Sometimes other people’s lives look so perfect as if they never face challenges and everything is always going right. But that is simply not true. We all face hardships in life. If you are currently in a battle, you are not alone.

So the question is not if you will be in a battle the question is “when you are in a battle, what will you do?”

2 Chronicles 20 reminds us that the first thing to do is seek the Lord. The second thing to do is to acknowledge God and pray and the next thing to do is cry out to God.

Verse 9 says, “If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague or famine, 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.”

Do you know that you serve a God that listens?

In Psalm 116:1-4, we hear the words of the Psalmist as he cries out to God in the midst of his own personal battle. “I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live. The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came over me; I was overcome by distress and sorrow. Then I called on the name of the Lord: “Lord, save me!”

You can hear the absolute distress in the Psalmist’s voice. He is in utter despair. There is a lot of despair in the world these days. We can find ourselves in our own times of utter darkness and hopelessness. When disaster comes and it feels like life is caving in. In those moments when you are tired and weary and you feel like you are at your wits end. When you are not sure where to turn and you feel as though there is no way through your circumstances or no way out from under the weight of life, remember to cry out to God.

Not too long ago I was experiencing a really big battle in my life. I felt confused, anxious, worried, and weary. I was desperately seeking to hear the Lord’s voice. Psalm 25:4-5 became a Psalm that I recited on a daily basis, “Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.”

Sometimes in the battle it will feel like a fight just to cry out to God. You can be tempted to turn to other things to distract you or to numb the pain. But remember to cry out to him. As a follower of Jesus, you have the privilege of a personal relationship with God and 24/7 access to him.

We all face battles in our lives, situations that are seemingly impossible, challenges that seem insurmountable. Times when our limited minds see no way around the conflict in front of us, or in us.

What is your battle plan when you face difficulties in life?

As we seek to formulate our own battle plan for challenges in life, we are looking to 2 Chronicles 20 for cues on how King Jehosaphat led in a battle that Judah, the southern kingdom of Israel, faced.

The first thing Jehosaphat did when he was afraid in the battle was to seek the Lord and he also led his people to do the same. So when you are facing a battle the first part of your plan is, seek the Lord! The second step in Jehosaphat’s battle plan was to acknowledge God and pray.

2 Chronicles 20:5-7 tells us,

“Then Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem at the temple of the Lord in the front of the new courtyard and said:

“Lord, the God of our ancestors, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you. Our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend?”

Don’t you just feel stronger already, hearing those powerful declarations about God?

In the midst of the battle, Jehosaphat acknowledges who the Lord is and with confidence and boldness declares what is true about him, his character and his promises.

I have to admit that sometimes when I am in a battle, I spend more energy staring at my circumstances and welling up with fear and anxiety rather than focusing on God.

When you are in a battle do you recall and declare what is true about God? Can you easily call to mind the character of God and proclaim your courage in God?

Courage is the state of mind and belief that enables you to face difficulty, fear, and pain because you know who fights your battles and who fights for you—the Lord!

As a follower of Jesus, who you set your mind on and who you get your courage from determines your ability to experience victory in the battles you face.

What truths about God do you need to remember? What character of God do you need to recall and declare, shout at the top of your lungs with confidence and courage, knowing the battle is not yours to fight. That the Lord is with you wherever you go. Power and might are in his hand and no one can stand against him which means he fights for you and no one or nothing can stand against you. Declare his faithfulness in the battle.

What do you do when you are in the midst of a battle? We all face battles in our lives, situations that are seemingly impossible or challenges that seem insurmountable. Times when our limited minds see no way around the conflict in front of us, or in us.

We face battles in our marriage, in our thought life, at work, in our friendships, with our kids, financial battles, health battles, battles with addiction, emotional and mental battles.

What is your battle plan when you face difficulties in life? How do you have courage in the battle?

Let’s look at 2 Chronicles 20 and a battle that the southern kingdom of Israel, led by King Jehosaphat the fourth king of Judah, was facing for some cues. For a bit of a backstory, spiritually King Jehosaphat began his reign in a positive way, seeking the Lord, and leading his people to fear and follow God. But like many of the human kings we read about in the Old Testament, Jehosaphat had his shortcomings. Despite his misgivings we see how he led God’s people to victory when a vast number of their enemies were in hot pursuit to destroy them.

There are five parts of his battle plan that are important as you prepare your plan for the battles you will face in your life. When faced with what appeared to be an insurmountable battle the first thing Jehosaphat did when he was afraid was that he resolved to seek the Lord. (2 Chronicles 20:3). He was determined and resolute to fix his eyes on and seek God.

