LEARNING FROM A KING TO LIVE SUPERNATURALLY

“O Lord, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. O Lord, you are our God; let not man prevail against you.” 2 Chronicles 14:11


One of my favorite characters in the entire Bible is the great king of Judah whose name was Asa. He ruled a long reign over the Southern Kingdom of Judah and Benjamin from approximately 910 B.C through 869 B.C. You can read his story in 2 Chronicles 14-16 and 2 Kings 15:9-24. The legacy of his life was that “Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the LORD” (2 Chronicles 14:2; 1 Kings 15:11).


As soon as he became king he brought revival and reformation to the southern kingdom. He removed and abolished idolatry from the land. He revived and established the pure worship of God. After constant war during the last two reigns: in his days there was peace and prosperity for ten years. But then a formidable army of Ethiopians invaded Asa’s peaceful kingdom. It was a vast number that the Ethiopians brought against him: 1,000,000 men (the largest army recorded in scripture) with over 300 chariots; and though he had an army ready for such a time of need (As much as 580,000) it was minuscule compared to the Ethiopian juggernaut. What would you have done in response to such a burden? How would you have handled it?


What inspires me, amazes me, and empowers me is what King Asa did when faced with this overwhelming foe. He realized that he had a big problem and was in trouble and instead of tying to problem solve it, he prayer solved it. The great king Asa prayed! He sought the Lord. It is a short, but oh so powerful a prayer. “Then Asa called to the LORD his God and said, "LORD, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army. O LORD, you are our God; do not let man prevail against you" (2 Chronicles 14:11). Asa declared to God a declaration of dependence. I am powerless, You are powerful; I am unable, You are able; I am weak, you are strong. HELP! We are counting on You to do the impossible. We are looking for You to defend Your honor and fame and renown. What they do to us, they do to You. So please act, we’re counting on it, we believe you for it.


What did God do in response to such a heart, such an attitude, such belief and expectancy? “The LORD struck down the Cushites before Asa and Judah. The Cushites fled, and Asa and his army pursued them as far as Gerar. Such a great number of Cushites fell that they could not recover; they were crushed before the LORD and his forces. The men of Judah carried off a large amount of plunder. They destroyed all the villages around Gerar, for the terror of the LORD had fallen upon them. They plundered all these villages, since there was much booty there. They also attacked the camps of the herdsmen and carried off droves of sheep and goats and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem” (2 Chronicles 14:12-15). God brought a glorious victory over the enemies of King Asa.


We exist to do things that we cannot do without the special, supernatural grace of God. I like what one pastor said,


Christians are called to believe the unreasonable, love the unlovable, do the impossible, follow the invisible and defy the inevitable. Therefore we must experience the unexplainable, hear the inaudible, perceive the unseeable, be intimate with the irresistible and passionate with the infallible.


The Christian life is a supernatural life or it is nothing. I call it “living on God alone”. 2 Corinthians 1:9, "Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.” To live on God alone is to live our lives in such a way that Christ gets trusted and you get helped and people get helped and God gets glory. 1 Peter 4:11, "Whoever renders service, [let him do so] as one who renders it by the strength which God supplies; in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ."


How many of you are only doing things in your life that you can do without God’s help? How many of you are doing things that can only be explained by the power of God? The key to living on God alone is to begin living a lifestyle and attitude that communicates to God, others, and yourself a declaration of dependence? To AGREE with Jesus that He can do the impossible and to ADMIT that without Christ you can do nothing. We are utterly helpless to love God and live for God's sake without the renovating power of Christ. Therefore, we are helpless to bear fruit without Christ. John 15:5, "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing."


This is where living by faith, and walking by the Spirit begins. This is what spirit filled Christianity is all about. This is what revival is all about—a church experiences revival when many of its people get about trusting Christ and about turning to God for help, and about loving others, especially the lost, and about showing the glory of God. That's revival. That's spiritual awakening. It's the rediscovery of radical, God-centered, Christian living. And it is intensely practical. It will change your life at home and work and at church.


Perhaps like King Asa you are facing some challenge now. A confrontation with an antagonist. A difficult visit to a doctor. A chance to tell someone about what Christ means to you. A lesson to teach. A job to apply for. An exam to take. A move to make. Too many things to do in one day. Etc.!! What do you do so that when the challenge is past and the day is done, you can say, I lived by faith; I walked by the Spirit; I served in the strength that God supplied; to him be the glory?


Do what King Asa did. WHEN YOU DEPEND UPON GOD YOU PRAY! God has designed and ordained and planned and promised that when we live in absolute dependency upon him alone that just like He did for Asa, He will act for us when we pray. A Christian who does not know the rhythm of his own desperation and God’s willing and powerful deliverance must have his sight set only on what man can achieve. God has promised to do for us things we cannot do our ourselves when we pray—that is, when we get on our faces before God and confess our sins, and give thanks for his grace, and lift up our empty cup, and plead for him to fill it with supernatural blessings for the needs in our lives and families and church and business and city and nation and world.


Is it not breathtaking to hear Jesus say, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7). Isn't it breathtaking to hear his brother James say, “You do not have, because you do not ask” (James 4:2)! Or to put it positively, “If you had asked, God would have acted to meet your need.” This is astonishing: God acts in response to prayer. The all-knowing, all-foreseeing, all-planning, all-governing God wills for your Christ-exalting prayers to be the occasion of his action. So when we pray, we are saying: the special, supernatural action of God is essential for our life, our ministry, our work, our marriage, our family, and the life of this church. .


So pray like a frightened King. 'LORD THERE IS NO ONE LIKE YOU TO HELP. HELP!!!!!


Expect a miracle coming your way. After all, isn't that what the supernatural God is in the business of doing?


Pastor Bill