Alert! There's an enemy at the door. Alert! There's a mass of enemies at the door. Thousands upon thousands of invading troops. They're coming toward the mainland. Alert! Alert! As the call goes forth, there is panic. panic among the people, and even the ruler is concerned. Fear begins to grip the hearts of people. Fear even grips the heart of the king. There's imminent danger of destruction from an overwhelming force far greater than the resources that you have. What shall we do? Lord, we don't know what to do. We have no idea what to do. We're helpless. Help us, oh Lord. This is a situation in Judah when the king, Jehoshaphat, was on the throne. All of the enemies, the surrounding countries, had risen up and joined together in a confederation coming against him. And fear gripped his heart. It wasn't just fear for his own safety. It was fear for the reputation of the nation. It was fear for the fact that God had set apart these people for himself, and now they face imminent destruction. Alert! There's an enemy at the door. That's the situation we find in 2 Chronicles chapter 20, verses five through 12. Josaphat calls for the people to engage in prayer, to seek the Lord, to seek his faith, and to do so with fasting. And when a time appointed comes, he lifts up a prayer before the court. This is his prayer. Yahweh, the God of our fathers, aren't you God in heaven? Aren't you ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in your hands so that no one is able to withstand you. Didn't you, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it to the offspring of Abraham, your friend forever? They lived in it and have built you a sanctuary in it for your name saying, if evil comes on us, the sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before you for your name is in this house and pray to you in our affliction. And you will hear and say, now behold the children of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned away from them and didn't destroy them. Behold, how they reward us to come and cast us out of our possession, which you have given us to inherit. Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that comes against us. We don't know what to do, but our eyes are on you. All Judah stood before Yahweh and their little ones, their wives, and their children. That's the prayer that Jehoshaphat prays in face of this imminent danger. But here's a question. You know behind every prayer there is a back story. Behind every prayer that we pray there is something that has produced the prayer. The back story of Jehoshaphat begins in chapter 17 of 2 Chronicles. He was a new king. His father, who had been a righteous king, Asa, has now died. And Jehoshaphat, his son, reigned in his place. I'm reading from 2 Chronicles 17, verses three through six. Jehoshaphat, his son, reigned in his place and strengthened himself against Israel. He placed forces in all of the fortified cities of Judah and set garrisons in the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim that Asa his father had captured. The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the earlier days of his father David. He did not seek the Baals, but he sought the God of his father and walked in his commandments and not according to the practices of Israel. Therefore, the Lord established the kingdom in his hand. And all Judah brought tribute to Jehoshaphat. He had great riches and honor. His heart was courageous in the ways of the Lord. And furthermore, he took the high places and the ashram out of Judah. So this is the beginning of his reign. He is a righteous man who's paid attention to the righteous actions that his father, Ezra, had done. He continues in that line. He fortifies the cities, he strengthens his kingdom and the Lord is with him. Now for us to remember that at this time, Israel and Judah are two separate nations. Because after King David died and Solomon ascended the throne, when Solomon died, the kingdom was split. And when it was split, Israel gave itself to the worship of idols, to the bells. It was a fertility cult, essentially. But Judah, at first at least, continued to be faithful somewhat to the Lord. But there's a great struggle always in Judah to maintain purity in the worship of God, because people are prone to wander away. They're prone to leave and to go after other gods. Well, Josepheth was doing good. He was reigning, his kingdom was growing, and then trouble started. He got married. Now, when you get married, it doesn't necessarily mean that you got in trouble. You may actually have a great time, but if you marry the wrong person, you can be in serious trouble. And so what Jehoshaphat did is he married a daughter of the king of Israel, Ahab, one of the most wicked kings that had ever reigned over Israel. He married into the family. At first, he stayed away. He took his wife to Judah and they stayed there, but after a while, You know, the family pressure comes to visit, especially, you know, after the grandchildren start coming. Then it's time to visit. And so Jehoshaphat goes into Israel and visits with King Ahab. This is what we read in 2 Chronicles chapter 18, verses one and two. Now Jehoshaphat had great riches and honor, and he made a marriage alliance with Ahab. And after some years, he went down to Ahab in Samaria. After a few years, they went and visited with the father-in-law. That's when real trouble began to occur. Because what Jehoshaphat encounters is enticement. He is enticed, enticed for disloyalty against the Lord. The first