Don't Be Dismayed, God Will Not Fail You — Carter Conlon

This recording is provided by Times Square Church in New York City. You're welcome to make additional copies for free distribution to friends. All other unauthorized duplication or electronic transmission is a violation of copyright and other applicable laws.

This recording cannot be posted on any website. However, written permission to link to the Times Square Church homepage may be requested by emailing info at timessquarechurch .org. Other recordings are available by calling 1 -800 -488 -0854 or by writing to Times Square Church Tape Ministry, 1657 Broadway, New York, New York, 10019.

This message is one of the Times Square Church Pulpit Series. It was recorded in a sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing World Challenge, PO Box 260, Lindale, Texas, 75771 or calling 903 -963 -8626.

You are welcome to make additional cassettes of this message for free distribution to friends. However, for all other forms of reproduction or electronic transmission, existing copyright laws apply.

God's Promise Not to Fail Joshua

I'm hoping that after today that you'll be able to look the devil in the face and say, take one last good look because I won't be back anymore. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Deuteronomy Chapter 31, please, in the Old Testament.

Prayer for God's Word and Victory

My message title is Don't Be Dismayed, God Will Not Fail You. Don't be dismayed, God will not fail you. Precious Jesus, I thank you. For your presence today. I thank you, God, for your word that you've delivered throughout this day.

Thank you for your manifested glory. Now, God, I stand before your throne and before your people one more time. And I ask only, Jesus, that you would be glorified. I ask that your word would be real, more real than life and breath.

I ask that your word would be so real that we can lay hold of it. That faith would find its mark in our hearts. That your kingdom would advance through your people. You have a destiny for this church.

You have a destiny for those that you've gathered here tonight. I pray with all my heart that none of us would fall short of it. Oh, Jesus, be manifested in us and to us. I yield myself as a vessel that your mind and heart to this people can flow through me.

I ask that I be taken out of the way. I ask that my thoughts surrender to yours and my heart to yours. My voice to your voice. Ask, oh, God, that I may disappear. That, Jesus, you may appear. That your voice might be heard.

That your kingdom can come with great power and glory. I ask that you would demolish works of darkness in this house tonight. My God, let your kingdom come and your will be done. I ask it, believing in Jesus' name.

Moses Charges Joshua to Be Strong

Don't be dismayed. God will not fail you. Deuteronomy chapter 31, verses 7 and 8. And Moses called unto Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong and of a good courage. For thou must go with this people unto the land which the Lord hath sworn unto their fathers to give them.

And thou shalt cause them to inherit it. And the Lord, he it is, that doth go before thee. He will be with thee. He will not fail thee, neither forsake thee. Fear not, and neither be dismayed. Now, this is a word that God spoke firstly through Moses to Joshua, a leader that came after a leader.

And, beloved, in every generation and at every time, one generation passes and another takes over. There's a season and a time for you and for me. When God passes to each one of us the torch as it is of his truth, not just the truth that we are to expound to people so that they might increase in knowledge, but as God spoke through Moses to Joshua, we are called, if we know Christ, to lead people into that truth, that they might possess it.

That was the call of God upon Joshua's life. You're not to just teach the people, you're to lead them into the truth. And the truth that you're leading them into will possess them. They will not possess it, it will possess them.

And there will be a transformation. They will go from a place of wilderness and sin into a land of promise. And in that land of promise there will be plenty. They will flourish. And, of course, God's intended design for his people was and always is to so bless us with his presence that he makes his name through us a praise in the earth.

God spoke to Joshua and he said, I'm going to go before you. I'll be with you. I will not fail you. I will not forsake you. So don't be afraid or don't be dismayed. Now, fear and dismay are bedfellows as it is.

But dismay is a step beyond just being afraid. I think all of us from time to time are afraid. But dismay in the original text means to be broken, abolished, confounded, in despair, crushed, terrified, demoralized, broken in pieces and beaten down.

Now, dismay is not fear alone. Dismay comes when the argument of fear, because fear never comes by itself. Fear comes with an argument. And the argument that fear brings is always against what God has revealed to you and I through his word.

It's always a contrary argument to truth. And when fear's argument has been embraced as a greater reality than that which God has spoken to your heart, then dismay is the natural consequence. Getting to the place where you don't see hope in the future.

