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Do you react… or do you respond?

Most people don’t realize how much this one distinction affects their life, their peace, and their spiritual authority. When pressure hits, when fear rises, or when the enemy begins to whisper lies, our natural instinct is to react.

But Scripture shows us a better way.

In this episode, we look at a powerful example from the life of King Hezekiah that gives us a clear, practical, biblical strategy for how to respond when we are under attack.

What Is the Difference Between Reacting and Responding?

Reacting is immediate. Emotional. Unfiltered. It happens without thought.

Responding is intentional. Grounded. Chosen.

When you react, you give power to whatever is happening around you. When you respond, you operate from truth, faith, and alignment with God.

This is not just practical advice. This is spiritual.

How to Know If You Are Under a Spiritual Attack

Not every problem is a spiritual attack. Sometimes life simply happens.

But there is a clear indicator when something becomes spiritual.

If you hear accusations against God—
“If God cared, this wouldn’t be happening.”
“God isn’t going to come through this time.”
“You’re on your own.”

That is not just a problem. That is a spiritual attack.

The enemy’s strategy is always to attack:

• God’s character
• Your identity as His child
• Your trust in His ability to deliver you

The Hezekiah Strategy: A Biblical Response to Pressure

In 2 Kings 18–19, King Hezekiah faces a real, tangible threat. The Assyrian army is powerful, proven, and relentless. Their words are intimidating. Their track record is undeniable.

But instead of reacting in fear, Hezekiah responds with strategy.

Here are the six steps we can learn from him.

1. Do Not Engage the Enemy’s Voice

Hezekiah instructed his people not to respond to the threats.

This is critical.

You do not need to argue with every thought that enters your mind. You do not need to entertain the enemy’s voice.

Engaging the enemy is like inviting him into a conversation he should never be part of.

Silence is strategy.

2. Humble Yourself Before God

Hezekiah tore his clothes, covered himself in sackcloth, and went to the house of the Lord.

This wasn’t performative. It was genuine humility.

True humility looks like surrender:

• Not trying to control the outcome
• Not relying on your own strength
• Fully submitting to God’s way

When humility is real, it is visible.

3. Get Into the Presence of God

Hezekiah didn’t just send for help. He went himself.

He went into the house of the Lord.

This matters.

You cannot outsource your relationship with God. You can ask others to pray for you, but you must also pray. You must seek Him personally.

God’s presence is where:

• Strength is restored
• Clarity is given
• Faith is built

4. Don’t Assume You Know God’s Plan

Even though Hezekiah was a faithful king, he did not presume he knew what God would do.

This is a hard truth.

We often believe that because we are doing the right things, God must respond in a specific way.

But God is just. God is wise. God sees what we cannot.

Faith is not controlling the outcome. Faith is trusting God with it.

5. Seek a Word from the Lord

Hezekiah didn’t move forward without direction. He sought a word from God.

This is where strategy comes from.

The Word of God is your anchor:

• It gives you something to stand on
• It silences confusion
• It guides your next step

Whether through Scripture or through prayer, you need God’s voice more than your own reasoning.

6. Surround Yourself with Faith-Filled People

Hezekiah didn’t stand alone. He brought others into agreement with him.

This matters more than most people realize.

You need people who:

• Believe God with you
• Speak faith, not fear
• Strengthen your resolve, not weaken it

Agreement builds strength. Unity reinforces faith.

Why Responding Changes Everything

When you react, you operate from fear.

When you respond, you operate from faith.

The enemy wants your reaction.
God is looking for your response.

And the difference between the two can determine the outcome of the battle you’re facing.

Final Prayer

Heavenly Father, I just thank You for Your Word. I thank You that we do not have to fear the enemy, that You have given us Your Word to show us how to live our lives according to Your ways and the ways that bring blessing to our lives, but honor unto Your name.

That’s what Hezekiah prayed. He wanted You to receive all the glory, that the honor that You are due would be given to Your name instead of all the blasphemous things that were said.

So God, today I pray for each person who is under the sound of my voice, that whatever they are facing, they will not react. They will respond. They will respond with faith. They will respond with strength. They will respond with strategy that You have given them.

That they will not be in fear, that they will not cower, that they will not pull away, that they will not shrink back. They will be strong and courageous.

God, You have a plan for each one of their lives, and I pray that by their submission and humility to come into Your presence, to hear a word from You, that they will surely hear what they need to hear.

That their ears will be open, that their eyes will be attentive, Father, that they will know Your voice and they will follow it.

That You have a good plan for them. Let them be secure in Your Word. Let them be secure in Your response.

Let them know that they don’t have to fear the enemy’s voice. They don’t have to respond to the enemy. They simply respond to You.

Thank You, Father, for the strength and the grace to carry us through every issue that we face. And we will give You all the glory and the praise that is due Your name.

