BELIEVE THE PROPHETS AND YOU SHALL PROSPER
BELIEVE THE PROPHETS AND YOU SHALL PROSPER
All throughout last year, 2020 the Lord kept emphasizing the passage to believe the prophets and we shall prosper. It was a theme scripture 2 Chron 20:20 for 2020.
2 Chronicles 20:20 And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall you be established; believe his prophets, so shall you prosper.
It was a year of great challenges to the righteous’ faith to stand on that Word to believe the Lord’s prophets. On the other hand the prophets were really challenged to stand on the front lines of their own faith, to not waver and stand on God’s Words to them no matter what the circumstances revealed.
What does the Hebrew word “prosper” mean in that passage? I am surprised that it means to push forward for a break through! That describes last year perfectly! We did not see things prosper but we did push through towards breakthrough. It is not yet resolved and we continue to believe in the midst of the battle.
PROSPER
Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary
6743. צָלַח tsalach (tsâlach)
Search for H6743 in KJVSL; in KJV.
צָלַח tsâlach, tsaw-lakh’
or צָלֵחַ tsâlêach; a primitive root; to push forward, in various senses (literal or figurative, transitive or intransitive):—break out, come (mightily), go over, be good, be meet, be profitable, (cause to, effect, make to, send) prosper(-ity, -ous, -ously).
verb
In this passage of 2 Chronicles 20, the story of Jehoshaphat is about the conquering of the Moabites. It is interesting that Jehoshaphat’s name means Jehovah has judged. And when the great multitude came out for battle against Jehoshaphat, he prayed, “O our God, will you not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that comes against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon you.” 2 Chronicles 20:12
The Lord told them to not be afraid, for the battle was His battle, not theirs.
2 Chronicles 20:15 And he said, Hearken you, all Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you king Jehoshaphat, Thus says the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s.
The enemies ended up quarrelling amongst themselves and slaying one another. Jehoshaphat went out and collected the rich spoils! They did indeed literally prosper as they watched the battle belong to the Lord.
2 Chronicles 20:25-26 And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away: and they were three days in the gathering of the spoil, it was so much. 26 And on the fourth day they assembled themselves in the valley of Beracah; for there they blessed the LORD: therefore the name of the same place was called, The valley of Beracah, unto this day.
They named that place Beracah, which comes from a word which means to bestow a prosperous blessing.
1294 from 1293:
Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary
1293. בְּרָכָה Berakah (Bᵉrâkâh)
Search for H1293 in KJVSL; in KJV.
בְּרָכָה Bᵉrâkâh, ber-aw-kaw’
from H1288; benediction; by implication prosperity:—blessing, liberal, pool, present.
feminine noun
2 Chronicles 20:20-37 And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall you be established; believe his prophets, so shall you prosper. 21 And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endures forever. 22 And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushes against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, who were come against Judah; and they were defeated. 23 For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, to slay and destroy them utterly: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, everyone helped to destroy one another. 24 And when Judah came to the watchtower in the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped. 25 And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away: and they were three days in the gathering of the spoil, it was so much. 26 And on the fourth day they assembled themselves in the valley of Beracah; for there they blessed the LORD: therefore the name of the same place was called, The valley of Beracah, unto this day. 27 Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat in front of them, to go again to Jerusalem with joy; for the LORD had made them to rejoice over their enemies. 28 And they came to Jerusalem with lyres and harps and trumpets unto the house of the LORD. 29 And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries, when they had heard that the LORD fought against the enemies of Israel. 30 So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet: for his God gave him rest round about. 31 And Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah: he was thirty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi. 32 And he walked in the way of Asa his father, and departed not from it, doing that which was right in the sight of the LORD. 33 However the high places were not taken away: for as yet the people had not prepared their hearts unto the God of their fathers. 34 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, from first to last, behold, they are written in the book of Jehu the son of Hanani, which is mentioned in the book of the kings of Israel. 35 And after this did Jehoshaphat king of Judah join himself with Ahaziah king of Israel, who did very wickedly: 36 And he joined himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish: and they made the ships in Ezion-geber. 37 Then Eliezer the son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, Because you have joined yourself with Ahaziah, the LORD has broken your works. And the ships were broken, that they were not able to go to Tarshish.
Sometimes it is easier to DO something, than to wait on the Lord and watch Him take on a battle as we seemingly do nothing. But I want to say that the year 2020 was a great battle for FAITH – Our faith that God would pull through and answer the prayers of the righteous. That God would take on the battle too overwhelming for us, and that He would put down His enemies. There are times He may ask for us only to believe, as He knows that believing can be a work out all its own when faced with such adversity on all sides.
So when you continue to wait on God, will you choose to stand and believe His Word as through the prophets? Yes sometimes it is difficult to know who is a true established prophet, who is prophetic but not yet established, and who is false. Our level of faith is not in men, but in the Word they speak.
Every person should walk so aligned with God that they KNOW the Word of the Lord when they hear it, no matter through what source. When the Lord sends a prophet, He sends His Word through them as a seed. When we receive that seed, we nurture it through prayer and let it grow. That Word should grow and bear fruit in our life. If you believed the Word of the Lord in 2020, you should be bearing the fruit of maturing FAITH.
Candle your own self before the Lord. How is your faith? Did your faith grow in 2020? It is bearing fruit now? The Lord said that those who believe and yet do not see, are blessed, prosperous. If we believe, we shall see.
John 20:29 Jesus said unto him, Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
John 11:40 Jesus said unto her, Said I not unto you, that, if you would believe, you should see the glory of God?
