Praise God in our Battles

The secret to contentment and defeating our enemy is to praise God in our battles.  Some say we should “pick our battles”.  However, God appoints us to battles knowing that the ones He picks will mold us for our destiny.

Scripture supports the fact that battles from our enemy are meant to produce the opposite of our destiny.  Abraham endured severe trials and battles which eventually molded he who was beyond the years of fatherhood into the father of the nation of Israel.  He also was called the friend of God (2 Chron 20:7). It was his faith that counted before God, and not his personal righteousness (Jms 2:23).  Though Abraham’s trials were many, he believed in God’s faithfulness.

When Joseph was oppressed he landed in slavery, and then in prison, having no rights.  This is the opposite of what God called him to be; a ruler.  It took time for God to form him into the kind of righteous ruler that would benefit both Pharaoh and the Israelites. God used Joseph’s time in jail to mold him.

Before Moses became a ruler he lived in the desert regions of Midian, tending sheep.  He was estranged from his own people and persecuted by those whom his people needed deliverance from.  Yet God molded Moses into a leader and a prophet, Israel’s deliver who set them on their journey to the Promised Land.  In fact, Moses went from being one who ran away to one who was a friend of God (Ex 33:11).  He was being molded during the time of his exile to become the leader of God’s nation.

We can learn many things about ourselves in our battles.  We may be weak, laden with sin, doubtful of God’s faithfulness and goodness.  However, the same skirmishes with our enemy that show up our lack have the ability to strengthen us, deliver and cleanse us from sin, and fill us with faith and thanksgiving.  What satan means for bad, God intends for good.

Praise God in our battles? Yes, praise Him.  Let this be your first act of faith when you see things go against you.

“Let the saints rejoice in this honor and sing for joy on their beds.

May the praise of God be in their mouths, and a double-edged sword in their hands, to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples, to bind their kings with fetters, their nobles with shackles of iron, to carry out the sentence written against them.

This is the glory of all His saints.” (Ps 149:5-9)

 Even on our beds we should sing His praises, for this mounts up a spiritual attack against our enemy. God will not forsake you; instead, He will bind up the spiritual rulers and set you free.  For we do not fight against people as they did in the Old Testament.  Our struggle is with “rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly realms.” (Eph 6:12)  Yes, praise God during your battles, for He intends that you will become the man or woman you were destined to be.  And that, my friend, is what defeats our enemy. Amen.