When you are afraid, what is your knee-jerk reaction? What or who do you give your first attention to?

It can be easy to give in to fear and forget to seek God. It can be tempting to phone a friend and rely purely on human wisdom (which by the way - phoning a wise friend is a good idea). We just sometimes forget to seek the Lord and his wisdom. After all, the battle does not surprise him so you need to fix your eyes on Jesus.

Jehosaphat also “proclaimed a fast for all Judah, who gathered to seek the Lord.” (2 Chronicles 20:3). Fasting is a spiritual discipline that helps you take your eyes off the things of this world and focus completely on God. It helps gain a new perspective and a renewed reliance upon God as you seek him for answers and direction.

The next time you are facing a battle, resolve to seek the Lord first. Consider fasting as you enquire of the Lord and his wisdom for the road ahead.

I want to talk about stewardship and in particular, how we steward our choices. I want to talk about this is because I think when we think about how we steward our choices, it actually empowers us as leaders—in whatever capacity you're leading—to lead out of a God-given sense of self-worth.

Now the church loves to talk about stewardship. We hear messages on how we steward our finances, how we steward our time, how we steward our resources. And these are really important things. But I can't tell you the last time, if ever, I heard a sermon on stewarding our choices.

What I want to focus on is that this choice to function consistently out of a biblically defined understanding of our self-worth, particularly as it relates to our role as leaders, as women, it can have a profound impact on how we view and use our emotions; how we navigate boundaries, and it can actually enhance our ability for valuable risk-taking.

But let's stop and think about this because let's be honest, choices stress us out. We face choices every day. I start off the day with “What am I going to wear?” “What am I going to look like when I head into my meetings?” And then I start thinking about “What am I going to eat for breakfast?” And some of you were probably thinking about “What am I going to feed my kids or spouse for breakfast?”

And then I think about, “Okay, what tasks do I have to focus on at work today?” Because definitely there's no way I'm getting everything on my to do list done. And then I move onto, “I know we've got performance improvement plans coming up. So, do I need to let this person know what their outcome is going to be today? How is that going to make them feel? How's that going to make me feel?”

I'm also a psychologist, and so I have clients that come into my office and they're wrestling with even bigger choices, things like “Should I stay in my marriage—even though my husband was selfish and cheated and doesn't act like he wants to be married anymore?” Or perhaps you're faced with a choice that says, “Do I follow this doctor's suggestion, or do I get a second opinion?”

Choices are all around us. A huge part of my career is focused on helping people who get stuck in those choices. They're dealing with the consequence of perhaps past choices, or they're paralyzed with fear over future choices.

And, you know, I think back to the Fall in Genesis. The Old Testament displays from the beginning of creation how God designed us to be gifted with the ability to choose. This was given to no other element of creation. And what did we do? We kind of messed it up.

And the consequence is that our daily choices, the things that we have to choose, they leave us feeling pretty up in the air. We're not grounded. I think it is because just like Adam and Eve did, we're trying to build routes and choices that are pretty fleeting. Adam and Eve wanted to route themselves in the choice of knowledge instead of the truth of who they were in Christ, which was perfect image bearers of God. We miss this practice of navigating our lives from a launching point of the choice, the one choice that really, truly matters. And that's what is going to ground us in the midst of everything when everything around us feels like chaos.

We have the choice to fully embrace and act out of a true definition of our self-worth. So how do you steward your choices? It's a big question. Because when we don't steward our choices, so often, we function from a place of trying to please other people to serve and to maybe sacrifice out of fear of being cast out, not included.

And unfortunately, we oftentimes then find our lives in chaos. If you're in that circumstance, you might be asking yourself, “How do I remain grounded when my choices around me don't have me feeling confident?” Perhaps you are feeling uncertain, incapable,

We have been given only one offensive weapon to use in this spiritual battle, but it is all we need. The Word of God is our sword (Ephesians 6:17). Paul said in 2 Corinthians 10:4 that "the weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.”

Remember how Jesus defeated Satan when he was tempted on the mountain. He quoted Scripture back to him, and though Satan tried three times to trick Jesus, he finally had to give up because the Word of God is far too powerful for him.

Now let me ask you something. If Jesus had to use the Word of God to defeat Satan, how much more do we? You will remember also that the Word of God was in his head. He knew it and could recall it when he needed it. Does that give you some idea of how to use the Word of God as your sword? You need to know it to use it, and when you do, Satan has absolutely no defense against it.

Here’s the thing: you need to wear all of this armor every day to stand against your enemy. I want to encourage you to start praying on each piece of the armor daily, before you leave home, so you're prepared for that enemy.

