Fighting our battles

We live on this planet for a very short time and during this life time, we go through different experiences. We experience times of happiness, sadness, laughter, fear, anger, embarrassments etc., as a result of various circumstances life throws at us. There are battles we need to fight to walk through life victoriously. We will have to battle with misunderstandings, injustice, gossips, jealousy, unkindness, cheating, etc., that are brought about by people, our fellow beings on the earth. This is a physical battle, however not using physical weapons. Most of the time we struggle through them and it hurts us. We already learned how to handle battles in the spiritual realm (happening in our mind) by wearing the Armor of God and fighting with the sword – The Word of God (The Armor of God). However, what about the physical realm? How do we handle the battles that come up because of the wickedness in this world? Should we fight them with all our might?

Let us open the treasure book and find clues.

OPENING THE TREASURE BOOK

The Lord is a man of war; The Lord is His name.

Exodus 15:3

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the defense of my life;
Whom shall I dread?

Psalm 27:1

The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”

Exodus 14:14.

And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; For You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.

Psalm 9:10

The Lord is a man of war. He knows how to battle. Make Him your salvation. If you have accepted Him as your Savior, He becomes the defense of your life. As we all know, it is the Defense Ministry that takes up the battles of a country and makes strategies & plans to fight its enemies. So when we accept Jesus as our personal Savior, He takes up the role of a Defense Minister in our lives, in addition to the various other roles. We only need to handover the battle to Him and sit aside peacefully because THE LORD WILL FIGHT OUR BATTLES. Another quality of our defense minister is that He never abandons or leaves us in the middle of a battle. He will accomplish what he started. So trust Him because He knows what He is doing.

The Lord is the defense of our life. Don’t try to help Him by fighting the battle yourself. He is more than able to handle it. So handover your battle to Him, step aside, relax yourself holding your peace and trusting Him.

When you go out to battle against your enemies, and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them; for the Lord your God is with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.

Deuteronomy 20: 1

Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.”

Deuteronomy 31:6

Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted; propose your plan, but it will not stand, for God is with us.

Isaiah 8:10 (NIV)

When we come face to face with a battle, the enormity of the opposite side should not affect us. They might be powerful and gigantic and might device plans and strategies that we would never figure out even in our wildest dreams. These facts should not bring upon fear in you. Be strong and courageous. Just remember who is fighting your battle and who your defense minister is.

When in battle do not focus on its enormity or on the quirkiness of plans devised against you. Instead focus on Him, your defense minister. Be strong and courageous.

The Word of God has many examples of God fighting the battle for His people. One such is the war between Judah and Israel. After the days of King Solomon, the kingdom of Israel got separated into two – Judah as one nation and the rest of Israel as another nation. When King Jeroboam ruled Israel and King Abijah ruled Judah, there arose a war between both these kingdoms. Abijah went for the battle with an army of four hundred thousand valiant warriors and Jeroboam went against him with eight hundred thousand mighty men of valor – double the size of army of Judah.

For Judah, the Lord was their God, and they did not forsake Him. But Jeroboam and Israel forsook the Lord, God of their fathers. Abijah said, “God Himself is with us as our head, and His priests with sounding trumpets to sound the alarm against you. O children of Israel, do not fight against the Lord God of your fathers, for you shall not prosper!”

Meanwhile, Jeroboam caused an ambush to go behind Judah so that they were in front of Judah and the ambush was behind Judah. When Judah looked around, to their surprise, the battle line was at both front and back. They cried out to the Lord and the priests sounded the trumpets. Then the men of Judah gave a shout. As the men shouted, God struck Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. The children of Israel fled before Judah and God delivered them into the hands of Judah. Abijah and his people struck Israel with a great slaughter, so five hundred thousand choice men of Israel fell slain. The children of Israel were subdued and the children of Judah prevailed, because they relied on the Lord God of their fathers.

The army of Israel was double the size of the army of Judah and Israel devised an amazing fighting strategy against Judah. Judah was trapped by the army of Israel in the front and the back. In fact Judah was surprised to know they were trapped and they never even expected such a move. But they did not panic or fear. When we reason with our minds, it is very obvious that Judah would not prevail against Israel. Here comes the twist – the head of the army of Judah was the Lord Himself. No great army is great enough for the Lord to handle!!! No trap is strange enough for the Lord to handle!!! Judah prevailed against Israel, contrary to all reasoning.

With God on our side as the head of our army, we need not worry or panic seeing the opposition or their strategies. Look on to God our Savior and seek Him. He will take up His role and fight our battles.

No army is big enough for Him and no traps quirky enough for Him.

Treasures uncovered

Our opposition could be circumstances, situations or even individuals or a group of individuals. No matter what, the Lord wins the battle always. Make sure not to keep any kind of enmity or bitterness towards people who are opposing. People are God’s creation and God loves them unconditionally. Remember our enmity is towards wickedness, Satan and the dark powers of the world.

Prayer:

Father, we thank you for being our salvation and the defense of our life. Thank you for being on our side and never forsaking us. Help us to handover our battles to you and stay calm. Thank you for fighting our battles. We love you, in Jesus name, Amen.

---