July 16, 2013 … Ready for Battle?

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2013 - Day 197

Passage of the Day #1: Judges 7: 4-5 [Doing battle God’s way. ] [NLT] …  
4 But the LORD told Gideon, “There are still too many! Bring them down to the spring, and I will sort out who will go with you and who will not.” 5When Gideon took his warriors down to the water, the LORD told him, “Divide the men into two groups. In one group put all those who cup water in their hands and lap it up with their tongues like dogs. In the other group put all those who kneel down and drink with their mouths in the stream.”
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 Contextual Study involving today’s passage found in Judges, Chapter 6-7 … Go to this link …
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Reference Passage of the Day #1: 1st Peter 5: 8-9 [Never underestimate our enemy in battle. ] …
8 Be careful! Watch out for attacks from the Devil, your great enemy. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for some victim to devour. 9 Take a firm stand against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your Christian brothers and sisters all over the world are going through the same kind of suffering you are. 

 Reference Passage of the Day #2: 1st John 4: 4-6 [Our power is stronger than the power of the enemy!] …  
4 But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won your fight with these false prophets, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. 5 These people belong to this world, so they speak from the world’s viewpoint, and the world listens to them. 6 But we belong to God; that is why those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception.

Reference Passage of the Day #3: Ephesians 6: 10-12 [Every day is a battle!] …
10 A final word: Be strong with the Lord’s mighty power. 11Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies and tricks of the Devil. 12 For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms.

Devotional Song: Go to this link   … Today, please take the time to hear the group, Phillips, Craig, and Dean, singing, “I Choose To Believe” encouraging us to have faith and trust God in daily battles even when the odds seem to be stacked against us.

My Journal for Today: I most certainly hope that everyone who reads along with me here realizes, as I do, that every day, … every hour, … and in every moment of every day, we’re in a battle!

Jumping to one of the references passages in my devotional for today [i.e., 1st Peter 5: 8], Os Hillman helped me remember that we have a very powerful enemy who stalks us, as Christians, doing all he can to damage our testimony and witness with his battle ploys. And Satan is VERY POWERFUL; and he’ll try to shake our faith and cause us to be discouraged or to doubt our ability to fight him with discouragement or deception. But as the Apostles John and Paul reminded their readers (that’s you and me! … reading the passages above from 1st John and Ephesians copied above), our power to do battle is stronger than that of our formidable enemy, Satan. And we can win in battle – God’s way.

 Gideon had to learn that lesson, didn’t he? In Judges, Chapter 7, referenced above, we read of God asking a lot of Gideon’s faith, … paring God’s army down to 300 to do battle against the enemy with 100,000 warriors, who were known as battle-hardened soldiers. And to discern which 300 would be those to do battle, God proposed a rather preposterous sounding testing strategy. But Gideon had learned that no matter how preposterous God’s planning seemed to be, his job was to trust God; … and he did! And from history we know the result. God prevailed and Gideon’s 300 didn’t even have to raise their swords against the Midianites.

Questions: … fellow Christian warrior; … do we realize that we’re in a battle every day? And do we know that the enemy is powerful, trying to take us out as witnesses for Christ? And finally, do we believe that God will prevail for us in battle when we trust in Him and we prepare to do battle in His Name?

The song I’ve chosen to help me know that truth today is being sung by one of my favorite Christian groups, Phillips, Craig, and Dean; and their song expresses where we need to be as we face the battles of life today. Hear the song, praying with me today that we choose to believe and follow our Lord into battle and to win today’s battle in His Name and for His glory!

My Prayer for Today … Yes, Lord, I choose to believe and to battle in Your Name today! … Amen