The Battle is the Lord’s

The Battle is the Lord’s

“The Lord your God wins victory after victory and is always with you.”

Zephaniah 3:17 (CEV)

I just love the above scripture because it brings me such tremendous peace. I love resting in the knowledge that I don’t need to “get down and dirty” in battle. All I need to do is hand it over to God and He will fight for me. In Romans 12:19, Paul writes that we are not to take revenge, but that we are to leave it to God because vengeance belongs to Him.

I don’t want to as act as if I have always handed every battle over to God, because I haven’t. Truly, I am a WIP (work in progress), and so I will be honest and say that this has been another area where it has taken me some time to get to a place where I could just stand still and rest in the knowledge that God is for me and will handle whatever concerns me.

To those of you who know me now, it may be hard to picture me back in my younger years, but I will just say I was quite “sassy.” It would even be safe to say that if someone crossed me, I got ‘em back however necessary.

I do believe that it is human nature to want to fight our own battles. Simply put, if someone hurts you, you want to hurt them back. It seems as if it is something that is etched in our DNA this need to do battle; but the good news is that when we become a child of God, we no longer need to fight our own battles. God will do that for us.

I smile as I write that because realizing that brings such profound freedom.

I remember Moses telling the Israelites that they only needed to be still because God would fight their battle for them (Exodus 14:13-14). And He did, and the most awesome thing is that He can and wants to do that for all of His kids. As Bishop T.D. Jakes would say, that’s shouting stuff right there, because it is!!!

Isn’t it great to know that God loves us so much that He is willing to fight in our stead?

Years ago, the phraseology of “Let go, let God” was so popular and at first, I thought of it cliché; but as I have grown in my walk with the Lord and have allowed His promises contained in His Word to take root in my life, I realized that that mantra of letting go and letting God was simply an amazing recipe for living the best life possible.

I no longer need to battle or approach every harm done to me as if I am in a 15 round, winner take all knock-out fight. I can simply rest and trust that my Father, who loves me so much, will take every concern to heart and will grant me the best possible outcome.

And that, my friends, is the sweetest victory of them all.

Precious Father, thank You for loving me so much that You are willing to fight for me so that I can rest in You. In Jesus’ Name, I pray, Amen

-Nina Fortson