April 2010
Dear Friends,
Life is a battle. I don’t know about you, but most days I am in a battle about one thing or another. The battle may be the behavior of my children, a van in the shop, staff that call in sick, negotiating the release of funds for work completed, praying for contracts to secure, having the patience to help my daughter learn to read, chores around the house, having boundaries on who to help, waiting and waiting, getting my work done while being available to listen and encourage friends, having time with my Heavenly Father, the overflowing laundry, forgiving people that hurt me, really focusing and listening to the incessant talking of my son, loving my husband well, holding onto truth and not lies, on and on. We are not expected to fight all these battles alone. We are not even expected to fight them at all!!
Remember the little shepherd boy David that went to fight the giant Goliath? His dependency was not in himself but on God. He said, “The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear, will deliver me from the Philistine.” (1 Samuel 17:37) and then in verse 47 “the battle is the Lord’s.” Jump forward to 2 Chronicles 20:15 when the Spirit of the Lord comes upon King Jehoshaphat and says, “This is what the Lord says, ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.” and then verse 17 “You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow and the Lord will be with you.” OK, one more; follow me to Nehemiah 4:20 when they are building the wall and facing opposition, “Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, join us there. Our God will fight for us!” and in 6:15-16 we see that the wall was rebuilt in 52 days because “this work had been done with the help of our God.” Psalm 27:1b “The Lord is the stronghold of my life – of whom shall I be afraid.” Psalm 28:7 “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped.”
“Yet I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my help and deliverer; O my God, do not delay.” (Psalm 40:17) Do you ever feel like that? I love this verse because it describes so perfectly how I feel so many days. And though the poor and needy phrase sometimes seems depressing or difficult to admit, the reminder that God is my help, deliverer and that He will not delay, encourages me. He will fight everything for us. Whatever the struggle or difficulty, the battle is not ours but God’s. I can get so worked up, stressed out and wound tight about things that He can handle. All we need to do is surrender everything to Him. On paper that seems so simple and uncomplicated… give our troubles to the Lord and He will win the battle. But in reality, it is hard and it is a daily surrender of letting go of control to trust Him. Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9 :23) Part of that denying is our letting go of control so that God can reign supremely in our lives. Jesus tells us in John that we will have trouble and I believe his reminding us to pick up our cross daily is a reminder that we will have difficulty. But, the awesome part about the cross is if we follow Him, He will give us the ability to carry the burden and difficulties until He wins the battle for us. For example, we owe a mortgage on the home where we live and that is part of the cross we carry. The mortgage is our responsibility and we must pay it every month to continue living in the home, but we cannot pay the mortgage apart from Jesus. He is saying grab all the junk you are dealing with today and come on and follow me. You come after me with the honesty and truth of what battles are against you and follow me. Then, I will be with you in the battle and fight the battle for you. And He does and every month, just in time, we have what we need for another month and we know He has us and He fights for us. Psalm 118:5-6 “In my anguish I cried to the Lord, and He answered by setting me free. The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” Love it, love it, that He hears our cries and He sets us free. John 8:36 “So if the Son (JESUS) sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
When we come to know Christ as our Savior and Lord, He sets us free; free from the chains that bind us. He sets us free to trust in Him alone. Yet, it is so easy to pick up the chains and put them back on. We can pick up the chains of regret, low self-esteem, shame, fear, control, etc. I could easily put on the chains of the financial responsibility of the mortgage, panic and try to figure out how we will ever have enough to cover the bill. But God wants me to work with all my heart as working for Him and not for men and then let Him handle it. If I believe He fights the battle, I have to stand in the battle and let Him do what only He can do. He tells us to put on the full armor of God so that we may be able to stand our ground and after we have done everything to still stand. (Ephesians 6:13) He does not say fight, He says stand. Stand = “to remain stable, upright, or intact; to remain valid, effective, or unaltered.” If we will persevere, He will fight for us. Also, we can so easily start to trust in ourselves or other men. Why do we do that? If Christ can save us from the grips of death and hell, why do we not believe He can save us from an earthly dilemma and why in the world do we believe we can handle anything better than He can? Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Praise the Lord!! He sets us free and the truth in His Word also sets us free. We are free, free to serve Him, free to worship Him, free to depend on Him, free to trust Him.
So, come with me and let us be obedient to His commands together. Let us pick up our cross daily and follow Him. Let us put on the armor of God and stand and no matter what happens, keep standing. Let us seek Him with our entire hearts and be willing to follow Him wherever He leads. He will deliver us from our battles if we give Him our lives. And then, say with me, as I say with Samuel, “thus far has the Lord helped us” (1 Samuel 7:12). As we walk with God, we will begin to see His continued faithfulness to us and we will have a history with Him, a history we can depend on. He is with us and He will deliver us. The victory is the Lord’s!! 1 Sam 12:16 “Stand still and see this great thing the Lord is about to do before your eyes!!”
Living for His glory,
Hebrews 13:16 “And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased