Steven Furtick - God Is Fighting For You
This is an excerpt from: I'm Going Through But I'm Running Over
But if you wrestle at the wrong level, you'll wear yourself out, fighting it where it shows up, but where it shows up is not where it started. So if you got somebody and they have an addiction, you can't counsel them to win against addiction with willpower. It's not a matter of willpower, it's a matter of worship. Something in their life has started meeting the needs that only God alone can meet. And if you don't show them that God can meet those same needs that alcohol can, that God can meet those same needs that pornography can, that God can meet those same needs as overspending, overeating can, if you don't fix the worship problem, you can't win it with willpower. Am I right about it? So you gotta fight with a focus.
Touch three people say, "Focus, focus". Fight with a focus. And the Prophet said, "This is not even about you. So don't be afraid". If it's too big for you, don't be afraid. This is what the Lord says to you. You got it on the screen, 2 Chronicles 20:15, "Don't be afraid". Don't be discouraged. Don't back down. Don't get in your own head and try to figure it out. You can't figure this one out. If you fight it, if you fight it, you're going to lose it. If you try to meet the righteous requirements of the law in your own strength, and don't let the power of Christ flow through you and the Holy Spirit direct you, you are going to keep losing the battles because you're wrestling on the level of what you can see, but it is not against flesh and blood, it's spiritual. So he said, "Don't be afraid for this vast army". Vast army is the phrase they use when they were just saying, it's too big for you. I know it's too big for you. But the battle is not yours, but God's.
When I say this, I want you to receive it, like if it was just for you. If it's too big, it doesn't belong to you. If it's too big, you got to give it back to God. And we say the battle is the Lord's, but we stress like it's ours. We say the battle is the Lord's, but we worry like it's ours. Now we've wasted all of our strength worrying, when we could have been worshipping. The battle is not yours. Give it back. Quit doing God's job for Him. God wants His battle back. God wants His battle back. It's too big for you. It came up from behind you. You can't do it, give it back. You can't fight it, give it back. You can't figure it out, give it back. How do you give it back? That's a focus. That's looking beyond what's coming against you and looking toward what is within you to know that, "greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world", and God wants His battle back.
The battle is not yours, but God's, and tomorrow I want you to march down against them, I want you to march down, against an enemy, that you're not even gonna have to fight. I want you to get in position. Not so that you can fight, not so that you can struggle, but so that you can see the deliverance that the Lord will bring about to Israel this day. God is fighting for Judah. God is fighting for worshipers. God is fighting for praisers. God is fighting for His people. God is fighting for you. You're His friend. You get His help. You get His strength. You get His miracles. You get His wisdom. You get His provision, you'll get His angels. If you worship you wage the war of worship. It's too big for me. What do you do when the battle chooses you? You worship your way through it.
Now that sounds good, but it feels stupid. Because here they come. Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites. They were all big in their own right, and they're all fighting together. And so how are you going to fight them? What are we going to do, Jehoshaphat? What are we going to do about this situation? What are we going to do about? The Prophet said, "You", 2 Chronicles 20:17, "will not have to fight this battle. But you're going to experience the victory". Not by fighting, but by focusing. If they would have fought, they would have lost, but because they focused on the goodness of God, you know what they did?
I love this scripture. I think this scripture is a beautiful illustration and picture of the weapons of our warfare that pull down strongholds in our life. It says that, "Jehoshaphat", 2 Chronicles 20:18, "bowed with his face to the ground, and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down in worship before The Lord. Then some Levites", that's the priests. "Some Levites", the one who administer the Levitical law, the the priestly law, "from the Kohathites and Korahites stood up and praised the Lord, the God of Israel with a very loud voice".
Why? Why? "Because early in the morning, they left for the Desert of Tekoa. And as they set out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, "'Listen to me, Judah'", Judah means praise, "'and people of Jerusalem! Have faith in the Lord your God and you will be upheld'". It's fight or flight time. It's fight or flight. But when you can't win the fight and you can't run from it, watch this. This is amazing. They didn't have to fight it, but they did have to face it. And God wants to give you the faith to face it, and to trust Him to fight it. Do you have the faith not to fight it in your flesh, but to deal with it in your Spirit? Jesus told Peter, "Put your sword away". Sometimes it takes more faith not to fight. Sometimes it takes more faith just to go to the cross and get over your pride and get over yourself and let Him fight your battles.
But what they did next is remarkable. Especially considering the enemies were standing right in their face. The Scripture says, "After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord". Singing is a strange strategy to fight three nations all at once. But sometimes the battle is so big, that you know, I can't fight this on my own.
I always thought that this scripture meant that when you're in trouble, you should sing. But some people can't carry a tune and they don't like music. Now, I realize that the passage isn't about music. It's about focus. And I want you to look past your enemy. And I want you to sing. It says that, "Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise Him for the splendor of His Holiness". Let's focus on Him. Let's focus on what's right about God, rather than what's wrong with our life. And if you will focus on that, if you will focus on that, if you will look past what's standing in front of you that's bigger than you, and look to the God who is bigger than it and praise Him for the splendor of His Holiness.
"As they went out at the head of the army saying, 'Give thanks to the Lord, for His love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord'". I wonder, are there any praisers from the tribe of Judah, who are willing to use gratitude as a strategy for the battle that I'm in and magnifying the Lord in the middle of the battle. "And as they began to sing in praise, the Lord set ambushes against their enemies, and they were defeated by the angel armies of God".
God is going to fight what you can see, by sending what you can't see. I declare an ambush against insecurity, an ambush against addiction, an ambush against oppression, an ambush against the darkness in your life. And watch this and I'm a pray for you. "The men of Ammon and Moab rose up against the men of Mount Seir", that's the enemies, "to destroy and annihilate them". The enemy started eliminating the enemy. That's what happens when you let God fight your battles. He's gonna use everything that came against you. He's gonna use everything that the enemy meant for evil. He's gonna use a cross to create a space for a resurrection. For the glory of the Lord is in this place. Give Him the shout of praise!