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PROGRAM D-7163

The third R –  Recall God’s promises.

Notice that next Jehoshaphat recalls God’s promises to the children of Israel.  He says:

“If calamity comes upon us…we will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your Name and will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us.”

The Bible has promises there just for you, did you know that?  Have you learned to turn to God’s Word and ask for a promise when you face an impossible situation?

I remember when I first started this ministry on one station in the Chicago area in 1984. As it began to grow, I was frightened; I knew how inadequate and inexperienced I was.  And I really wanted to back out.  But I couldn’t deny that God had opened the doors in a miraculous way.

So, I sat down with my Bible and asked God to confirm his calling with a promise.

From Isaiah 50 God gave me this promise:

“The Sovereign Lord has given me a well- instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. . . Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced.  Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.”

Many times I’ve gone back to that promise and it has sustained me and strengthened me time and time again.  Do you need a promise from God right now?  You’ll find it in his Word.

The fourth R – Restate the problem to God.

Now, Jehoshaphat restates his problem. He prays:

“But now here are men from Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, whose territory you would not allow Israel to invade when they came from Egypt; so they turned away from them and did not destroy them.  See how they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession you gave us as an inheritance. Our God, will you not judge them?  For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us.”

The sequence is extremely important.  You restate the problem after you have recited who God is, remembered what he has done and recalled his promises to you.  Then you’re ready to focus on the problem because you’re then God-centered instead of self-centered.