Have Any Battles?
The circumstances of life, the events of life, and the people around me in life, do not make me the way I am, but reveal the way I am.
“Praise be to the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle.” – Psalm 144:1
**Knowledge without experience is mere folly.
Only when you are placed in situations where there is nothing or no one who can save you but God will you learn the lessons of warrior faith.
This is the training ground of God, which will make you into a soldier for Christ.
Consider it to be suicidal faith – faith that says I want to be dead to anything that keeps me from fulfilling God’s purposes for my life.
It is when your efforts can do nothing to change your circumstance and you are at the mercy of God.
* These are the real training grounds of God. Do not shrink back from the battle that God may be leading you to today. It may be a training ground that is necessary for the calling He has on your life.
If you can trust Him in these times, you’ll know that you have gained a faith that will move mountains and will sustain you in the most difficult of circumstances. “Praise be to the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle.
Jeremiah 20: 9 But if I say, “I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am
weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.
*******Moving Body Forward:********
How can we change us?
1. Ask God to absolutely set you on fire…to ignite you with passion that consumes you so that you are not merely working in a job but fulfilling His vision for your life.
People who work a job make a living…but people who are fulfilling their passion/calling make a difference!
*In Christianity you are either a break-man or a fire man. Basically you add to to the fire or you hold it back .
2. Make the decision that you are going to lead out of CONVICTION of the Holy Spirit rather than the CONVENIENCE of doing what is easy rather than what is right.
*Are we spirit controlled or self controlled?
We need to be spirit controlled. We need to be ready to go to heaven because time is short.
God has a ministry for all and we need to find our ministry. We are most like Jesus when we serve.
3. Beg God to allow you to see people the way He sees people. I think one of the fundamental problems in the body of Christ is that our eyes no longer see as His eyes see! However, if we take off our “church colored glasses” and begin to see the world the way HE sees it…it changes EVERYTHING!
2 Corinthians 5:16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
4. Make the decision that you don’t have to have all of the answers before you obey the voice of the Lord. Hebrews 11:11 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
5. Understand that everyone is NOT going to understand you…and that you can’t make it your goal to make sure that everyone understands and approves.
Galatians 1:10 Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. Proverbs 29:25 Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the lord is kept safe.
6. PRAY BOLD PRAYERS for the Body! *The early church prayed for boldness…we pray for safety.
* The early church prayed for people to come to Christ…we pray for Sister So-and-so’s hangnail!
* The early church prayed for the church to expand and the Gospel to advance…we pray that we can keep our churches small and safe.
** Let’s BEG God for things to happen in our churches that are UNEXPLAINABLE and UNDENIABLE so that HE can receive ALL the glory!
7. STOP trying to be everyone else and be who God called you to be…you should be a result of responding to the REVELATION of God and not the IMITATION of others! 
8. Become a skillful warrior.
The only way one can become a skillful warrior is to be trained and placed in the middle of the battle. It is only when we are placed in the furnace of battle that we truly learn to fight the real battles.
*Practice doesn’t make you battle ready. *War games won’t prepare you for facing your real enemy in the battlefield.
** The stark reality of being in the midst of the battle makes us effective warriors.
AGAIN: Knowledge without experience is mere folly. Only when you are placed in situations where there is nothing or no one who can save you but God will you learn the lessons of warrior faith.
1 Samual 15: 23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the lord, he has rejected you as king.” 24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned. I violated the lord’s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the men and so I gave in to them.
*When God speaks, we must learn to follow Him with complete obedience. The Lord blesses obedience.
Saul is arrogant – full of pride and audacity.
He refuses to take responsibility for his actions and he attempts to minimize his disobedience.
According to Jesus, God grants us the ability to recognize Kingdom truths. Jesus promises if we are truly open to His teachings, He will help us understand spiritual realities.
** Therefore, it’s not up to you or me to figure out the mysteries of God or the deep truths of the Bible with our own perception. No need to spend your days in seclusion, or your money on an advanced degree.
**JESUS is our secret decoder!
God never hides truth from sincere seekers. In fact, He came to earth in the person of Jesus to ensure that we’d learn His secrets and understand His ways.
Our task is to open ourselves—ears, eyes, and heart—and listen intently to Him. To concentrate and apply ourselves to the process of prayerfully reading the Bible.
If you will learn the art of being the gatekeeper of your own soul by setting a watch over your eyes, ears, and mouth, you will be an overcomer in the temple of the Living God. You must learn to stop the intrusion of the enemy at the gate.
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good, says the Lord.
Isaiah 28:5-6 In that day the LORD of hosts will be for a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty to the remnant of His people, for a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, and for strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.
How does a man lose a kingdom? BY focusing his life on himself instead of God. He feared public opinion; he would not trust God because he felt he had to be in control.
We must remember that obedience requires us to have trust and humility. Father help me to always remember not only do you command for me to merely listen but to do what your word says. Help me Lord to not deceive myself and to comprehend that your Word is my perfect law of liberty! In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen
Hebrews 5: 7 During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. 8 Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered 9 and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.
*How amazing and humbling this is, that even the son of God prays and pleads to the Lord, I am sure he could have taken the easy way out and not done all of this, but he didn’t, he chose not to. Just as Perfect as he is, he is also the Perfect example to us all and that is why he did not choose the easy way, but also showed us how to endure suffering.
Our truth is that we don’t like to suffer or hurt, because we don’t know how we might handle it, but all we need is Jesus the Perfect example and endure it as he did, we must not be thankful only for our good times, but also for our bad times, and our suffering, with suffering comes the changes that we are looking for. Amen