Hi how are you all today? I am well but still a bit weary from my busy week before. I have also been proofing my next book which will release in a few weeks. I am super excited about it. How was your week?
This week I want to blog on its time to fight. This is not a fight in the natural but in the spiritual. Ephesians 6 tells us we don’t war against flesh and blood but with sprits, principalities and the forces of darkness. I wish the fight was as easy as turning on the light switch which dispels darkness but it isn’t. We have the victory already but the fight can be hard.
What is it a fight of? The fight of faith. The fight of warring with the words of our mouth lining up with Gods Word to bring the promises of God to pass on the earth.
This war can be fought in prayer but often it is fought in our everyday lives through what we say.
This applies to all Christians and not just to pastors , teachers etc. We are all called to warfare in this way. Judges 3 is the story that most depicts this. In verses 1 to 4 in the Message Bible, it states:
These are the nations that God left there, using them to test the Israelites who had no experience in the Canaanite wars. He did it to train the descendants of Israel, the ones who had no battle experience, in the art of war. He left the five Philistine tyrants, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living on Mount Lebanon from Mount Baal Hermon to Hamath’s Pass. They were there to test Israel and see whether they would obey God’s commands that were given to their parents through Moses.
The Israelites had come into the promised land and they were now settled there. They were supposed to defeat everyone living in the area but didn’t. So, God left them there so the Israelites would remember how to warfare in the next generation.
This is the same for us. If God just made all our troubles go away and just left us in natural peace, then we wouldn’t know how to believe Gods Word and put our total trust in Him. We would go back to relying on ourselves. Too many of us complain about our circumstances instead of warring against them.
God can only test us by how much we are willing to be obedient to His Word. He doesn’t test us through sickness or hardship.
Let’s have a quick look at the life of David and then Solomon.
God taught David how to warfare whilst a young man keeping the sheep. He taught him how to fight and defeat the lion and the bear. That held him in good stead when he went to fight the enemy of the Israelites Goliath. Look at what David said to him in 1 Samuel 17: 45 to 47 in the Message Bible:
45-47 David answered, “You come at me with sword and spear and battle-ax. I come at you in the name of God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel’s troops, whom you curse and mock. This very day God is handing you over to me. I’m about to kill you, cut off your head, and serve up your body and the bodies of your Philistine buddies to the crows and coyotes. The whole earth will know that there’s an extraordinary God in Israel. And everyone gathered here will learn that God doesn’t save by means of sword or spear. The battle belongs to God—he’s handing you to us on a platter!”
David made the statement – the battle belongs to God. David believed and trusted God in the battle and he came out victorious. Every battle David fought, he won because He prayed, received the strategy from God and then obeyed what God said. What was the result of this?
For Solomon and that generation, they lived in peace. However, peace led them to becoming complacent with God and not trusting Him. It led to Solomons downfall and the kingdom was divided after his death.
Whilst we are living in this earth, there is a battle to fight. We need to check ourselves that we are not becoming complacent but are continuing to get the strategies from God, obey them and continue to fight the good fight of faith. This is how we mature in God. You can do it.
Have a blessed week and keep living the life God intended for you.
Bless you
Karen
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