Exodus 15:3 The LORD is a man of war; the LORD is his name.
1 Samuel 17:46-47 This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the LORD's, and he will give you into our hand.”
As we’ve been traveling across the United States, the spiritual warfare is more tangible than ever before. Whereas years ago, it was done in secret, open, and public occult demonic activity is increasing in numerous places. We are facing principalities and powers in heavenly places and here on Earth, and we must fight as the saints of old, with the spiritual weapons of faith, and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. And ultimately it IS His battle.
This great war, being fought on the battleground of humanity itself, has, from the Lord's perspective, already been won. Messiah Yeshua's victory at the cross resounds through history in every direction of time and space. In this sense, the battle is not ours, but the Lord's, whose triumph over sin, death, and evil was perfectly accomplished there. And since God exists beyond time and space, it's already over in His world. The very grammar of prophetic utterances, particularly in the OT, we call the "prophetic past", is written as though the events described have been completed.
As such, in these developing prophetic days, we live in a paradox, "the already, but not yet". Even as evils increase all around, we're participating in both... a present war, and a present victory. And so we carry both... responsibility and confidence.
Our confidence stands firmly in the resurrection and authority of the Lord Yeshua as He sits at the right hand of the Father. And since we're not fighting in our own strength we can declare, "O Lord this is your battle!
Our responsibility is firmly rooted in our confidence; not in flesh, chariots, horses, armies, weapons, technologies, noble human intentions, economic power or prosperity, political agendas, constitutions, presidents, nor anything else of this world. Our responsibility lies in our re-presentation of the One we love and serve who lives within us and empowers everything we do of any true value. In the power of the Spirit, with bold confidence, we can declare His eternal truth, the most powerful weapon that has ever or will ever exist.
The enemy may attack with lies, deceptions and threats of every kind, and he will.…your defense is the Lord, what He has spoken, who He is, what He has done, and what He is doing in and through you. Your defense, and your offense, are Yeshua's victory and His Word, and this present battle truly is the Lord's. Take it to heart, “The battle is the Lord’s.” You simply stand declaring His victory and His truth to a sea of humanity desperate for forgiveness, hope, love, and peace.
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]Patience is one of those things… so hard to learn it… so hard to practice it faithfully in our daily walk. It’s one of of those things I truly wish we didn’t have to learn — but God requires it of us! As I was reading through this passage again in Exodus, it dawned on me that Moses sat on the mountain for six entire days before the Lord spoke to him. He had to patiently wait for the Lord for six days!
The book of Isaiah, often called the Old Testament Gospel, reveals that a child was to be born and his name called “The Mighty God, and the Everlasting Father”. We know that this Child was Yeshua (Jesus) of Nazareth, that He is the unique Son of God, the express image of the invisible God. The throne of David was to be given to Him and He now holds its “key”, a symbol of the right and authority of His reign, which will be consummated when He returns to this world and restores the Kingdom to Israel [Acts 1:6-7].
When I studied Isaiah 53 earnestly in the ancient Hebrew, I was taken back by the Hebrew word for “afflicted” (me-u-neh). In modern Hebrew this word means “tortured”. When I was young, and first learned what torture actually involved, my soul was shocked that this could happen to people; in fact that it was happening to people. That a person could be kept alive for the purpose of intentionally causing him intense agonizing pain was an astounding enigma for my young soul. It really frightened me; and I think that fear of torture is probably the greatest fear that humans can experience. We read about people who have been tortured, with a kind of horrified awe. And quietly we wonder inside, “How can this be?” And, “Could this ever happen to me?”
I love this story! Peter was sitting between two guards and suddenly an angel of the Lord comes to him and frees him — and he thinks it’s a vision! He’s not sure if he truly believes it.
“Exhausted but still in pursuit…” Well, now we know why the angel of YHVH addressed Gideon the way he did. With his small three hundred man army he had just decimated the army of Midian — but the victory wasn’t complete, and so the Jewish general and his small, exhausted, hungry, band were determined to cross the Jordan and take care of 15,000 additional Midanite enemies and their leaders, Zebah and Zalmunna.
His nightmares began each day when he awoke. James Stegalls was nineteen. He was in Vietnam. Though he carried a small Gideon New Testament in his shirt pocket, he couldn’t bring himself to read it. His buddies were cut down around him, terror was building within him, and God seemed far away. His twentieth birthday passed, then his twenty-first. At last, he felt he couldn’t go on.
On January 1st 1863, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation which proclaimed freedom for all slaves in the ten states which were in rebellion. At the time, when U.S. Secretary of State Seward took the document to the President to sign, Lincoln took a pen, and held it for a moment. He then removed his hand and dropped his pen. Lincoln turned to Seward and said, “I have been shaking hands since nine o’clock this morning and my right arm is almost paralyzed. If my name ever goes into history, it will be for this act, and my whole soul is in it.” He hesitated, then took the pen, and without wavering, took the document and boldly signed it!