Freedom Study - Week 8

Hey everybody, welcome back to our final session together. You know, over these past eight weeks, we've been talking about how to break free from the sins we can't leave, the hurts we receive, and the lies we believe. We've talked about how we have this enemy, Satan, who is out to rob us of the John 10 full, free, abundant life that Jesus came to give us. And we've been talking about how to fight that enemy by engaging in spiritual warfare and putting on the full armor of God. And I hope that you started doing that better this week. But we're not done. In fact, I actually want to pick up where we left off last week. Because when it comes to our freedom, understanding the power of spiritual warfare is so critical to our success that I think it deserves two weeks of our attention. Now if you remember, last week we talked about our enemy, the devil, and how he's out to destroy everything that God is trying to do in us and through us. Jesus said in John 10.10 that the thief, the devil, comes only to steal and kill and destroy. So your enemy wants to destroy your life. Satan literally has one job. He only has one goal, and that's to rob you of peace and joy, to kill the work of God in your life, to destroy the destiny that God has put on your life, to make sure you never walk in the freedom that Christ died to give you. But we already know our enemy doesn't get the final say. God does, right? But if we're honest, it doesn't always feel that way. Like, I mean, how many of you have ever said, man, it feels like I'm fighting a losing battle? Anybody? Besides me? I mean, last week we talked about resisting temptation and putting on the armor of God and praying about all things. But I've been doing this a long time, so I know there are some of you who walked away and probably thought, hey, that all sounds really great, Todd, but you have no idea the

battle that I'm facing. Maybe you're not caught up in sin, but you're facing something that's scaring you to death. Maybe it's a doctor's report or a financial crisis or some loss that has you so disoriented, you're not even sure how to move forward, much less find freedom. And maybe for some of you, it's not guilt that has you chained, it's grief. And just like we must fight to be free from sin and shame, there are also times that we've got to fight to be free from fear and anxiety and depression. It's all a part of spiritual warfare. So today I want to give you two more weapons or battle strategies that I believe you need to tap into every day of your life in order to find freedom in your life. I want to start by looking at one of my favorite stories in Scripture. It's found in a rather obscure book in the Old Testament, the book of 2 Chronicles, and it's a story about a king named Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat was the king of Judah in the land of Israel, and one day he gets word that he's going to be invaded by several powerful armies that are teaming up against him. Now, remember last week we talked about Mel Gibson in the movie Braveheart? This was kind of like that, only Jehoshaphat didn't paint his face blue and white and deliver that powerful speech, but he actually started panicking and pacing and praying, and it says this in 2 Chronicles chapter 20. After this, the armies of the Moabites, the Ammonites, and some of the Meonites declared war on Jehoshaphat. Messengers came and told the king, King Jehoshaphat, a vast army from Edom is coming against you from beyond the Dead Sea. And you get the picture, he's completely outnumbered and caught off guard. So King Jehoshaphat did what all of us would do when we find ourselves in overwhelming situations with impossible odds, he prayed. His prayer was like, oh God, help me, and sometimes that's the only prayer you can muster up and thank God God hears that prayer. And maybe you can relate to King Jehoshaphat. Maybe you're facing an attack right now or walking through a trial, navigating a situation

that feels overwhelming and you don't know what to do. Some of you today might feel like all of hell is coming against you, or your family, or your marriage, and like Jehoshaphat, some of you may feel like you're being attacked from every side. It could be in your business. The business that you started isn't working out like you planned, or there's conflict in the home or some health issue. Anxiety has your number, and like Jehoshaphat, you're crying out, oh God, help me. You see, Jehoshaphat had no idea what to do, but he knew where to go. He ran to God in prayer. And not just prayer, the Bible says he fasted and prayed. In fact, he called the entire nation to fast with him. And do you know that fasting is actually a battle strategy? Fasting lets God and our enemy know, man, we mean business. that we're serious about this spiritual battle that we are fighting. So Jehoshaphat says, Yahweh, the God of our ancestors, he says, are you not the God who is in heaven? And do you not rule over kingdoms of the nation? Power and might are in your hand and no one can stand against you. In other words, he's saying, this battle is too big for me, but it's not too big for you, God. He goes on to say, are you not our God who drove out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and who gave it forever to the descendants of Abraham, your friend? So what he's doing here is he's reminding God and himself of what God promised and how God has been faithful in the past. Some of you, that's what you need to do today. You need to get out a pen and paper and you just need to start writing down all the ways God has been faithful to you. And as you do, you'll be silencing fear and anxiety in your life. But when Jehoshaphat closes his prayer, he does it with this line. He says, we do not know what to do, but we look