In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Where to dive in

00:00 – React vs. Respond: Why It Matters
02:00 – What a Spiritual Attack Really Looks Like
06:30 – The Enemy’s Strategy: Fear, Lies, and Doubt
13:00 – The Hezekiah Story: When Pressure Hits Hard
21:30 – Step 1: Stop Dialoguing with the Enemy
28:30 – Step 2: Humble Yourself Before God
35:00 – Step 3: Get Into God’s Presence
44:00 – Step 4: Don’t Assume—Seek God’s Will
53:00 – Step 5: Get a Word from the Lord
1:01:00 – Step 6: Find Faith-Filled Agreement
1:04:00 – Final Prayer + Encouragement

Full Transcript

This transcript is auto-generated and not perfect. We hope it blesses you

Jaime Luce (00:00.078)
you

Jaime Luce (00:08.788)
to the Jamie Luce podcast. Okay, I’ve got a question for you right off the bat. Do you naturally react and usually when people react they react in a negative manner or out of shock there’s no thought behind the reaction. It’s just an auto react or do you respond meaning you have thought about it and you are making a response that you are choosing

not that it’s just happening. So do you react or do you respond? Okay. Now let’s take it spiritually. When the enemy attacks you, do you react or do you respond? Today, I’m going to give you a biblical strategy. It may not be the only strategy, but it’s a good one.

biblical strategy. And I’m going to give you six steps. So you’re to want something to write down, write with, write on, take some notes with this, but six steps that I’m going to give you in this strategy that you can follow so that you know how to respond when you’ve been attacked by the enemy that will ensure God’s response, that God gets involved.

I promise you’re going to want this. We’re going to be starting in second Kings chapter 19. So get your Bibles and go there with me.

Jaime Luce (01:47.628)
And we’ll start with verse one. And so it was when King Hezekiah heard it. Now, what is he talking about that he heard it? In chapter 18, there were, we have to, okay, I should back up. I’ve told you before that many of the things that you read about in first and second Kings, you also will reread about them in first and second Chronicles.

And that’s because in first and second Kings, the emphasis is really on Israel. And then in first and second Chronicles, it’s more about Judah, but there is crossover in both. And to get the full story, it’s really good to read both so that you understand just a better, fuller picture.

So when you’re reading it once, then go flip over and find if you can find it. Cause not everything is in there the same, but you can find it and then you can read about it and understand a fuller picture. And it’s really helpful. But Hezekiah who is, we’ve talked about him already, but he’s a godly, godly King. He comes in, he does all these fantastic works of reestablishing God.

and God alone as the one that they serve is the one that they rely on. He’s tore down every false idol, every high place, every image. He’s just, he’s just, he reestablishes Passover and he goes and he invites all even people in Israel to come and partake and come back to God.

recommit themselves to God and God’s ways. And he holds this wonderful Passover and they go seven days and they decide we have so much here and this is so wonderful. And their hearts are so in it that they decide to do it for a second set of seven days. So 14 days, they hold this wonderful feast and he has just finished here doing all of these wonderful works. He’s just completed all this stuff.

Jaime Luce (04:07.754)
And he has the king of Syria comes up against him and makes terrible threats to him. And you know, maybe we’ll go back instead of starting in 19. I want you to hear some of the threats that he has made because if we give you it, it’ll help you. Cause you know how many times we are, when we come to complain, so to speak to God, when, when we have been hit with something,

and we’re going to God and we’re pouring out our explanation for why we feel what we feel and how this has affected us. So many times there are legitimate things to be concerned about. Legitimate, these aren’t just complaints like, know, so and so isn’t treating me the way that they should treat me and I just don’t feel like I’ve been respected or, know, silly, silly complaints.

I’m talking about a real attack of the enemy. When the enemy truly attacks, there are threats, things that are said to you, whether they are tangible things or whether it is the voice of the enemy that you hear in your thoughts that are blasphemous against God and they are,

They are scary because they hold bits of truth, bits of possibilities, not good possibilities, but bad possibilities. And this is how you know when an attack is spiritual, by the way. If you’re under what you feel like is an attack, sometimes there’s an attack against you that is simply, we live in a fallen world.

You got a nail in your tire. That doesn’t necessarily mean you’re under spiritual attack. We don’t need to be looking to find the devil under every rock, okay? But how you know that an attack is a spiritual attack is based off of, you hear accusation against God and God’s ability to take care of you through this issue, whatever this problem is.

Jaime Luce (06:30.33)
If you hear the enemy constantly saying to you things that are, God’s not going to save you out of this. God can’t help you in this, this time. This isn’t something that God’s going to intervene on. You got yourself into this mess and God’s not going to help you. Whatever you hear accusation against God in whatever the attack is, that is your clue. You now know

This is just not a natural attack, a natural problem. This is an actual spiritual attack. Okay. And once you know that there, then you have to know what is the strategy to take care of this. So instead of starting at 19 where I started, I want us to go to 18. So apologize for that. Write down 18. I want you to hear this accusation, this attack. Okay. The name of the man, if I’m

I may not be saying this right is Seneke rib. And it says Seneke rib boasts against the Lord. Now you have to know Seneke rib has already defeated Israel and taken a bunch of people captive and is living in parts of the land in Israel that they’re not supposed to be living in. They’ve caused all kinds of trouble and they mean what they say and they’ll do exactly what they say that they’ll do. And so does the enemy, your enemy

will make accusation and threats against you. And he plans on making good on those threats. We take the attack of the enemy serious. He plays for keeps and he plays dirty and he plays to steal, kill and destroy. That’s his game plan. So verse 17 of chapter 18 says, then the king of Assyria sent to the Tartan, the Rapsaris and the Rapshaka from Lekish.

and with a great army against Jerusalem to King Hezekiah. So Hezekiah has been doing all these wonderful things and here comes the enemy’s attack. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they had come up, they went and stood by the aqueduct from the upper pool, which was on the highway to the Fuller’s field. And when they had called to the king, Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household. So he was like, you know how we know the story of Joseph?

