The Battle Belongs To the Lord To begin this excerpt, I would like to give you a couple of definitions. First offthe word, battle. A battle is “a fight between two armed forces, a struggle or conflict that is very difficult and long.” The next definition gives us an understanding of what it means ‘to fight’. To fight means “to struggle with tenacity in order to achieve or resist something.” With this being said, how many of you are fighting in a battle right now? How many of you are facing battles in your lives at this very moment? I am quite positive that each of you are fighting in a battle of some sort at this time. I highly doubt that anyone is an exception to this. Some may be in the midst of very difficult battles, extremely intense struggles. Some may have just come through an intense battle with the victory. Some may be faced with battles concerning relationships, battles concerning the loss of a friend or family member, battles that are addictions, or a myriad of others. No matter what position you are in right now or what the battle is that you are facing, I know that really, we can all relate to the reality that battles exist in our lives. What I would like to do in this excerpt is shine the light on a different perspective that I believe will change the way we face our battles for all eternity! To begin this discussion, I have another question for you, Do you know that the battles that exist in your life right now belong to God? The battles that are present at this moment in your life are not yours, but His. How can I come to this question, to this conclusion? Well, in 2 Chronicles 20:15, we see the following, “... The Lord says this to you: Be not afraid or dismayed at this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s.” (emphasis added) This verse paves the way for hope to be planted and cultivated in my life. How about you? The battle belongs to the Lord! For just a bit, we are going to look at a young man in the Bible that clearly understood this truth, who not only understood it, but also chose to live it! His name was David, and I am sure that many of you have heard of one specific story from his life, the story of when he fought the giant, Goliath. This story is found in 1 Samuel 17, and I would encourage you to take the time to read through it. It is full of great parallels for us! As the chapter opens, the Philistines (a group of people in that day) were preparing for battle against the people of Israel, who at this time were under the reign of Saul. They had a champion fighter, a man who stood above the rest, literally. His name was Goliath. This champion, this giant came out to ask for someone that would fight him, and for forty days, he continued to come out to show himself to the people. In reality, what he was doing was trying to bring intimidation over the people. After a little while longer, he again requested someone with whom he could fight. A young man, a young shepherd overheard his second request. This young man was David. What is slightly ironic is that when the giant put forth his request the second time, all of the men of Israel fled in fear, all except the young shepherd. The men of Israel chose an option that sometimes we choose when faced with a potential battle or struggle in our lives. They chose to take flight. They ran! Psychologists would say that they chose one of these two options: fight or flight. Some of you may recognize this response very well. I know that for me, there were many years of my life, when the battles were raging, that I chose to go into flight mode. For me “flight” did not always mean that I ran away and escaped the situation by moving to a new location or leaving a certain place. Sometimes it meant that I took flight by isolating and shutting myself off from all of the people around me; it meant that I took flight by numbing myself and by using a myriad of active and passive defense mechanisms to protect myself or to keep people at distance. Some of you, I believe, may react in a similar way. However, what we see in David is the opposite. He chose to stay; he chose to fight! He raised a few questions to inquire more about the battle at hand, endured mockery and judgment from those who heard him, including his own brother, but he did not let the opinions and words of others sway him from what he felt in his heart. He made his way into the king’s presence, and he told the king that he should not fear, for he would go to fight the Philistine. We can expect what came next. Yes, more judgment and mockery in the form of words that were spoken to him. The king looked at his appearance and his lack of experience and made a judgment that he could not fight in the battle because he was merely an adolescent and did not have sufficient experience in battle. Many of us have cowered at the words of others, especially if they have been words that have belittled us or discouraged us. However, we see a different response with David. He did not back down from the king and believe that what the king had said was true. David knew that really, it was not him who would be fighting the battle anyway. He responded to the insulting words of the king by remembering times in the past when his God had been faithful, how his God had always come through, how his God had equipped him to fight wild animals as a young shepherd boy. He stood on the faithfulness that his God had shown him. He knew that his God would never change (Heb. 13:8). Like David, we must not be quick to cower when we are judged by our appearance, by our age, or by our experience or lack thereof. We are warned about the fact that words of judgment will come in 1 Timothy 4:12, which says, “Let no one despise you or think less of you because of your youth, but be an example (pattern) for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity.” David was an adolescent, a young lad, but he did not let that stop him. He knew that his size and age did not matter because his God was more than able (Eph. 3:20). The same is true for you. Your God is more than able to help you in the situations with which you are facedin your life. As I mentioned earlier, David was confident in His God, in His immense power to overcome and to conquer. He did not back down. When the king saw his tenacity and unwavering confidence in his God, he told him to go to battle! However, the king thought that David needed some extra protection, so he placed a coat of armor on him, gave him a sword to fight with, and sent him out. David