to you. I love that. We don't know what to do, but we look to you. Our eyes are on you, God. We don't know how this possibly is going to work out, but we do know who is on our side. So God, our eyes are fixed on you. Do what only you can do. You see, when you're in the middle of a battle, when you're when you're struggling, it matters where you look. And our human nature is to look at the problem, analyze it, call our friends, talk about it, lay in bed at night, worry about it. What if that happens? What if this happens? What am I going to do? But Psalm 105 verse 4 says, look to the Lord and his strength. Say those last few words with me. Seek his face always. Guess what that word always means in the original Hebrew language? It means always. That there's never a time, there's never a situation when we should not be fixing our eyes on God and his power and his strength. Never once does the Bible tell us to look to the problem, to focus on how bad it is or how bad it could get. No, no, no. Scriptures tell us to look to the Lord, to look to his power and his strength. Today some of you need to redirect your focus off of your problem and put it under the promises of God. Psalm 121 says, I will lift up my eyes to the mountains. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. So this story goes on as the nation is praying, one of Jehoshaphat's men gets word from the Lord. He actually gets, he's in prayer, he gets a word from God and he takes it to the king, which tells me it matters who you have speaking into your life. You want people around you who know how to get in touch with God, people who know how to pray, people who know how to get a word from the Lord for you. Do you have those kind of people in your life?

You need it. I need it. That's why we're always encouraging you to get into a group here at church. So you got people around you that when you're going through the battle, you're not fighting it alone. So the first thing we need to do to fight the enemy is get into community. People that are going to surround you, people are going to pray with you and pray for you. Julie and I are in a group and it's it's hard for me to count all the ways that they've been there for us through the years. They fought for us, prayed for us when we couldn't pray for ourselves. When they knew that we were walking through rough seasons, it would be very normal for them to be sending us scriptures and voice memos with prayers. We would get texts and notes of scriptures building us up and you need that in your life. If you're going to fight for your freedom, you need people that are going to speak faith and courage into your life. Now what I noticed in this story is that Jehoshaphat didn't do anything alone. He wasn't a lone ranger facing this battle alone, facing all the armies alone. He wasn't praying alone. He wasn't fasting alone. He had people around him. He had wise counsel around him, an army around him. See the Bible is clear that you were not made to fight your battle alone, that we are actually better together. There's strength in numbers. Ecclesiastes 4.9 says two are better than one. If either of them falls down, one can help the other up, but pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Goes on to say, though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves and a cord of three strands is not quickly broken. So if you're going to win this fight for your freedom, you need the right people around you. You've heard me say before, show me your friends

and I'll show you your future. Okay, so here's the word that his friend spoke over him in verse 15. He says, listen King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem, this is what the Lord says to you. Do not be afraid. or discouraged because of this vast army, look at this, for the battle is not yours, but God's. So he reminds Jehoshaphat and all of the people, don't be afraid, don't let fear rob you of faith, the battle is not yours, it's God. I believe one of the greatest weapons the devil tries to use on us is fear, because fear robs us of faith. Fear will cause you to shrink back, fear will take you captive, steal your joy and rob you of peace. And we know in 2 Timothy chapter one, verse seven, it says that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind. And that scripture tells us that fear is a spirit because it says God has not given us a spirit of fear. So it's a spirit that is not from God. So you know where it comes from, it comes from the pit of hell. It is a demonic spirit sent from your enemy to keep you from your destiny, to keep you imprisoned and held back. So anytime you sense fear coming in, call it what it is. I will not accept a spirit of darkness or fear over my life or over my mind, I am a child of God, I have royal blood flowing through my veins,

