A few weeks ago at a weekly prayer meeting I had a prophetic word for a young man. After I shared the picture I had received with him, I knew I needed to remember it and apply it to my own life.

I began to pray for direction for his life and immediately God gave me this “movie” for him. I saw him in his vehicle pulling up to a stop sign at an intersection where he had two or three options for his destiny. Which direction was he to take?

Next I saw the action God wanted him to take. I saw him park at the side of the road, put on some worship tunes, and begin to worship God. He was to make declarations about who and what God is – He is Lord, He knows all, and is greater than all our circumstances. He knows what we need and how to get there.

What happened next was not what I would have expected. As the worship and declarations went up like vapor to heaven, it began to rain. The whole intersection disappeared into a dark misty cloud (things getting darkest before the dawn!). As the worship continued, the sun (son) suddenly burst through the dark clouds in one spot, pointing the way he was to go on his life’s journey.

God does not want to be our heavenly vending machine for use when we are in trouble. (We need help so we just put our “works” coins into the slot and punch in our selection by using our “faith code”, and presto – we get what we want.) How would I feel if my friends and family treated me like that? The big problem here is, no personal relationship. God is our heavenly Father, not some distant rich uncle!

A Bible character who also had to “pull over and park his chariot” was Jehoshaphat. In II Chronicles 20:1-30 Jehoshaphat’s victory over Moab, Ammon and Mount Seir is described. Many messages have been preached focusing on verses 21-23, where the king put the musicians and singers in front of the army to thank and praise God (“Praise the Lord, for His mercy endures forever,”) and God won the victory for them. But this was the last part of the battle, the result of what happened earlier in the chapter.

In verse 2, the king is told that a large (“great multitude”) army is on route to destroy Judah. This godly king’s response at this critical intersection sets the stage for his later victory. Verse 3 says, “And Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.” After worshiping God and publicly declaring God’s faithfulness (verses 5-8) the dark clouds parted and the sun shone through, by a prophetic word (verse 15-17, “…stand and see the salvation of the Lord…”).

Verse 18 shows the king’s response to God’s answer. “And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem bowed before the Lord, worshiping the Lord.”

Jehoshaphat’s ultimate victory came out of his pulling over, fasting, worshiping, and declaring God’s greatness until God answered.

A few days ago my young friend came up to me and said with a smile that things were starting to come into focus concerning his life’s direction. Through experiences like these we get our prayer answered, our faith is built up, but by far the greatest thing is the time we spend before the face of our Father in heaven. And, we start to become like those we hang out with!

— EZ