Jaime Luce (08:54.004)
how he was over Potiphar’s house. Okay, well this is basically this servant, Hilkiah, was over the king’s house. He was over the household, took care of things for King Hezekiah. Shebna, the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to him. So this king of Assyria comes out and he’s trying to speak threats to the king, but instead,

The person who comes out is Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah. Those three come out instead. Then the Rav Shaka, these are great words and names and titles, aren’t they? The Rav Shaka said to them, say now to Hezekiah, thus says the great king. So he’s already speaking boastfully, the king of Assyria of himself. What confidence is this?

in which you trust? Wow. That’s a great question. That’s a very telling question. It’s a great question. We actually need to know the answer to this question ourselves. What confidence is this which you trust? You speak of having plans and power for war.

plans and power for war. This is important because later this comes up. Plans and power for war. But they are mere words. And in whom do you trust that you rebel against me? This was actually considered a good thing before God that he had rebelled against

this king of Assyria, because what that meant was he’s no longer going to pay tribute to him. He’s not going to submit to him and offer to him payment to stay away. It was a bold move, but it’s considered rebellion. Now look, you are trusting in the staff of this broken read Egypt. So he’s assuming that he is counting on

Jaime Luce (11:17.684)
calling on Egypt to pay them and help send forces to help defend them and to fight against Assyria. You are trusting in the staff of this broken-reed Egypt on which if a man leans, it would go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to all who trust in him. But if you say to me, we trust in the Lord our God,

Is it not he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away and said to Judah and Jerusalem, you shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem. So here is the twist because the enemy loves to come and bring a twist of the truth. It’s not the truth. It’s a twist. And what the king of Assyria doesn’t understand is Hezekiah

was taking away all the false idols that were not the God that they serve. So he is actually saying that all of these altars and all of these places that you worshiped, that was actually the God that you served. And now your king, he’s tore it all down. So you don’t have anything. He’s making you go to Jerusalem in order to worship. He’s trying to make them set, make, make it seem

As though what Hezekiah has done has weakened them and the enemy will do this to you. He will make you think that the trouble that you’re in and the way you’ve been going to God, the way you’ve been leaning on God’s ways for help, the way that you have made changes in your life that God has had you make in your life for your good. Those actually have hindered you or have, minimized you have taken something away from you.

has weakened you.

Jaime Luce (13:18.678)
Verse 23, now therefore I urge you give a pledge to my master king of Assyria. He’s like pay us what you owe us and I will give you 2000 horses if you are able to part to on your part to put riders on them. He’s like will actually strengthen you will help you. You just need to keep giving us the tribute that you owe us. Verse 24. How then will you repel one captain?

of the least of my master’s servants and put your trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen. Have I now come up without the Lord against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, go up against this land and destroy it. Okay, this is where the rubber meets the road on whether you are confident

that you know the voice of the Lord and you have God’s heart in a matter, that you know the way that you’re supposed to be going according to God. Because now they’re muddying, he’s muddying the waters. He’s trying to say, the Lord is the one who sent me to come up against you. He’s playing on his lie of saying you’ve tore down all of God’s idols.

I mean, at all of his worship places, and you’ve done all this mess, so now the Lord has sent me up against you because you have diminished him. You’re not serving him the way you’re supposed to. I mean, this is a complete twist and lie of the truth.

Verse 26, then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, Shepna and Joah the son, and Joah, sorry, said to the Rapshaka, please speak to your servants in Aramaic for we understand it and do not speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people who are on the wall. So they’re hearing all these vile threats and trying to take the spirit and the strength out of the people. And so Hezekiah’s people are saying, talk to us.

Jaime Luce (15:27.512)
in Aramaic. We understand Aramaic. We’ll talk to you that way, but don’t talk to us in Hebrew. We don’t want all these people to hear this conversation. But the Rebshaka said to them, has my master sent me to your master and to you to speak these words and not to the men who sit on the wall, who will eat and drink their own waste with you? What a vile threat. I mean a vile, scary threat because they know

This is what this group of people has done, what this nation has done to other nations. They truly have. So these aren’t empty threats. Then the Rapshaka stood and called out with a loud voice in Hebrew and spoke saying, hear the word of the great King, the King of Assyria. Thus says the King, do not let Hezekiah deceive you.

for he shall not be able to deliver you from his hand. Nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, the Lord will surely deliver us. This city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. He say, don’t trust that. Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria, make peace with me by a present.

and come out to me and every one of you eat from his own vine and everyone from his own fig tree and every one of you drink the waters of your of his own cistern until I come and take you away to a land like your own land a land of grain and new wine a land of bread and vineyards a land of olive groves and honey that you may live and not die but do not listen to Hezekiah

lest he persuade you saying, the Lord will deliver us.

Jaime Luce (17:30.974)
Obviously, the enemy always lets you know what’s important, as my aunt always says. The Lord will deliver us. If you’re hearing from people like me or from a pastor in your church or fellow Christians amongst the body that you attend at the church you attend or wherever you get your word and your encouragement from the Lord. If you are used to hearing from all of us,

that the Lord will deliver you, the enemy is going to come to you and say, don’t you dare believe or think that the Lord will deliver you out of this. A clear, a clear spiritual attack. This isn’t just an attack against you, it’s an attack against the character of God and that you belong to God, that your identity as a child of God,

And that because you are a child of God, that God is your deliverer as he has promised. Verse 33, has any of the gods of the nations at all delivered its land from the hand of the king of Assyria? He’s saying, have we ever lost every battle we’ve ever fought? Have we ever lost? Have we ever lost?

