Are You Prepared To Fight Your Battles?

Proverbs 21:31 - The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the Lord.

We can divide this verse into three parts:

1. Day of battle

2. Horse being made ready

3. Trusting the Lord for the victory

1. What is day of battle?

Generally, battle refers to the specific day when two armies fight with each other. Day of decision – which kingdom is going to fall and which will stay.

Likewise what are the days of battle in our lives? Many times, we face days filled with challenges, hardship and difficulties. Some of these are internal like health issues or external like relationship, job, decision making.

This verse gives us counsel as to how we face our days of battle.

2. Horse needs to be prepared for the battle.

The important thing is preparation.

Modern military strength is evaluated through technology and weapon systems - Advanced air power, missile systems, drones, cyber-warfare capabilities, satellite intelligence, and precision weapons

In ancient world, the horse was a symbol of military power. Horses were expensive, rare, and associated with kings and armies. To have horses meant strength, readiness, and confidence.

Horse was important for battle and process to make the horse ready

The horse for the battle has to be kept ready.

You cannot just leave a horse in the Marina beach and leave it in the battlefield.

How are the horses prepared?

They do it step-by-step

• Noise & Chaos: Horses were slowly introduced to battlefield sounds (bells, shouting, clashing metal) and sights (costumes, moving objects, crowds) to prevent panic, using bells in manes to acclimate them.

• Physical Development: Training focused on agility, balance, and strength through activities like tight turns, navigating rough terrain, and carrying heavy loads to develop muscle and coordination.

How gymnastics person turns and spins his body nothing happens. If we do once, also, we will catch sprain. That’s because their bodies are trained.

• Discipline: Trainers built trust by gradually increasing stimuli, teaching the horse to walk through simulated lines of people or chaos without spooking.

PERFECT OBEDIENCE: ARABIAN HORSES

Arabian horses go through rigorous training in the deserts of the Middle East. The trainers require absolute obedience from the horses, and test them to see if they are completely trained. The final test is almost beyond the endurance of any living thing. The trainers force the horses to do without water for many days. Then he turns them loose and of course they start running toward the water, but just as they get to the edge, ready to plunge in and drink, the trainer blows his whistle. The horses who have been completely trained and who have learned perfect obedience, stop. They turn around and come pacing back to the trainer. They stand there quivering, wanting water, but they wait in perfect obedience. When the trainer is sure that he has their obedience he gives them a signal to go back to drink.

This preparation for the horse is very important for the battle.

Likewise, God wants us to prepare ourselves for our days of battle.

God is not honored by laziness masquerading as faith.

Faith does not say: “God will do it, so I won’t.”

Faith says: “I will do my part, trusting God with the result.”

When should this preparation start?

Not on the day of the battle. But long time even if before a battle is known to take place. Often times, battles happen suddenly. But the horse must be prepared.

Students typically begin preparing for their exams several months before the exam day.

How I am preparing myself for the challenges this day is going to present. I want to make sure that I am going to the battle ready.

Illus: In June 2025, a major fire broke out in a 67-storey residential building in Dubai Marina late at night. Flames and smoke spread through the high-rise, posing a serious threat to thousands of residents. But thanks to well-organised emergency preparedness and rapid response by Dubai Civil Defence, all 3,820 residents from 764 apartments were safely evacuated without any injuries or casualties. Fire crews worked for several hours to extinguish the blaze, while emergency and medical teams supported those evacuated.

Authorities and residents later noted that clear alarms, evacuation procedures, regular drills, and coordinated action helped make the evacuation orderly rather than chaotic, even in the face of a frightening situation.

This wasn’t luck — it was preparedness in action.

What is the preparation that God requires of us.

• Spiritual preparation

• Mental/Emotional preparation

Let me explain this to you with the example of David.

All of us know the story of David and Goliath.

Let me briefly retell it to remind us of the setting.

There is a war between Israel and the Philistines. The two armies are camped on opposite sides of the valley of Elah, facing each other. Every day, a giant warrior named Goliath comes forward from the Philistine side. He is enormous in size, heavily armed (55kgs), and battle-hardened. (9 – 9.5 feet; tallest men living today are around 8 feet 2 inches). For forty days, morning and evening, he mocks Israel and challenges them to send one man to fight him.