WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.740 Welcome to Pamoja Ministry. There are moments 00:00:02.740 --> 00:00:05.360 in life when you have time to think, time to 00:00:05.360 --> 00:00:08.599 pray, time to seek counsel, time to examine your 00:00:08.599 --> 00:00:11.099 options and decide what your next move should 00:00:11.099 --> 00:00:13.539 be. But there are also moments when life does 00:00:13.539 --> 00:00:15.960 not give you that privilege because suddenly 00:00:15.960 --> 00:00:19.059 you find yourself standing in a situation you 00:00:19.059 --> 00:00:22.940 did not anticipate, surrounded by circumstances 00:00:22.940 --> 00:00:26.219 you cannot control, facing something stronger 00:00:26.219 --> 00:00:29.239 than you. and realizing that whatever is about 00:00:29.239 --> 00:00:32.799 to happen next is beyond your ability to stop. 00:00:33.060 --> 00:00:35.780 It is in those moments that we discover something 00:00:35.780 --> 00:00:39.020 extraordinary about God. There is a dimension 00:00:39.020 --> 00:00:41.619 of his relationship with his children that cannot 00:00:41.619 --> 00:00:46.439 always be explained by preparation, wisdom, strategy, 00:00:47.140 --> 00:00:51.420 influence, connections, resources, or human strength. 00:00:52.100 --> 00:00:56.380 There are moments when God simply intervenes. 00:00:56.520 --> 00:00:59.299 He steps into something that was already happening. 00:00:59.920 --> 00:01:02.159 He interrupts something that was already moving. 00:01:02.759 --> 00:01:05.659 He changes something that appeared already decided. 00:01:06.079 --> 00:01:09.079 He stops what was coming towards you. He opens 00:01:09.079 --> 00:01:12.079 what had been closed. He closes what had been 00:01:12.079 --> 00:01:15.200 open against you. He moves what you could not 00:01:15.200 --> 00:01:18.340 move. And sometimes, when everything is over 00:01:18.340 --> 00:01:21.280 and you look back at what happened, you cannot 00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:24.680 fully explain how you survived it, how the door 00:01:24.680 --> 00:01:28.180 opened. how the danger passed, how the decision 00:01:28.180 --> 00:01:31.079 changed, how the people who were coming against 00:01:31.079 --> 00:01:34.159 you suddenly changed direction, or how something 00:01:34.159 --> 00:01:37.219 that appeared inevitable somehow never happened. 00:01:37.859 --> 00:01:42.840 You only know God intervened. And perhaps one 00:01:42.840 --> 00:01:45.700 of the most extraordinary pictures of this mystery 00:01:45.700 --> 00:01:49.200 is hidden inside a battlefield in 2 Chronicles 00:01:49.200 --> 00:01:54.719 chapter 18. Two kings went to war. Ahab. king 00:01:54.719 --> 00:01:58.659 of Israel, and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. But 00:01:58.659 --> 00:02:02.000 before the battle began, something unusual happened. 00:02:02.620 --> 00:02:06.680 Ahab decided to disguise himself. He told Jehoshaphat, 00:02:06.879 --> 00:02:10.439 in essence, I will disguise myself when we go 00:02:10.439 --> 00:02:14.479 into battle, but you wear your royal robes. And 00:02:14.479 --> 00:02:17.780 Jehoshaphat did. What Jehoshaphat apparently 00:02:17.780 --> 00:02:21.340 did not know was that the king of Syria had already 00:02:21.340 --> 00:02:24.479 given a very specific command. to the commanders 00:02:24.479 --> 00:02:28.960 of his chariots. Second Chronicles, 1830 says, 00:02:29.599 --> 00:02:32.180 Now the king of Syria had commanded the captains 00:02:32.180 --> 00:02:35.319 of the chariots that were with him, saying, Fight 00:02:35.319 --> 00:02:38.740 ye not with small or great, save only with the 00:02:38.740 --> 00:02:42.039 king of Israel. Think about what that means. 