Jaime Luce (18:56.581)
Some of you, whether it’s you or someone you know who has cancer and this is the threat you hear. Has anyone ever been able to stop me?

You need to understand today that the scripture tells us that there is no name that is above the name of Jesus. No name can stand above the name of Jesus. You may need his wisdom. You may need his game plan. You may need more faith to be able to be brave, to do the things that you feel you’re supposed to do. But all of that

is found in Jesus. Whatever the plan of God is, you don’t have to be afraid of whatever enemy is standing in front of you right now.

Jaime Luce (20:01.187)
You know the God of the universe who has created you, knows you individually, knows every cell in your body. Every hair on your head is numbered. He knows you.

You can get with him, you can seek the face of God and hear what he has to say to you so that you can be comforted by his words, but you do not have to listen and be fearful of the threats of the enemy.

Verse 34, where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sephirvaim and Hena and Iva? Indeed, have they delivered Samaria from my hand? Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their countries from my hand that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem from my hand? See, he has no

high regard, no understanding that the Lord God we serve is above every God, that every other God is a false God, is a God made with hands that can be easily destroyed. He is God and God alone. You can’t make him into an image. He’s too big for that. He’s too big for that.

Verse 36, but the people held their peace and answered him not a word. So smart for the King’s commandment was do not answer him. We’re to talk about this in a moment. Then Eliakim the son of Hill, Kaya who was over the household, shebna the scribe and Joe, the son of ASAP, the recorder came to has a Kaya with their clothes torn and told him the words.

Jaime Luce (21:58.669)
of the Rabshaka. Okay. So now King Hezekiah hears all this. And so it was when King Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes. He covered himself with sackcloth and went in to the house of the Lord.

Then he sent Eliakim who was over the household, Shepna the scribe and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. And this is the Isaiah who is sees the glory of God come and fill the tabernacle. This is a powerful prophet of God. And they said to him,

Thus says has a Kaia this day is a day of trouble and rebuke and blasphemy for the children have come to birth, but there is no strength to bring them forth. Okay. What are they saying? They’re saying that this issue that they’re facing, that there is some

elements that feel like truth from the accusations that have come. If you remember back in verse 19, what confidence is this in which you trust? They’re saying, and even before then when he was saying that,

Jaime Luce (23:42.297)
you’re saying you have, and verse 20, sorry. You speak of having plans and power for war, but they are mere words. So he’s trying to say, think you’re ready to battle me. You think you’re ready to handle me. And this is basically what has a Kaia is making sure that Isaiah hears.

He’s saying in very poetic language, the children have come to birth, meaning it’s like a pregnant woman. The baby is ready to be birthed, but we don’t have the power to actually make it happen. don’t have the strength to bring them forth. So they’re saying we by ourselves in our natural state are not able to stand against what truly is

very strong enemy. Verse four, it may be, I love this, it may be, David said the same thing, it might be that God, it may be that the Lord your God will hear all the words of the Rav Shaka, whom his master, the king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God.

and will rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard. He’s saying, Isaiah, maybe God will have heard these awful blasphemous words against God that the Rabshaka has spoken. And maybe if you go to God on our behalf, God will have not only heard them, but he will rebuke those words.

Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left. So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah and Isaiah said to them, thus you shall say to your master, thus says the Lord, do not be afraid of the words which you have heard.

Jaime Luce (26:03.437)
with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Surely I will send a spirit upon him and he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.

Then the Rapshaka returned and found the king of Assyria warring against Libna for he heard that he had departed from Lekish and the king heard concerning Teerhack, Teerhack, I don’t know how say that, King of Ethiopia. Look, he has come out to make war with you. So he again sent messengers to Hezekiah saying, thus you shall speak to Hezekiah, King of Judah saying, do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you.

saying Jerusalem shun out given into the hand of the king of Syria. Look, you have heard what the kings of a Syria have done to all the lands by utterly destroying them and you shall and shall you be delivered? Have the gods of the nations delivered those with my father, whom my fathers have destroyed goes in and Heron and Rezef and the people of Eden who were in Tellasar? Where is the king of Hamath, the king of our pad, the king of the city of Sephir Viam, Hannah and Ava?

And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of messengers and read it. And Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. Then Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, Oh Lord, God of Israel, the one who dwells between the cherubim, you are God, you alone.

of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear. Open your ears, O Lord, and see and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God. Truly, Lord, the King of Assyria has laid waste to the nations and their lands.

Jaime Luce (28:19.619)
and have cast their gods into the fire for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them. Now therefore, O Lord our God, I pray save us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are the Lord God, you alone.

Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah saying, thus says the Lord God of Israel, because you have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard.

And then if I jump over, he, I’m not going to read the whole thing versus 21 through 31 is everything that God’s going to do and what he’s heard and what he’s going to do to this King jumped to verse 32. it says, therefore, thus says the Lord concerning the King of Assyria. He shall not come into this city nor shoot an arrow there. No, come before it with shield, nor build a siege mound against it by the way that he came.

By the same shall he return and he shall not come into this city, says the Lord. For I will defend this city to save it for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake. And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the Lord went out and killed in the camp of the Assyrians, 185,000. And when people arose early in the morning, there were their corpses, all dead.

So Sennacherib, king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home and remained at Nineveh. Now it came to pass as he was worshiping in the temple of Nishraq, his God, that his sons, Adramelik and Sharazer, struck him down with the sword and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Then Esar-Huray-Had-I-Hadden, I don’t know how to say his name either, his son reigned.

