Early in my faith walk I took responsibility for every battle myself with a perfunctory and shallow prayer to God through in for “insurance.” Ridiculous.
Looking back on the countless battlefields of my defeats drives home God’s immutable truth that the battles of life are not mine to fight. Never. (See below 2 Chronicles 20:17.)
I spent yesterday in a hospital emergency room with a dear friend who suffered a stroke while we were having breakfast. As that scene unfolded at the restaurant and moved from the tension-pounding ambulance ride to a bustling Southern California emergency room, I was overwhelmed with the truth that our battles cannot be won by us.
They are between God’s light and the world’s darkness. Between heaven and hell. Between good and evil. And that is why the victories are assured.
It is a blessing to be part of these battles with God to see how he would use them to grow my faith and witness to others who need to see and accept Jesus.
Here are the three steps I take to give my battles to God:
- Accept reality and don’t try to run from the battle.
- Do not be dismayed or discouraged—it’s not our battle.
- Resist fighting, rest on God’s promises, and then pray and wait.
For me, I ask God to remind me continually to disengage from all self-fought battles and give them to him in total trust and faith of the outcome being part of his plan for my life.
