Skip to main content

Sermon #27: THE BATTLE BELONGS TO THE LORD

  “But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. So I will stretch out my hand …” Exodus 3: 19-20 I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him,” God said to Moses. I rephrase this statement as follows: “I know that the devil will not leave you alone unless a mighty hand compels him.” That sounds totally true. Satan has to be compelled to leave you alone, to let you go. He will never willingly let you go. This goes to show the determination that Satan has when it comes to constraining the children of God; he wants to keep them in bondage forever. Christians, therefore, need to be more determined than the devil to free themselves from his shackles. Unfortunately, a number of Christians are too lukewarm or absent-minded to even think of getting their freedom; such Christians, therefore, remain under Satan’s bondage in various areas of their lives. The devil is determined to bind you forever. If the devil i...
Post a Comment

Sermon #27: THE BATTLE BELONGS TO THE LORD

 

“But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. So I will stretch out my hand …” Exodus 3: 19-20

I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him,” God said to Moses.

I rephrase this statement as follows: “I know that the devil will not leave you alone unless a mighty hand compels him.” That sounds totally true. Satan has to be compelled to leave you alone, to let you go. He will never willingly let you go.

This goes to show the determination that Satan has when it comes to constraining the children of God; he wants to keep them in bondage forever. Christians, therefore, need to be more determined than the devil to free themselves from his shackles.

Unfortunately, a number of Christians are too lukewarm or absent-minded to even think of getting their freedom; such Christians, therefore, remain under Satan’s bondage in various areas of their lives.

The devil is determined to bind you forever. If the devil is to leave you, he has to be compelled, not persuaded, to do so. But who compels the devil? Listen to this: “So I will stretch out my hand…,” said the LORD.

So, the battle was not really Moses’ but the LORD’s. Likewise, even in the challenging situations that we face today as Christians, the battle still belongs to the LORD; the battle is not ours to fight.

But it does not mean that we sit back and relax!

Even though the battle belongs to the LORD, we still have an important role to play in the battle. It’s not like we just sit back and watch the LORD fight the battles. I believe that the LORD may fight some of our battles unbeknown to us; I also believe that for some battles, although it is the LORD who fights them for us, we will need to ignite the battles ourselves.

So, what’s our role in these battles?

First, we need to believe in the LORD.

Second, we need to put our complete trust in Him and never doubt both His willingness and His ability to take us out of any difficult situations or circumstances. The Bible teaches that we will not get what we want if we waver through doubt.

Third, we need to walk in total obedience to the LORD. I see that in Exodus, as far as both Moses and the Israelites were concerned, obedience and disobedience took center stage, with each attracting outcomes consistent with it.

Fourth, we will need to pray without fainting, making our petitions known to the LORD. We will need to humble ourselves and confess our sins when we come before Him. We will also need to fast as often as we deem appropriate. If we did this, the LORD would surely stretch out His hand and compel the devil to leave us alone, which would kindle various kinds of breakthroughs in our lives.

The problem that I have noted though is that some Christians take the battles into their hands, in the process misfiring and targeting the wrong ‘enemy’.

Evil is our enemy. The devil is our enemy. People are never our enemies. We should never fight flesh and blood. Our battles are all spiritual, not carnal. We live in the dispensation of the New Testament.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sermon #26: TAKING THE ISRAELITES OUT OF EGYPT

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” Exodus 3:11 God depends on you to carry out His mission in this world. Never let Him down. The Israelites were in slavery in Egypt. They were toiling each day, forced to undertake strenuous manual assignments. The King of Egypt was treating the Israelites with extreme brutality. The Bible says because of this,  “God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.”  Exodus 2:24-25 God did not end with just being concerned about the plight of the Israelites; He resolved to take them out of Egypt to the Promised Land. God decided to take action consistent with His concern. This is where the matter gets interesting. God wants to carry out a very important mission, but He can only achieve this through man. He has identified a man for that purpose. But on approaching the man, here is the response that God got:  “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelite...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sermon #23: TO GAIN CHRIST AND BE FOUND IN HIM YOU HAVE TO FIRST SUFFER A LOSS

“Now you have gone off because you longed to return to your father’s household. But why did you steal my gods?” Genesis 31:30 Due to sour relations, Jacob was fleeing from Laban, his father-in-law whom he had lived with and worked for, for many years. Jacob was fleeing back to the land of his fathers. He was taking with him his entire family, which comprised his two wives Leah and Rachel, both Laban’s daughters, and his children. Without the knowledge of Jacob, Rachel had stolen her father’s household gods and was taking them with her. When Laban got wind that Jacob had fled, he pursued Jacob and in seven days Laban caught up with Jacob. That’s when he asked this important question:  “Now you have gone off because you longed to return to your father’s household. But why did you steal my gods?”  Genesis 31:30 Laban thought it was Jacob who had stolen the gods. I want to put Laban’s question into today’s context. I, therefore, rephrase it as follows:  “Now that you have ret...
Post a Comment
Read more