Priscilla Shirer - Stand Firm on God's Word to Face Your Battles
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Summary
Drawing from the story of Gideon in Judges, the preacher emphasizes that true victory in spiritual battles begins with worship and prayer on our knees, recognizing that God has already secured the win. She contrasts fighting for victory with fighting from victory, using examples from Gideon and Joshua to show that God has already given us the promises and the land—over 8,000 promises in Scripture are ours as believers. The key is to stand firmly on God's Word, meditate on it deeply even in busy seasons, and live from that place of assured triumph, which can transform our confidence and influence those around us.
Gideon's Worship in the Face of Danger
Gideon teaches us that if we want to win the battle, we’ve got to begin the battle on our knees. And you know the only reason why Gideon was able to worship God in the face of impending danger? We find the reason in what Gideon said to the men when he returned to the camp.
Verse 15: he returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Arise, for the Lord has given”—somebody say “has given”—“the Lord has given the camp of Midian into your hands.” He said to them, “Arise!” He went back to the 300 and said, “Arise! Get up! Get your stuff together! We’re ready to go, and we’re going because the Lord has already given the Midianites into our hands.”
Fighting from Victory, Not for It
He did not go to them and say, “Get up! We’re going to go fight in hopes that we will win a victory.” He did not say, “Get up! Arise! We’re going to go, and we’re going to expect that maybe God is going to give us the victory.” No, what he said was, “Get up! Arise! We’re going in anticipation, knowing in advance that the victory has already been won.”
You know how you win a victory, my friend? You begin the battle on your knees and you face the battle from a stance of victory. Listen, y’all, we are not fighting for victory; we are fighting from victory. You are already positioned in a place of victory in your life. The task now is to station yourself there, and we’ll talk about this a little bit more later, but stationing yourself in a place of victory and then realizing that you’re going to claim what God has already given you.
The Promised Land Already Given
Remember when the Children of Israel went into the Promised Land in Joshua chapter 1? God confirmed His calling of Joshua. He said to him, “Be strong and courageous when you march into the land.” Then He said to him, “Every place you put your feet, you will have access to. I have already given the Promised Land to you; the whole of it already belongs to you. But you’ll only get to enjoy as much as you put your feet on.”
So listen, for centuries, the Children of Israel were held up in a little small corner of Canaan when they had access to the whole of it, simply because they were too intimidated by the Canaanites to go over there and step on that land.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be so intimidated by the enemy that I don’t get to experience the blessings that God has already got with my name on it. All it takes is for you and me to walk in the truth of what we know from God’s word.
Over 8,000 Promises for Believers
Listen, there are over 8,000 promises in the Word of God for believers in Jesus Christ. Did you hear what I just said? Over 8,000 promises! These are things that are just available to us because we’re daughters of the King, because we’ve been adopted into the family of God, because they’re just our inheritance, because He’s a good God and likes to give good gifts. He just passed on all these promises to us, my friend.
But listen, most of them He did not place within our hand; He placed them in our reach. In other words, you have to participate in the experience of those promises in your life. When you are fighting a battle in your life, you need to know that the promises God has for you, the promises the Word of God has already laid out for you in your life, are already yours. You are not fighting for them; you are fighting from a stance of victory.
Plant Yourself on God's Word
You plant yourself on the Word of God, on the truths of what it says, and then you go and claim what God has. Listen, whatever you need to do to make sure this Word is in your heart and in your mind, that’s what you have to do.
If you are a mother of small children right now and it’s hard for you to get this time in the Word of God; if you are a busy career woman and this is a difficult time on your job; if you’re busy in ministry right now, maybe you’re taking care of your aging parents and it’s taking all of your hours—it’s just a lot, and you’re having trouble spending time in the Word of God—listen, when you’re in a battle, you can’t afford not to have a strategy book at your disposal, in your mind, in your heart, ready to prepare you for war.
Unconventional Ways to Meditate on Scripture
You’ve got to have the book open and inside of you, ingrained into your life. So even if you have to do it in unconventional ways, I will tell you that for a very long time, how I have spent time with God is because of these three little people in my life. Sometimes I just write a scripture verse down on a 3×5 card—several of them.
I put one where I’m going to be washing dishes, one where I’m going to be folding clothes, and one in the car on the dashboard where I’m going to be running errands. For seven days, maybe seven full days, I’m just concentrating on that one verse. I’m just meditating on it, and I’m just mulling over it, and I’m just thinking about it, and I’m asking the Lord to use it in my life. At the end of seven days, that thing is inscribed on my heart.
It is better for you and me to inscribe one verse of scripture on our heart than to read two or three chapters of scripture in a day and have absolutely no idea what we just read.
Know and Claim Your Victory
Do whatever you need to do in whatever unconventional ways to make sure you know the victory that has already been given to you, to know what has already been declared about you, the promises that He has already extended to you. And then you fight from a stance of victory—not for it, but from it.
How Gideon's Confidence Changed Everything
I wonder how the 300’s perspective—those 300 men—changed when Gideon came back. I mean, when he had left, remember? When Gideon left, he was insecure, uncertain, and timid. Then he went down and heard those two guys talking about him. He came back and said, “Y’all, get up! Arise! We’re getting ready to go get us a victory today!”
I wonder how the 300’s confidence changed when their leader’s confidence changed. I wonder how, when he came back into the camp with a smile on his face and holy anticipation burning in his soul, it spread like wildfire from the front lines of the 300 all the way to the back.
Bringing Victory Home
I just wonder how it spread. And I just wonder what would happen if you and I left the service today and went back into the frigid temperatures of our home or our work or our circumstances, bringing the warmth, passion, and enthusiasm of victory with us.
I wonder how things would change in our children’s lives and in our spouses' lives—not because we go home and start preaching to them, but because we go home and start living like the victorious women that we are. We are not steeped in fear, insecurity, and lack of confidence anymore; we are resting on the knowledge and truth of our great God. We understand that the victory has already been given to us.