The Battle Belongs To The Lord
The term “spiritual warfare” is often used when talking about standing for marriage restoration, and we all know from personal experience that we’re in a battle, probably the most difficult battle we’ve ever faced, but do we really KNOW that the battle does in fact belong to the Lord? Do we truly understand that this is a battle we can’t win in and of our own strength and that the ONLY way we’ll be victorious is to rely on the Lord’s protection and power?
One of my favorite verses is Psalm 46:10, which says “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Being still means being QUIET and DOING NOTHING! And KNOWING that He is God means recognizing and acknowledging His TOTAL omnipotence and power, and that There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD., as Proverbs 21:30 tells us. We have to reach a point in our relationship with the Lord where that is something we know in the very marrow of our being, because that’s the only way we’ll experience the kind of peace that transcends understanding, and what Philippians 4:6-7 teaches, which is Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. So we have to decide whether or not we believe the Lord and His awesome promise in Exodus 34:10, which says Then the LORD said: “I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the LORD, will do for you. Allowing us to stand in faith and obedience to Him for the restoration of our marriages only to let us down, certainly doesn’t qualify for an awesome work or wonder, so if we even entertain that thought, we’re calling the Lord a liar, and Numbers 23:19 tells us God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?
Here are some of the passages of scripture that reassure us that our battles are not our own, and that we can rely on the Lord to fight and win them and make us victorious:
Proverbs 21:31
The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the LORD.
2 Chronicles 20:17
You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the LORD will give you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the LORD will be with you.’ “
Hosea 1:7
I will show love to the house of Judah; and I will save them—not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but by the LORD their God.”
Numbers 10:9
When you go into battle in your own land against an enemy who is oppressing you, sound a blast on the trumpets. Then you will be remembered by the LORD your God and rescued from your enemies.
Isaiah 31
3 But the Egyptians are men and not God; their horses are flesh and not spirit. When the LORD stretches out his hand, he who helps will stumble, he who is helped will fall; both will perish together.
4 This is what the LORD says to me: “As a lion growls, a great lion over his prey—and though a whole band of shepherds is called together against him, he is not frightened by their shouts or disturbed by their clamor—so the LORD Almighty will come down to do battle on Mount Zion and on its heights.
5 Like birds hovering overhead, the LORD Almighty will shield Jerusalem; he will shield it and deliver it, he will ‘pass over’ it and will rescue it.”
2 Chronicles 20:15
He said: “Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the LORD says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.
1 Samuel 17:47
All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”
Isaiah 42
12 Let them give glory to the LORD and proclaim his praise in the islands.
13 The LORD will march out like a mighty man, like a warrior he will stir up his zeal; with a shout he will raise the battle cry and will triumph over his enemies.
14 “For a long time I have kept silent, I have been quiet and held myself back. But now, like a woman in childbirth, I cry out, I gasp and pant.
15 I will lay waste the mountains and hills and dry up all their vegetation; I will turn rivers into islands and dry up the pools.
16 I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.
2 Chronicles 13:12
God is with us; he is our leader. His priests with their trumpets will sound the battle cry against you. Men of Israel, do not fight against the LORD, the God of your fathers, for you will not succeed.”
When we doubt that the Lord is on our side and fighting this battle for us, we need to remember the following verses from Romans 8:
30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
31 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?
32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.
34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
So the battle REALLY does belong to the Lord!