TightPlaces

Prayer In Tight Places

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Prayer In Tight Places

rev03.com/tightspaces/

Sol Wise eCourses Vintage Series!
More Vintage
Prayer In Tight Places

rev03.com/tightspaces/

Sol Wise eCourses Vintage Series!
More Vintage

King Asa :: 2 Chronicles 14

1 When Abijah died, he was buried in the City of David. Then his son Asa became the next king. There was peace in the land for ten years.
2 Asa did what was pleasing and good in the sight of the LORD his God.
3 He removed the foreign altars and the pagan shrines. He smashed the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah poles.
4 He commanded the people of Judah to seek the LORD, the God of their ancestors, and to obey his law and his commands.
5 Asa also removed the pagan shrines, as well as the incense altars from every one of Judah's towns. So Asa's kingdom enjoyed a period of peace.
6 During those peaceful years, he was able to build up the fortified towns throughout Judah. No one tried to make war against him at this time, for the LORD was giving him rest from his enemies. .
9 Once an Ethiopian named Zerah attacked Judah with an army of 1,000,000 men and 300 chariots. They advanced to the town of Mareshah,
10 so Asa deployed his armies for battle in the valley north of Mareshah.
11 Then Asa cried out to the LORD his God, "O LORD, no one but you can help the powerless against the mighty! Help us, O LORD our God, for we trust in you alone. It is in your name that we have come against this vast horde. O LORD, you are our God; do not let mere men prevail against you!"
12 So the LORD defeated the Ethiopians in the presence of Asa and the army of Judah, and the enemy fled.
13 Asa and his army pursued them as far as Gerar, and so many Ethiopians fell that they were unable to rally. They were destroyed by the LORD and his army, and the army of Judah carried off a vast amount of plunder. (New Living Bible)

Oh-OH!!

The King was in a tight place.He had done what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God, and the Lord gave him rest on every side. The days of peace were devoted to cleansing and strengthening the land.

They removed all traces of idolatry, restored a vibrant faith in God to the land, and prospered exceedingly. All went well for years, and then suddenly their Ethiopian enemies marched against them.

There had been, no change of policy, no provocation, and yet in a moment the whole aspect of Providence was changed.

Humanly speaking, defeat was inevitable. The enemies were two to one, and their fighting strength beyond comparison.

Asa was in great straits. In the emergency for which he was not responsible and from which he could not escape, he betook himself to prayer. In times of emergency our wants are soon told.

The prayer comes out in broken fragments of speech without regard to grammar or rhetoric.
The enemy is at the gate.
The need is urgent and definite.
We are helpless but not hopeless, for in God there is infinite wisdom and power.

It is a day of trouble, but God told us to call upon Him and he will deliver us.

Emergency Prayer

Prayer in times of emergency falls back on the power of God. His resources are not measured by anything we can do. It is nothing with Him to help if we have much power or with no power.

In military science, able generalship, great numbers of soldiers and equipment, and all that counts in the armies of the world, the case of Asa was hopeless. But God counts. If He fight for us He is more than all that can be against us.

At the Red Sea, at Jericho, and in many a great battle, God had done great things for Israel, and Asa hemmed in on every side appealed to God. Nor did he appeal in vain.

The Lord fought for Israel that day, and Israel triumphed over Zerah and his great Ethiopian army. There are Christian soldiers whose success has been a mystery to military experts.

In the American Civil War a General exclaimed to his staff, 'We have got them now, and they know it. God Almighty Himself cannot save them!'

It happened, however, that the Commander on the other side was a praying man who that morning was appealing to his God for deliverance, and somehow the close of the day found him offering thanksgiving to God for victory; while the General who defied God Almighty to defeat him was fleeing for his life.

Yes, God counts. He is never in a tight place.

The mountains of the Lord are full of horsemen and chariots.
All the resources of the Infinite are at the service of the person whose prayer God hears.
Prayer attempts the impossible, because it commands the supernatural.

God ALONE!

The poverty of our resources is no hindrance to God.
We have no power, but in Him there is everlasting strength.
In us there is no wisdom, but He gives liberally the wisdom from above when we ask.
We have no resources, but the heaven and the earth are His.
We have no wealth, but the silver and gold and all the treasure of the earth belong to Him.

It is when we realize our need that we pray and prevail. So long as we think we can manage without God we do not trouble to cry unto Him. That is why the answer is sometimes delayed.

The trial gathers intensity as the crisis deepens.
The need gets desperate, and prayer becomes fervent.
All other help is cut off, and the soul is flung back upon God.

Our moment of extremity becomes God's opportunity, and He appears glorious in holiness, doing wonders.

Though our resources seem ridiculously inadequate they must not be withheld. God often works with what we have.

The widow had to use her little oil and meal, and the lad had to give up his five barley cakes and two small fishes.

Weapons that are useless in our hands become mighty in His.
Methods are nothing apart from inspiration, and the most faulty tools are better with Him than the most approved without Him.

Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow!

The reliance was not new.
Faith is not born in a panic.

It is the people who pray in fine weather who know how to pray in a storm.
People who only pray when they are at their wits' end do not pray like this.

This is no mere desire to be got out of an awkward situation.
The battle is not Asa's, but God's. There is a profound oneness of interest. His work is theirs, and their honour is His.

'In Your Name we are come.' We are inadequate, but we have come.

We may be of no importance, but we are at Your disposal.
Such as we are, we are Thine; save and deliver us, O Lord. Our failure will be Thy failure.
'Let not human beings prevail against the Almighty God!'

In all prevailing prayer there is concern not for the petitioner so much as for the glory of God.
'What will YOU do for Your great Name?' is the final appeal.
Desperation is better than despair.
When all the odds are against us we can still rely on the power, goodness, and fidelity of God.

A godly mother asked her wayward son where he was going as he took up his cap to go out. 'To Hell,' was the heartless reply. He slammed the door behind him, and went out into the darkness.

The mother went upstairs, and flung herself into the arms of God, weeping bitter tears for her son. He went to the corner pub; but as he put his hand on the door something arrested him and he could not go in. The same thing occurred at three pubs in succession.

His conscience was awake. He sought out a Bible-believing church and gave his heart to God.
The mother's tears were turned to joy.

Cast your burden upon the Lord. Call upon Him in the day of trouble. He is able to deliver.

Prayer In Tight Places is adapted from 25 Sunday Mornings and Evenings by Samuel Chadwick, preached at the Oxford Place Chapel, where he ministered so mightily from 1894-1907.

We're so glad you persevered to the final chapter of this study, and we hope you've been encouraged to pursue prayer in a new way.
Seeking God is one way to deepen and broaden your relationship with the Lord God, and find your true purpose for being alive.