00:02:42.659 --> 00:02:44.699 These soldiers were not entering the battlefield 00:02:44.699 --> 00:02:48.039 simply looking for anyone to kill. They had a 00:02:48.039 --> 00:02:51.919 target. They were looking for a king. And on 00:02:51.919 --> 00:02:55.150 that battlefield, one man looked like a king, 00:02:56.009 --> 00:02:59.789 Jehoshaphat. Ahab had removed the appearance 00:02:59.789 --> 00:03:03.490 of royalty, Jehoshaphat had not. And so the Bible 00:03:03.490 --> 00:03:06.469 says that when the commanders saw Jehoshaphat, 00:03:06.569 --> 00:03:09.710 they said, it is the king of Israel, and they 00:03:09.710 --> 00:03:12.310 surrounded him. I want us to remain there for 00:03:12.310 --> 00:03:15.210 a moment, because sometimes we read scripture 00:03:15.210 --> 00:03:18.430 too quickly and miss the terror inside a sentence. 00:03:18.729 --> 00:03:21.889 They surrounded him. These were trained warriors. 00:03:22.129 --> 00:03:25.090 They were operating under orders. They believed 00:03:25.090 --> 00:03:27.469 they had found the man they had been sent to 00:03:27.469 --> 00:03:30.830 kill. And now they were closing in on Jehoshaphat. 00:03:31.110 --> 00:03:33.490 There was no committee meeting. There was no 00:03:33.490 --> 00:03:36.750 opportunity to develop another battle plan. There 00:03:36.750 --> 00:03:39.830 was no time to send a messenger back to Jerusalem. 00:03:40.229 --> 00:03:42.990 There was no time to call his advisors. There 00:03:42.990 --> 00:03:45.770 was no time to explain that they had mistaken 00:03:45.770 --> 00:03:49.909 him for someone else. The enemy was already there. 00:03:49.960 --> 00:03:53.439 The danger was no longer approaching from a distance. 00:03:53.599 --> 00:03:57.439 It had arrived. And scripture tells us what Jehoshaphat 00:03:57.439 --> 00:04:02.219 did. Second Chronicles 1831 says, And it came 00:04:02.219 --> 00:04:05.780 to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw 00:04:05.780 --> 00:04:09.199 Jehoshaphat, that they said, It is the king of 00:04:09.199 --> 00:04:12.259 Israel. Therefore they compassed about him to 00:04:12.259 --> 00:04:16.279 fight. But Jehoshaphat cried out. Jehoshaphat 00:04:16.279 --> 00:04:19.790 cried out. That is all scripture tells us. We 00:04:19.790 --> 00:04:23.509 are not given the words. We don't know how long 00:04:23.509 --> 00:04:26.730 the prayer was. We don't know whether Jehoshaphat 00:04:26.730 --> 00:04:29.589 formed a complete sentence. We don't know whether 00:04:29.589 --> 00:04:32.470 he quoted scripture. We don't know whether he 00:04:32.470 --> 00:04:35.370 made a declaration of faith. We don't know whether 00:04:35.370 --> 00:04:38.870 he shouted, Lord, help me. We don't even know 00:04:38.870 --> 00:04:41.509 whether the cry came from confidence or from 00:04:41.509 --> 00:04:45.089 fear. The Bible simply says, Jehoshaphat cried 00:04:45.089 --> 00:04:48.470 out. And I find something deeply comforting about 00:04:48.470 --> 00:04:52.060 that. Because sometimes we have made prayer so 00:04:52.060 --> 00:04:55.060 complicated that we have forgotten that God is 00:04:55.060 --> 00:04:58.480 also a father. Sometimes we imagine that before 00:04:58.480 --> 00:05:01.980 God can respond, we must find the right words, 00:05:02.199 --> 00:05:05.339 create the right atmosphere, assume the right 00:05:05.339 --> 00:05:08.639 posture, quote the right scripture, and pray 00:05:08.639 --> 00:05:11.899 long enough to convince heaven that our situation 00:05:11.899 --> 00:05:14.920 deserves attention. But what happens when there 00:05:14.920 --> 00:05:18.279 is no time? What happens when the car is coming? 