1
So Moses continued to speak these words to all Israel. 2And he said to
them, “I am 120 years old today. I am no longer able to go out and come in. The
Lord has said to me, ‘You shall not go over this Jordan.’ 3 The Lord your God
himself will go over before you. He will destroy these nations before you, so
that you shall dispossess them, and Joshua will go over at your head, as the Lord has spoken. 4 And the Lord will do to them as he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the
Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them. 5 And
the Lord will give them over to you, and you shall do to them according to
the whole commandment that I have commanded you. 6 Be
strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” ~ Deuteronomy 31:1-6
Ever notice how even though the enemy was given into their hands, they still had to fight? They still had to show up. Even though they had the battle in their hands and God, Himself was going before them; they still had to fight. They still had to give it their all. Why do we, as Christians, feel as though we shouldn’t have to fight? We feel like we should just overcome without having to fight for it because Jesus said He overcame, so we’ll overcome… but that’s not how it works. If we’re in a spiritual war, then why would we think we don’t have to fight? Does the enemy in a physical war just give up because we say we’ll overcome them? No, of course not. The enemy fights to the death if necessary. So why don’t we think our spiritual enemies wouldn’t do the same?
Now if we do fight, we have to remember the rule to
overcoming, to not be afraid. See, fear is like having a double agent whom you
tell every one of your weaknesses to, and they inform the enemy. Now, you’re
going to be easily overtaken. Why? Because not only has the double agent turned
on you, but the enemy now also knows your weaknesses.
That’s how we’ve been fighting our battles, with fear. Fear
is not our friend. Fear is a liar. But most importantly, fear is our enemy.
It’s the one enemy who easily manipulates us into inviting him in and staying.
He’s the one enemy you don’t fight, why because we’ve become accustomed to him.
We say things like “oh, I worry because I care” or “you know
we’re a worrying family.” In fact, we have taught our children how to
invite fear in, so he doesn’t even need to manipulate them into letting him
come in. We do this with superstitions.
If you don’t do exactly what you’re supposed to do,
something bad will happen to you, so that that adult can keep their full
control. For instance, we tell our children or grandchildren, “chicken
merry, hawk near” or “if you going swimming on Sunday, you’ll
drown” or “if you see an owl outside your house, that’s bad
luck” or “if your outside too late at night (especially doing
something you aren’t supposed to) a duppy will get you”… see fear
doesn’t even chain us up, we do. Then once we’re chained, we chain up the next
generation, then the next one, and the next one. Until our entire family is
chained up and under a generational curse.
We place ourselves in chains. We place ourselves in cells. So why don’t we take the same key we used to lock ourselves in, and unlock the lock? Because we have become accustomed to that cell. Because we don’t know how to fight. First, you have to get rid of those superstitions. Why? Because that’s all they are, are superstitions. Lies of the enemy we have told ourselves and the generations after us. We have to change the way we think. If we do one thing wrong, God is not going to smite us from the Heavens and watch as we are overcome and destroyed. But instead, He creates a way out, so that we can escape before we are overcome. So that we can find our way back to Him.
God isn’t a God who wants to see us fail. He isn’t a God that He wants to hurt us. He is a God who wants to protect us. Who wants to keep us. So why would He send all of these bad things to happen to us, for no good reason? So in order to overcome fear, you have to learn who God is. He’s like a mother bear when her cubs are in danger because they put themselves in danger, she doesn’t just watch and say I told you so. She runs to their rescue and will fight to the death to save them. Now if a bear can do that, why wouldn’t our Heavenly Father, who formed each and every one of us, do that and more? So first, learn who God truly is. Then retrain your brain. Then unlock those chains and that cell door. Then overcome anything else that dares to stand in your way.
Peace. Love. Go forth and Fight.
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