The Power of Prayer (Chantilly Sermon)
August 24, 2025
2 Chronicles 20:1-4 CSB – “After this, the Moabites and Ammonites, together with some of the Meunites,[a] came to fight against Jehoshaphat. 2 People came and told Jehoshaphat, “A vast number from beyond the Dead Sea and from Edom[b] has come to fight against you; they are already in Hazazon-tamar” (that is, En-gedi). 3 Jehoshaphat was afraid, and he resolved to seek the Lord. Then he proclaimed a fast for all Judah, 4 who gathered to seek the Lord. They even came from all the cities of Judah to seek him.”
2 Chronicles 20:5-12 CSB – “Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem in the Lord’s temple before the new courtyard. 6 He said:
Lord, God of our ancestors, are you not the God who is in heaven, and do you not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in your hand, and no one can stand against you. 7 Are you not our God who drove out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and who gave it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? 8 They have lived in the land and have built you a sanctuary in it for your name and have said, 9 “If disaster comes on us—sword or judgment, pestilence or famine—we will stand before this temple and before you, for your name is in this temple. We will cry out to you because of our distress, and you will hear and deliver.
Now here are the Ammonites, Moabites, and the inhabitants of Mount Seir. You did not let Israel invade them when Israel came out of the land of Egypt, but Israel turned away from them and did not destroy them. 11 Look how they repay us by coming to drive us out of your possession that you gave us as an inheritance. 12 Our God, will you not judge them? For we are powerless before this vast number that comes to fight against us. We do not know what to do, but we look to you.”
2 Chronicles 20:12 NIV – ‘We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”
Where there’s prayer, there’s power.
Pray First.
You can do more than pray once you have prayed, but you can’t do more than pray until you have prayed.
Psalm 116:1-2 NLT – “I love the Lord because he hears my voice and my prayer for mercy, because he bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!”