So, pray on each day the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of peace, the helmet of salvation, the shield of faith and the sword of God's Word. I have learned to do this, and I find that it becomes that daily reminder and awareness of the battle I face and how important this armor is to my survival as an effective witness for Jesus Christ.

I trust you will get very serious about putting on the armor of God on a daily basis, so that you are able to withstand the enemy's attack and be victorious.

(Click here to download the devotional for the entire week.)

Another piece of that armor is the shield of faith (Ephesians 6:16). The Scripture says with this shield we can extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one. All of them, not just some of them. Do you know how to use the shield of faith against Satan?

Taking the shield of faith is directly related to knowing God. The more you know him, the more you will trust him, and the more you trust him, the stronger will be your shield of faith.

Do you know whom you have believed? Knowing God is all important. Sadly, many of us know more about our friends than we do about God. Until you pursue a knowledge of God, your shield of faith will be weak, and will not stand up against all those flaming missiles that your enemy is constantly throwing at you. You need faith, and faith comes as you get to know God.

Faith also comes through exercise. When you trust God in a certain situation, and you see how he protects you, then the next time the enemy comes at you, your shield of faith is stronger because you remember the last time when you exercised faith, and God took care of you. Faith builds faith, but it has to begin by knowing God so that you believe he is trustworthy.

Our next piece of armor is the helmet of salvation, which protects our head (Ephesians 6:17). We are all aware that our minds are vital to the health of our body, both physically and emotionally. The Bible tells us that we are what we think. Before anything happens outwardly, it has its beginnings in our mind.

Little wonder that Satan makes his greatest effort to control our thinking. If he can capture your mind, he can control and destroy you. Without the helmet of salvation every day as your protection, you are defenseless.

Protecting your mind with the salvation which comes from Christ means that you don't allow anything into your mind that contradicts or violates or offends that salvation. If you are not willing to carefully control what goes into your mind, and to make certain that you consistently fill your mind with good things, your mind will be unprotected and provide an easy target for your great enemy, Satan.

So, put good things into your mind, and keeping the wrong things out. That will win your battle with Satan.

Do you get prepared for battle every day? Are you aware that, as a Christian, you are in a very real struggle with a most real enemy?

Already we've talked about the belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness, two important pieces of our armor from Ephesians 6. The next one is the gospel of peace to be worn on our feet (6:15). Did you ever wonder why peace is to be worn on your feet? Seems a little illogical, when you think about. I would have guessed that peace would be worn on our hearts. We think of having peace in our hearts. But instead we're told to put peace on our feet. Why?

Well, you see, when you have peace on your feet, then nothing can stop you. Think about it: When your feet aren't properly protected or when your shoes are hurting you, it's hard to keep going, isn't it? If you're taking a hike, you don't put on shoes with three-inch heels. You wouldn't get very far in those shoes. If you are to run a race and finish it, you have to wear the right shoes.

Well, peace is the boot you wear that will get you through anything. Peace on your feet protects you from the conditions of the path on which you are walking; you are no longer vulnerable to the surroundings or the environment. Doesn't matter where that road takes you—into a desert with burning sand, or through ice and snow, or in a lovely meadow with flowers and birds—if you're wearing the boots of peace you can keep going because your feet are protected.

Fear debilitates us, incapacitates us, handicaps us, but peace frees us to keep on keepin' on. This is peace which passes all understanding, even your own. And Satan hates to see it in a Christian because those sandals of peace on your feet make you strong and give you endurance.

Wearing peace on your feet also gives you a strong testimony in this troubled world. Have you been wearing the shoes of peace lately? You need to have them on to be prepared to fight an enemy who is out to get you. Pray on those shoes of peace; you shouldn't leave home without them.

Did you know that Christians are supposed to be fighters? Well, the truth is—we're in a daily battle, and we have an expert opponent—Satan.

In Ephesians 6 we're told to put on the armor of God, the first piece of that armor was the belt of truth. The next one is the breastplate of righteousness (Ephesians 6:14). This is designed to protect an area of extreme vulnerability, our hearts, our feelings and emotions.

One way Satan attacks our hearts is by telling us that we are total failures, and therefore we can never be worthy or do anything for God. We know from Revelation 12:10 that Satan is our accuser, and many times he succeeds in convincing Christians that they have no value because they have no righteousness of their own. He loves to bring up your past sin and keep you mired in your past, wounded in your heart.

While it's true that we are unworthy in ourselves, what Satan does not want us to discover is that we have the righteousness of Jesus Christ available to us to wear as our breastplate. That's the secret: We wear the righteousness of Jesus Christ, not our own.

