May 30th, 2021 “The Battle Belongs to the Lord!”
Partners in Prayer: “Memorial Day
Celebration” Study of Gideon- “We may be small, but God is mighty!”
Dear Partners in Prayer Team,
“His friend responded, ‘This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands.’ When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed down and worshiped.” Judges 7:14-15 (NIV) “The LORD Himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.” Exodus 14:14 (NLT) “So will the LORD do to all the kingdoms through which you pass. You must not fear them, for the LORD Your God Himself fights for you.’ Deuteromony 3:21-22 (NKJV)
How do you feel entering Memorial Day knowing we are remembering people who died for us and fought our battles for us? How does it make us feel? Do we feel incredibly humbled, because of the cost others paid for our freedoms? Does it make us feel honored and loved by the lives of those who sacrificed so much for our freedoms? Does it make us feel special and encouraged? Absolutely! Here is just one of the most inspiring stories of a father who remembers and honors his own son:
On June 21, 2006, in the Nuristan Province of Afghanistan, Staff Sergeant Jared Monti's sixteen-man patrol came under fire. One of his men was wounded and fell over a ridge into what the soldiers described as a "death zone." Despite an intense firefight, he tried three times to save the soldier. On his third try, Jared was killed. He was posthumously awarded America's highest honor for heroism, the Medal of Honor.
Paul Monti, Jered’s father, started an organization in his son's memory called “Operation Flag for Vets.” Their volunteers
recently planted 57,000 flags at the Massachusetts National Cemetery. Paul drives Jared's pickup truck, the military decals still on it. Paul explained: "It's got his DNA all over it. I love driving it because it reminds me of him, though I don't need the truck to remind me of him. I think about him every hour of every day." He continues to do this as a great tribute in love and honor.
A Nashville songwriter heard this story and turned it into a song that country singer Lee Brice recorded. "I Drive Your Truck" earned Song of the Year honors at the 2013 Country Music Awards. As of this morning, the YouTube video had more than twenty-eight million views. I urge you to watch it on this Memorial Day. It’s not a ‘Christian’ song, but it really touches the heart. Here is the link: https://youtu.be/yCSMCgqlc-0
How do we feel when we pay homage and respectful honor to those who paid a cost for us? And an even greater question I want to ask is really this: “What does it make you feel knowing that in our spiritual battles in life, there are times when God fights the battle for us?”
When Greg was graduating from the Marines at Paris Island, he went through a final “crucible.” This was a several days’ long graduation event which entailed different exercises to remind the cadets of great battles and moments in previous wars. As they reviewed those battles, they built courage and were enabled to serve. So on this Memorial Day we are going to do the same and will be looking at Gideon, seeing how God fights our battles and how the victory for spiritual battles belongs to the Lord. So here are some questions to wrestle through as we remember Jesus our great Savior who won the battle for our salvation:
1. When has God fought and won the whole battle? Beside this story of Gideon which we are looking at today in our sermon (Judges 7:8-22), when had God actually fought some amazing battles? Just as Greg needed to study and become familiar with some of the Marine Corp’s greatest battles, here is a summary or just a few to wet your appetite:
ü The battle of Drowning Redemption: The most noted and important moment when God fought the battle is the redemption of God’s children of Israel when He took them through the Red Sea (Exodus 14:14-15:21). A small child came home from attending his Sunday School class, and retold the story of Moses, how he took huge missiles and helicopters, and destroyed the Egyptian Army. The mother exclaimed, “Johnny, that wasn’t what the Bible said happened!” And Johnny replied, “But mother, if I told you how the Bible said it happened, you just wouldn’t believe it!” How many still don’t believe God’s word about the Red Sea where God said: “The Lord will fight for you!” ü The battle of Shouting-Down-a-Wall: Joshua had this amazing victory entering the Promised Land, when the children of Israel shouted so hard, that the walls of a city caved in (Joshua 6). Can you remember the name of the city? ü The battle of a Midget and Giant: David stood alone facing a giant, but in comparison, David wasn’t alone because he said, “I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty.” David knew God was with him even if he only had a small sling. Guess what the last thing that went through Goliath’s mind was? Goliath didn’t say, because he was stoned (1 Samuel 17:45-50). ü The battle of the Stopped Clock: A warrior was fighting for the Lord so long and hard that God stopped the sun, and gave him an extra amount of time (Joshua 10:13). And another battle related to that, each time the general went forward and won, it happened only when Moses’ praying arms stayed up. Then each time Moses’ arms lowered, the general lost the battle. So two men had to prop up Moses’ arms and hold them up as Moses prayed, in order to win the battle (Exodus 17:11). That itself causes us to wander how prayer is so important to our battles. ü The battle of Trench Warfare: When King Joram fought a war with the Moabites, the prophet Elijah told him to just dig a bunch of trenches in the desert and Israel would win the battle. During the night, God caused the trenches to fill with water, and in the early morning sun rise, the Moabites mistakenly thought it was blood from the Israeli army. They mistakenly