I just love verses that have SO MUCH meaning without any context! But it's not smart to rely on the standalone verse. So, with no ado, we begin the background story!
As we can tell from the verse above, we're already in the point in history when Israel and Judah have split up. Now poor Jehoshaphat has just found out that a joint army combining the forces of Moab, Ammon, and Meun is coming to start a war with him. He's also found out that it's a HUGE army. So he's commanded all of his people to fast in prayer with him. He's gathered them in Jerusalem and they are praying in front of the Temple. While they're praying, a prophet named Jehaziel is filled with the spirit and that's where this verse comes from. These are the words of a spirit-filled Jehaziel.
The first thing he says is "Listen to me!" Seeing as this is the Bible, we can assume that God is always calling to us in times of fear. "Listen to me!" And then He goes on to say "Don't be afraid or discouraged." A direct command! Three, technically.
1) Listen to God
2) Don't be afraid
3) Don't be discouraged.
And why!? Because the battle isn't ours! It's God's! Just like it's not our job to MAKE someone accept Christ, it's not our battle to CONVICT someone of their sins - it's God's job. It's His part to orchestrate. We go show them Jesus and love them as people, and He does the rest. So we don't have to worry or fret about being "good enough" to bring someone to Jesus, we just have to be ourselves - obedient followers of God.
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