You don't see any possibility of change. You are so beaten down by a besetting sin, a struggle, an inward conflict, whatever it is that's going on in your life. You are so beaten down by it that you don't see any hope of ever getting up.

You so feel sometimes like you failed God. And if you are really an active seeker of God, you're going to have to go through this classroom. I don't see there any escaping it. Every man or woman who's greatly used of God has to go through some very, very difficult classrooms that the casual seeker will never embrace.

Classrooms of isolation, confusion, despair come into the hearts of those that are truly seekers of God. God has to bring us through the whole arm of flesh until finally, like Paul, we said, I reckon this thing dead.

I reckon there's no hope within any self effort that I will produce for the kingdom or the glory of God. I reckon it's all dead. The only hope that I have now is the life that Christ has promised to live through me.

Christ Goes Before His People

God said to Joshua, there are things before you that you've not anticipated. God knows these areas. And the wonderful thing about Christ is that he's already in our future. He's not bound by time like we are.

He's the only one that can go into the past and heal. He is an ever present God ready to help us in our times of trouble. But thanks be to God for the knowledge he's already in the future. You ask me how I know that because he's already sitting at the right hand of all glory and all victory is already more than a conqueror.

We have already conquered in him. And even though we have to go through valleys and trials and difficulties, we're already on the victory side because of Christ. He is in your future if you are a Christian, if you're trusting in him.

And he said, I've gone there before you get there. You're going to go through battles. You're going to go through trials and difficulties. But I've already gone there and I already am there before you even arrive.

And in the midst of them, I will not fail you and I will not forsake you. All the promises I've ever made to you, I will perform to you. And in spite of your weakness, I will remain your strength. In spite of your constancy, I will remain the one constant in your life.

I will not forsake you. I will not fail you in your time of difficulty and trouble. Paul, the apostle, had a unique perspective. He described the battle that's ahead of us as being on two fronts at the same time.

The first front, of course, is that which God does through us. And the second is that which God does in us. He said in 2 Corinthians 7 and verse 5, when we came into Macedonia, we had no rest. Without were fightings and within were fears.

It's an ironic kind of a paradox in the Christian life that we can be experiencing wonderful victory on one front and be going through a life and death war on the other, both at the same time. It's an amazing thing.

In other words, God can be conquering through us while at the same time there's a war, a life and death war going on within us. Victory and war at the same time. It makes for a very unique perspective in the Christian walk.

You know what I'm talking about. You sit and sing in the choir. You get up and you sing such marvelous songs tonight and you see the victory. The victory is emanating as it is. As you choose to praise God, the victory is emanating from you and other people are getting free and in your own heart you're saying, Oh God, oh God, help.

You're singing songs of incredible victory on the outside, but on the inside it's Jesus, help me. Help me, I'm going through the most intensive warfare of my entire life. The psalmist said in Psalm 61, he said, Hear my cry, oh God, attendant to my prayer.

From the ends of the earth will I cry unto thee. And when my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I. And sometimes it really seems that we're at the end of the earth. There's nowhere else to go.

Have you ever gotten to that place in your life where this is the end? There's a sign. You've reached the end of the earth. There's nowhere else to go. The psalmist says when I get there, oh God, hear my cry and lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

Joshua Receives God's Word in Joshua 1

Now Joshua had a word from Moses. But a little later on, if you'll go with me to the book of Joshua, I'll just turn ahead a few pages. He begins to hear the same word of encouragement from the mouth of God himself.

You know, I'm very, very thankful tonight that the more I study the Bible, the more I realize how frail human beings are. There is frailty in every leader that God ever chose. Inconsistency, struggle, trial, just like you and me.

These were not superheroes. They were not extraordinary people. They were ordinary people that had a confidence in God. And because of that confidence, they became extraordinary and did exploits for God.

But they were just simply ordinary people like you and me. Joshua chapter 1 says, after the death of Moses, chapter 1, verse 1, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord now, first of all it is Moses speaking, but now it's the Lord himself speaking to Joshua.

The Lord speak to Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying, Moses, my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou and all this people into the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.

Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given to you as I said unto Moses. Thanks be to God that the promises of God are not just for somebody else. It's for every subsequent generation.

