Sweet Sisters
This past Friday night Paul and I met with a group of people at the Beaumont church to watch the movie, War Room. It is a very powerful movie about the influence prayer can have in our lives. This makes at least the fifth time I’ve seen the movie and for a girl who does not do movies, that is a lot!
War Room is about learning how to fight the “real” enemy who is trying to kill and destroy what is good in our lives. The first thing we must learn to fight effectively is who the enemy is. In Ephesians 6:10-12, we learn that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of evil.
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
John tells us in John 10:10 that the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy.
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Sweet Sisters, as we look around the world we live in and we see brokenness and heartbreak, we need to stop focusing on “flesh and blood” and realize that there is a much darker, evil force at work. A force that is determined to steal our joy, destroy our relationships and pull us away from God.
How do we fight against such a force? We need a battle plan. The good news is we actually have a General who cannot be defeated. It is He who leads us into battle. He has a powerful battle plan that guarantees we will win (in fact we already have).
It is important that as we prepare to go into battle that we are focused and intentional. We cannot be halfhearted, lukewarm or easily distracted. Picture a battle scene from some movie you may have watched, like Brave Heart, that involved hand to hand combat. The ones that did not fight with all they had did not survive.
As we prepare for battle, we also have to pledge absolute allegiance to our General and to His battle plan. We cannot go to battle alone or depending on how we think the battle should be fought.
Remember Ephesians 6?
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.
Our strength comes from our Lord and the power of His might!
James 4:7 and 8 gives us additional information on how to fight:
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
James says:
1) Submit to God. We have to give all of our weapons that we have been using (that weren’t effective anyway) to God: our anger, our jealousy, our pride, our judgmental attitudes. As Miss Clare told Elizabeth in the movie, “either God is on the throne of your heart or you are. You can’t both be.”
2). James tells us to resist the devil and he will flee from you. I looked up the word “resist” in the dictionary. It means: “to oppose, challenge, confront, to fight back, to take a stand.” When we go to battle against the enemy it means we get tough. We stand our ground. We say out loud and with force, “NOT TODAY, SATAN! YOU ARE NOT GONNA WIN THIS TIME. SATAN, YOU ARE NOT GETTING THIS ONE. SATAN, IN THE NAME OF JESUS, GO BACK TO HELL!!!”
For those of you who, about now, are wanting to go hide in the closet or get in bed and pull the covers over your head, I have saved the best part of the battle plan until now.
God promises that if we submit to Him and do things His way, HE WILL FIGHT FOR US!
One of my favorite stories about God fighting for His people is in Deuteronomy 9:1 – 6
9 Hear, Israel: You are now about to cross the Jordan to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you, with large cities that have walls up to the sky. 2 The people are strong and tall—Anakites! You know about them and have heard it said: “Who can stand up against the Anakites?” 3 But be assured today that the Lord your God is the one who goes across ahead of you like a devouring fire. He will destroy them; he will subdue them before you. And you will drive them out and annihilate them quickly, as the Lord has promised you.
4 After the Lord your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, “The Lord has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.” No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is going to drive them out before you. 5 It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the Lord your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 6 Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.
There are two very important concepts in these verses. I would love you to write verse 3 down on a note card and put it somewhere you will see it all the time. What God does for the Israelites in this verse, He still does today for us. (By the way, Anakites were giants. It is believed that Goliath was a descendant of the Anakites.)
God goes before us and either destroys or subdues the giants we face. I wonder how many giants I never had to fight because God dealt with them before I even knew they existed. I will never forget after Paul’s angiogram in 2017, the cardiologist looking me in the eye and saying, “I don’t understand. Your husband should be dead.” A “giant” I didn’t have to fight.
The second concept in these verses is, that it’s not about us. God fights for us because of who He is. It is not because of how good we are. When a giant falls dead at your feet, don’t get cocky. Thank God for His mercy and His grace and His great love for you
Another powerful passage that you need to become very familiar with is Psalm 18. The imagery of the first 20 verses is absolutely breathtaking. The Psalmist, probably David, describes the passion and intensity of a God who will rescue His child when he calls for help. It reminds me of Lauren Dagel’s song, “Rescue”.
Verses 28 – 36 tell us how God prepares us for battle. The visuals in these verses are powerful as well.
28 Lord, you provide the flame for my lamp.
You, God, turn the darkness around me into light.
29 With your help I can defeat an army.
If my God is with me, I can climb over enemy walls.
30 God’s way is perfect.
The Lord’s promise always proves to be true.
He protects those who trust in him.
31 There is no God except the Lord.
There is no Rock except our God.
32 God is the one who gives me strength.
He clears the path I need to take.
33 He makes my feet as steady as those of a deer.
Even on steep mountains he keeps me from falling.
34 He trains me for war
so that my arms can bend the most powerful bow.
35 Lord, you have given me your shield to protect me.
You support me with your right hand.
It is your help that has made me great.
36 You cleared a path for my feet
so that I could walk without stumbling.
God gives us the power in verse 29 to “defeat an army” and to “climb over enemy walls”.
I love verse 31: There is no God except the Lord. There is no Rock except our God.
The Psalmist goes on to say that God is the one who gives me strength and clears the path I need to take.
We do not fight alone. Here like in Deuteronomy, we learn that God goes before us and clears a path. Granted we do need to pray for wisdom sometimes to see it.
Verse 34 talks about training so we can bend the most powerful bow. In Bible times, if you fought with a bow, you needed powerful biceps. You had to prepare your body to use such a weapon.
Our power in battle comes from two powerful weapons; the Word of God and prayer. The more familiar we become with them the more effective we will become at using them.
The Bible says in Hebrews 4:12, that God’s word is a powerful sword.
12 God’s word is alive and working. It is sharper than the sharpest sword and cuts all the way into us. It cuts deep to the place where the soul and the spirit are joined. God’s word cuts to the center of our joints and our bones. It judges the thoughts and feelings in our hearts.
In James 5:16, James tells us that the prayers of a righteous man (and woman) are powerful and effective.
16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
We are God’s Princess Warriors. My friend used to say, “If my daughter is going to be a princess, I want her to be Princess Leah (Star Wars) not Snow White (Disney).” God wants us to rise up and be strong and powerful by His Might. We fight with the word of God and prayer. We stand toe to toe with Satan, unafraid because God has defeated him already. We refuse to let him steal our joy or our hope, our marriages, our relationships.
Miss Clare had a small place in her house designated as her “War Room”. In this place she hung her favorite scriptures and the names of people she was praying for. It was here she focused on spiritual warfare. It was here she found the power to then go out into the world around her and battle for the Lord.
May we become known for our allegiance to the one true King, our knowledge of His word and our belief in the power of prayer.
Debbie