Believe God’s Prophet’s And Prosper! Pt.2  :By James Lantz

       God is pleased when his people put their trust in Him and call upon His name believing that He can and will deliver and prosper them! Jehoshaphat and Judah were outnumbered by a great enemy  army yet they chose to believe that their God would protect and deliver them! After they had fasted and prayed the word of the Lord came to them through Jahaziel saying, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s!  This word from the Lord included instructions for them to obey and yet God said He would do the fighting for them. All miracles include a part for man to do and most often are conditional on man fulfilling his part.  2 Chron 20:20  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. The Holy Spirit gives us the crucial details in the recounting of this miraculous deliverance so that we recognize how to work with the Holy Spirit to receive God’s supernatural in our time of need. The word of the Lord had been delivered to King Jehoshaphat previously, rebuking him for joining with the ungodly in battle, and therefore he knew he must not go to the wicked for help. The King called for God’s people to fast and pray! Then God spoke through the prophet Jahaziel that He was going to fight for them and deliver them from this great

 Stand Ye Still And See The Salvation Of The Lord!

multitude. God said, do not be afraid nor dismayed for this is My fight and not yours. Tomorrow, go out and set yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord! The next morning King Jehoshaphat exhorts the people, Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper. We know that they did believe the word of the Lord because of their actions and the fact that God destroyed everyone of their enemies giving them a great victory! There was such an abundance of riches and precious jewels found on the dead bodies of these slain soldiers that it took three days for Jehoshaphat and his people to strip it off and gather it up! Wow! Without this enemy coming against them they would not have been in position to gather up such a great spoil of riches. 

       God still fights for His people today when they call upon Him, place their trust in Him, and believe the word of His prophets! When Jesus ascended into heaven being exalted to the Father’s right hand and made to be the head of the church He gave gifts unto men. Jesus works through these ministry gifts edifying and bringing His people to a place of maturity so they can do the work of the ministry! These five ministry gifts are to bring the body of Christ into the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God until we are functioning as mature sons of God.  1 John 3:1  Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.  The second ministry gift mentioned by the Spirit of God through Paul is the ministry of the prophet.  

Ephesians 4:11-13  And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

1 Cor. 12:28  And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly  teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.      

       One of the new covenant functions of the prophet is the foretelling of coming events such as the prophet Agabus warning of a great famine that was coming.  Acts 11:28  And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar.

       Another important blessing that the new testament prophet adds to the body of Christ is speaking prophetic words over God’s people as the Spirit wills. When a true prophetic word is given it does not mean that it will automatically come to pass in your life but that you must contend for the will of God to be accomplished in your life. Paul gave Timothy, his son in the faith, a command to hold fast to those prophetic words that were spoken over him so that they would be fulfilled in his life.  1 Timothy 1:18&19  This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare; Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:   When Paul was in danger of being pulled to pieces by the Pharisees and Sadducees the Roman soldiers stepped in and took him to the castle. The next night he received a word from the greatest prophet ever, the Lord Jesus!  Acts 23:11  And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.  Satan tried again to stop Paul from testifying of Jesus before Caesar but Paul warred a good warfare in believing prayer and God sent his angel assuring Paul that God had heard his prayer.  Acts 27:23&24  For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee. I know that in my life when I have received a special word or warning from the Lord it was to help me hold steady against the trouble that was coming. Satan is not all knowing but he does know that those who purpose to be doer’s of the word and abide in Jesus will become unstoppable like the Master.  John 15:7  If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

       In these last days God has spoken to us by His Son, Jesus, who has uttered things never spoken to man before. Heb. 1:2  Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;   Moses had prophesied that God would raise up a prophet like himself and that we must listen to everything He says!  Acts 3:23  And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. God had his prophets and apostles write the Holy scriptures so we could know His perfect will for us! All true prophecies will be in agreement with the Holy scriptures because the scriptures are divinely inspired by God and referred to as a more sure word of prophecy.  2 Pet. 1:19  We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:  Peter is telling us that this letter he is writing to the church is expressly and exactly what the Spirit of God is saying and that it is more sure than when he heard the audible word of God on the mountain. The number one way God leads His people today is through the inward witness, however, we thank God that He still speaks through His prophets today! Often a personal prophetic word will confirm what God has already spoken to us. Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper!

Isaiah 9:6  For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Rom. 10:13 ESV  For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”   There is good news for everyone because everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved! The greek word translated saved in Romans 10:13 is SOZO which means safe, to save, deliver, protect, heal, preserve, do well, and make whole! Three times the translators of the King James Bible translated the word SOZO as healed (see Mark 5:23, Luke 8:36, Acts 14:9)  So everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord for healing shall be healed!