00:05:18.439 --> 00:05:20.959 What happens when the doctor speaks the words 00:05:20.959 --> 00:05:23.860 you were never prepared to hear? What happens 00:05:23.860 --> 00:05:26.000 when the phone rings in the middle of the night? 00:05:26.319 --> 00:05:29.120 What happens when danger appears without warning? 00:05:29.459 --> 00:05:32.600 What happens when your strength disappears? What 00:05:32.600 --> 00:05:36.079 happens when fear overwhelms your vocabulary 00:05:36.079 --> 00:05:39.259 and everything you have ever learned about prayer 00:05:39.259 --> 00:05:42.839 suddenly becomes one desperate cry? What happens 00:05:42.839 --> 00:05:47.420 when all you can say is, Jesus? Jehoshaphat cried 00:05:47.420 --> 00:05:52.970 out. And heaven understood the cry, because sometimes 00:05:52.970 --> 00:05:56.029 God does not need your eloquence to recognize 00:05:56.029 --> 00:05:59.910 your dependence. Sometimes the cry itself says 00:05:59.910 --> 00:06:04.050 everything. The cry says, I cannot save myself. 00:06:04.949 --> 00:06:09.689 The cry says, I need help. The cry says, I know 00:06:09.689 --> 00:06:13.730 where my help comes from. The cry says, there 00:06:13.730 --> 00:06:15.949 is someone greater than what is surrounding me. 00:06:16.329 --> 00:06:19.149 And perhaps Jehoshaphat's cry was not the cry 00:06:19.149 --> 00:06:22.389 of a fearless man. Perhaps it was precisely the 00:06:22.389 --> 00:06:25.269 opposite. Perhaps he was terrified. Perhaps he 00:06:25.269 --> 00:06:28.310 saw those chariots closing around him and realized 00:06:28.310 --> 00:06:31.629 in one terrifying moment that he might die on 00:06:31.629 --> 00:06:35.370 that battlefield. But fear did something important. 00:06:36.009 --> 00:06:39.509 Fear revealed where his heart instinctively turned. 00:06:39.629 --> 00:06:42.769 Because when Jehoshaphat discovered that human 00:06:42.769 --> 00:06:45.230 strength could no longer save him, Something 00:06:45.230 --> 00:06:48.769 inside him still knew where to call. And this 00:06:48.769 --> 00:06:52.370 is where the story becomes extraordinary. The 00:06:52.370 --> 00:06:55.910 verse does not end by saying, Jehoshaphat cried 00:06:55.910 --> 00:06:58.990 out and he fought his way through. It does not 00:06:58.990 --> 00:07:02.829 say, Jehoshaphat cried out and his soldiers arrived. 00:07:03.250 --> 00:07:06.730 It does not say, Jehoshaphat cried out and he 00:07:06.730 --> 00:07:10.579 found an escape route. It says, Jehoshaphat cried 00:07:10.579 --> 00:07:13.800 out, and the Lord helped him, and God moved them 00:07:13.800 --> 00:07:16.860 to depart from him. Listen carefully to those 00:07:16.860 --> 00:07:20.579 words, the Lord helped him, and then God moved 00:07:20.579 --> 00:07:23.160 them. Something happened on that battlefield 00:07:23.160 --> 00:07:26.860 that Jehoshaphat himself could not produce. The 00:07:26.860 --> 00:07:30.439 men who were surrounding him moved away. The 00:07:30.439 --> 00:07:33.839 men who had identified him as their target changed 00:07:33.839 --> 00:07:36.680 direction. The men who had approached him with 00:07:36.680 --> 00:07:42.430 