{"id":5293,"date":"2019-09-26T20:00:52","date_gmt":"2019-09-27T03:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=5293"},"modified":"2019-09-21T23:50:15","modified_gmt":"2019-09-22T06:50:15","slug":"2chronicles_32_1-22","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/2chronicles_32_1-22\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Ways the Enemy Tries to Attack You and How to Defend Yourself"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"flex_column av_one_full  flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding first  avia-builder-el-0  avia-builder-el-no-sibling  \" style='border-radius:0px; '><section class=\"av_textblock_section \"  itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/BlogPosting\" itemprop=\"blogPost\" ><div class='avia_textblock  '   itemprop=\"text\" ><p>2 Chronicles 32:1-22 \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=2+Chronicles+32%3A1-22&amp;version=NIV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-5294 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/190927.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/190927.png 600w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/190927-300x150.png 300w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/190927-450x225.png 450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s passage is 2 Chronicles 32:1-22.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n<p>On verses 1-8:\u00a0\u00a0King Sennacherib of Assyria invades King Hezekiah\u2019s nation of Judah, laying siege to various fortified cities.\u00a0\u00a0So Hezekiah takes several steps to prepare for battle and to make it difficult for King Sennacherib of Assyria to attack the capital city of Jerusalem:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Hezekiah cuts off King Sennacherib\u2019s water supply (v2-4)<\/li>\n<li>Hezekiah repairs the broken sections of Jerusalem\u2019s walls (v5)<\/li>\n<li>Hezekiah erects new towers from which he can see Sennarcherib from far away and defend the city (v5)<\/li>\n<li>Hezekiah builds a second wall outside the first wall (v5)<\/li>\n<li>Hezekiah strengthens supporting terraces (v5)<\/li>\n<li>Hezekiah makes large numbers of weapons and shields (v5)<\/li>\n<li>Hezekiah prepares his soldiers and military officers for battle, speaking encouraging words to them and reminding them that God is on their side, while the Assyrians are merely men (v7-8).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0<strong>Don\u2019t make it easy for the enemy to attack.\u00a0\u00a0Don\u2019t wait for the enemy to attack before doing something to defend yourself.\u00a0\u00a0Realize that attacks from the enemy will come and prepare yourself in advance for them.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0How do you prepare yourself in advance for Satan\u2019s attacks?\u00a0\u00a0Store up God\u2019s Word in your heart \u2013 that\u2019s like arming yourself with new weapons to fight offensively and shields to protect yourself defensively.\u00a0\u00a0Pray often, both on our own and with others \u2013 that\u2019s like building a first and second wall around your life.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And don\u2019t allow yourself to be put in unnecessarily tempting situations \u2013 that\u2019s like cutting off the water supply from the enemy).<\/p>\n<p>In addition to all this,\u00a0<strong>it\u2019s also important to be able to identify the common ways the enemy likes to attack so that you can be ready to defend.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0As Paul says in 2 Corinthians\u00a02:11, \u201cin order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0In verses 9 to 19 that follow, we see some of the enemy\u2019s common attacks.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>2 Chronicles 32:11 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong><br \/>\n<sup>11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When Hezekiah says, &#8216;The\u00a0LORD\u00a0our God will save us from the hand of the king of Assyria,&#8217; he is misleading you, to let you die of hunger and thirst.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>On verses 9-11:\u00a0\u00a0Here King Sennacherib\u2019s messenger tries to cast doubt on the Lord\u2019s words spoken through Hezekiah.\u00a0\u00a0Likewise,\u00a0<strong>the first of the enemy\u2019s strategies is to make you question and doubt what the Lord has already spoken to you.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s what Satan did with Eve in the garden (Genesis 3:1-5).\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s what Satan did with Jesus in the desert (Matthew 4:3 compared to Matthew 3:16-17).\u00a0\u00a0And that\u2019s what he will try to do with you too.\u00a0\u00a0<strong>To protect yourself against this attack, you need to know the Word of God well, store it up in your heart, and stay closely connected to Christian community.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>2 Chronicles 32:12 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong><br \/>\n<sup>12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Did not Hezekiah himself remove this god&#8217;s high places and altars, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, &#8216;You must worship before one altar and burn sacrifices on it&#8217;?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>On verse 12:\u00a0\u00a0<strong>Another tactic of the enemy is to distort your perception of reality, to make you believe things that are simply not true, even if it means twisting facts.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Satan\u2019s goal is to derail your faith in God and your faith in your God-given leaders, so that you end up trusting in something other than God.\u00a0\u00a0The better you know God\u2019s Word and keep a close relationship with the Holy Spirit, the better you will be at discerning truth from error.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>2 Chronicles 32:13-14 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong><br \/>\n<sup>13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0&#8220;Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of the other lands? Were the gods of those nations ever able to deliver their land from my hand?<br \/>\n<sup>14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Who of all the gods of these nations that my fathers destroyed has been able to save his people from me? How then can your god deliver you from my hand?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>On verses 13-17:\u00a0\u00a0<strong>A third tactic of the enemy is to use comparison to discourage you and make you feel small, to make you think that you are not special compared to others.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0When attacked in this way, remember that your worth was decided at the cross where Jesus died.\u00a0\u00a0You are uniquely precious to God.\u00a0\u00a0Also, remember that Jesus is uniquely powerful.\u00a0\u00a0He\u2019s not like any other founder of a religion who said a bunch of things about God and the afterlife and then died.\u00a0\u00a0No, only Jesus backed up His words by rising again from the grave.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0You don\u2019t just worship any god.