The battle is the Lord's

Believers in Christ, did you know that the enemies that you are afraid of are more scared of you than you are of them, because God is for and with you? Check out what the Israelites said after God told them to go and possess the promised land and the twelve spies had returned with their reports from spying out the land(Numbers 13):

30 "Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.”31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.” 32 And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. 33 There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight."

Grasshoppers??!!! How wrong they were!

After 38 years of their wandering/dying in ths desert, Joshua sent two spies to the same land. Rahab (the prostitute of the red rope on the wall of Jericho and of the genealogy of our Lord Jesus!) told these spies what their enemies really thought of them, even way back when they first refused to enter the land (Joshua 2):

8 Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof, 9 and said to the men: “I know that the Lord has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of you. 10 For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. 11 And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath."

After almost 40 years had passed, the so-called giants were still petrified of the Israelites. But the Israelites had interviewed these sons of Anak in their hearts and decided that they looked upon them like grasshoppers!

The Israelites trusted in their own strength instead of accepting God's kindness so they retreated and the ones with the knowledge of good and evil among them died with the exception of Caleb and Joshua. How does this relate to us believers today, you may ask? Today, our promised land is not a physical land. It is rest in Christ. (Hebrews 4). We can never enter this rest by our own strength/by what we do or don't do because without Christ, we can do nothing. We enter by God's undeserved, unmerited favour that is given to us freely in Christ.

Are you still trying to defeat giants in your life with your own armour? Do you think that your fasting, seed sowing, giving to the poor, nights spent on 'mountains' or keeping the Ten Commandments (which no one can) is what will move God to defeat the giants in your life or bless you? According to Isaiah 64:6 all these things (our righteousnesses) are like filthy rags to our Heavenly Father. Their origin is from the knowledge of good and evil. Remember that Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and they died. The Israelites that had knowledge of good and evil when God first told them to enter into the promised land died. The good things we do to get right with God can kill just as fast the bad things we do. They point to law-keeping and by the law is no one justified in God's sight. 

Doing these things will only serve to cut one off from Christ according to Galatians 5:4 - "For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace."

Rest in Christ is not inactivity. It is Holy Spirit-directed activity "for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." (Philippians 2:13). Jesus' sacrifice has made us 100% righteous in God's eyes.

Beware of those who peddle a bad report about your promised land as it was with the Israelites in Numbers 13, telling you that it is by your strength (works of the law or anything you do to get God to bless you or deliver you) that you enter. Don't let them tell you that you will be devoured because you are not strong. Of course you are not strong! "By strength shall no man prevail." But the battle is not yours. The battle is the Lord's. He gives us all things FREELY in Christ. Romans 8:32.

The devil wants you under the law 24/7 because that is how he can get you to condemn yourself and subsequently face judgment (all of the curses in Deut. 28). Jesus death has made you righteous and condemnation-free. The devil has been disarmed in your life by His death; check out Colossians 2. Ask for grace not to arm him back!

Because the same yesterday, today and forever is ALWAYS on our side, no matter how big the giants that you worry about are (including sin and addiction), they are more afraid of you than you are of them! Why? Because the battle is the Lord's!

Be still. See Salvation of the Lord (Salvation : our Lord Jesus). He will fight for you and cause you to hold your peace:)