the intention of killing him. departed. Jehoshaphat 00:07:42.430 --> 00:07:45.689 did not move them. His army did not move them. 00:07:46.189 --> 00:07:49.829 His position did not move them. His royal authority 00:07:49.829 --> 00:07:53.170 did not move them. His military experience did 00:07:53.170 --> 00:07:57.410 not move them. God moved them. And that introduces 00:07:57.410 --> 00:08:00.649 us to the mystery we are going to explore throughout 00:08:00.649 --> 00:08:04.610 this journey. The mystery of divine intervention. 00:08:05.389 --> 00:08:08.420 Because there are things you can move. And there 00:08:08.420 --> 00:08:12.420 are things only God can move. There are doors 00:08:12.420 --> 00:08:16.500 you can open. And there are doors only God can 00:08:16.500 --> 00:08:20.680 open. There are battles you can fight. And there 00:08:20.680 --> 00:08:24.420 are battles where God will tell you, this battle 00:08:24.420 --> 00:08:28.600 is not yours. There are circumstances where wisdom 00:08:28.600 --> 00:08:32.220 will show you what to do. And there are circumstances 00:08:32.220 --> 00:08:35.409 where you will have to confess like Jehoshaphat 00:08:35.409 --> 00:08:38.730 would later confess in another crisis. We do 00:08:38.730 --> 00:08:42.129 not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you. 00:08:43.149 --> 00:08:46.009 There comes a place where human ability ends. 00:08:46.610 --> 00:08:50.809 But listen to me carefully. The end of your ability 00:08:50.809 --> 00:08:55.110 is not the end of God's ability. The fact that 00:08:55.110 --> 00:08:58.929 you cannot see away does not mean there is no 00:08:58.929 --> 00:09:02.289 way. The fact that you cannot move what is standing 00:09:02.289 --> 00:09:05.679 before you does not mean It cannot be moved. 00:09:06.600 --> 00:09:09.559 The fact that you cannot change someone's mind 00:09:09.559 --> 00:09:13.480 does not mean God cannot touch their heart. The 00:09:13.480 --> 00:09:16.059 fact that you cannot explain how deliverance 00:09:16.059 --> 00:09:19.240 could possibly happen does not mean heaven has 00:09:19.240 --> 00:09:23.259 exhausted its possibilities. Jehoshaphat could 00:09:23.259 --> 00:09:26.820 not see an exit. So God did something better. 00:09:27.360 --> 00:09:31.100 God moved what was surrounding him. And perhaps 00:09:31.100 --> 00:09:34.250 somebody listening to this conversation knows 00:09:34.250 --> 00:09:36.809 exactly what it feels like to be surrounded, 00:09:37.590 --> 00:09:41.789 not necessarily by soldiers. Maybe you are surrounded 00:09:41.789 --> 00:09:45.429 by circumstances, surrounded by accusations, 00:09:46.409 --> 00:09:49.470 surrounded by financial pressure, surrounded 00:09:49.470 --> 00:09:52.990 by uncertainty, surrounded by decisions being 00:09:52.990 --> 00:09:56.750 made beyond your control, surrounded by doors 00:09:56.750 --> 00:10:00.529 that appear closed, surrounded by people whose 00:10:00.529 --> 00:10:04.970 intentions you cannot change. surrounded by something 00:10:04.970 --> 00:10:07.950 that has brought you to the uncomfortable realization. 00:10:08.889 --> 00:10:12.129 I don't know what to do anymore. Then perhaps 00:10:12.129 --> 00:10:14.789 Jehoshaphat's story has arrived at the right 00:10:14.789 --> 00:10:18.450 moment. Because scripture does not tell us that 00:10:18.450 --> 00:10:21.929 Jehoshaphat knew what God was going to do. It 00:10:21.929 --> 00:10:25.669 tells us that he knew who to cry to. And there 00:10:25.669 --> 00:10:29.370 is an enormous difference. Faith does not always 00:10:29.370 --> 00:10:32.970 mean knowing how God will deliver you. Sometimes 00:10:32.970 --> 00:10:37.190 faith is simply knowing who your deliverer is, 00:10:37.370 --> 00:10:39.769 and that brings us to something even deeper. 