enticement is by Ahab. Ahab is planning an invasion against a neighboring area. He wants Jehoshaphat to join with him. After all, son-in-law, we're in this together. So he's enticed. And at first, Jehoshaphat says, okay, I'll join with you. After all, we're one family. We should go and we should do things together. But first, let's consult the prophets. Let's consult the prophets to see what God would have us do. So Ahab said, okay, I'll call in the prophets. So he called in a great number of prophets. And they were all busy prophesying and saying about how wonderful everything was going to be, that Ahab was gonna go in, he was gonna conquer and be victorious, everything was just fine. God says, go down, go to war, because you will be victorious. But Jehoshaphat, who's been a righteous man, he's not happy with this. He says, you know, these are not true prophets. They're lying prophets. They're just saying what you expect them to say. I want a real prophet. Where's the real prophet of God? Well, Rahab knew one, Ahab knew one, and so he sent for him. His name was Michael. And he came in, and the first thing he did, He sort of played along with the other prophets. He sort of just, you know, was sarcastic. And he made, well, you know, you're gonna go in and be victorious. Don't you know that? Immediately, Ahab knew that he had a message from God and that he was playing with him. So he commanded him to give him the true prophecy. Ahab did not like this prophet. Because the prophet spoke the word of God, and usually when he spoke the word of God, it was not anything favorable to Ahab. Why not? Well, Ahab's a wicked man. He doesn't walk in the way of the Lord. He doesn't follow after God. He follows after the Baals. And why did he get in that situation? Because of marriage. He married a woman by the name of Jezebel. whose father was a big devotee of the Baals. And so Ahab became a devotee of this God as well. Well, Micah does finally give a prophecy, a real prophecy. We find it in 2 Chronicles chapter 18, verses 13 and then verses 18 through 22. Let me read. Well, here's the question that we're asked. Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, I'm backing up, inquire first for the word of the Lord. Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, 400 men, and said to them, shall we go to battle against Ramoth, Gilead, or shall I refrain? Well, they all said, go, the victory's yours. But Jehoshaphat said, no, I want to hear from a true prophet of God. And so Micaiah came, and this is what he said. As the Lord lives, what my God says, that I will speak. Beginning in verse 18. And Micaiah said, therefore hear the word of the Lord. I saw Yahweh sitting on his throne, and all the hosts of heaven standing on his right hand and on his left. And the Lord, as Yahweh said, who will entice Ahab, the king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead? And one said one thing and another said another. Then a spirit came forward and stood before Yahweh saying, I will entice him. And the Lord said to him, by what means? And he said, I will go out and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, you are to entice him. and you shall succeed. Go out and do so. Now therefore behold, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these prophets. The Lord has declared disaster concerning you. Now perhaps you didn't quite catch that, but God is the one who's behind the enticement of the false prophets. God is the one who's behind the lying spirit that comes over them. Why? Because he has decreed that this will be the judgment day for Ahab. God is always in control. Even of those things that we think he's not in control of. Well, the battle commences. 2 Chronicles chapter 18 verses 28 and following. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth Gilead. The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself and I will go into the battle, but you put on your robes. I don't know what's up with that. But you see what Ahab's doing, he says, I'm not gonna let him know I'm the king. So it's for self-protection. But you let him know you're the king. You know, maybe he thought, well, Jehoshaphat will be dispatched. I don't know what he's thinking was. The scriptures don't tell us, but that's what happened. Jehoshaphat went in with royal robes, but the king of Israel disguised himself and they went into the battle. But you see, the king of Syria commanded the captains of his chariot saying, don't fight with the small nor the great. except only with the king of Israel. He said, what you do is you just go after the king because if you kill the king, we've won the war. Kill the leader and the troops will fall. So when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, it's the king of Israel. Therefore, they turned around to fight against him. But Jehoshaphat cried out and Yahweh helped him and God moved him to depart from him. When the captains of the chariot saw that he was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him. But a certain man drew his bow at random and he struck the king of Israel between the joints of the armor. Therefore, he said to the driver of the chariot, turn your hand and carry me out of the army for I am severely wounded. The battle increased that day. However, the king of Israel propped himself up in his chariot against the Syrians until the evening. And about sunset, he bled out and died. Now you notice what's going on here. Jehoshaphat has disobeyed the Lord. He has broken covenant because he asked for