2 Chronicles 20:20 KJV
And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.
One cannot neglect the fact that the primary application of this passage has to do with Judah facing the battle. Jehoshaphat encouraged them to believe in the Lord who had promised they would not have to even fight this battle and to believe God's prophets who told them this would be the case. Believing these, Judah could march to the battle arena confident and expecting a great victory.
However, I would think the Bible an almost fruitless book if all it did was tell me what God has done and not what God will do. The word established means "built up" and the word, prosper, means "push forward."
When we believe in the Lord and we believe His prophets (the preachers of His Word) we may rightly expect that God will establish and strengthen and build us up in the faith and that we will go forward, accomplishing great things for God.
The idea of "push forward" sounds to me like I should expect an effort. While God granted them this victory without their even having to fight, that was not the case in most of their battles. It would be an error to think that when we believe in the Lord and believe His prophets we will never have to fight. But we would not be wrong to suggest that when we believe in the Lord and believe His prophets we will make progress in the things of God.
And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.
One cannot neglect the fact that the primary application of this passage has to do with Judah facing the battle. Jehoshaphat encouraged them to believe in the Lord who had promised they would not have to even fight this battle and to believe God's prophets who told them this would be the case. Believing these, Judah could march to the battle arena confident and expecting a great victory.
However, I would think the Bible an almost fruitless book if all it did was tell me what God has done and not what God will do. The word established means "built up" and the word, prosper, means "push forward."
When we believe in the Lord and we believe His prophets (the preachers of His Word) we may rightly expect that God will establish and strengthen and build us up in the faith and that we will go forward, accomplishing great things for God.
The idea of "push forward" sounds to me like I should expect an effort. While God granted them this victory without their even having to fight, that was not the case in most of their battles. It would be an error to think that when we believe in the Lord and believe His prophets we will never have to fight. But we would not be wrong to suggest that when we believe in the Lord and believe His prophets we will make progress in the things of God.
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