Jaime Luce (30:34.843)
in his place. This is so good. And honestly, I can’t take the entire time to read it for you all in second Chronicles 32, but I just want to read to you, um, a small portion of it. I would really encourage you, please go back and read that on your own time. You are smart people and you will see all of this.

in 31 chapter 31, the last two verses 20 and 21 say that thus has a Kaia did throughout all of Judah and did what was good and right and true before the Lord his God and in every work that he began in the service of the house of God in the law and in the commandment to seek his God, he did it with all his heart. So he prospered. So that’s a another summation of all the good that he did. And then here comes the threat again. And in chapter 32, we get the threat

I want you to jump down with me to …

Jaime Luce (31:36.749)
It gives a little bit of what the king of Assyria did.

But the military captains in verse six, says, then he set military captains over the people, gathered them together to give, gathered them together to him in the open square in the city gate and gave them encouragement saying, be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid nor dismayed before the king of Assyria, nor before all the multitude that is with him, for there are more with us than with him.

Does that sound familiar to you? That’s the same thing that was said with Elijah and his servant. And here comes the enemy and Elijah says, open my servant’s eyes so he can see. And when he did, he realized there was more with them than there was with the enemy. Verse eight, with him is the arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles.

And the people were strengthened by the words of Hezekiah, King of Judah. So I just wanted to give you that extra piece. Go back to 2 Kings, chapter 19. Okay, you’ve heard the story. You know that Hezekiah was a great king. And I’m going to give you some of the things that he did. These are what I am calling a biblical strategy. When you are

thrust into an issue, a problem, something that has attacked you, whether it has taken you off guard, whether it has been building, no matter how big of a surprise it is, no matter how ominous the problem is, there is a way that someone who is submitted to God has available to them so that they do like has a kayak encouraged their people.

Jaime Luce (33:35.193)
that you don’t have to be afraid of them. You are to be strong and courageous and God is going to defend us. Forget that they said not to trust in our God. We know the power of our God. See the enemy always wants you to think that there is no real power in your God. That you are weak against the enemy’s power and that you should never fully trust in faith that God will deliver you. The problem is faith means that I have to walk out on something I can’t see.

Okay. Your enemy shows up with horses and chariots that you can see. And we by faith need to trust our God in things we cannot see. That’s why has a Kaia said, we don’t really have all that we need for war. We don’t have enough chariots. We don’t have enough horses. We don’t have the children have come to birth and we don’t have the strength to birth them. Okay.

So he already feels in the natural based off of what he can see with his eyesight that he doesn’t have what it takes. But he trusts in his God and we know it based off of what he says to God in his prayer. He says in verse 16, incline your ear, Lord in here, open your eyes, Lord and see and hear the words of Sennacherib which he is sent to reproach the living God.

He makes a distinction immediately saying that this is a fight against you. Yes, I’m being attacked, but you’re the one being attacked. Isn’t that what the enemy did in the garden? Did God say he doesn’t want God to have the adoration and the worship that he is due because he actually is God?

the enemy is jealous and wants and has pride and arrogance in who he is and doesn’t and rebellion and doesn’t want to have any kind of authority and anything over him. He wants to rule himself and he doesn’t want you to trust in God either. So there’s a decision when we respond versus react.

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Response means I have already thought about this and I already know the things I’m going to do. So it doesn’t matter what you say. My response will be what I have determined my response to be. It’s not going to just be a reaction to whatever the enemy is saying or whatever the devil’s saying in my ear. We need this in regular conversations with people, but we need this when we’re in a spiritual fight too. That it doesn’t matter what people say. It doesn’t matter what the enemy is threatening.

You really have to learn to not just attune your ear to God so that you know his voice. You also need to learn how to tune out and turn off the voice of the enemy. And the only way to do that is to have your prepared responses because you know the truth that you know that God has more power than the enemy. He’s the one who cast him out of heaven. If the devil had power that was equal to God’s, he would still be in heaven.

There would actually be a continual war in heaven.

God cast him from heaven and he says he did it with his finger. I mean, like flicked him out. Just, you know, just flicked him

He felt like lightning so fast, so hard, so direct out of heaven, like lightning. The enemy does not have the same power as God. is not an equal force of demonic darkness that is equal to light. That’s why light always dispels darkness. Darkness cannot overcome light. Light overcomes darkness. So you have to understand

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If you trust in God, you really need to put your trust in God and you need to know how to respond to the enemy, not react, respond. Okay. So I’m to give you the six things. Here we go. Number one, has a Kaia did not react or dialogue with the enemy. So remember when I, I said that he told them not to respond in that was in second Chronicles.

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You don’t need money. You just need God.com. This book is available today. verse seven of chapter 32, be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid nor dismayed before the king of Assyria, nor before all the multitude that is with him, for there are more with us than that are with him. With him is the arm of the flesh, but with us is the Lord to help us and to fight our battles. I’m sorry. That’s not the right verse.

I read you the wrong one. Sorry, it’s in Second Kings. good grief. My bouncing back and forth, I get confused. And that’s my own fault. I didn’t write a better note.

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He had told them not to answer a word is what it said. Anyway, I won’t take the time to go looking for it. You heard me say it. He told them not to answer him a word. And that’s the proper thing to do. Don’t react to and don’t dialogue with the enemy. Don’t think that you have to win the war in your head with this back and forth with the enemy. You can not respond to him. You can simply not respond to him.