a true prophet. A true prophet came and he gave the word from the Lord. They're saying this battle is going to be the end of Ahab. Now Jehoshaphat, if he'd been obedient to the Lord, would have said, I'm not joining you because this is not God's will. And he would have left. But no, despite his asking for a true prophecy and despite the fact that he receives a true word from God, he goes into battle with Ahab anyway. He nearly gets killed because all the troops are chasing after him. But notice what he does. He cries out, Yahweh, help me. Now, do you think God should come to his aid? After all, he walked directly into this danger by his disobedience. If God was being strictly just, he would have simply let him be killed. But no, what does God do? God protects Jehoshaphat even though he was in disobedience. He cried out to Yahweh and Yahweh helped him and the pursuit stopped. They realized this was not our subject. This is not who we're supposed to be after. Ahab is somewhere but we don't know where. But the pursuit of Jehoshaphat stopped. Even in a battle, J.A. Thompson writes in the commentary on 2 Chronicles, even in a battle that Jehoshaphat should not have been fighting, the Lord was his helper. Now this should not encourage us to be disobedient to the Lord, but it does tell us one thing, that God has his hand on his own. Well, the battle is lost. Ahab dies. The Syrians were victorious. They weren't interested in going into Israel at this time. After all, it was Israel that attacked them. Everybody goes back to their place and Jehoshaphat returns to Judah. But a breach of a covenant relationship has occurred. and a breach of a covenant relationship could only bring the wrath of Yahweh upon the offender, even if it was stayed for years. And so that's what Jehoshaphat encounters. 2 Chronicles chapter 19, verses one through three. Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, returned to his house in peace to Jerusalem. And Jehu, the son of Hanaiah the seer, went out to meet him. The seer is a prophet. And he said to King Jehoshaphat, should you help the wicked and love those who hate Yahweh? That's what he did. He went in alliance with one who hated Yahweh, Ahab. He entered into alliance with the wicked for their own goals and their own pursuit. And so the prophet says to him, should you help the wicked and love those who hate Yahweh? No, the righteous man is to hate what God hates and to love what God loves. The prophet goes on to say, because of this, because of your breach of the covenant, because of this, wrath is on you from before Yahweh. Nevertheless, there are good things found in you and that you put away the astra out of the land and have set your heart to seek God. So what happens is that though the wrath of God is upon Josiah, not Josiah, Jehoshaphat, it's not done immediately. The hand of God's judgment is stayed even for years, but now much time has passed and the wrath test comes. 2 Chronicles chapter 20. After this, the children of Moab, the children of Ammon, and with him some of the Ammonites came against Jehoshaphat to battle. This is a great mass, a huge army, thousands of soldiers. Then some came who told Jehoshaphat, saying, a great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, from Syria. Behold, they're in Hazazan, Tamar, that is, in Gedi. They're on the border of the land. They're coming into the land. They're right at our door. Jehoshaphat was alarmed. He was afraid. Fear gripped his heart. And he set himself to seek Yahweh. Now, he wasn't being afraid only for his own safety. He fears for the nation. These are God's people. He's the leader of God's people, and he believes that God's whole name is at stake. He doesn't want the nation to be destroyed. Surely, he doesn't want to be destroyed either, nor his family. Fear grips his heart. But what does he do? in the face of fear. When he set his face to seek the Lord, he turned to the one true source of strength, the one true source that could help him. He turned to seek the face of Yahweh. And not only that, but he proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And so Judah gathered themselves together to seek help from Yahweh. They came to the area. They came to Jerusalem. They came before the temple. They came out of all the cities of Judah to seek Yahweh. He said to the people, seek the Lord. Seek the Lord with me. And so this response was not only the response of the king, It was also the response of the nation that was now assembled before the temple. This is the backstory behind the prayer that we read. So now, Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem in Yahweh's house before the new court. That's a new area of the temple that's been built. And he said, so here's his prayer. We want to look at the prayer of Jehoshaphat. We want to see what lessons we can pull from it and apply to our own prayer life. Here's how he begins his prayer. Yahweh, the God of our fathers, aren't you God in heaven? Aren't you ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in your hand so that no one is able to withstand you. Jehoshaphat does not simply run into the presence of God and say, help, the enemy's here, do something. What did he do? He went before God acknowledging who God was. He extolled God, he praised God, he worshiped God in his attributes. What attributes, what characteristics of God? That he's the ruler, that he's the sovereign king over all the nations, that he is almighty and all powerful. that might is in his hand and that ultimately