The God of Battles
The term “Lord of Hosts” is used 282 times in the Bible. It is a military term meaning “God of Battles”.
(1 Sam 17:45-47 KJV) Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. {46} This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. {47} And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands.
When the children of Israel faced their first battle after coming into the Promised Land, the Lord of hosts took over the warfare. Archeologists have discovered that the walls of Jericho did not fall east or west, they fell straight down.
The Lord of Hosts preserves us
(Isa 31:5 KJV) As birds flying, so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it.
Do you need the Lord of Hosts to preserve you and deliver? Perhaps you have a serious illness. Or your job may be at stake. The Lord of Hosts has promised that He will preserve you.
The Lord of Hosts battles the wicked
(Jer 11:20 KJV) But, O LORD of hosts, that judgest righteously, that triest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I revealed my cause.
(Mal 3:5 KJV) And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.
Have you been persecuted or unfairly treated? Are you in danger of being harmed by wicked people? Instead of simply taking the matter into your own hands, ask the Lord of Hosts to deliver you from the wicked.
The Lord of Hosts battles our obstacles
(1 Sam 1:11 KJV) And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head.
Hannah wanted so much to have a child but she was barren. Her battle is not a physical one but an obstacle. Hannah committed her struggles to the Lord of Hosts who answered her with a child Samuel who would later become one of Israel’s greatest prophets.
Crying out to Lord of Hosts
(James 5:4 KJV) Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
The word “crieth” here is a scream, a crying with a loud voice. It is not casual asking. It is an intense cry for help.
When you cry out to God intensely to deliver you, He will.