Don’t that’s like entertaining him. It’s like the devil knocking on the door. Hello. Yes. Devil come on in and invite him to sit and have a conversation with you and you dialogue with him. Don’t, don’t dialogue with the devil. Don’t have a, when Jesus ran up against people who were demon possessed, he asked maybe what their name was. And I think the only reason he did that was for the sake of the people

listening so that they would understand and know like when he says legion we are legion they understood that this was how many demons were in this man and it gave them understanding of the power of god to get rid of not just one demon but a legion of demons but he didn’t dialogue and say well what is your plan for this man and what are all the things you’re planning to do while you keep him here and

Boy, are we going to be able to deal with this? I don’t know. This is a big, a whole Legion. There was no dialogue with the enemy. Don’t invite him in and sit him down and have a dialogue with him in your head. Don’t do it. When the enemy chooses to speak, just, just zip it. Just don’t speak to him. Don’t give him life. Don’t dialogue with him. If you need to dialogue with yourself, you can.

You can say, Father, I thank you that you are the God of my life. You are the one who has control and authority over anything that has any point of entrance to me, anything that touches me, that there is no name higher than the name of God. I trust you and you alone and you will deliver me. You’re the God who will deliver me.

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It’s what Hezekiah said.

Okay. That’s number one. Number two, has a Kaia humbled himself and it was visible on the outside. This means it was true humility. When you are truly humble before God, completely submitted and 100 % wanting God’s way. You have submitted, you have died to yourself. You have humbled yourself.

It is obvious to those around you. It’s not, you didn’t see Hezekiah saying, we trust in God, but I’m going to go over there right now and hire the King of Egypt to come and help me. That wouldn’t be true, this true submission to God. That wouldn’t be true humility. And how do we know that he was humble? How do we know that he humbled himself? Because he immediately tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord.

did this on two occasions because this was two events. I read you two events. They, he sends messengers. say, Ezek, has a Kaia himself goes into the house of God while he’s in the house of God. He is praying, but he also sends his servants to Isaiah to say, we need your help. We need you to pray. And Isaiah sends a word and tells them

Don’t be afraid in verse six. Don’t be afraid of the words which you have heard in which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Surely I will send a spirit upon him and he shall hear a rumor and return to his land and I will cause him to fall by the way the sword of his own land. So he got a response. But then when the king of Assyria or his servant goes and finds out, yeah, he did hear a rumor and he leaves, he sends another threat. So even though he has temporarily left,

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He sends another threat. And in that threat, he writes a letter to King Hezekiah and King Hezekiah takes that letter and does exactly what he did before. And he goes, according to verse 14, he received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. And Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and he spread it out before the Lord. It’s like, Lord, here it is. Here it is.

Do you have a court case against you? Do you have legal documents of any kind that you, that are threats against you? Take them and lay them out before the Lord. Get in the, he knew to go to the house of God. He got, there’s so many things about this. This, he humbled himself. I’m getting ahead of myself. He humbled himself. It’s shown on the outside by the things he chose to do. But then point number three is this.

He went into the house of the Lord. So in his humbled position, he went into the house of the Lord. Why? To seek God, to seek God’s presence, God’s word on it for himself. He didn’t just go and send a word to Isaiah, the prophet. He also took it upon himself. This is so important because so many times people will say, I need you to pray for me.

and they don’t ever pray for themselves. They don’t actually make it their job to carry something to God and take the responsibility of prayer for their own life and their own situations, their own, I don’t know if this is a true story or not, because I have not vetted this story, but I used to hear this periodically. I may have shared it on here before.

heard this periodically preached from preachers, but there was a preacher who went to, he was like a traveling minister, evangelist, he went to this church and he is preaching about the lost being saved and a woman comes up to the front and her husband is not saved and he is a real sinner. I mean, he’s out there living it up, sinning terribly. And she is desperately wanting her husband to come and know the

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Lord and to be saved and to walk away from all the trouble that he’s living in. And so she comes up and she says to the minister, will you please pray that my husband will come to know the Lord? And he’s getting ready to minister to pray, but he says, have you prayed?

How long have you prayed for this? And he’s thinking he’s gonna hear that she’s been praying about this for a long time. That she’s been, you know, going before God and praying and he’s gonna have to have faith with her to bring this man into salvation. And she says that she hasn’t actually prayed. He goes, how many nights have you stayed up? How long have you prayed all night long for your husband? And he said to her,

Why do you want me? Why would you expect me? I’m not going to pray for him all night until you prayed for him all night. You go home and pray for him.

So the woman did. She humbled herself. She had gone to the house of God and she humbled herself. And that night she went home and she prayed all night long for her husband to come to salvation and that God would have mercy and save him. And do know that man when he came home stumbling in at whatever time he heard her praying and he was so convicted, so convicted by the prayers he was hearing.

that he fell down on his knees and he gave his life to the Lord. Folks, Hezekiah is giving us one of the strategies we need to be using. And it’s not just prayer. It’s you praying, not just getting others to pray. Not calling, you can call all the prayer lines, praise God, pray them. Or call them and let them pray with you.

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But you need to pray. If this is affecting your life, you need to be a person of prayer. Get on your knees, get on your face, humble yourself before God, lay it all out, and you lift it up before the Lord. You lift that issue up. You lift that problem up before the Lord.

