The Power of Prayer & Fasting

My dear friends,

   I want to share with you today a prayer and response. The first, is a prayer from King Jehoshaphat to our heavenly Father. All the men, women, children and infants of Judah participated in this prayer and fast.The fasting of King Jehoshaphat is the first in the bible. Jehoshaphat's faith in Yahweh led him to delight in the ways of Yahweh. His name meaning "the LORD is judge."

We will then read the response to the people of Judah from our heavenly Father.What an awesome God we serve.Let us always give thanks and praise to HIM. Let us seek him diligently in prayer with thanksgiving.

The Prayer:
2 Chronicles 20:5-13
⁵And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court,
⁶And said, O LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?
⁷Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever?
⁸And they dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying,
⁹If, when evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in thy presence, (for thy name is in this house,) and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help.
¹⁰And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and mount Seir, whom thou wouldest not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them, and destroyed them not;
¹¹Behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit.
¹²O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh
¹³And all Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.

The Response:
2 Chronicles 20:14-19
¹⁴Then upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of the LORD in the midst of the congregation;
¹⁵And he said, 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.
¹⁶To morrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel.
¹⁷Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you.
¹⁸And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the LORD, worshipping the LORD.
¹⁹And the Levites, of the children of the Kohathites, and of the children of the Korhites, stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel with a loud voice on high.
²⁰And 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.