Recovering From Defeat To Win A Battle

At some point man has been hit under the belt and felt humiliated. Laying there with a smashed ego, and hallucinating, and glaring defeat is the worst form of humiliation. Many have never recovered from defeat,  nor overcame because of self- pity, and have feared  to face the antagonistic approach anymore. The modus operandi in the Christendom has not been made better by the buoyant tendencies, which hide in the scope of humility, albeit suffering in silence.

We have seen many a people, who for some reasons, could not engage in the spiritual combat, and emerge triumphant. Scores of them lost the battle even before it was fought. Ephesians tells us that, our spiritual warfare is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the “darkness” of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places! Ephesians 6. 10.  With this in mind we are, obliged to have an inkling into the operation of the enemy, who will stop at nothing utill he sees us glaring defeat, and succumbing to it, as though we have no hope. He is a murderer, a liar, and the father of all lies from the very beginning as Jesus affirmed in John 8. 42.

To be a staunch believer of Christ, and not be immersed in spiritual battle is unheard of, because the enemy is on the prowl seeking whom he may devour, as it is reported to us by Peter in his epistle. 1Peter 5.8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. It is sad that many have been devoured, and they that were supposed to be custodian of them devoured stood there as by -standers and helpless, not even slightest endeavor to invoke the powerful name of the Jesus was attempted.

These days we are not engaged in perennial battles as the nation of Israel did in those medieval days, when they fought perennial wars with most of her neighbors,   chief among them the Philistines and other former Canaanite nations. Nevertheless we are spiritual Israel, and as the nation of Israel fought battles with nations eager to annihilate them, so are we though fighting spiritual battles each passing day, against  an enemy who is determined to stop us in our spiritual tracks. He cannot   win unless we capitulate under his pressure that he piles on us day by day.

Today most people are nursing spiritual wounds; some are giving up in all spiritual fronts. The prospects of ever receiving a rejoinder to the many prayers said to the deity have diminished. Expectations were high, but after waiting, and that miracle never came on time as long anticipated, despair crept in, and many hitherto have given up any hope of succeeding.

Lately I have encountered many folks with a defeatist mentality. They are too skeptical that anything good can emerge out of what has transpired in lives led here on the planet. Some others still live in bitterness, and every day they rue missed opportunities.  They seem to have given up completely to as whether they will ever own a home, car, husband, wife, kids, job and many other things they trusted God on. Preach to them the long wait that Abraham had, and they will dismiss you about that, by literally saying “gone are the days of Abraham, and we are now in the 21^st century”. It seems it is long forgotten that the Lord God is the same yesterday, today and for ever more.

Let me begin to address this issue in a way it was revealed to me, when I too felt as though, no hope remained in me anymore. Many a times, when we pray and our faith is confronted by the powers that be, which are diabolic, we have faulted the deity for not being sensitive to our plight. But the heavenly Father is much concerned about us, that is why he send His only begotten son to die a humiliating demise on that ugly wooden cross. He so loved the World that he gave the World he loved His only begotten son that whoever does believe in Him perish not, rather he will have everlasting life. John 3.16. This is a very famous quote by every soul wining clergy!

Now one thing that has over the years escaped most believers is- how the war is waged. Volumes of books with various keys have been churned out, and the verdict is still strangely the same- defeat! I don’t   fault those who have written these books; rather I am bringing in a new dimension as revealed to me.

We need a paradigm shift, and stop applying the same strategy every time. And this how it was shown to me. When God did send Prophet Samuel to anoint Saul as the first King of the nation of Israel, he knew he was very ordinary. Being ordinary one tends to do things in an ordinary manner, the way one knows best. He was not oblivious of the fact, that Saul was untested in leadership. He had no war history, not even managing a small band of militia that could hunt down bandits who terrorized their tribe.

God instructs Prophet Samuel to anoint him King. Remember the Children of Israel yearned for a king like other nations around them, who could rally the nation in defeating all those nations that were trying to invade the land. Now examining the scriptures from this point of view, you will begin to see a great picture on how to avoid defeat, and always emerge victorious. 1Samuel 10.6-7

And the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shall be turned in to another man.

7-And let it be, when these signs are come unto thee, that thou do as occasion serve thee: for God is with thee.

Here is where the mystery lays. When we are changed after accepting the Lord as our savior and we are duly baptized in the Holy Ghost, we are no longer on our own, though the flesh is at war with the Spirit because we are human by nature.  There was dramatic transformation In Saul’s life after he was anointed into kingship by Prophet Samuel, he prophesied when he encountered the prophets and Saul was turned into different man as Samuel had promised.  People said “is Saul also among the prophets”?. This is what takes place when God appoints us to certain offices. He doesn’t want us to be led by emotions, or our whims,  to the contrary he wants to lead us to successful accomplishment of every task bestowed upon us by Him.

