2 Chronicles 20:15–16: He said, “Listen, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem! Listen, King Jehoshaphat! This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid! Don’t be discouraged by this mighty army, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. Tomorrow, march out against them. You will find them coming up through the ascent of Ziz at the end of the valley that opens into the wilderness of Jeruel.

The Bible tells us in Proverbs 16:7, “When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.” Are you in a battle with someone today? Conflicts come to believers in many different forms. I shared the verse from Proverbs because this is the Scripture that I live by as a minister of the gospel. Pastors have to constantly face battles of all types. Nevertheless, it doesn’t matter the number of battles a person has to face. It does matter, however, how we approach them.

In today’s text, the Lord instructs Jehoshaphat and the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem not to be afraid or dismayed at the great multitude that had set themselves against them. Instead, God told them exactly the same thing that I’d like to share with you: “The battle is not yours, but God’s.” As Christians, we can lose a battle simply because we ignore God’s advice about letting Him handle the problem, and instead, we take the situation into our own hands.

Therefore, we must learn that when we are confronted by a hostile situation, we submit to God’s ways, resist the Devil, and he will flee from us. Remember, we don’t war with flesh and blood, but with demonic forces that use the flesh of humans to make the attack personal so that we will engage our flesh in the conflict.

Let’s suppose that someone launches a vicious attack against you that also happens to be a spiritual attack because you’re a Christian. Now let’s suppose you ignore God’s wisdom, and out of your emotions you decide to retaliate against your adversary. You have just taken the battle out of God’s hand. You have chosen to walk in defiance to God, who is there both to protect you and to lead you into victory.

When we take “matters” into our own hands because we want to get revenge, then we’re only adding “more fuel to the fire” that we’re trying to extinguish. God requires us to be humble and to remain that way by submitting to Him during times of conflict. If we refuse to submit to Him, humbling ourselves through the process, it ties His hands (as far as Him helping us) and places us under the Law. Once we refuse to obey by faith, then we go back under the law, and God will have to judge the situation—not according to grace, but according to the law. As a consequence, your case might not hold up in His court because it’s based on your “rights” and not His righteousness by your faith. Jesus gives us some practical wisdom when we find ourselves in a spiritual battle:

Matthew 5:21–22: “You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.”

Matthew 5:25-26: When you are on the way to court with your adversary, settle your differences quickly. Otherwise, your accuser may hand you over to the judge, who will hand you over to an officer, and you will be thrown into prison. And if that happens, you surely won’t be free again until you have paid the last penny.

You can win the battle as long as you allow the Lord to fight it for you, and you are to be still and listen to Him. Whenever the enemy throws the fiery darts of poisonous thoughts against you, trying to get you to react in your flesh nature, use your shield of faith to protect your heart from taking it personally. If God is for you, then who can be against you?  —submitted by Pastor Asa Dockery, US