time to seek counsel, time to examine your
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  options and decide what your next move should
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  be. But there are also moments when life does
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  not give you that privilege because suddenly
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  you find yourself standing in a situation you
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  did not anticipate, surrounded by circumstances
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  you cannot control, facing something stronger
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  than you. and realizing that whatever is about
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  to happen next is beyond your ability to stop.
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  It is in those moments that we discover something
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  extraordinary about God. There is a dimension
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  of his relationship with his children that cannot
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  always be explained by preparation, wisdom, strategy,
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  influence, connections, resources, or human strength.
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  There are moments when God simply intervenes.
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  He steps into something that was already happening.
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  He interrupts something that was already moving.
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  He changes something that appeared already decided.
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  He stops what was coming towards you. He opens
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  what had been closed. He closes what had been
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  open against you. He moves what you could not
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  move. And sometimes, when everything is over
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  and you look back at what happened, you cannot
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  fully explain how you survived it, how the door
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  opened. how the danger passed, how the decision
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  changed, how the people who were coming against
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  you suddenly changed direction, or how something
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  that appeared inevitable somehow never happened.
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  You only know God intervened. And perhaps one
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  of the most extraordinary pictures of this mystery
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  is hidden inside a battlefield in 2 Chronicles
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  chapter 18. Two kings went to war. Ahab. king
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  of Israel, and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. But
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  before the battle began, something unusual happened.
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  Ahab decided to disguise himself. He told Jehoshaphat,
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  in essence, I will disguise myself when we go
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  into battle, but you wear your royal robes. And
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  Jehoshaphat did. What Jehoshaphat apparently
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  did not know was that the king of Syria had already
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  given a very specific command. to the commanders
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  of his chariots. Second Chronicles, 1830 says,
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  Now the king of Syria had commanded the captains
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  of the chariots that were with him, saying, Fight
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  ye not with small or great, save only with the
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  king of Israel. Think about what that means.
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  These soldiers were not entering the battlefield
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  simply looking for anyone to kill. They had a
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  target. They were looking for a king. And on
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  that battlefield, one man looked like a king,
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  Jehoshaphat. Ahab had removed the appearance
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  of royalty, Jehoshaphat had not. And so the Bible
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  says that when the commanders saw Jehoshaphat,
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  they said, it is the king of Israel, and they
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  surrounded him. I want us to remain there for
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  a moment, because sometimes we read scripture
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  too quickly and miss the terror inside a sentence.
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  They surrounded him. These were trained warriors.
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  They were operating under orders. They believed
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  they had found the man they had been sent to
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  kill. And now they were closing in on Jehoshaphat.
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  There was no committee meeting. There was no
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  opportunity to develop another battle plan. There
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  was no time to send a messenger back to Jerusalem.
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  There was no time to call his advisors. There
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  was no time to explain that they had mistaken
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  him for someone else. The enemy was already there.
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  The danger was no longer approaching from a distance.
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  It had arrived. And scripture tells us what Jehoshaphat
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  did. Second Chronicles 1831 says, And it came
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  to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw
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  Jehoshaphat, that they said, It is the king of
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  Israel. Therefore they compassed about him to
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  fight. But Jehoshaphat cried out. Jehoshaphat
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  cried out. That is all scripture tells us. We
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  are not given the words. We don't know how long
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  the prayer was. We don't know whether Jehoshaphat
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  formed a complete sentence. We don't know whether
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  he quoted scripture. We don't know whether he
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  made a declaration of faith. We don't know whether
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  he shouted, Lord, help me. We don't even know
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  whether the cry came from confidence or from
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  fear. The Bible simply says, Jehoshaphat cried
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  out. And I find something deeply comforting about
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  that. Because sometimes we have made prayer so
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  complicated that we have forgotten that God is
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  also a father. Sometimes we imagine that before
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  God can respond, we must find the right words,
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  create the right atmosphere, assume the right
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  posture, quote the right scripture, and pray
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  long enough to convince heaven that our situation
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  deserves attention. But what happens when there
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  is no time? What happens when the car is coming?
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  What happens when the doctor speaks the words
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  you were never prepared to hear? What happens
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  when the phone rings in the middle of the night?
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  What happens when danger appears without warning?
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  What happens when your strength disappears? What
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  happens when fear overwhelms your vocabulary
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  and everything you have ever learned about prayer
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  suddenly becomes one desperate cry? What happens
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  when all you can say is, Jesus? Jehoshaphat cried
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  out. And heaven understood the cry, because sometimes
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  God does not need your eloquence to recognize
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  your dependence. Sometimes the cry itself says
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  everything. The cry says, I cannot save myself.
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  The cry says, I need help. The cry says, I know
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  where my help comes from. The cry says, there
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  is someone greater than what is surrounding me.
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  And perhaps Jehoshaphat's cry was not the cry
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  of a fearless man. Perhaps it was precisely the
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  opposite. Perhaps he was terrified. Perhaps he
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  saw those chariots closing around him and realized
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  in one terrifying moment that he might die on
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  that battlefield. But fear did something important.