no one can withstand him. When God moves in power, whatever he has decreed shall come to pass. In the second part of his prayer, he moves to remind God of his covenant promises to Abraham and to David. The Old Testament, as we call it, is structured around a series of historical covenants that God enters into with his people. He made a covenant with the world, with creation, at the time of the flood with Noah, to keep mankind alive. But he enters into a special kind of covenant with Abraham. Genesis 12, 15, and 17, demonstrated in 22. Later, 430 years later, he enters into a covenant with Moses for Israel. That's called the Old Covenant, the covenant of the law. And he enters into covenant with David that the seed from David will be on the throne. Jehoshaphat reminds God of the covenant promises that he made to Abraham and to David. It's okay to remind God of his own word. It's okay to remind God of the promises that he's made to his people. And so that's what Jehoshaphat did. Don't you, didn't you, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel? and give it to the offspring of Abraham, your friend forever? So he's calling upon history. It's extremely important that the people of God know their history. It's important for a nation to know its history because history matters and history shapes what's happening in the present. Didn't you, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people, Israel, and give it to the offspring of Abraham, your friend forever? They lived in it, and it built you a sanctuary in it for your name, saying, if evil comes to us, the sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before you, for your name is in this house. We will cry to you in our afflictions and you will hear and say. So he reminds God of these covenant promises. He reminds God of the fact that he chose Abraham's descendants through Isaac and Jacob and that he had made promises to David. So now God, what he's saying, he's implying, God, if you let these people destroy us, then what will have happened to your covenant promise? He's calling on God to honor his covenant even though Jehoshaphat has breached the covenant on his own. And he reminds of what happened when the temple had been dedicated in the days of Solomon. The prayer had been made there that when God's people came before God in the temple and called upon him, that God would hear and would answer because his name is there. We should note from this how important it is, the names of God. This is why we've reverted to using not Lord all the time, but the real personal covenant name of God in the scriptures that we call the Old Testament. His name is Yahweh, the God who saves. Yah, the Savior. And so he calls upon Yahweh. for help in the present danger. So now he presents the present danger before God. He speaks to God of what they're confronted with. It's very particular too. It's not general. Too often we pray generalities. Generalities will get general answers. Even if we want particular answers from God, you make particular prayers. If you want to make a true confession of sin, you don't just say, God forgive me of my sins. You tell him what they are. He knows them already, but he wants you to say it. He wants you to confess it. He wants you to face up to it. This is what I did, or this is what I failed to do. I failed to read your word. I failed to pray. I failed to witness. I failed to give. Those are failures. Omissions. And then we have commissions. I lusted, I coveted, I stole, I lied. I had another God beside you. Name your sin, confess it. That's what we mean when we say confess your sin. Not general, God forgive me of my sins. That's like, you know, you know that one. It's not taking it seriously, right? And if I want to pray to God about particular situations, if you want to take it seriously, then you tell him what the situation is. Be very specific in your prayer. So here's Jehoshaphat's specific request. Now behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned away from them and didn't destroy them. Behold, how they reward us to come to cast us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit. He said, remember God, The Jew told our ancestors when they came out of Egypt not to attack these people, but to bypass them. And that's what we did. But now look, they're coming against us. They're not treating us like we treated them. They're doing the opposite. They're coming to destroy us. God, look at this. Now he wants God to do something. Here's his request. So what have we had in the prayer so far? We've had he extols God and his attributes. You begin your prayers with God, not yourself. You know, too often, Christians are selfish. They think everything's about them. It's not about you. It's not about me. It's about God. And the sooner we learn that, the better off we'll be. Some of us go from crisis to crisis to crisis. Why? Maybe, just maybe, because we don't have God first. Now, the first thing was to extol God and His attributes, and the second, was that we remind God of His word, of His promises. Where did we find in our study of God's word, in our hearing it taught and preached, where we can call upon God for these situations? Remind God of those promises that He's made. Then present before Him specifically what it is that you're faced with. What danger are you facing? What situation is in front of you? Where do you need God's help? Again, be specific, not general. And lastly, state your request. This is Jehoshaphat's prayer. Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that comes against us. Won't you judge them, God? Won't you take up our cause? Won't you defend your own people? We don't have any might against these people that are coming against us. We don't know what to do. We're helpless. We're ignorant, we don't know what to do, Lord. But our eyes are on you. There is the secret of Jehoshaphat's prayer. As long as we keep our eyes on the imminent danger, it's going to overwhelm us with fear. But when we turn our eyes away from the danger to one who has control of all things, when we put our eyes upon the Lord, then the fear would dissipate. And what will come will confidence, assurance, and faith. Oh God, will you not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that comes against us. We don't know what to do, but our eyes are on you. That implies they don't know what to do, but God knows what to do. That implies that they can't really do anything, but God can do it for them. And God can do it through them if that's his will. So all Judah stood before Yahweh with their little ones, their wives and their children. They said, we are powerless. We don't know what to do. But our eyes are on you. And they're silently standing before Yahweh. Immediately, God gives the answer. He gives the answer in two ways. The first answer that he gives is he gives a word, a prophecy through Jehaziel. Then Yahweh's spirit, while the people are standing there, then Yahweh's spirit came on Jehaziel, the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Geo, the son of Mattiah, the son of Levi, the sons of Asap, in the middle of the assembly. Now I know we're not used to giving all our relatives beforehand. But the Hebrews do that. And the Arabs do that today. If you ever have any contact with Islam and their books, there'll be the whole listing. This is what they call the chain of authority. Well this tells you his pedigree, okay. But here he is. The Yahweh spirit came on Jehoshua, the son of Zechariah. That's enough, okay. And in the middle of the assembly, And so he speaks what God's spirit gives him. This is what he says, listen all Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem and you King Jehoshaphat, Yahweh says to you, don't be afraid and don't be dismayed because of this great multitude for the battle is not yours, but God's. We sang that earlier. The battle is not ours, it's the Lord's battle. The Lord's battle to fight. Tomorrow, go down against him. Behold, they're coming up by the ascent of Ziz. You'll find him at the end of the valley before the wilderness of Jeru. You will not need to fight this battle. Set yourselves, stand still, and see the salvation of Yahweh. Oh, Judah and Jerusalem, don't be afraid, nor dismay. Go out against them tomorrow, for Yahweh is with you. So what do we see in this prophecy? We see that in the prophecy, God says through this prophet that the battle does not belong to you, it belongs to God. Look to God as the commander. to commander of the armies. Look to God who can handle any danger and any situation. Look to God, set your eyes upon him. And remember, he's the one who has all power. Then he says, now tomorrow, you go down and face them, and I'll tell you where they are. So the prophecy, he says, they're coming up by the ascent of Ziz, so there's information given. You will find them at the end of the valley, so that's the way you're to go. And don't be afraid, because you're not gonna need to fight this battle. Set yourselves, stand still, and see the salvation, for Yahweh is with you. So that was the first answer. The next is that they rose up in the morning. This is the next day. They rose up, verse 20, and they went out into the wilderness of Toca. And when they went out, Joseph has stood and said, hear me, Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, believe in the Lord. Believe in Yahweh, your God. and you will be established. Believe his prophets and you will succeed. He goes back. He says, believe in God, set your eyes upon him and believe the prophecy that he gave through the prophet. Believe in God, believe in his word. And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to the Lord. He praises God in holy attire. So he went forth with the army, but in front of the army, he sent singers, musicians, dressed in attire, a choir, choir robes, we'll call them, okay? So they go forth, and they're to sing in front of the army as it marches down in this route. And here's what they sang. Give thanks to the Lord, for His steadfast love endures forever. Let's join them, okay? Say that with me. Give thanks to the Lord, for His steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord, for His steadfast love endures forever. And when they began to sing and praise God, the Lord set an ambush against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah, so that they were routed. God set an ambush. Now, we're not told exactly the nature of this ambush in this incident, but we're told in other instances where God set an ambush, and usually what God did is he sent some kind of wind and sound that made the soldiers think that there was a great army coming against them. And this caused fear and panic in the soldiers. And that's what happened here. For the men of Amon and Moab rose against the inhabitants of Mount Seir. So these people who were just in a confederacy and they really didn't like each other anyway, they rose up and started fighting against each other, devoting them to destruction. