What Will You Lose

Second Chronicles 20 could be called “The Great Power Play,” for the enemies of God put on a display of unified might designed to bring fear into the hearts of the Israelites. This same spectacle is being repeated before our very eyes every day. Satan is the master of the power play.

He accomplishes this on a collective basis against the Church. Sometimes when I look at the carnal programs of evangelism conducted by our churches, I feel that the world is dictating the path the Church should follow far more than the Holy Spirit. I believe in utilizing every means that our technological society provides for the spreading of the Gospel to win men and women to Jesus Christ, but I also believe that the power of the Holy Spirit has to remain the foundation of every effort, and must be the common denominator between us, or we are only a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.

What makes a person or church body resort to carnal weapons in spiritual warfare? It is fear — fear of failure, fear of being the object of ridicule, fear of being a despised minority. Fear has been stated to be man’s worst enemy, and this has been proven over and over again to be true. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, “The only thing that we have to fear is fear itself.”

Where does fear come from? The Bible says, “Fear hath torment” (1 John 4:18). We know that this type of fear does not come from God. Paul said to Timothy, “For God hath not given us a spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). If this kind of fear does not come from God, then it must come from Satan.

In our Scripture reading for today, we see that three nations, Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, formed a conspiracy to come against Judah and to utterly wipe it out. Intelligence information of the massive army planning to attack Judah reached Jehoshaphat, King of Judah. The first thing that happened was that fear struck his heart, for he knew that in the natural his army was no match for the great numbers that were formed against him.

At this point, fear could have completely paralyzed the nation of Judah and they could have been utterly wiped out as a nation — you know the ramifications of that, for the Messiah had to come from the tribe of Judah. If there were no Judah, then there could be no Jesus, there would be no one who could die for the salvation of the world, for the Messiah was to come from the tribe of Judah (Matthew 2:6).

Think about this today: What may be forever lost to you if you are paralyzed by fear? What opportunities will you miss? What victories will be lost?