\u00a0\u00a0You worship Jesus, the one true God and the name above every name!<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>2 Chronicles 32:18-19 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong><br \/>\n<sup>18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then they called out in Hebrew to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to terrify them and make them afraid in order to capture the city.<br \/>\n<sup>19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They spoke about the God of Jerusalem as they did about the gods of the other peoples of the world&#8211;the work of men&#8217;s hands.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>On verses 18-19:\u00a0\u00a0<strong>A fourth tactic of the enemy is to use fear.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Satan likes to terrify you and make you afraid so that you are immobilized against the enemy.\u00a0\u00a0When attacked in this way, remember God\u2019s promises spoken in His Word \u2013 promises like, \u201cI will never leave you or forsake you\u201d, \u201cGreater is He who is in you than He who is in the world\u201d, \u201cI can do all things through Christ who strengthens me\u201d, \u201cThe Lord is my light and my salvation \u2013 whom shall I fear?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0(I haven\u2019t included verse references to these promises because I assume you know them already.\u00a0\u00a0If you don\u2019t know where to find them, it\u2019s time to memorize these verses\u00a0<em>and\u00a0<\/em>their verse references!)\u00a0<strong>The greatest antidote to fear is faith in God\u2019s Word.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>2 Chronicles 32:20 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong><br \/>\n<sup>20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz cried out in prayer to heaven about this.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>On verse 20:\u00a0\u00a0King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah stand up to the enemy\u2019s attacks by praying.\u00a0\u00a0Prayer is our greatest weapon against the enemy\u2019s attacks.\u00a0\u00a0<strong>Prayer renews our perspective, strengthens our will, and protects us from worry and fear.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When we pray, we\u2019re depending on God more and depending on ourselves less.\u00a0\u00a0When we pray, we give God room to act on our behalf.\u00a0\u00a0<strong>Prayer is the most powerful thing you can do when you are under attack.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>2 Chronicles 32:21-23 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong><br \/>\n<sup>21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And the\u00a0LORD\u00a0sent an angel, who annihilated all the fighting men and the leaders and officers in the camp of the Assyrian king. So he withdrew to his own land in disgrace. And when he went into the temple of his god, some of his sons cut him down with the sword.<br \/>\n<sup>22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So the\u00a0LORD\u00a0saved Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib king of Assyria and from the hand of all others. He took care of them on every side.<br \/>\n<sup>23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Many brought offerings to Jerusalem for the\u00a0LORD\u00a0and valuable gifts for Hezekiah king of Judah. From then on he was highly regarded by all the nations.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>On verses 21-23:\u00a0\u00a0In response to Hezekiah and Isaiah\u2019s prayers, the Lord annihilates all the fighting men and leaders of Assyria (v21), even Sennarcherib himself (v22), and delivers His people from the attack (v22).\u00a0\u00a0After seeing the way the Lord delivered them from Assyria, many people bring offerings to the Lord and gifts to Hezekiah.\u00a0\u00a0Hezekiah becomes highly regarded among the nations (v23).<\/p>\n<p>What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0Notice that God allowed Hezekiah to face a scary and difficult situation, but in the end God was writing a greater story in Hezekiah\u2019s life.\u00a0\u00a0God allowed an attack that threatened to destroy Hezekiah\u2019s kingdom, but it was all part of God\u2019s plan to expand Hezekiah\u2019s territory.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe today you are under attack or facing difficult circumstances.\u00a0\u00a0You may be inclined to ask God, \u201cGod, why did You let this happen?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Remember:\u00a0<strong>whenever things don\u2019t go your way, God is writing a greater story with your life.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Also, just as the people responded to God\u2019s great deliverance by giving offerings to God and also gifts to their leader Hezekiah,\u00a0<strong>when God shows you special grace, be sure to bring a thank offering to God and appreciate the God-given leaders who prayed with you and helped you during that tough time.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Heavenly Father, thank You that You don\u2019t leave us defenseless against the enemy\u2019s attacks, but through Your Word You prepare us for those attacks.\u00a0\u00a0Thank You that You give me everything I need to stand up against the devil\u2019s schemes.\u00a0\u00a0And thank You that You are faithful to defend me and that You will use whatever attacks come against me to write a greater story than anything I could write for myself.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s passage is 2 Chronicles 32:1-22.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n<p>On verses 1-8:\u00a0\u00a0King Sennacherib of Assyria invades King Hezekiah\u2019s nation of Judah, laying siege to various fortified cities.\u00a0\u00a0So Hezekiah takes several steps to prepare for battle and to make it difficult for King Sennacherib of Assyria to attack the capital city of Jerusalem:<\/p>\n<p>Hezekiah cuts off King Sennacherib\u2019s water supply (v2-4)<br \/>\nHezekiah repairs the broken sections of Jerusalem\u2019s walls (v5)<br \/>\nHezekiah erects new towers from which he can see Sennarcherib from far away and defend the city (v5)<br \/>\nHezekiah builds a second wall outside the first wall (v5)<br \/>\nHezekiah strengthens supporting terraces (v5)<br \/>\nHezekiah makes large numbers of weapons and shields (v5)<br \/>\nHezekiah prepares his soldiers and military officers for battle, speaking encouraging words to them and reminding them that God is on their side, while the Assyrians are merely men (v7-8).<br \/>\nWhat can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0Don\u2019t make it easy for the enemy to attack.\u00a0\u00a0Don\u2019t wait for the enemy to attack before doing something to defend yourself.\u00a0\u00a0Realize that attacks from the enemy will come and prepare yourself in advance for them.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5294,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5293"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5296,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5293\/revisions\/5296"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}