I'm more than a conqueror through Jesus Christ and my God has given me a spirit of power and love and a sound mind and my sound mind declares that my God is greater than anything that the enemy could possibly come against me with. But it's a whole lot easier to rebuke the spirit of fear and move forward in faith when you've got people around you speaking faith into your life, declaring hope over your situation, reminding you that you're not alone. And that's exactly what this messenger did. He actually declared the battle isn't yours, it's God's. I believe that that's a word for somebody today. You might be in a battle that's knocked the breath out of you and you're wondering how are you ever gonna make it through? But I'm here to declare the battle isn't yours, it's the Lord's. See, Jehoshaphat already knew that the battle was too big for him. That's why he was praying and fasting. But it took a friend to remind him, hey, it's not your battle, give God his battle back. It's God's problem, he can handle it. When my son Jefferson has a problem that he doesn't know how to handle, doesn't know what to do, guess where he can go? Right here, to his father. See, what concerns him concerns me. And if it's his problem, I'm right there

to help him figure it out, walk through it. And if he needs me to, to step in the middle of it and help him. He has access to all my experience, all my knowledge, all my abilities. And so I'll say it again, the battle you're in is not yours, it's the Lord's. Give God his battle back. You just need to rest on who he is. He is almighty, he is all powerful. He knows what you don't know. He's got this and he's got you, you can trust him. So this messenger goes on to say, tomorrow, march down against them. Now, I read that and I thought, wait a minute, I thought you just said this battle belongs to the Lord. I'm thinking if the battle is God's, I'm just gonna let him go and do his thing, right? I'm just gonna go, you know, hit the beach or something. I don't need to march down, but no, no, no. Why do we have to march into the battlefield if it's God's battle? Well, here's why. God is calling us to a divine partnership with him. Yes, the battle is his, but he wants us to participate in the miraculous. There's his part and there's our part. Verse 17 goes on to say, you won't have to fight this battle, just take up your positions.

Stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow and the Lord will be with you. In other words, he's saying, don't run from it. Don't ignore the problem and just hope it goes away. Go out and face it. You may not have to fight it, but you do have to face it. Sometimes you've got to face a battle that isn't yours to fight so you can experience the power of God that's on your side. Because when you face it, you see it. You're not fighting for victory, you're fighting for a place of victory. God is with me, God is for me, that builds faith. So after getting this pep talk from his friend, Jehoshaphat has a shift in his spirit, so much so that he decides to lead the army out into battle with a praise team. Like he puts the musicians and the worship team out in front of the army. This would be like discussing battle strategies and someone saying, hey, instead of swords, what if we just turn on Spotify or Apple worship music or something? Jehoshaphat led an army into battle armed with only praise. Verse 21 says, 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. Goes on to say, as they began. to sing and praise that the Lord set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated. So the Lord did it. The Ammonites and the Moabites rose up against the men from Mount Seir. After they finished slaughtering the men from Seir, they helped destroy one another. What? The Israelites didn't have to pick up a sword. They didn't lift a finger. And their enemy was destroyed. Here's what I want you to know. Worship was their weapon. See, in order for you to defeat your enemy, you need to understand that worship is a weapon. Worship is warfare. Just like in this story, you need to know that your praise, it actually confuses the enemy. And if you want to drive the devil crazy when he throws something at you, when he starts attacking you from all sides, instead of whining and complaining, just start praising God. He won't know what to do. He'll be so confused. Like, how can they have joy in the middle of that storm? How can they praise God when everything around them is falling apart?

