Pushing back the enemies!
“Through You, we push back our enemies; through Your name we trample our foes.” Psalm 44:5
Life brings hardships, trials, disappointments, times of sorrow and suffering, “ENEMIES” that come against us. When I first read Psalms (especially ones of David on the run from his enemies) early in my spiritual walk, I would kind of smile and think, “I’m so glad I don’t have any ‘enemies.’ I’m such a sweet person, everyone likes me. I can’t think of one person who is my enemy.”
Naive, huh?
What God soon revealed to me is that I DO have an enemy….an enemy like no other.
…..not a jealous friend who whispers rumors behind my back.
…..not an unfriendly neighbor who stirs up trouble in the neighborhood.
…..not a rival at work.
…..not a childhood friend holding a grudge against a long-forgotten mistake.
Nope.
This enemy is beyond my worst nightmares.
As Jesus said in John 10:10, the thief comes “ONLY to steal, to kill, and to destroy.”
Imagine that- ONLY to do harm to me. He comes to steal a dream, steal my confidence in who I am in Christ, to steal my joy…. He comes to kill relationships, to kill my body with disease…. He comes to destroy marriages, destroy my faith, destroy my witness, destroy my reputation, to destroy God’s reputation….
Sometimes, I can be confused to think my “enemy” is a person in my life. But Ephesians 6:12 tells us, “our struggle is not against FLESH AND BLOOD, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” When the enemy uses people in my life to do his dirty work, I must remember that my battle is a spiritual battle!
It is spiritual when I am wrestling the “enemies” in my head- frustration, doubt, loneliness, fear, worry….
How do I fight a SPIRITUAL BATTLE????
“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 2Corinthians 10:3
We battle the enemy with spiritual weapons. We speak the Name of Jesus over our situation and straight to the enemy.
“Through You, we push back our enemies; through Your name we trample our foes.” Psalm 44:5
When the battle comes, speak His Name.
Jesus.
Jesus.
Jesus.
Father God, thank You that You fight the battles for me. All I need to do is keep my eyes on You, speaking out the Name above all names, Jesus Christ. Thank You that He that is in me is greater than he that is in the world. Thank You that You have already won the battle, Jesus, and that “it is finished.” You have accomplished all that I need and Satan is a defeated foe. Remind me in the midst of my battles, to call upon Your name. In Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen.
Pushing with you, dear sister,
Tracy
Amen, God helps me through all of my battles.
Amen, Tracy. It is so true that the enemy likes to discourage us. Like you said the best is to keep our eyes fixed on Him who will see us through the deepest sorrows.
Too often, we (I) just give up, lay down and stop fighting. But, thank God, we have the power of Jesus and even though it is a battle, we fight it with Him by our side. We are not alone…you are not alone. My enemies lately have come in the form of apathy and discontent and self-absorption and worldliness. But, I’m done with losing to my enemies – I’m ready to find victory through Jesus. Thanks Tracy!
I love this post Tracy. So many times when fear and worry begin to consume me I have to stop and recognize that this comes from an enemy. And, as you say, this enemy wants to do me harm. This enemy wants me to doubt, to question, to separate myself from my God, who only wants the best for me. Thanks for a great post.
Andie
So thankful that in the heat of battle we can simply call His name… Jesus.
Thank you for this lovely post.