was not accustomed to such garb and was not comfortable trying to fight with it. He took it off and went forth into battle without it. Instead of taking a sword into battle with him, he took an alternative: five smooth stones and a slingshot. I believe that David also had a revelation that his God was his protection, his safety, and his security (Ps. 41:2). As David neared the giant, Goliath, this champion began to taunt him with words of insult and mockery once again. He made fun of him for being so small and coming to him with a slingshot and stones. Goliath tried to intimidate him and basically gave him assurance in words that he would win and overpower David, that David’s life would end that day. On the contrary, David, though young and visibly less physically strong, spoke in confidence and responded with what I will call a word of faith. In his conversation with the giant, David pointed out the difference between their weapons saying, “... You come to me with a sword, a spear and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the ranks of Israel.” (1 Sam.17:46) What boldness he demonstrated in his response. In the words which David spoke, we can recognize that he knew his God was all-powerful and more than able! I believe there are several applicable lessons for us in the above paragraph. The first thing that I would like to point out is that we can clearly see where the roots of their confidence were: Goliath, in himself and David, in his God. This also shows us that Goliath was operating out of a spirit of pride and David, out of a spirit of humility. We can see that David recognized that physical weapons were not what would win the battle. This is confirmed for us in the New Testament where we can read that “... the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds” (1 Cor. 10:4). With this truth, we can recognize that we are fighting with God-given weapons in the Spirit and that furthermore “we are not wrestling against flesh and blood” (Eph. 6:12). Now I am going to make a pretty bold statement. I believe that David’s most powerful weapon was his unwavering faith in his heavenly Father! One dictionary defines faith as, “complete trust or confidence in someone or something.” John shows us even more about faith in one of his letters, “... and this is the victory that conquers the world, even our faith” (1 Jn. 5:4). We can see that our faith acts as a weapon that brings forth the victory. At this point, I must take a brief pause to make something clear in regards to our faith. It is only our faith in the one and only God of the universe that acts as a weapon with which we can fight and gain the victory, not a faith in ourselves, in other gods, or a faith placed in any other person or thing. The faith that saves is the faith that is in the one true God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. With that being said, let us continue. We mentioned that David was in full assurance that he was not really fighting a physical battle, but a spiritual battle. He went on to reveal even more of his faith and trust in his God by saying to the Philistine, This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will smite you and cut off your head. And I will give the corpses of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands. (1 Sam. 17:46-47, emphasis added) Now that is boldness! We clearly see that David had received a revelation deep in his heart that the battle was not his, but God’s, just as we read earlier. He knew that His confidence was in his God and not in himself. We can see that he had a pure motive and was not seeking to be glorified, but that he was determined not to get in the way of his God receiving all of the glory. He wanted his Father’s name to be made famous! For us at times, our humanity and perceived need to be known and approved of put us in a place of striving to be self-sufficient. However, we can see that it was not self-sufficiency that propelled David, but rather-more, it was his constant reliance on his God. This also kept him from falling into a spirit of pride. As the story continues, we learn that David ran to the line of battle, slung a stone, took the Philistine out, and then used the Philistine’s own sword to cut off his head to secure the victory! I love that he ran to the line of battle because it shows me that fear was not really a factor for him, that he was confident that his God would fight the battle and bring forth the victory. How many times do we choose to face the battles head on like that? That brings us back to the options that each of us are faced with: we can fight or take flight. I may be bold in saying this, but I have a feeling that when we decide to take flight, we are robbing the Lord of displaying His glory. I am not saying that I have arrived to a place in which I always fight, but when I choose to stay and fight the battle, I believe that it does provide an opportunity in which the name of my God can be made famous, keeping in mind that I am not strong enough to fight on my own, out of my own reservoir of strength, but that I must rely on Him to be the strength that I so desperately need. As David’s life continued, many other battles came his way. He was pursued for many years, and his life was sought after by those who became his enemies or were enemies of his God. However, like he exemplified in the battle with the giant, I believe that he continued to operate out of faith and out of the conviction that each of those battles belonged to the Lord. He was continually met by victory and protected by the Lord. His perspective kept his God in the proper place, which in turn, kept him humble. So, as we begin to wrap up this discussion, let us look at just a few other things. How can this story be applied to our lives? What does it mean for us? First of all, I believe that we can recognize the importance of understanding that the battles that exist in our lives are not our own, but God’s. As we begin to understand this truth, God can take His rightful place as the General of His army. When we take ownership of the battles, we are taking this position away from Him and putting ourselves in control. The truth is that the position of General is meant for God, and God alone. Yes, our God will ask us to fight in the battles because we are a part of His army. We must, however, realize that it is the General who will show us how and when to fight. He also will equip us for the battle (Ps. 18:39-40). Sometimes we will be on the front