Your praise will confuse the enemy. Your praise will actually become a problem for your problem because when you worship God, it actually silences the enemy. One of my favorite verses is found in Psalm 8, 2. And it says, from the mouths of children and infants, you have ordained praise to silence the enemy and avenger. God ordained praise. That word ordained means established praise for a purpose. And that purpose, to silence the enemy and avenger. First off, this verse should encourage you because it says, from the mouths of infants and children. That means you don't have to be a spiritual giant or a hero of the faith for worship to work as a weapon. The truth is, this weapon is for all of us. Your praise has a purpose, and that purpose is to silence your foe. So when you open your mouth and declare the greatness of God, the mouth of your enemy actually has to shut. That word silence in the Hebrew has the same root word as Shabbat or Sabbath. So think about it. You force the devil to take a Shabbat, a Sabbath rest, which means he can't do his work. Your enemy has to shut his mouth when you open your mouth. He has to quit speaking his lies and listen to you. How great is that, right? But you might be thinking, well, Todd, how do I do that? What do I say?

Do I just say praise the Lord over and over and over? Is there a certain Christianese language I'm supposed to, how do I praise God? Well, just as a toddler doesn't know a lot of words, so they use the same words over and over again. If you're young in Christ, just use the words you know. Sing some of the songs we sing at church every week. Put together a worship playlist on Spotify or whatever streaming music you stream from. Label it, this is how I fight my battles, man. Every time you get into it, play that thing. Replace some of the stuff you've been listening to and start listening to some things that will actually help you win the victory, the fight for freedom, actually help you break free. Or you can just open up the Bible and begin reading some of the Psalms. Most of the Psalms, they're just praises to God. They're songs that David wrote to God, simply thanking him for who he is and what he's done and what he will do. What I want you to see is that just like your community, your worship is a weapon. It'll help you fight for your freedom. It'll change your perspective on your problem and it will bring God into view, his power and his ability right into focus. Now, there's one more thing I want you to see about this story that I believe is very important for your personal victory.

I want you to notice when they decided to praise God, when. It wasn't after the battle was over. It was before it ever started. So often, I wanna praise God after I see the victory, after he answers my prayers the way I want him to. But praise is actually a prerequisite for the victory. So let me challenge you. When you're facing a battle this week, don't wait until you start to see things begin to turn to praise God. Start with praise because your worship is a weapon. Don't praise when the battle is over. Man, lift up your hands in worship before the battle even begins. And we actually have something to help you do all of that. As we wrap up today, I wanna personally invite you to our freedom encounter. This is gonna be a powerful time together because remember, we're better together. This is a time for us to get into the presence of the Holy Spirit. We're gonna worship like never before and we've been doing this now for years and there are thousands of stories of people who came to Freedom Encounter and they left different because of that experience with God, because of what the Holy Spirit did. Not just in the room, but in their hearts and in their lives and I want that for you. This is an event, it's a mile marker in your journey.

It's a declaration that we're gonna make that we will not forfeit our freedom but we're gonna fight for it. This is the end of our study, but I'm praying that it's actually the beginning of everything God wants to do in your life. I want you to know I love you, Julie and I are proud of you, and we are believing that your best days are out in front of you. I can't wait to worship with you this weekend and fight alongside of you at our freedom encounter. I wanna pray for you today. Father God, I thank you for every person that has been working through this freedom study together. I pray that God, freedom would be theirs because every one of them in Christ is free. I pray that Lord, you'd help them to fight the battles that they are facing right now, help them to flee from temptation, help them to walk in the authority of who they are, help them to be reminded, God, of who you are in their lives and that this battle is your battle and that you have victory ordained for them. God, I pray that in these days ahead, that God, they would go from strength to strength and God, their walk with you would go deeper and deeper as they encounter the grace and the hope and the life that you have for them today. We speak life over every one of them.

We speak peace and joy over every situation that they're facing and over all of their families today. It's in Jesus' name, amen.