Okay. We not only don’t react and don’t dialogue with the enemy, we humble ourself and with true humility, we go into the house of the Lord, we get into his presence, we make it a matter of prayer ourselves by getting into his presence because we know that it’s in his presence. The scripture says in his presence is fullness of joy.

We know that he dwells in the praises of his people. We know that he says, if two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them. Well, that’s, that’s the church. I mean, all these scriptures that we understand about God, we, he says, do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together. You get into his house, humble yourself.

The more troublesome, the bigger the problem, it should be a clue folks that somewhere, somehow, there are things that we might not be doing, that we could be doing, that God would want us to do. Or that God’s hoping we’ll do them simply because he knows they will help us.

Not because he’s up there saying, I’m not answering until you do this. That’s not what I mean. I’m trying to help us stay in a state where we can do like Hezekiah spoke to his people said, do not be afraid, be strong and courageous. There is a way to gain strength. There is a way to build faith. There is a way to magnify the Lord. they, and put yourself in a position

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that you can hear what he’s saying, receive his encouragement and his instruction to you. There are ways of God. There are, there are ways. That’s, that’s why, there’s, churches that are called the way you had one, Jack Hayford’s church was called church on the way. And there were in, I believe it’s in the book of acts. I believe that’s where it’s at where the

Christians were called people of the way. It’s there is a way. There is a right way. And we have to be warned because the scripture says very plainly many, many times that there is a way that seems right to a man. But the end of that way is death. If you use your own wisdom, if you use the wisdom of the world, like Hezekiah had said, he’s relying on the arm of the flesh.

If you rely on worldly wisdom and worldly people, unsaved people, there might be some wisdom to be gleaned, but that’s not where your answer comes from and that’s not where your faith should rest. It has to be that your faith is in God and God alone and there is a way that He has for us.

Just as there is a narrow road and a wide road and the narrow road is what leads to life. The wide road leads to destruction. There is a way. So we don’t react in dialogue with the enemy. We humble ourselves and we get in the presence of God, get to the house of the Lord. Number four, he didn’t presume. This is so important.

He didn’t presume he knew the will of God in this. He didn’t presume that God was just going to deliver them. He knew that God would be their deliverance and that he would be their only way of deliverance. But he didn’t presume that he knew what God would do because he knew that God was just. And maybe it was just that some kind of

Jaime Luce (53:01.965)
How, how would I explain this? Okay. So I can’t remember it’s somewhere right here in second Kings within these chapters that we’ve been reading, but God had said, in fact, it might be second Chronicles. is okay. I want to show you this second Chronicles chapter 30 to is it chapter 32 or is it second Kings? No, I’m sorry. Okay. Turn.

back to second Kings, um, 19, but I want you to go, it’s the verses that I didn’t read you. Um, verses 21 through 31. And in this passage, God explains why Assyria and the kings of Assyria have been able to win the battles that they’ve won.

And they’ve been able to do what they have done to the enemy. Let me see if I can find you the exact verse.

Okay, verse 25. This is God speaking about the king of Assyria. Did you not hear long ago how I made it from ancient times that I formed it? Now I have brought it to pass that you should be for crushing fortified cities into heaps of ruins.

Therefore their inhabitants had little power. They were dismayed and confounded. They were as the grass of the field and the green herb as the grass of the housetops and grain blighted before it is grown. He’s explaining that God had let them use their strength to destroy nations that God had designed needed destroying. That he was the one who had made them strong

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so that when an enemy was doing wrong, when a nation was standing against God or doing terrible things, heinous crimes, heinous activities, vile activities, that they would need destruction in order to stop the things that they were doing. And God would send this king to go destroy them and leave them in ruins and in heaps. It was for purpose. It was for righteousness.

So this King didn’t have the power in his own hand to do it. God is saying, the only reason you have power is because I gave it to you. And here you are blaspheming me. I’m the one who gave you any power that you have and you don’t even see it because you’re arrogant. You’re not humble. You’re not serving me. But God will use even your enemies. There’s a scripture that says, God will make even your enemies be at peace with you. There is a, there is,

Well, you need to understand that because God is God, that it doesn’t matter how strong an enemy is. It doesn’t matter how big the battle is. God can use those things for his purpose. He can deliver you from those things when it’s not his purpose. You are safest in God’s hands to humble yourself, get in his presence and hear his plan because that is the plan of salvation for you. It’s the plan God has for you.

Now, as Achaia understands, I cannot assume that you did not send the Assyrian king to come and what if you’re bringing some correction to us? What if there is something I have missed? Though I have made all these corrections over here, though I have done all of these things for you, he did not assume that God was just gonna shower him in a particular way because of his activities.

This is a really hard thing for us to comprehend because we get a mindset that God I’m doing it right. I’m getting it all right and at the same time we don’t trust that God knows more than we know and we don’t trust that God is just in all his ways and kind in all his doings. We don’t trust that sometimes if God has allowed something in our life and did not stop it though we prayed and sought him the same way that Paul prayed

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three times for the thorn in his flesh to be removed. And God said, no, he did not deliver him from that. Why God had a very good reason why, because it’s what was used to keep Paul humble. And Paul recognized this is the righteousness that Paul had learned. Paul recognized that he needed that, that God’s grace was sufficient to deal with that issue.

because he had seen so much and things that he can’t even repeat and utter and was given such revelation that he could get puffed up and he could get into pride and then fall. He says, and preaching to others, I myself might become a castaway. He understood that if God said that I have to deal with this, that it is for my good and there’s something God is doing in it. This is not assuming

and presuming. He didn’t assume he knew God’s will in the outcome.

which was another reflection of his true humility, that he truly understood that he needed to trust God regardless, that he would come before God and submit it before God, lay it out before God and trust whatever God says, whether the outcome was what he wanted or not what he wanted. He just knew, God, you are being blasphemed in this. Your name has been brought up.