Every promise that's ever been spoken to anybody since Calvary is also mine. Hallelujah. And every promise that is mine is also yours. You can be a brand new Christian. You could have come to Christ at the three o 'clock service today.

But I tell you, surely as I stand and live and breathe, that every promise that has ever been spoken is now yours. The inheritance is now yours. Everything Christ won on Calvary is now yours. Every power of hell has to now bend its knee and confess with its tongue that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Nothing can stop, nothing but unbelief can stop what God has destined to do and ensue your life. From the wilderness, verse 4, and Lebanon, even to the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites.

That means the whole book, everything. Unto the great sea towards the going down of the sun shall be your coast. There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life. As I was with Moses, so will I be with thee.

I will not fail thee nor forsake thee. Be strong and of good courage. For unto this people thou shalt divide for an inheritance the land which I swear to their fathers to give them. Only be thou strong and very courageous.

That thou mayst observe to do according to all the law which Moses, my servant, commanded thee. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left. That thou mayst prosper with us wherever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night.

That thou mayst observe to do according to all that is written therein. For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage.

Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed. For the Lord thy God is with thee wheresoever thou goest. Again, God speaks to Joshua and says, I have commanded that the land yield as it is. All of the promises that I have made to Moses that are going to be given to my people, I've commanded it to open before you.

Now I'm asking you and telling you that you've got to meditate in the word of God. You've got to keep your thoughts and your mind focused on those things that I have promised you. Now folks, it's not enough for others to tell you.

To make it through the battle, you've got to hear it for yourself. To make it through the battle, you've got to get into this word. And ask the Holy Spirit to make the promises in here more real than life and circumstance.

Ask God by the Holy Spirit to literally engrave it on your heart with a pen. That all of the promises that he has made are now yours. You can't, it can't be me telling you. Now it's a good thing that I am telling you this tonight.

But if you don't hear it for yourself, it's of no avail. The first time you run into difficulty, you're going to be dismayed. You're going to be cast down, broken, shattered, dismayed. You'll say, oh God, that which Pastor Carter told me is not coming to pass.

But you see, it's not good enough that just Pastor Carter tell you. Or Pastor Neil, or Pastor Patrick, Pastor Dave. You've got to hear it from God for yourself. You've got to get in this book. You cannot walk the Christian life on emotion.

You cannot face the giants on feeling. If you're trying to do that, you're going to fall, you're going to fail. And the devil will overwhelm you and dismay you. There comes a point in your life that you've got to get in this book.

By the power of the Holy Ghost and say, God, make this thing real to me. Make these promises real. Engrave them on my mind, engrave them on my heart. And make them more real than any circumstance or any struggle I will ever face in my life.

Jericho, Ai, and the Danger of Hidden Sin

God said to Joshua, I've commanded you, don't be dismayed. Now, from this point, Joshua begins to lead the people. Joshua experiences great miracles. It's not long after that the waters are parting, just as they did for Moses.

He sets up a memorial in Gilgal to the faithfulness of God. He prepares the people for war. Causes them, in a sense, to roll away again. Those that had been reared in the wilderness to roll away the reproach of Egypt.

And to prepare to take the promised land. And finally, in Joshua chapter 5, he has a face-to-face encounter with the pre-incarnate Christ. You know the story. Just as Joshua came into the place of promise before facing Jericho.

Chapter 5, verse 13, it says, it came to pass. When Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked. And behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said unto him, are you for us or for our adversaries?

And he said, nay, but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. Joshua fell on his face to the earth and did worship. And he said unto him, what sayeth my Lord unto his servant? And the captain of the Lord's host said to Joshua, loose thy shoe from off thy foot.

For the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so. Now the word for holy in the Hebrew text is the very word that is used for the holy of holies. In the Old Testament. It was Christ himself who had come to Joshua.

And said, Joshua, this is a holy place. You are in the presence of God. And I'm calling you and commissioning you. You've got to take off your own shoe. In other words, you've not got this pathway that you're going to walk.

It's not going to be something of your own making. You're not going to know victory in your own strength. You're going to know it only as you trust me. As you walk in the steps that I've outlined for your life, then I'm going to vanquish your enemies.

