Fight!

If we look at the story of Israelites and the Promised Land, we can see that although God spoke that He would give them “every place that the sole their foot shall trod”, they still had to take the land. How nice it would have been for them if the people already living in their Promised Land had said, “We know God has promised you this land, so we’ll go ahead and start packing.” But as you probably know, they didn’t do that. In the 8th chapter of Joshua, God clearly states His intention for them to go to war. The Bible says, “1 The LORD said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. For I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land. 2 You shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king”. Here the Lord is giving specific instructions to Joshua to go to battle. As a matter of fact, there are numerous accounts in scripture where God instructs His children to go to war.

If we’re honest with ourselves, intentionally going into combat is not a pleasant thought; it’s something that none of us wants to do. But it’s not all bad. Not to sound like a commercial, but there’s good news. God, as He did with Joshua, has already assured us of victory.

My child, there are many things in this life you’ll have to fight for to obtain. There are some things stored up for you – just waiting for you – but you will never obtain them if you don’t set your mind for confrontation. The fact remains that we have a daunting enemy. His goal is to make sure we walk away with less than the Lord intended. His objective is to make sure when we get in that ring with him (or one of his imps) that we are so intimidated and frightened that we either “take a dive”, that is, to just fall out and give up the fight, or just walk out of the ring. His ultimate course of action is to take us out of this life entirely. He is a formidable adversary.

But what we have on our side is more than satan could ever have. Let’s look at Deuteronomy 20. Scripture says, “1 When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you. 2 When you are about to go into battle, the priest shall come forward and address the army. 3 He shall say: ‘Hear, O Israel, today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not be terrified or give way to panic before them. 4 For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.’"