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  Fear revealed where his heart instinctively turned.
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  Because when Jehoshaphat discovered that human
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  strength could no longer save him, Something
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  inside him still knew where to call. And this
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  is where the story becomes extraordinary. The
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  verse does not end by saying, Jehoshaphat cried
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  out and he fought his way through. It does not
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  say, Jehoshaphat cried out and his soldiers arrived.
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  It does not say, Jehoshaphat cried out and he
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  found an escape route. It says, Jehoshaphat cried
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  out, and the Lord helped him, and God moved them
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  to depart from him. Listen carefully to those
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  words, the Lord helped him, and then God moved
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  them. Something happened on that battlefield
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  that Jehoshaphat himself could not produce. The
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  men who were surrounding him moved away. The
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  men who had identified him as their target changed
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  direction. The men who had approached him with
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  the intention of killing him. departed. Jehoshaphat
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  did not move them. His army did not move them.
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  His position did not move them. His royal authority
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  did not move them. His military experience did
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  not move them. God moved them. And that introduces
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  us to the mystery we are going to explore throughout
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  this journey. The mystery of divine intervention.
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  Because there are things you can move. And there
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  are things only God can move. There are doors
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  you can open. And there are doors only God can
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  open. There are battles you can fight. And there
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  are battles where God will tell you, this battle
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  is not yours. There are circumstances where wisdom
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  will show you what to do. And there are circumstances
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  where you will have to confess like Jehoshaphat
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  would later confess in another crisis. We do
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  not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you.
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  There comes a place where human ability ends.
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  But listen to me carefully. The end of your ability
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  is not the end of God's ability. The fact that
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  you cannot see away does not mean there is no
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  way. The fact that you cannot move what is standing
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  before you does not mean It cannot be moved.
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  The fact that you cannot change someone's mind
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  does not mean God cannot touch their heart. The
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  fact that you cannot explain how deliverance
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  could possibly happen does not mean heaven has
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  exhausted its possibilities. Jehoshaphat could
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  not see an exit. So God did something better.
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  God moved what was surrounding him. And perhaps
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  somebody listening to this conversation knows
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  exactly what it feels like to be surrounded,
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  not necessarily by soldiers. Maybe you are surrounded
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  by circumstances, surrounded by accusations,
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  surrounded by financial pressure, surrounded
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  by uncertainty, surrounded by decisions being
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  made beyond your control, surrounded by doors
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  that appear closed, surrounded by people whose
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  intentions you cannot change. surrounded by something
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  that has brought you to the uncomfortable realization.
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  I don't know what to do anymore. Then perhaps
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  Jehoshaphat's story has arrived at the right
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  moment. Because scripture does not tell us that
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  Jehoshaphat knew what God was going to do. It
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  tells us that he knew who to cry to. And there
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  is an enormous difference. Faith does not always
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  mean knowing how God will deliver you. Sometimes
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  faith is simply knowing who your deliverer is,
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  and that brings us to something even deeper.
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  Because centuries before you and I would read
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  Jehoshaphat's story, scripture would reveal a
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  promise that sounds remarkably similar to what
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  happened on that battlefield. Psalm 91 declares,
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  because he hath set his love upon me, therefore
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  will I deliver him. I will set him on high. because
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  he hath known my name. And then God says, he
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  shall call upon me and I will answer him. He
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  shall call. I will answer. He shall call upon
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  me and I will answer him. I will be with him
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  in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him.
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  Notice what God does not say. He does not say
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  because he knows my name. Trouble will never
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  come. He says, I will be with him in trouble.
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  That changes everything. Because the presence
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  of trouble does not mean the absence of God.
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  Being surrounded does not mean you have been
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  abandoned. Being inside the furnace does not
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  mean God has forgotten you. Standing before the
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  Red Sea does not mean the promise has failed.
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  Finding yourself inside a prison does not mean
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  heaven has lost your address. Sometimes you can
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  be exactly where you never wanted to be and still
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  be exactly where God knows you are. Jehoshaphat
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  was surrounded, but he was not alone. And when
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  he cried, God heard him. When God heard him,
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  God helped him. And when God helped him, God
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  moved them. That is where our journey begins.
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  Because throughout scripture, we are going to
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  discover men and women. who reached moments where
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  human possibilities disappeared. Circumstances
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  became impossible. Enemies became stronger. Doors
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  became locked. Fires became hotter. Seas became
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  barriers. Lions became executioners. Prisons
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  became fortified. Storms became violent. And
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  death itself appeared to have spoken the final
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  word. And again and again, God intervened. So
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  before we go any further into this mystery, hold
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  onto these words. You do not have to know how
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  God is going to deliver you to know who to call.
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  Sometimes all you have left is a cry. But if
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  that cry knows where to go, a cry may be enough.