Whose Battle?

BATTLES ARE AN INHERENT PART OF OUR LIVES. We often seem to be in one kind of struggle or another. Maybe it’s a financial battle, or we may be fighting for our health or our very lives. Perhaps we’re fighting to save our marriage or to find peace and resolution in the midst of a chaotic situation or hostile relationship. Maybe it’s a battle to save ourselves from depression or addiction. Right now I’m battling my computer that wants to gobble up my email files and leave me without the resources to communicate with my readers. Technology seems to be a persistent battlefield for me.

                How do we fight these battles?  More importantly, how do we win them?

Natural Inclinations

                Instinctively, we want to lash out, to fight the battle in our own strength. That is our default mode—our natural inclination, or what God calls our “flesh.”

                In Jesus Calling, we hear God’s voice through the words of Sarah Young who pens, “Give up the illusion that you deserve a problem-free life. Part of you is still hungering for the resolution of all difficulties. This is a false hope!” And then she refers her readers to John 16:3 where Jesus told his disciples, ‘in the world you will have trouble.’”

                So how do we deal with these troubles? How do we fight the battles?

                Before David defeated the giant Goliath, he declared, “The battle is the Lord’s.” (1 Samuel 17:47)     When King Jehosophat was forced to do battle against a vast army, the Lord said to him, “Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.” (2 Chronicles 20:15).

                Time and again we read stories in the Old Testament where God-fearing kings and leaders were triumphant in battle despite enormous odds against them. Not only Jehosophat, but Hezekiah, Asa, and others were each besieged by armies much larger than theirs, and yet they easily won the battle.

                Why?

The Winning Strategy

                Jehosophat fasted and prayed to the Lord. He called his people together, and they praised God for the splendor of His holiness, proclaiming that “His love endures forever.”  “As they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Sier who were invading Judah, and they were defeated.” (2 Chronicles 20:22)

                Hezekiah’s first act as king was to purify the temple and call the people to worship the Lord. Afterwards, when an enormous army from Assyria came against him, he “cried out in prayer to heaven . . . and the Lord sent an angel who annihilated all the fighting men and the leaders and officers in the camp of the Assyrian king.” (2 Chronicles 32:20-21).

                When the huge army of the Cushites came against king Asa, he “called to the Lord his God and said, “’Lord, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on you and in your name we have come against this vast army. O Lord, you are our God; do not let men prevail against you.’ The Lord struck down the Cushites before Asa and Judah.’” (2 Chronicles 14:11)

            Last week, in Janet’s story of victory over a dying marriage, God called her to fast and pray before she had even a glimpse of how the story would end.  She was obedient, and throughout this time the Lord told her to continue to hold on. She praised God—even when her situation looked increasingly hopeless. She did spiritual battle—not against her husband, but against the spiritual enemies that were trying to destroy him and their marriage.  She acknowledged that the battle was the Lord’s. She humbled herself to surrender the situation to God.  Instead of trying to understand what she should do or what God would do, she left it in the hands of her mighty God whose “ways are higher than” our own. (Isaiah 55:8-9)

                And God prevailed. The enemy lost. Her husband’s heart returned to her, and her marriage was restored.

When we find ourselves locked in conflict and nothing is resolved, it may be that we misunderstand the nature of the battle. While we run skirmshes with bows and arrows, the enemy of our souls is shooting missles. War rages in heavenly places, but we engage in futile maneuvers that simply move the conflict from one turf to another. God’s powerful weapons can demolish Satan’s strongholds, but we, as His children, need to give Him the reins of power so He can do it. He won’t take them from us; it’s up to us to relinquish them freely into His hands.

  If the battle is truly the Lord’s, it makes sense to do as these righteous kings of Judah did, surrendering everything to God, obeying even when it doesn’t make sense, and praising God when our situation seems hopeless and victory looks impossible. Most of all, we need to lay our hearts out before Him with whole-hearted humility and trust. 

               If you would like to understand more about spiritual warfare, check out the 100 Huntley Street interview segments below, in which Moira Brown interviews Neil T. Anderson, author of The Bondage Breaker.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ESddXkBAfg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0HVd7iQ-vk

Let us shout our praises to God. Let us come into His presence with singing. Our God holds victory in His hands.