JUNE 6, 2025

 

“Ninety percent of success in life is just showing up." 

- Woody Allen

2 CHRONICLES 20-22

15He said: “Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the Lord says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s. 16Tomorrow march down against them. They will be climbing up by the Pass of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the gorge in the Desert of Jeruel. 17You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you.’ ”(20:15-17)

JOHN 16:1-15

 7But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9about sin, because people do not believe in me; 10about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

12“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

JOURNAL 

Scripture reminds us that faith is not about the absence of fear—it’s about presence in the midst of it. In 2 Chronicles 20, when Jehoshaphat and all of Judah stood before an overwhelming enemy, God didn’t ask them to win the battle in their own strength. He didn’t even ask them to fight. What He asked was simple: show up. “Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you... Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you” (2 Chronicles 20:17).

Their obedience didn’t require military strategy. It required trust. And movement. That’s the paradox of faith—sometimes the most courageous thing you can do is stand still in God's promises.

I’m beginning to realize that this principle plays out in my own life constantly. The enemy I face doesn’t always wear armor or carry a sword. Sometimes it’s anxiety, doubt, or the paralyzing thought of failure. I project into tomorrow, I calculate outcomes, I try to play God in my own story—and in doing so, I forget who the battle really belongs to.

Like Adam and Eve in the garden, I start to question, Did God really say...? That’s where the spiral begins. Doubt opens the door to fear, and fear tries to convince me that hiding is safer than obedience.

But Jesus, in John 16, speaks a better word. He promises the coming of the Advocate—the Spirit of Truth—who will guide us into all truth (John 16:13). Not drive us. Not push us with fear. Guide us. Gently, faithfully, daily. And it’s through the Spirit that we learn not only to hear the voice of God but to trust that voice, even when the terrain ahead looks like a battlefield.

So today, I’m reminded: obedience starts with presence. I don’t have to solve tomorrow. I don’t have to fight every fear. I simply need to take up my position—whatever that looks like—and trust that the God who goes before me is already at work.

The battle is not mine. It never was. I’m just asked to be present—to show up, even scared—and let God be God.

 8And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

2 CORINTHIANS 9:8