You're going to know incredible prosperity as you continue to walk with me. From this point of encountering Christ, Joshua goes into Jericho. And with the battle instructions, I think, in all of history, an incredible walled city falls.

And the children of Israel go up. And it seems like the promises are just too good to be true. It's incredible what takes the enemies of the Lord, what it has taken them perhaps generations to build. God, in just simply a few days of obedience, tears it all down.

And it seems like none of our enemies can stand before us. And what an incredible celebration when Joshua said to the people, Shout, for the Lord has given you the city. What an incredible celebration it must have been as they went up and conquered that which threatened the very entrance into the land of promise.

But then a little later on, they come to another city called Ai. And it's only a little city. And the leaders come back and they speak to Joshua. And they say, well, it's only a little one. Let's not bother sending a big army against it.

How about maybe two or three thousand men can go up and smite Ai for it's only a little city. There's only a few people. So the two or three thousand warriors went up and stood against this little city called Ai.

And the inhabitants of this little place came out and put to rout as it is the armies of Israel. The Bible says that 36 men were killed. Now, folks, that's not a lot of men, really. When you consider that there were tens of thousands armed for war, I wouldn't call that a huge defeat.

Although it is a defeat that 36 men are killed in this battle. But now look at Joshua's. Look at his response in verse six, chapter seven, verse six. Remember, remember, the Lord said, Joshua, don't be dismayed.

The Bible says Joshua rent his clothes and fell to the earth upon his face. Before the ark of the Lord until even tide, he and the elders of Israel and put dust on their heads. And Joshua said, Alas. Now, listen to his incredible confession.

Now, testimony. Alas, O Lord, wherefore as though at all brought this people over Jordan to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites and to destroy us? Would to God. We have been content and dwelled on the other side of Jordan.

Incredible, isn't it? Thirty six. Thirty six men. The first little defeat. And that's just the way you and I are. Folks, that's the way we are. We can go to Nigeria and see one hundred thousand people a night come to Christ.

We can go out on the streets and have massive crusades. We can have testimonies of deliverance and victory and have one little thing come into our life. One little struggle. One little defeat. One little time when we seem to be backing away from the enemy.

And there we are, down on our faces, bemoaning the very day we even came to Christ. Oh, I wish I had stayed working on Wall Street. I left all to walk with you and you're delivering me into the hand of the Amorites and the Hittites and all these other rights.

Oh, Lord. He said, what shall I say when Israel turns their back before their enemies? Oh, God, what shall I tell everybody that I am boasted about, about your strength and your power? Because I have so little.

I have seemingly no power over this little city, this little enemy. And the Lord responds to Joshua in verse 10. He says, the Lord said to Joshua, get up. What are you doing lying down on your face? Get up.

You know, we expect sometimes this great revelation from heaven in our struggle, don't we? And God looks down and says, get up. What are you doing? Has everything I've spoken to you worth nothing? He says, don't cast off your confidence in a time of minor setbacks.

He said, I'm going after something in you. There's a little compromise in your tent. I'm going after something that you don't see. Now, you have to understand, there's a huge camp. There's hundreds of thousands of people involved in this exodus into the land of promise.

And if you would have seen it from perhaps a hill perspective, you'd need binoculars to even see the end of the camp. There's hundreds and thousands of tents out there and families and people on the move and warfare and all types of things going on.

And way over perhaps in one corner, there's one little wee tent. And underneath that little tent is hidden something. This man called Akin went into Jericho and he took something he shouldn't have taken.

It was only a garment and a bar of silver or something like that. And he hid it under his tent. And we look at that and say, God, what seems to be the problem here? The whole of we're all moving. We're all of one heart and one accord.

And it's the man or woman that says, God, for goodness sakes, I've given all that I've got to you and you allow me to suffer defeat because of this little thing in my life. But you forget something. God said to Joshua, I'm at the end already.

And what you see is a little thing now. I see it as something else if I don't deal with it now. It's a little bit of covetousness is a little bit of another trust. But you see, if I don't deal with it, then Akin is going to get away with it.

And if he gets away with it, he's going to tell his neighbor about it. And the next battle, his neighbor is going to get away with it. And he's going to tell his neighbor. And before you know it, the whole camp will be disobeying the word of God and having other loves and other trusts.

