THE BATTLE!

 God’s Way of Agape is the only way that leads to life, but are you wiling to walk it?
* “For the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it.” Matthew 7:14

Will you lay down your life so that God’s Love can be released through you to others?
* “I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God…” Romans 12:1
 

“Praise be to the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle.” Psalm 144:1

David learned to be a skillful warrior. How does one 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.
*Simply reading your Bible will not make you a warrior for the Kingdom. *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.

I  know, it’s true. God has already won the victory for us. Satan is defeated.

*However, until satan’s sentence is executed, he’s trying to take down with him as many as he can!
That’s why we need to be ever prepared for battle.

This chapter of  Psalm 144 makes me think about how God was preparing Israel for battle.
* He had already told them that they will be victorious.
*  He had already given them the land He promised to them.
*But they still had to fight and take it over. Not on their own strength, but God’s.
I see in these verses that God wanted to make sure that His presence -“the tent of meeting’ was at the center of the camp.
* So when God is at the Center of our lives we are victorious.
* Also he was giving them precise instructions and strategies.
* In the same way is the daily guidance of the Holy Spirit and our willing obedience that guarantees the victory that God wants to pass on to us.

What a great picture and insight on how to fight our present spiritual battles.

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.

Jesus chose to lay down His Life so God’s Love could be poured forth from Him to us.
* “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His Life for the sheep…No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative.” John 10:11, 18

Refuse to listen to the useless chatter of the enemy when he tries to convince
you that you are flawed or worthless.  The Lord has not and does not condemn you.  You are His special treasure, chosen for His own purposes.  Satan is against you because he is against the Lord, and these lies are weapons formed against you.  Do not believe them.
*Psalms 139:14  I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous
are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.

We are in war against the forces of darkness in this age. It is a battle for the hearts and minds of people, but the only one who can win this war, is the man or woman who accepts the victory of the Lord.

If you will take up your weapons and your cross and follow Jesus, you will be given the plan of how you can win your battles. The Word of God is the most powerful natural and supernatural tool we have been give, second only to what Jesus did on the cross.

Lord, give me the spirit of your martyrs, to go to battle ready to give it all up for your glory.  Dear Father, I don’t praise you enough for what you’ve done in my life. You’ve given me peace and you’ve provided for me. Thank you. Lord allow everyone else to receive this same peace in You that you’ve given me. Thank you again for all that you’ve done for us.  Amen