Who's Fighting Your Battles
2 Kings 6:16-17 NLT "Don’t be afraid!" Elisha told him. “For there are more on our side than on theirs!” Then Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes and let him see!” The Lord opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire."
1 John 4:4 NASB "You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world."
Have you ever been in the midst of a circumstance, where you felt alone? In that moment, where you had to 'pick your battle' and you just felt so alone? We all have these decisions to make. We all have battles that come up around us in our day. The key is, how do we handle the battle? Yes, sometimes we have warning that something is coming, and we can better prepare for it in our mind and even physically. But what about those times, when you are going along life, minding your own business, and WHAM! Seemingly out of nowhere, you are in the middle of a raging war?!?!
When we feel so utterly alone, God wants us to know, believe, and have complete faith: that He is the Head of the army ON our side! The MEF (minds eye flash) I just got while reading this...
It is as if I have my eyes closed. All I see is darkness. In that darkness, there is the feelings of fear, helplessness, shame, guilt, worry, heart-ache, frustration. I am walking, yet sinking. There is a dark, thick fog that is not only cold, but gripping at the same time. I'm trying to move forward, but my feet are stuck in this thick, dark muck almost like tar and mud mixed together. Then as I try to move out of it, every time I struggle, I seem to sink - like in quick sand, but slowly. I'm constricted, held, bound. Trying to keep moving forward, but the thickness of the dark and the cold dampness are like a blanket made of something so heavy, it just keeps weighing me down. Yet, I keep moving on, through this darkness. Then, I look down. My steps, one by one, are illuminated. I can only see the firm ground right in front of each step. To the side, it drops off like a cliff. So I just keep moving one step at a time. Then I realize, I am in the middle of this, and I am doing it on my own (or trying to). I finally start praying for help. I cry out to God for help, and then I remember Ephesians 6. I should have God's Armor on. So, I start praying through each piece, and moving as if I am actually putting ON each piece. As each piece goes on, the heaviness and darkness lifts little by little. Each piece gives me more strength, confidence, comfort and courage. My eyes also are opened to see the enemy army around me, coming at me, throwing their arrows of evil and harm my way (good thing for the Armor of God). Then, just as I start to feel even more afraid, I cry out to God to open my eyes to see Him and His army. WOW!! Just like in the verses above, when my eyes open and "see" the truth, of God's army.... it stretches beyond where I can see! Big, strong, magnificent warriors with BIG horses just oozing with strength and majesty - I cannot even number them, there are so many! As I glance back at my situation, it is now like I am above it, looking down. My 'problem' is like a dust-ball on my living-room carpet. The enemy is like the furniture in the room. God's army, is like the room itself: the walls, floor, roof, the very air in it - all God's army.
When we are in the middle of a trial, a temptation, circumstance... it doesn't matter how little or how big it seems to us - NOTHING is bigger than God! Nothing is out Gods reach! NOTHING is hidden from God either. He IS the very air we breathe, the blood pumping through us - we ARE His children - and He lives in us! So, that power that raised Jesus from the dead? That power that raised others from the dead as well? That power that moved mountains, that calmed the sea, that made the blind see..... THAT power, is in Jesus. Jesus IS the Holy Spirit who lives IN us! We do NOT need to be afraid of the crazy stuff going on all around us. In the world or in our homes! HE IS greater than all that could ever come at us! We are His children, and He dearly loves us and wants the best for us!
Today, as you venture out in to the world - take a moment, and ask God to clothe you with His armor. Ask Him for a glimpse of His protection over you. He might show you, and He might not - it doesn't matter - because it IS TRUE!! He IS there, watching, guiding, protecting you! I am praying for you today. I am praying that if you are going through something, that you don't ask for Him to 'take it away', but that you ask for His strength and power to be in you, so that you have a stronger back, legs, arms, whole body - to endure what you are going through. We can not always escape trials and troubles. However, we can change our way we look at them. We CAN KNOW that He and His army are on our side, and it is bigger, stronger, more enduring, and more victorious that ANYTHING the enemy has or can put in our path!
