Introduction
Today we come to the end of our series: God has to win. Up to this point, in this series, we have looked at four areas of our life that God has to win if we are going to be the Christians we need to be. First, He has to win the choices that we make each day. Each day that we wake up, we are confronted with choices and we have to decide if God is going to win those choices or if the devil, the world, and Satan are going to win them.
Secondly, we saw that we all have areas of our life that we hold on to and try to manage on our own rather than giving them over to God. We have got to give those areas over to God and let Him take control of those areas. God needs to have control over all areas of my life not just the ones that I want to give Him.
Thirdly, we saw that when it comes to the discipline of the Lord in our lives, we can embrace it or reject it and get angry at God for His corrections to our lives. But the Bible is clear if you are His child, He is going to discipline you and you are going to benefit in the long run although right that moment it does not feel good but most importantly God wins.
And last week, we saw that we can serve God or serve money. If you serve God, a dollar is just but a dollar. But if you chose to serve money, it takes on a life of its own. By our nature, we are going to serve something, if we chose to serve God, life has the proper order. Serve money and your life will be out of wack.
Today, we come upon the last God has to win in our series. You know life is full of battles that we face. Some battles we go looking for and some battles come looking for us. It does not matter what type of battle you face whether it is a battle with a friend or a relative, a battle with an illness, a battle with a financial issue or some other type of battle, I need to let God fight that battle.
To see what we can learn about God fighting our battles, I found an interesting story in the Old Testament when Israel was about ready to leave Gilgal, cross the Jordan, and enter the Promised Land to have their first battle - the Battle of Jericho. It is only three verses in length, but it teaches us so much about letting God fight our battles. So, if you have your Bibles turn with me Joshua 5:13-15.
Scripture
Joshua 5:13–15 NKJV
And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, “Are You for us or for our adversaries?”
So He said, “No, but as Commander of the army of the LORD I have now come.”
And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, “What does my Lord say to His servant?”
Then the Commander of the LORD’s army said to Joshua, “Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.” And Joshua did so.
Body
Point #1
Nowhere in the Scriptures do I see God telling Joshua to go over and spy out Jericho and find their weak spots so that you can take advantage of their weaknesses. But Joshua being over there tells me that we would rather fight our own battles rather than giving them over to God.
If you read the entirety of Chapter 5, it is the story of God preparing the situation for the Israelites to take their Promised Land. It begins with God putting fear in the hearts of the Canaanite and Amorites kings that possessed the Promised Land. It then goes on to tells us how God prepared the Israelites to take the land by having all the Israelite males circumcised and starting back the Feast of the Passover. But nowhere, in that Scripture are we told that God sent Joshua over to the Promised Land at this point. This was something that he was doing on his own. So, what do you suppose that Joshua is doing there? He is probably gathering information about the enemy’s weak spots so that he can develop his plan of attack. He was thinking this is his battle; but he will later discover this is God’s battle.
Ok, God did not tell Joshua to go over to Jericho, but God did tell Joshua somethings that he needed to be reminded of:
The New King James Version Chapter 1
5 No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you
The New King James Version Chapter 1
9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.
Do you know what is interesting to me? Is that God gives us similar promises to Joshua and yet just like Joshua we need to be reminded of them because we try to fight the battles on our own.
The New King James Version Chapter 8
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Hebrews 13:5 NKJV
Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
But God is telling us today that He has to win- let Him take the battle from the beginning. Our battles are God’s to fight.
Point #2
If I decide to fight my own battles, I may become quickly discouraged by the size of the battle ahead of me. That’s why God wants to take our battles from the very beginning because nothing is too difficult for Him.
Joshua 5:13 NKJV
And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, “Are You for us or for our adversaries?”
The Scripture says that Joshua looked up. It is not implying that he was looking forward and suddenly looked up to the heaven. This Man stood opposite Him; He was not in some cloud. So, if Joshua had to look up at a man standing there that meant that his eyes were focused on the ground. I think what is happening here is Joshua is feeling the weight of the task ahead of him and he is overwhelmed by the fornication of this city. And sometimes when you are overwhelmed, don’t know how you are going to handle a situation, you tend to look downward.
Joshua knew that his army didn’t have rams, catapults, scaling ladders or moving towers. He had arrows, swords, slings, and spears. And that is one of the reasons that we ought to give God our battles from the beginning because a lot of times we don’t have what it takes to fight the battle.
And God confirms that truth to Joshua in Chapter 6 verse 1. You cannot handle this battle; all it can do is overwhelm you. This is some fortified city!
The New King James Version Chapter 6
Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in
But in verse 2, God quickly confirms to Joshua “I got this. Not a problem”
Joshua 6:2 NKJV
And the LORD said to Joshua: “See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor.
Point #3
Joshua discovered that his two-part question to the Man was not sufficient. But’s that is usually how we look at a battle from a two-sided perspective: the enemy’s side and our side. The Commander of the Army of the Lord tells Joshua, there is another side to every battle- God’s side.
The New King James Version Chapter 5
Are You for us or for our adversaries?”
14 So He said, “No, but as Commander of the army of the LORD I have now come.”
God wants you and me to always know there is another side to every battle- God’s side. And it is God Himself who comes down to tell Joshua that. We know that because Joshua fell down and worshipped when He realized who he was talking to, and Joshua was instructed to take off his shoes because it is Holy Ground. No angel would have accepted that worship of Joshua; and the instructions are the same instructions that God gave Moses at the burning bush.
So, I discover that I have cancer. The enemy is cancer; there is my side what I am going to do about it; and there is God’s side.
I battle an addiction. The enemy is the addiction; there is my side and what I am doing; and then there is God’s side.
You get the idea. So, whose side do you chose? The Holy Spirit of God is begging you to let the Lord take your battle.
Point #4
You know that you have given your battle to God if instead of planning, calculating, and scheming on a way to fight the battle you just rest in God and worship Him.
The New King James Version Chapter 5
And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped,
As we close Chapter 5, Joshua is worshipping God. The walls of Jericho have not yet fallen. The Israelites has not defeated that their first enemy in the Promised Land. The battle has not been fought but Joshua is worshipping God because now it is no longer his battle to fight but God’s battle to fight.
Today some of you need to quit fighting the battle; surrender the battle over to God and allow Him to fight your battle for you.
Let us pray.
