[2020 Vision Series] Victory in Our Battlesনমুনা

## Perspective Everybody faces inconveniences—for example, when your internet goes out and things get hectic. Then, there are things that present themselves as challenges— situations that come against you. And then, there are battles, moments of truth in which you either move forward, stay your ground, or are moved backward. Battles make a huge difference in our lives. In this seven-day reading plan, we are going to look at how God deals with battles and how you and I can deal with ours. In 2 Chronicles, in the Bible, about 890 B.C., we find that Jehoshaphat is a good king. He doesn’t do everything perfectly. There are some places where he messes up, but he is a king after the Lord’s heart. We read that the Moabites and Ammonites, with some of the Meunites, came to wage war against Jehoshaphat. He stops at that moment and recognizes he is afraid. As a king, it makes sense that he would be afraid of battling such a big army, and that he would be concerned for his nation. Jehoshaphat chose to turn to the Lord, and he gave an amazing prayer: “We do not know what to do, but we look to You,” he said. Here we see that the first thing to do when going into battles is this: gain perspective. Is my perspective a heavenly perspective? From an earthly perspective, what Jehoshaphat was facing was tremendously discouraging, wasn’t it? If we just turn on the news, we get bad news over and over and over. In your life, in my life, in other’s lives, in the world at large, there is always something bad happening. But from a heavenly perspective, we get a bird’s eye view, and we begin to see things a little bit differently. The prayer Jesus taught us says, “On earth as it is in heaven.” If we catch ourselves thinking, “In heaven, as it is on earth,” we are in for a perspective overhaul. When battles come our way, God wants to do something greater in us. So, we need to first understand that God is for us, He loves us, and He likes us and that He is in the battle with us, ahead of us, behind us, and that He has hemmed us in. Don’t miss the opportunity to trust in the Lord — gain perspective.