lines, and sometimes our General will have us stationed further back, but wherever God calls us to fight, we should stand ready and willing to do so, trusting in our God to help us, to equip us! Also, when we take ownership of the battles that exist in our lives, what we are saying is this, “I can fight this battle... I am sufficient... I am strong enough to fight this battle and come out victorious on my own...,” or maybe another voice speaks and sounds something like this, “Oh, I could never win this battle... It is far to great for me... Why should I even try? I will only fail anyway...” I am not sure how familiar these voices sound to you, but both of them lead to destruction and defeat. The first is a voice of pride and the second, a voice of failure and giving up, but both voices surrender to the power of darkness. As I mention this, I must say that our strength is found in the Lord. Time and time again He is referred to as our Rock, our Fortress, our Refuge. In Psalm 73:26, we read the following, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the Rock and firm Strength of my heart and my Portion forever.” The very same shepherd boy to whom we referred to earlier wrote this! I believe that he had full assurance of this, in the deepest parts of his heart! We must recognize that we are to be not self-sufficient, but that we were created to be God-sufficient. As we grasp ahold of the aforesaid truth, we will also come to recognize that not only does the battle belong to the Lord, but so does the victory (1 Chr. 29:11). We will even come to understand that when we leave God in the place of General, fight as He calls us to fight, and rely on Him to strengthen us, we will see that we not only finish in victory but that we finish valiantly (Ps. 60:12, 118:16) and with joy (Ps. 108:13). We have actually been given the victory as a part of our glorious inheritance as children of God! Before moving on, I would like to point out one thing briefly. When we are owning our battles and choosing to fight in our own strength, most of the time, a path is paved for frustration to come, which only makes us feel even more inadequate, depressed, and like giving up! So, since we are learning that God is to be left in charge of the battle because it belongs to Him, and since we now know that we are to fight in His strength, how do we do that? Well, the first step is what we have mentioned already. Leave the battles in the hands of our Lord. We then must realize that if we are now children of God, we have the Holy Spirit living on the inside of us. The Holy Spirit which now resides on the inside of us is greater than the spirits or other forces that will try to come against us (1 Jn. 4:4). By tapping into the power of the Holy Spirit and operating out of it, we can assure the victory. In order to activate this power that resides on the inside of us, we must realize like David, that we have supernatural weapons of warfare. The Lord shares about the armor and weapons that He has given us in Ephesians 6, where we learn that we have been given the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. What this really means is that we are to fight with truth, the Truth of God’s Word. This means that we must know the Truth, and the Truth will make us free (Jn. 8:32)! What I have a hard time understanding in my own life at times, as well as in the lives of others, is why we do not actually equip ourselves with this weapon, why we do not, habitually, put it into practice. Jesus Christ used this very weapon when the enemy came to tempt Him in the desert. Why do we think we are any different? I mean Jesus Christ, the One who came down to earth, the One who was fully God and yet fully man, had to use the Word of God to overcome the power of darkness. I believe this is evidence that we too -- even more-so than Him -- need to, have to take ahold of this weapon and use it! What do you say, are you willing to try it? Okay, one more thing about this weapon... One of the best ways in which we can always be armed with and ready to use this weapon is by committing the Truth (of God’s Word) to memory. I know, I know, many of you just had this thought pass through your head, “Memorize it? I can’t do that... I don’t have time... That is too hard... I’ve tried, and I cannot remember...” Now that is enough excuses. I believe that yes, you can! You just have to believe it and make a choice to do it. God has told us that He has given us soundness of mind (2 Tim. 1:7), that we have the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16). He says that if we ask for understanding and wisdom, believing that we will receive it, then we will (Js. 1:5-6). We can either continue making excuses, or we can grasp ahold of the Truth and let it become reality for us. So, since we are now left with no (real) excuses as to why we cannot use this weapon in order to fight the battles that exist in our lives, it is just a choice of our will. Will you? Will you try it? Will you put it into practice? It is the only weapon that has the promise of never growing dull! Alright, let me wrap this up, and in order to do so, I want to mention one last weapon: prayer! God tells us that the prayer of a righteous person has great power (Js. 5:16), and we are encouraged to pray in the Spirit (Eph. 6:18). To pray in the Spirit means that we permit the Holy Spirit to pray and intercede on our behalf. It means that we let God use His own language as we pray, a language that He will give us as we ask Him and permit that His Spirit fills us even more. It is a prayer that is led by God Himself. It is a prayer that edifies and strengthens. It will surely not return void nor be absent of bringing forth an effect. If this kind of prayer sounds weird or new to you, and you would like to learn more, I would encourage you to check out the following book, Two Sides of a Coin. It gives a good overview on this topic and has biblically sound support. Okay, so we come to the end of this discussion, and my hope is that you nowhave a new perspective on the battles that you have faced, are currently facing, or will be facing in the future. Remember that the battles belong to the Lord, and even better yet, so does the victory! I encourage you to go before God in your own time and let Him speak His truth to your heart concerning this topic. Don’t just take it from me; let Him reveal His truth to you! Also, try out our God-given weapons: His Word and prayer! I believe they will work for you!  Kim Hembry