The Battle Belongs to the Lord

You are commanded to fight.

Men have said to me repeatedly, “The battle belongs to the Lord, Alan! It belongs to the Lord! Our job is to remain faithful!”

Yeah, okay, sure, I agree.

But…

You do realize remaining faithful is fighting in that very same battle, right? You do know that the battle belongs to the Lord, but we’re commanded to wield the sword, do you not?

So many men these days refuse to evangelize, confront, rebuke, discipline, debate, and otherwise because “the battle belongs to the Lord.” They misrepresent those statements from Scripture(for example, 2 Chronicles 20.15 and 1 Samuel 17.47) to excuse inaction. But what they’re really doing is disobeying. Contextually, God is saying to fight, knowing He already won.

We are still required to fight. We are commanded to fight, first, on our knees. Then, as the Lord leads, possibly with our hands, mouth, mind, pen, silence, etc, we fight. There is always an action God expects us to take in any battle. Sometimes, yes, it seems like inaction. But not always. And because so many men are cowardly these days - in the pulpit AND the pew - their default is actual inaction without prayer. And then sometimes there is actualinaction after prayer, even though God’s leading is clearly telling them to fight.

Men, you are commanded to fight. Resting on your laurels in some pious, aloof spiritual seat of pacifism is not biblical; it’s sinful.

Fight for your time with God. Fight for your marriage. Fight for and even with your wife sometimes. Fight for and even with your children sometimes. Fight the school district. Fight the commies. Fight the lies, the evil, the disgusting, the abominations…

And fight yourself first and foremost. No other battle is harder than the one you fight with yourself. Fight the urge to make excuses, to justify sin, to look again, to say “just one more.” Every one of those battles might belong to the Lord, but you still have a command to fight.

The battle belongs to the Lord, but you still have to fight in it unless you choose to dodge the draft spiritually. In that case, good luck explaining that to high command when you’re summoned to the throne. Because high command sees that as treason, and there might be hell to pay.

Be faithful,

Alan