walked unarmed right into Jorams' hands and surrendered (2 Kings 3:4-27). ü The battle of the Blindfold: When the king of Aram (Syria) decided to attack the king of Israel, they surrounded the prophet Elisha. When Elisha’s servant saw all the army against them, he cried in fear. Elisha comforted his servant and said, “God will open your eyes to see the army of God and His angels”, and suddenly, the servant was able to see the millions of chariots of fire surrounding the enemy which they couldn’t see. So when the captain of the Armeans demanded surrender, Elisha offered to walk him to the place of surrender. The Lord blinded the entire army, and they followed Elisha along the road right into the gates of the king of Israel’s prisons and they were captured and trapped (2 Kings 6). ü The battle of Overnight Disappearance: When a mighty world power called Assyria invaded Judah, and lay siege against Jerusalem, the king didn’t know what to do but pray. God used the prophet Isaiah to pronounce that God would win the battle overnight for Hezekiah. In the morning, two forgotten men, who had leprosy, came to the city gate and showed the king that the Angel of Jehovah killed the entire enemy during the night while they were hiding inside the city walls (2 Kings 19; Isaiah 37; 2 Chronicles 32). ü The battle of Valley of Blessing: When a king with a funny name, Jehoshaphat, was told that “God would fight his battle” with the Moabites, he marched to the battle field with a band playing praise music in front of all the soldiers. Imagine the piccolo person in front of the infantry, but what if the enemy attacked them first? But even while praising God for the victory before it happened, the king arrived to the valley for battle only to find the enemy already dead before his army got there and so they didn’t have to fight. (2 Chronicles 20:1-29).
Yes, these are just examples of battles God won to remind us that “the battle does belong to the Lord.”
2. Does God still fight our battles? In Exodus 14:14 Moses told the children of Israel, “The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” At that moment, they were standing at the edge of the Red Sea, hemmed in by the sea before them and the Egyptian army behind. The Israelites were in a seemingly impossible situation, but it was a situation brought on by the Lord Himself. It was God who had hardened Pharaoh’s heart to pursue the fleeing slaves (Exodus 14:4, 8). Why would God do such a thing? The Bible gives some of the reasons: because God wanted to make it crystal clear to both the Egyptians and the Israelites that He was LORD so that He got the glory over Pharaoh (Exodus 14:4); and because God wanted to teach Israel that He is their Deliverer (Exodus 6:6) and their Salvation (Exodus 14:13). They were incapable of escaping the situation on their own—they needed only to wait for God to move on their behalf (cf. Psalm 27:14). The battle that appeared to be between the Egyptians and the Israelites was in reality between the Egyptians and the Lord (Exodus 14:4).
The lessons believers can learn from the Exodus account can be powerful and life- changing. When Christians trust God to fight their battles, it enables them to circumvent what often accompanies conflict, i.e., panic, fear, and hopelessness (Exodus 14:11–12). There are times when we can see absolutely no way around a problem, just like Israel when they were cornered. It’s quite probable that not one of the Israelites ever imagined that the massive sea was going to split down the middle, providing their way of escape. When Christians believe God’s Word (2 Chronicles 20:17), they learn that no battle is too formidable or monumental for God to handle (Joshua 1:5).
Moses gave a review of some of Israel’s history in Deuteronomy 1. In his recap he reminded them of the importance of having courage and trusting God at the edge of the Promised Land. Forty years earlier, the Israelites had spied out the land and concluded that they were unable to go up against the Canaanites, who were too big and too strong (Numbers 13:31—33). Due to that generation’s lack of faith, they were not allowed to enter the Promised Land. Moses told the new generation to avoid their fathers’ lack of trust: “Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them. The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes” (Deuteronomy 1:29–30). As God’s people obeyed in faith, they would find triumph at every turn. “Victory rests with the LORD” (Proverbs 21:31).
Israel, like many Christians today, had forgotten the previous battles God had fought and won for them all along the way (see Deuteronomy 2:7). The Israelite spies had seen “giants” in the land (Numbers 13:33, NKJV), just like Christians today see “giant” obstacles, complications, and problems that seem too large to conquer. To let the “giants” steal our faith only leaves defeat and a lack of assurance in the God who is in control of every problem, in spite of its size (Romans 8:28).
God is in control, but that does not mean Christians get to avoid the battles— in fact, the Bible states the opposite (2 Timothy 3:12). “Suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope” (Romans 5:3–4). In order for a believer to live a life of endurance, character, and hope, we must put on our armor (Ephesians 6:10–17) and trust the Deliverer. We “put no confidence in the flesh” (Philippians 3:3). Our confidence is in God, who will fight our battles and bring us safely home (Jude 1:24–25). “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God” (Psalm 20:7). When you stop and think about it, we are in the middle of several battles: battles with the weather, our health or that of our family’s, our financial situations, relationships with our families’, and neighbors, and within ourselves. The question that is plaguing me is, “How to let God fight our battles?”
