Bible In One Year-Day 83 (Monday, March 24, 2014)
Commentary: Deut20-22. Faintheartedness is the major defeating factor in spiritual warfare. Victory in spiritual warfare is not about number but of faith in the God of all flesh who made heaven and earth. The man with God is the majority. Where you find a fainting heart, you have found a failing faith;
Proverbs 24:10 “If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.”
The secret of Caleb’s strength is unfailing faith. Fear gains strength in a failing faith. The devil gets an upper hand where fear is winning. It is the poison from the serpent of fear that troubles the heart and causes high blood pressure;
John 14:1&27 “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. … Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you: not as the world giveth, give I to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
Fear and faith are the two ends of the rod of advancement. When you hold that rod on the side of fear, you lose, but when you hold it on the side of faith, the impossible becomes possible. Moses was initially holding his rod on the side of fear, he argued with God; in his argument, he was telling God why he shouldn’t go for that assignment. But when God told him to cast the rod and pick it from the tail (faith end), there was no more argument. Through experience, Moses learnt the power of faith and that was why he was able to teach the Israelites about it;
Deuteronomy 20:1-4 “When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the LORD thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And it shall be, when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people, And shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them; For the LORD your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.”
Let your faith increase and the chances of winning becomes higher than expected. With faith, the invisible hand of possibility changes and re-writes history;
Luke 1:37 “For with God nothing shall be impossible.”
The gift of Satan is fear but the gift of God is power, love and a sound mind. Fear is the intimidating weapon the devil uses to weaken his victims. With fear, Satan is able to incapacitate children of God’s weapons of warfare. Goliath incapacitated a host of warriors for days. When David came to the scene, instead of being intimidated by Goliath’s boasting, he was provoked in faith and he did what a legion of armies couldn’t do. Saul wanted to help him initially with the weapon he never mastered, but he opted for what he could handle, a sling; knowing that it was a spiritual warfare that could only be won in faith. When prayers are made in fear, we pray amiss, no matter the number of hours on it. But when it is made in faith, no matter how short it is, no power of darkness can withstand it, just as the sling leveled Goliath. Are you considering your problems as a major factor while praying or the God you are praying to?
Hebrews 12:2 “Looking to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
With fear, we get easily frustrated in spiritual warfare and, of course, in “twittering” with God through His word. Don’t give up, beloved, but persist in faith and what seems impossible shall become possible. Trust and believe in the God of possibilities. Our reading for today is Deut23-25. Keep the fire burning and alive