I recognize this as spiritual. This is spiritual and you are under attack, not just me. Okay. Number five, we’ve sort of mentioned this, but I I’m making this its own thing because I want you to hear this. He prayed and sought a word from the Lord. And we’ve already talked about that he himself had to pray, but he knew if he had a word from the Lord to stand on.

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If he knew he had heard the voice of God about this matter, that he would be able to continue on and stand through and get to whatever God’s plan was on the other side based off of the word he received.

So he could stand on that word. He also knew that having that word meant that he had a plan to deal with the enemy. He had a strategy. This is strategy. You have to have a strategy to get the strategy. Okay. I’m giving you the strategy to obtain God’s strategy. In other words, that he knew how to battle spiritual warfare. This is spiritual warfare. You to know what to do.

He knew I not only need a word from the Lord from Hezekiah, but he went in to hear a word from himself. He went in to get a word from the Lord himself. Now it was confirmed to him through the prophet Isaiah, but he went in and prayed himself. And we have our Bible is the word, the word. It’s like the, I don’t think this show is around anymore.

but who wants to be a millionaire? And they’d say, final answer. They want to know, is this your final answer before we see if you’re right or wrong? Final answer, final answer. The word of God is the final answer on every single issue that you will ever face in this life. You go to the word, you get God’s word on the matter. And whether you get a Logos word or whether you get a Ramo word, you go get a word from the Lord.

And then you stand on that word. That is your strategy. That is your security. That is your faith in action. That is your hope. The anchor of hope that you need. There it is. And number six, he enlisted those to agree with him about this issue. He came into unity, found those who were in agreement with him. He had his servants. He had Isaiah. He went into the house of the Lord. This is a clue for us.

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Get some prayer partners, those who will truly stand in faith with you. Don’t bother. I mean, you want everybody praying for you, but get those who are really people of faith, not those who are gonna say, okay. Yeah, sure. I’ll pray about that with you. Boy, that’s tough. And there’s no faith in their voice. Boy, I sure hope God gives you an answer for that. Man. Yeah. Boy, I know people that that’s happened to.

You don’t need people to bring you down. You get people who are of faith with you. You get people who know, understand the assignment. We are in unity to hear from God and we are going to move and act depending on what God says. We will do what God tells us to do. You need people to believe with you. People who will seek the face of God, who will seek his answer to know what is right, to know the way to go. And in doing so,

You’re strengthened. You are filled up on the inside. You have the fortitude to make it through the grace of God then is sufficient for you. You know what you need to do. You know his answer. Hearing no from the Lord. He also heard, but my grace is sufficient. So he understood that yes, this is a no, but the answer is I have provided you with enough grace to that. can deal with this. It wasn’t just a no.

God still provided an answer with that no. And God will do the same for us. We don’t have to be afraid of the answer. We don’t presume. We don’t presume, but we do know that His answer is the right answer. It’s a good answer. It will give us what we need. Okay, let me pray for you. Heavenly Father, I just thank you for your word. I thank you that we do not have to fear the enemy, that you have given us your word.

to show us how to live our life according to your ways and the ways that bring blessing to our lives, but honor unto your name. That’s what Hezekiah prayed. He wanted you to receive all the glory that the honor that you are due would be given your name instead of all the blasphemous things that were said. So God, today I pray for each person who is under the sound of my voice.

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that whatever they are facing, that they will not react. They are not, sorry. They will not respond. They will not react. They will respond. There we go. They will not react. They will respond. They will respond with faith. They will respond with strength. They will respond with strategy that you have given them, that they will not be in fear, that they will not cower. They will not pull away. They will not shrink back. They will be strong and courageous.

God, you have a plan for each one of their lives. And I pray that by their submission and humility to come into your presence, to hear a word from you, that they will surely hear what they need to hear. That their ears will be open, that their eyes will be attuned, father, that they will know your voice and they will follow it. That you have a good plan for them. Let them be secure in your word. Let them be secure in your response.

Let them know that they don’t have to fear the enemy’s voice. They don’t have to respond to the enemy. They simply respond to you. Thank you father for the strength and the grace to carry us through every issue that we face and we will give you all the glory and the praise that is do your name in Jesus name. We pray. Amen. Amen. Boy, I’m sorry today I was a little bit,

It’s like when it comes fast, my mouth can’t keep up with my brain. So I apologize for that, but I love that you spent time with me today in the Word. It was my pleasure to spend time with you. I would love to hear from you. If you have any praise reports or prayer requests, you can send those to me by email. My email address is mail at jamieluce.com. And that’s J-A-I-M-E-L-U-C-E. You could also go to my website. That’s jamieluce.com as well.

And it was my pleasure being with you today. I prayed that you encourage somebody with this message if they need that. If you know they’re struggling and need to know a strategy, a biblical strategy to deal with the enemy’s attacks, then you have something you can give them, something to encourage them, something to help them, that they understand the strategy they have is enough, that what God provides is enough, and He will give an answer. Again, it was my pleasure to be with you. I’ll see you next week. Bye-bye.