If you are a regular reader of my blog, you may have noticed that I have totally slacked off on posting. I’m sorry! I have a bunch of stuff that I have to juggle and I am learning to manage my time better. I am going to attempt to start posting again…at least two times a week. It’s a start, while I learn to figure out my life in this busy season.
Anyways, this post is about the God that fights for us. If you are anything like me, maybe sometimes you feel like you are in over your head. Maybe you feel from time to time like life is a bit more than you can handle. Maybe you are afraid of change. Maybe you are afraid of nothing changing. Maybe you feel like making a difference but you fear that you’re not the best person for the job. Maybe you are afraid to fail. Maybe you are afraid to fall. Maybe you feel insecure in your call and worried over the future.
I can totally relate.
Last week, while sitting in my living room doing my daily devotional time, I had the craziest thing happen to me. Some of you reading this are going to dismiss what I am about to tell you as some sort of mental disturbance or made-up fantasy, but for those of you who know me, you know well enough to know that I wouldn’t lie about something like this.
Me and one of my roommates were alone in the house. I was studying in the book of Exodus. As I began to read, I began hearing the muffled sound of a war drum. As if it was coming from a TV or laptop on blast from the upstairs of our house, I heard a man yell “Charge!!!!!!!” Finally, I looked up from my reading rather annoyed, slammed down my Bible and asked my roommate, “Okay. WHAT IS THAT?” My roommate looked at me puzzled and confused. I persisted, “You don’t hear the war drum? You don’t hear the man yelling charge????” The response, “Theresa…..are you alright?” She hadn’t heard anything. I went back to my reading. The sounds continued for a stretch of twenty to twenty-five minutes. The war drum went on. The man’s voice continued to give orders, but I could never make out what they were. From time to time, I would hear a sword being unsheathed and armor clashing. Occasionally, I would close my eyes straining my ears to hear. When I stopped reading, the sounds faded away, but as I would begin to read again, they would pick up. Every now and then, I would check in with my roommate who still did not hear one single thing. Eventually, we did pray together about it and the noises stopped.
Later on that night, I told our other roommates and one of them said something to me that hit me to my core. She said that she felt like God was trying to tell me that as I read His Word and set my eyes on Him that it is me unsheathing my sword and putting on my armor. She said that it was as if God wanted me to know that my simple acts of obedience and drawing close to Him were setting things into motion in the spiritual war that we are all up against. More than anything, that God goes before me, commanding armies of angels and fighting on my behalf. She told me that she didn’t think it was by accident that God allowed me to experience that when He did, at a time when I felt overwhelmed and depleted of my own strength. God wants me to know that He is strong within me and has given me great authority and power as I walk with Him. That just blew me away.
I love that moment in Exodus, when Pharoah after already agreeing to let the Israelites go, changes his mind and begins to chase after them with the intention of enslaving them once more. The Israelites cry out to Moses in utter fear and anger, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?” Moses responds, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still” (Exodus 14:10-14).
Today, stand confident in the fact that God has not left you alone in the battle. Oftentimes, when we are on the verge of a breakthrough, as it was with the people of Israel, the enemy will attempt to intimidate us and to drag us back down. Stand firm, knowing that the Lord goes before you and that He is fighting for you. Stand confident that your small acts of obedience are making a huge impact, not only for you, but for those around you. Do not back down. God is faithful and He can be trusted. When you feel attacked and enclosed on all sides, lift your battlecry of worship. God will make a way for you, where the road seems impossible. He will part even the seas on your behalf.
Plead my cause, O Lord, with those who strive with me; fight against those who fight against me. Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for my help. Also draw out the spear, and stop those who pursue me. Say to my soul, ‘I am your salvation.’ (Ps. 35:1)