I'm going to deal with it now. God isn't nitpicky when it comes to our lives. Sometimes there are things in us that we don't see it as a big deal. Oh, Lord, I'm Italian. You know, I like a glass of wine with my dinner.

It's cultural. Oh, you see, but he's at the other side. And he sees you when dismay comes into your life and when battles come into your life that you don't understand. He sees you now turning to something a little bit more than cultural.

A little more than just a little drink at dinner time. And he sees it and he's got to go after it. He sees the man or woman who's walking into the corner store and just enticed by, Oh, God, if I win that lottery, just think of what I can do for Times Square Church.

Oh, the crusades and all. Don't be deceived by all of that bunk. That's all it is. God says it's another trust. It's a covetous spirit. It seems like a little thing, but I'm going to go after it. And just to get your attention, I'm going to cause you to not be able to stand before an insignificant enemy.

Oh, just a little bit of bitterness. It's only a little bit. It's only one person. After all, there's 8 ,000 people in Times Square Church, Lord. It's only one person. I can't stand in the whole place.

What's the problem here? It's only a little bit of bitterness. God, I love 7 ,999 people. What's the problem? Why can't we just let this one go? Why can't we? Why can't? God, you probably don't even love them.

Why? What's the problem here? God says, no, no, no, no. No, no. It's just a little thing. And I'm going to go after that little thing. And when I go after, don't be dismayed. Don't be destroyed. I'm doing it because I love you.

I'm doing it because you said you wanted me. You see, the prophet Amos said, can two walk together except they be agreed? And God says, you will never get me to agree with this. You will never get me to walk in line with your little compromises.

And I will never call them acceptable or weakness or necessity. I will never agree with you. And if you want to walk together with me, if you want to know the fullness of what I have for you, you've got to call sin, sin.

What I call it, you've got to call it. We've got to deal with it. And I can see Joshua rising up from the earth and say, oh, God, what do we do then? How do we do this? How do we approach this? And the Lord says, I've got a plan.

We're going to go family by family. We're going to go area by area, tribe by tribe, area by area, family by family, man by man, tent by tent, and we're going to get right to the root of it. Hallelujah.

And that's exactly what the Word of God is going to do this year in Times Square Church. For those who say, God, I want you with all my heart, he says, I'm so glad you said that. Now, tribe by tribe, area by area, man by man, tent by tent, family by family, we're going to go right to the root of what's in your heart.

We're going to go there not to hinder you, not to destroy you, not to dismay you, but so that you might be set free by the power of God, that you might be strong and know your God and be able to do exploits for Him, that I might be able to give you wisdom that doesn't come from anything of the natural man, that I might be able to give you power and authority over the powers of darkness, that I might be able to make you a clean vessel that bears the name of Christ.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Chapter 8, Joshua. The Lord again begins to speak. Joshua deals with this area, and God begins to speak again into his life. The Lord said to Joshua, chapter 8, verse 1, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed.

Isn't it wonderful that word always comes back again? Thank God. Take all the people and go up to Ai and I've given into your hand the king of Ai and all his people and all his city and all his land. In other words, the Lord's saying, I just allowed you this setback to get your attention.

If you find that you've got something in your life that you're not getting the victory over, the Lord has allowed it to get your attention. Instead of just focusing on the struggle and the battle and trying to push through, take a moment sometime and draw back and say, Holy Spirit, what are you trying to show me?

What are you trying to speak to me that I don't want to hear? What little thing has gotten into me that I don't want to acknowledge? I don't want to agree with God on this, but Lord, you want to take me into the place of promise.

And until I agree, I can't go until I agree with you on this area. God again speaks comfort and Joshua experiences a marvelous tactical victory over the little city of Ai. And then at the end of chapter 8, something wonderful happens.

Verse 30 tells us that Joshua built an altar unto the Lord God of Israel in Mount Ebal. And all the people gathered around. He did it at verse 31, says the way that Moses, the Lord had commanded Moses to do it.

It was not done with any human tool. And they wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses and all the elders and officers and judges stood on one side of the ark. And the Levites are on the other side.

And Joshua, verse 34, it says he read all the words of the law, the blessings and the curses, according to all that is written in the book of the law. And there was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women, the little ones, the strangers that were conversant among them.