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they all helped to destroy one another. God set an ambush and when the ambush started, the soldiers began to fight among themselves. They fought against the troops they didn't like, the other people they didn't like and killed all of them and then they turned against each other. There's a frenzy sometimes when a crowd is engaged in a fight, when a crowd is engaged in an uproar. People do not act. Rationally, they act irrationally. They react and just start fighting. And what they did was that they helped to destroy one another. So when Judah came to the watchtower of the wilderness, they looked toward the horde and behold, there were dead bodies lying on the ground everywhere. There were no living soldiers to be found. A complete victory. but they didn't do it. God did it first by setting the ambush of his sounds and then he let the soldiers kill each other. Now what about us? Are we facing an enticement, an onslaught from the enemy such as Jehoshaphat faced in his earlier days? There are always enticements to be disloyal to the Lord our God. There are always enticements to pull us away from having the central figure in our life being the living God and the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. There are always enticements to draw us away from the Word of God, away from prayer, away from worship, away from loyalty. Pay attention. Do not let the enticements entrap you. When they do, you will be weakened and you will face a destruction. But thank God that for those who belong to him, he doesn't desert them even when they deserve to be deserted. So are we facing an enticement or an onslaught from an enemy? Examine your personal history. is what I'm asking us to do. Examine our personal history. And then, after examining it, present it with conscious confession before God. And then, and only then, present your request before God. Set your eyes on the Lord God. Oh, Lord God. Yahweh, King Yahweh, my eyes. Well, the aftermath is something else. Jehoshaphat continued to reign over Judah. When he was 35 years old, he inherited the kingdom. He reigned for another 25 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Azuba, the daughter of Shili. He walked in the ways of Asa, his father. He did not turn aside from doing it, doing what was right in the sight of the Lord. This is the Chronicle. The Chronicle always paints the good picture of the kings, not the bad picture. In Kings, if you read first and second Kings, it paints all the bad pictures. But if you read Chronicles, in a way the Chronicle sort of, he tells you what the sins were, But in the final evaluation, he focuses on the good. He says, the high places ever, talking about Jehoshaphat or Asa, the high places ever were not taken away. The people did not yet set their hearts upon the God of their fathers. Second test of alliance with an evil king failed. You would think that Jehoshaphat had learned his lesson, right? Well, they have. But he didn't. Later, another king of Israel entices him to go in a ship building project because they want to go to Spain. And so they built these ships to go to Spain and it was not the Lord's will. And so what happened is that's when Jehoshaphat died. Now it doesn't say he died on the ship because the ships were destroyed before they ever left the bay. But that was the time when God, as we say, called him home. He was 60 years of age when he died. You see, the prophet came and said, you should not do this. But because you have joined with Isaiah, the Lord will destroy what you have made. And the ships were wrecked and were not able to go to Tarsus. Jehoshaphat. He learned to pray. And we can learn to pray from his example. What is it? What have we learned, hopefully? That when we pray before the Lord, this is what we call a prayer in the time of distress. Number one, even though you are distressed, and the distress is upon you, don't focus on the distress alone. Turn your eyes to the Lord. And when you turn your eyes to the Lord, remember to praise him, to worship him, to extol him. Think about those characteristics of God that he can use to solve the dilemma that you're faced with. Perhaps it's love, perhaps it's mercy, perhaps it's power, perhaps it's wisdom. I don't know, but God has all of these wonderful characteristics. They are what God is. Remind God of what the glory of his person. Make him the focus of your prayer. Let your first word of prayer be praise to God. And then you can remind God of the promises of his word. the promises of his word that apply to you and to your situation. You can remind of his history, of how he's done things in the past for his people, faced with the same similar circumstances. And that having done that, present your request in particulars, specifically to God. Lord, I need to know if I need to do this. State what it is. Lord, I'm overcome with fear because this stared me in the face. I don't know what to do, but my eyes are on you. And then, having stated your request, look to God to grant the answer. God will come through. Approach, my soul, the mercy seat, where Jesus answers prayer. There humbly fall before his feet, for none can perish there. Your promise is my only plea. With this I venture near. You call our burdened souls to yourself. And such, O Lord, am I. I'm a needy soul. and I turn to you, my God and my King. This is our response hymn of today, Approach My Soul, The Mercies Seek. Mary will play the beginning so we can hear it, and then we should join in singing together. Let's stand together, Mary.