00:10:40.750 --> 00:10:43.149 Because centuries before you and I would read 00:10:43.149 --> 00:10:46.370 Jehoshaphat's story, scripture would reveal a 00:10:46.370 --> 00:10:49.570 promise that sounds remarkably similar to what 00:10:49.570 --> 00:10:54.070 happened on that battlefield. Psalm 91 declares, 00:10:54.450 --> 00:10:57.850 because he hath set his love upon me, therefore 00:10:57.850 --> 00:11:01.779 will I deliver him. I will set him on high. because 00:11:01.779 --> 00:11:05.639 he hath known my name. And then God says, he 00:11:05.639 --> 00:11:09.320 shall call upon me and I will answer him. He 00:11:09.320 --> 00:11:13.299 shall call. I will answer. He shall call upon 00:11:13.299 --> 00:11:16.360 me and I will answer him. I will be with him 00:11:16.360 --> 00:11:19.820 in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him. 00:11:20.519 --> 00:11:23.919 Notice what God does not say. He does not say 00:11:23.919 --> 00:11:27.340 because he knows my name. Trouble will never 00:11:27.340 --> 00:11:31.110 come. He says, I will be with him in trouble. 00:11:31.929 --> 00:11:35.149 That changes everything. Because the presence 00:11:35.149 --> 00:11:38.009 of trouble does not mean the absence of God. 00:11:38.570 --> 00:11:40.929 Being surrounded does not mean you have been 00:11:40.929 --> 00:11:44.129 abandoned. Being inside the furnace does not 00:11:44.129 --> 00:11:47.490 mean God has forgotten you. Standing before the 00:11:47.490 --> 00:11:50.669 Red Sea does not mean the promise has failed. 00:11:51.350 --> 00:11:54.230 Finding yourself inside a prison does not mean 00:11:54.230 --> 00:11:57.590 heaven has lost your address. Sometimes you can 00:11:57.590 --> 00:12:01.500 be exactly where you never wanted to be and still 00:12:01.500 --> 00:12:05.039 be exactly where God knows you are. Jehoshaphat 00:12:05.039 --> 00:12:08.480 was surrounded, but he was not alone. And when 00:12:08.480 --> 00:12:13.299 he cried, God heard him. When God heard him, 00:12:13.620 --> 00:12:17.519 God helped him. And when God helped him, God 00:12:17.519 --> 00:12:21.000 moved them. That is where our journey begins. 00:12:21.639 --> 00:12:24.500 Because throughout scripture, we are going to 00:12:24.500 --> 00:12:27.059 discover men and women. who reached moments where 00:12:27.059 --> 00:12:30.580 human possibilities disappeared. Circumstances 00:12:30.580 --> 00:12:34.559 became impossible. Enemies became stronger. Doors 00:12:34.559 --> 00:12:38.360 became locked. Fires became hotter. Seas became 00:12:38.360 --> 00:12:42.240 barriers. Lions became executioners. Prisons 00:12:42.240 --> 00:12:46.159 became fortified. Storms became violent. And 00:12:46.159 --> 00:12:48.600 death itself appeared to have spoken the final 00:12:48.600 --> 00:12:54.539 word. And again and again, God intervened. So 00:12:54.539 --> 00:12:57.740 before we go any further into this mystery, hold 00:12:57.740 --> 00:13:01.000 onto these words. You do not have to know how 00:13:01.000 --> 00:13:03.700 God is going to deliver you to know who to call. 00:13:04.580 --> 00:13:07.759 Sometimes all you have left is a cry. But if 00:13:07.759 --> 00:13:11.919 that cry knows where to go, a cry may be enough.