Now here, Joshua is a teacher now. He's building the altar. There's a point where we cease becoming a student to a large degree. We will always be learning. But there is a point where we take a leadership role.

In the church of Jesus Christ as as a Christian means whether we're just teaching our own family or we're involved in leadership of the church, whatever the situation is, but we're involved in teaching.

And we see Joshua now is building an altar and he's doing it the right way and he's reading the book. And everybody's gathered around him. Only to lead him into chapter nine. That's an incredible thing.

You see, because in chapter nine, he's deceived into embracing a people that God has destined for destruction. In chapter nine, the Gibeonites come, which are a tribe that is a people that are destined to be destroyed and overpowered.

And they come disguised and say, we're not in the immediate vicinity from we're from a long ways away. Look, we got moldy bread and we got worn out shoes. And Joshua doesn't inquire of the Lord. He takes their statements at face value and he makes a covenant, as it is with the people that are destined to be destroyed.

And ironically, later on, ends up having to defend them. And there is a warning in this. And here's my warning. Is this beware when you become the man or the woman with all the answers. It's a warning for teachers.

It's a warning for the more mature Christian. It's when you are the counselor and everybody's coming to you and you have everybody. You have the answer. You got the book. You know the book. You know how to build the altar.

You have all the answers for everybody. But you see, you're losing your own day to day dependence and moment to moment dependence on God and are not even aware of it. The Bible tells us that there's a knowledge that puffs up.

If knowledge and experience puffs you up. If in our experience as a church, as a church body, we're involved in crusades and we're involved in conferences. And there's a lot of people that are tuning in and listening to Times Square Church messages from all over the world.

We get letters from Ireland and Thailand and all over the place. And people are listening every week to the message. They'll be listening to what I'm preaching tonight. But if the experience and knowledge that we have puffs us up.

And if we lose our day to day dependence on God. We have just invited dismay into this church. We have just invited a Gibeonite. Something that God will allow to come our way to test our heart to see whether or not we are still humble before him.

And if we're not truly humble before him. If we truly are not acknowledging our day to day and moment to moment need of the Holy Spirit. Then we will end up making allegiances with things that make us look like fools.

Can you imagine the people looking at Joshua? Every time they saw a Gibeonite. There's our wonderful Bible teacher. Here's our leader. And look what he does. He makes an allegiance with an enemy. Something that God clearly said we are to go out and we are to demolish.

By faith. He makes an allegiance with it and now we can't touch it. Incredible. But it's a warning from the Holy Ghost. If we are to pray I think for anything in Times Square Church. If the Lord uses us.

We need to be very careful. We need to be very careful that we say in our hearts we are only unprofitable servants. That's all we are. And all we are doing is what God has asked us to do. No more and no less.

If we become puffed up and begin to brag and begin to boast. You can be sure a Gibeonite will end up in our doctrine. And God help us. God keep us. God give us strength. You see the Holy Spirit has to break the independence and the pride in us.

And produce in our heart a humble cry for his leading once more. Not enough to have victories in the past. Not enough to say we've got the book and we've got the altar. No, there's more. We need the dependence on God.

And we must never lose it. I speak this as a warning from the heart of God. Into my own life first. And into the life of every Christian that's called by Christ's name in this church. God will use us but only so long as we stay small in our own sight.

Jehoshaphat's Failure and God's Mercy

I want you to go to 2 Chronicles. Go ahead in your Bibles please. Just after Kings you're going to find Chronicles. In 2 Chronicles chapter 19. There was a king of Judah called Jehoshaphat. And Jehoshaphat was a man just like we are.

Made mistakes. He made a terrible mistake. He made an allegiance with Jezebel's husband Ahab. And he went into a battle with Ahab. And in that battle Ahab convinced him to appear like a king while Ahab disguised himself.

And when Jehoshaphat was about to be overpowered the Bible says he cried out to the Lord. And the Lord gave him a great deliverance. Then he came back home. And the moment he came home 2 Chronicles chapter 19 verse 1.

It says Jehoshaphat king of Judah returned to his house in peace to Jerusalem. And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him. And said to king Jehoshaphat should thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord.

Therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord. Nevertheless there are good things found in thee. And that thou hast taken away the groves out of the land. And you have prepared your heart to seek God.