3. How do we let God fight our battles? I believe there are three important factors which will answer our question:
A. We prepare for our battles. The verse in our text today shows us how to prepare for a battle. Judges 7:15 says, “When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped God.” Worship and trust in God’s victory and promises are the first things that must be practiced in our hearts to prepare. We also must give up our ideas of self-reliance and “pull-yourself-up-by-your- bootstraps which aren’t biblical at all.”
Paul, one of the “strongest soldiers” in the Christian hall of fame, frequently talked about his weakness (2 Corinthians 12). Jesus calls our flesh weak (Matthew 26:41), in other words, we can’t be self-reliant. Not only do we risk peril when we say we can rely on ourselves, but we go against the ideas of our flesh in the Bible. We need to rely on the Lord. Could it be that simple? To simply make our requests known to God and then ALLOW Him to work? B. We dress for our battles. Ephesians 6:10-20 tells us to put on the armor of God. We are taught how to pray on these items for strength. Many people never dress for battle at all. They continue to go through their trials and temptations, and never think about if they have covered themselves. Until we learn the spiritual discipline of praying on God’s armor, we will not always know the victory of God winning our battles.
C. We pray for our battles. In the story about how King Jehoshaphat trusted God to win his fight, he was one of the kings that loved and obeyed the one true God. Several strong armies joined forces against Judah; upon hearing this, Jehoshaphat went straight to God. And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. So Judah gathered together to ask help from the Lord; and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord. (2 Chronicles 20:3-4 NKJV)
Jehoshaphat gathered the people together and prayed before the temple. I love how he proclaimed his faith from the very beginning. “O Lord God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand You” (2 Chr. 20:6)? He explained the situation to God and ended his prayer with “O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.” (verse 12) God answered the prayer of His people. “Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s…You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.” (verses 15 and 17) Did you catch that? God told them to “stand still”. Allow Him to work.
So, prayer team, let us pray. I am going to give two prayers as I close this partners. One is a copy of a Memorial Day prayer I found online for those who died serving our country. The last is our prayer for spiritual battles to be won by our God.
A Memorial Day Prayer For Our Soldiers: (Source is listed online below)
“My God Who Gave His Only Son, To Shed His Blood For All Mankind. Give Strength To All The Loving Ones, Who Give Their Sons To Keep Our Land Free. Your Faithful Men And Women, Venture Near And Far. We Call Upon Your Mercy, No Matter Where They Are. Keep Them Safe, One And All, On Land, In Air, On Sea. And While We Know Some Will Not Return, Give Us Strength To Accept Their Destiny. And To The Men That Have Fallen, Give A Special Place Of Grace In Eternity. And Help Me Lord To Never Forget, The Price They Paid For Our Great County. While Persecution Spreads From Land To Land, Our Allegiance To Freedom Remains The Same. Many Soldiers Fought Our Many Enemies, To Keep Our Great Country’s Liberty. Much Blood Was Shed And Many Lives Were Lost, I Keep Those Men And Their Families In My Prayers. Then I Thank You Lord For The Land That I Love, And With Joy I Shout, God Bless America!” (http://quotespoemsmessages.com/best-christian-memorial-day-stories-poems)
Our closing prayer, “So our Father Almighty, we often find ourselves attempting to lean onto our own strength. Help us to recognize that even our so-called strength comes from You. Remind us that we need to rely on You. This life presents so many hardships and difficult battles, and Lord, we cannot fight a single day without You. We come to be humbled by Your mighty truth and pray that You will grant us greater courage and victory in our Savior. We have stewed in anxiety, quietly and secretly doubting that You care for us. When friends fail us, or we are misunderstood or purposely attacked by others, we have been left feeling empty and worthless, not made whole by Your love for us. We are tempted and fail, we do not look to the good news that Jesus has already won our victory over sin and death and is our present strength in weakness. Remind us of Your goodness, Your promises, and Your victorious life that were bought so freely by our Lord and Savior Jesus! We ask that You will never forsake us at this little church along the 611 corridor. We may be small, but You are mighty! We ask Holy Spirit to lift our eyes to the saving, helping, keeping love our wonderful Savior, in whose Name we boldly come, and we Gideon-like people say, ‘Amen.’”
Praying the battle belongs to the Lord, Pastor Corvin <><
Quote: “Men may spurn our appeals, reject our message, oppose our arguments, despise our persons, but they are helpless against our prayers.” ― J. Sidlow Baxter
Quote: “Spiritual warfare is very real. There is a furious, fierce, and ferocious battle raging in the realm of the spirit between the forces of God and the forces of evil. Warfare happens every day, all the time. Whether you believe it or not, you are in a battlefield. You are in warfare.” ― Pedro Okoro