Saul began to wage war against the aggressive armies that invaded the land, one thing though he could not wait longer when under immense pressure. One time when Israel was under siege, the prophet told him to wait for seven days, the nation was in a strait, because of the philistines who had  ganged up against them, and he could not wait longer, he went ahead and offered a sacrifice which was not permitted him to do in the law. Samuel told him that he acted foolishly. How many times have we acted foolishly because we could not wait longer for God to do something we expected of him? The battles we wage are they for a show? Or glory? Or is it that God is to be glorified in that war? One thing to be noted here that exacerbated his downfall which is vivid ; is -"he was minded about the fears, emotions, distress of other people", and the idea he entertained of what people would say of him, and how they  would  also view his leadership skills. To his chagrin the prophet tells him bluntly the "Kingdom" shall not continue, which means Sauls'," for God has sought a man after his own heart". He went out of the way to a jurisdiction that was not his, though he was told “do as the occasion serves you, when you are turned to a different man”. Many times we have disobeyed Gods voice and acted foolishly because we felt our egos would suffer, and we desired short cut to miracles, so that we could have a good standing among people around us. He was to wait for the Man of God to offer sacrifice, but took upon himself a role that was not designated him. How many times do we do that? We have today spiritual infants who have usurped spiritual authority, doing what is not incumbent up on them to do. When trial comes the infants cannot stand, and they live to rue the things of God, and they remain defeated most of the time.

Another time, God tells him, I want to execute my wrath upon the Amalekites. He says they waylaid the Israelites as they came from Egypt, and he was therefore commanding him to revenge against the Amaliketes. This meant that the battle was the Lords. He goes, kills, but spares the choicest of the animals, and also saves the Kings life, which was not what God told him. With this coming to the fore, God rejected him and chose his neighbor. A great lesson to learn!

One, the battle always should be the Lords not individuals’. We should wait on Gods direction, even when under immense pressure and the pangs of the enemy to heavy to bear. If we learn to understand how spiritual battle shapes up, and know the importance of waiting on God, we will never lose any battle. David never lost any battle. He sinned couple  of times against the Lord, but in such situation when the enemy had brought him so low, and down, he fell in the hands of God. He collected himself from the shame associated with sin, and took the enemy head on, giving him no room to celebrate when he was down.

Jehoshaphat joined affinity with Ahab, Gods enemy because of his notorious evil wife Jezebel. And he once joined him in a battle. He got almost killed, but when he screamed God spared his life. Now back home God sternly rebuked him for this act. Years later the enemy came against him, and he was no match for the advancing enemy, he remembered the promise God gave to Solomon his great grandfather, that his name will forever be in the place he had built Him a house.  He told him about the enemies who were now advancing, and brought to the fore his answer to Solomon when he prayed during the temples dedication. God answered and said to him, the battle was not his (Jehoshaphat) but the Lords! 2Chronicles 20.14, and he is told to believe Gods prophets and he shall be established.

Spiritual wars are not won by our own initiatives, and abilities to fight the war our own way, or use strategies that are appealing to us, or any sophisticated armory at our disposal, rather God uses his own strategy that looks so foolish in mans eyes to confound the enemy. Figure out where a nation had laid down all the sophisticated weapons, and allowed men of God, and the praise and worship team to praise him in the battle. It is ridiculous in the eyes of man. I say this will rile some great military pundits who have such great knack in analyzing the dimension of any combat. The generals in Jehoshaphat army had no choice but to obey. Obeying the voice of God is key to winning any spiritual looming battle. They won big, without much ado from the advancing foe, God killed those armies, and made them have spoils of war which they gathered for three days.

We should not be dismayed, or despair when we don’t see ready answers to our prayers. The enemy should not be given any room to maneuver. It is irksome to see how irate folks can behave when, they don’t seem to have their way.  Learning that God has given us power is vital, and it should not escape our attention that as many as are` led by the Spirit, they are the Sons of God.

Jehoshaphat had been down, though he did some good things, but his association with Ahab's family through marriage, had eroded his spiritual standing. God send him a terse message that showed his dislike of such unholy alliance. With Jehu son of Henani meeting him to deliver God's verdict after near lose of his life, when he joined Ahab the hater of God in battle, things were taking a dramatic turn.  God said "should you help the ungodly, and love those who hate the Lord"? and the seer told him the wrath of the Lord is upon you. Nevertheless some good deeds were noted by the Lord which he had done. The story of this king is a good example on how one can recover from a fatal spiritual fall and overcome to register on of the great victories recorded in bible history times, that truly shows the working mighty hand of the Lord.

In 2012 you will not walk as a defeated person, recover from the attack, and charge at the enemy. It is a year of great victory. I hear the voice tell me that, time has now come for the Children of God to walk victorious. They will triumph as they obey Gods voice. God is taking you out of that situation into great victory never seen in your life in 2012. Glory be to God!
Dr. Ephantus N. Steve