1 John 4:4 NASB "You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world."
Have you ever been in the midst of a circumstance, where you felt alone? In that moment, where you had to 'pick your battle' and you just felt so alone? We all have these decisions to make. We all have battles that come up around us in our day. The key is, how do we handle the battle? Yes, sometimes we have warning that something is coming, and we can better prepare for it in our mind and even physically. But what about those times, when you are going along life, minding your own business, and WHAM! Seemingly out of nowhere, you are in the middle of a raging war?!?!
When we feel so utterly alone, God wants us to know, believe, and have complete faith: that He is the Head of the army ON our side! The MEF (minds eye flash) I just got while reading this...
It is as if I have my eyes closed. All I see is darkness. In that darkness, there is the feelings of fear, helplessness, shame, guilt, worry, heart-ache, frustration. I am walking, yet sinking. There is a dark, thick fog that is not only cold, but gripping at the same time. I'm trying to move forward, but my feet are stuck in this thick, dark muck almost like tar and mud mixed together. Then as I try to move out of it, every time I struggle, I seem to sink - like in quick sand, but slowly. I'm constricted, held, bound. Trying to keep moving forward, but the thickness of the dark and the cold dampness are like a blanket made of something so heavy, it just keeps weighing me down. Yet, I keep moving on, through this darkness. Then, I look down. My steps, one by one, are illuminated. I can only see the firm ground right in front of each step. To the side, it drops off like a cliff. So I just keep moving one step at a time. Then I realize, I am in the middle of this, and I am doing it on my own (or trying to). I finally start praying for help. I cry out to God for help, and then I remember Ephesians 6. I should have God's Armor on. So, I start praying through each piece, and moving as if I am actually putting ON each piece. As each piece goes on, the heaviness and darkness lifts little by little. Each piece gives me more strength, confidence, comfort and courage. My eyes also are opened to see the enemy army around me, coming at me, throwing their arrows of evil and harm my way (good thing for the Armor of God). Then, just as I start to feel even more afraid, I cry out to God to open my eyes to see Him and His army. WOW!! Just like in the verses above, when my eyes open and "see" the truth, of God's army.... it stretches beyond where I can see! Big, strong, magnificent warriors with BIG horses just oozing with strength and majesty - I cannot even number them, there are so many! As I glance back at my situation, it is now like I am above it, looking down. My 'problem' is like a dust-ball on my living-room carpet. The enemy is like the furniture in the room. God's army, is like the room itself: the walls, floor, roof, the very air in it - all God's army.
When we are in the middle of a trial, a temptation, circumstance... it doesn't matter how little or how big it seems to us - NOTHING is bigger than God! Nothing is out Gods reach! NOTHING is hidden from God either. He IS the very air we breathe, the blood pumping through us - we ARE His children - and He lives in us! So, that power that raised Jesus from the dead? That power that raised others from the dead as well? That power that moved mountains, that calmed the sea, that made the blind see..... THAT power, is in Jesus. Jesus IS the Holy Spirit who lives IN us! We do NOT need to be afraid of the crazy stuff going on all around us. In the world or in our homes! HE IS greater than all that could ever come at us! We are His children, and He dearly loves us and wants the best for us!
Today, as you venture out in to the world - take a moment, and ask God to clothe you with His armor. Ask Him for a glimpse of His protection over you. He might show you, and He might not - it doesn't matter - because it IS TRUE!! He IS there, watching, guiding, protecting you! I am praying for you today. I am praying that if you are going through something, that you don't ask for Him to 'take it away', but that you ask for His strength and power to be in you, so that you have a stronger back, legs, arms, whole body - to endure what you are going through. We can not always escape trials and troubles. However, we can change our way we look at them. We CAN KNOW that He and His army are on our side, and it is bigger, stronger, more enduring, and more victorious that ANYTHING the enemy has or can put in our path!
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