I'm a big believer in talking back to our enemy, to remind him and ourselves that he is truly powerless over us. If you remember, that's how Jesus defeated Satan when he was tempted (Luke 4:1-13). So, when the enemy starts to attack you, talk back and use the Word of God. Say, "Wait a minute; you must not know who you're talking to. I'm a child of God; I have the righteousness of Jesus Christ as my breastplate. Therefore, no matter what you say about me, you're wrong. I'm a new person and you can no longer defeat me.

Try it. Put on the breastplate of righteousness before you leave home each day, and all through the day remember to talk back to your enemy when he tries to destroy you through accusations.

If you're a Christian, do you realize that you are in a fight, a real war, every day of your life? Are you prepared for the fight that faces you?

We know from Scripture that as Christians we have an enemy, and that enemy has one objective: to destroy us. He is ruthless and he knows how to fight and does it very well.

In 1 Peter 5:8 (ESV) we read: "Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.” In referring to Satan, Jesus said, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10 ESV).

In the sixth chapter of Ephesians we find very explicit instructions on how to fight this enemy of ours. Paul clearly tells us that if we put on God's complete armor, we can successfully resist all the devil's methods of attack. Have you ever learned how to put on the armor of God? Do you do it on a daily basis? If you don't, you are going to war completely unprepared and headed for defeat.

Let's look at each piece of this armor.

The first part is a protective belt called truth (Ephesians 6:14). Since Satan is a liar and the father of lies, his favorite tactic is to lie to us, and he's very good at it. He will lie to you in your thought life, he will lie to you through what you hear and believe from other people, and through what you read and see. We must learn to detect his lies. The Word of God must become our testing station whereby we determine what is true and what is a lie from Satan.

Satan loves to get us to rationalize our way into untruth. We put our human reasoning to work, coupled with our sinful nature and the lies of our culture, and the first thing you know we're justifying sinful behavior—such as lying, affairs, unethical behavior of all sorts. We justify ourselves with words like "But this is different.” Or "I really love him.” Or "I know God understands. . .” Friends, God never changes his mind and the Bible spells truth out very clearly. We have to know that truth and obey it in order to defeat our enemy.

When there is any area of untruth in our lives, we are walking right into Satan's territory, and we're on our way to defeat. Have you told or done anything untruthful which needs to be set right? If so, do it today. Don't mess around in Satan's territory of lying. When you do, you cannot wear the belt of truth and without that belt, you are wide open to the enemy's lies.

This grasshopper disease came on the children of Israel when they were afraid to possess the land God had given them. They said "we look like grasshoppers" and they figured they couldn’t win the fight, so they wanted to quit and go back to Egypt. The disciples gave up on feeding the crowd of 5000 because they didn't have enough money or food. They caught the grasshopper disease, too. And you know what, you and I catch it from time to time, don’t we?

But there's another servant of God who did the right thing when faced with his own crisis. We looked last week at 2 Chronicles 20 and the story of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, who is facing a vast army and doomed for defeat. Instead of giving up, he called the people together and inquired of the Lord. I want to read now the prayer he prayed at that moment. It's found in 2 Chronicles 20:5-12.

"Then Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem at the temple of the Lord in the front of the new courtyard and said:

“Lord, the God of our ancestors, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you. Our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? They have lived in it and have built in it a sanctuary for your Name, saying, ‘If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague or famine, 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.’

“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. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”

Jehoshaphat's response to his impossible situation is a sure cure for the grasshopper disease.    I want to point out seven R's that I hope you'll remember, because this is the cure for you when you’re coming down with the grasshopper disease.

The first R - Recite who God is.

Notice that the first thing Jehoshaphat does is to recite the characteristics and nature of God:

“Are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you.” (2 Chronicles 20:6).

Jehoshaphat's first move was to remind himself and his people of God and his power. And it has to be our first move, too. We must go back to the basics. We must have an in-depth knowledge of the nature of God. That means we must get to know God. Are you able to recite the nature and character of God? Is it firmly established in your heart and mind? When there are no answers, we must begin by reciting who God is.

The second R - Remember God's great works.

After reciting who God is, Jehoshaphat remembers what God had done:

"Did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend?” (2 Chronicles 20:7).

Isn't it amazing how your memory goes on you when you're in a crisis or when you're frightened? It takes an act of your will to remember what you should remember. But it's really important at these times that you purposely remember God's past miracles in your life, his faithfulness to you in days gone by, his deeds of old, as Jehoshaphat did. That's an important step two in curing the grasshopper disease.

The third R -  Recall God's promises.