Why we lose our battles?

I am on the winning side
The winning side, the winning side

I am on the winning side
The winning side all the time. – Sunday Class Song “Jesus is the winner man”

"Christians don't tell lies they just go to church and sing them" - A.W. Tozer.

After having a hectic, stressed out week, if I were to sing this song on Sunday mornings, Man…It’s a LIE. I know that you’d probably argue with me that it’s a positional truth. (The Bible talks about, Practical, Positional and Permanent Truths) But for an ordinary earthling, when I sing this song, my head does not resound theology; rather it sighs --- “Now, C’mon, from the kind of week that you just had, Are you sure about those lines??!!” but then, I have to sound spiritual, so I just blurt these words in a melody though I really don’t mean them in my heart.

The title of this post is a question. “Why we lose our battles?”

If you’re probably expecting a deep, spiritual analysis and unearthing of some undiscovered Biblical secret (What am I thinking? Why would they expect this from me...I’m Callie, not Tozer) as an answer to the questions. Then you’d probably be disappointed. Because most of our problems (spiritual and carnal), have very simple solutions. That’s how God wanted it to be. Because the Bible is for everyone and not just for the scholars.

And this question also has a simple answer.

Disobedience.

Judges 1:19 (NIV)
¹⁹ The LORD was with the men of Judah. They took possession of the hill country, but they were unable to drive the people from the plains, because they had iron chariots.

God was with the Hebrews, they could walk through the Red Sea, break the walls of Jericho, drink water from the rock and be fed and taken care of in the wilderness without losing their sandals. But now these folks couldn't confront their enemies just because they had iron chariots. Strange eh?

Sometimes life feels like that too. We would have won certain great battles in our life, survived through rock-bottom times and made a comeback when all thought it was over. But now,there's an iron chariot that we can't confront, we have a problem that's so overwhelming and we can't claim victory.

The Israelites reached the Promised Land, now they had to inherit the land that was allocated for them. But that wasn’t easy; the Canaanites put forth a tough fight. The Israelites had to win these battles to acquire their possessions. God allowed these battles because he wanted to teach the young Israelite generation faith and obedience. The battles faced by the Israelites were their moments of testing.

A Test if they would keep the way of the Lord and walk according to His commands (Judges 2:22).

God had the power to give victory to the Israelite warriors over the iron chariots. But He did not choose to. The Jehovah Nissi. The Lord our Banner - did not give them victory.

That’s because the Israelites had some fundamental problems.

Lethargy

First, though they had a pretty clear goal, and well defined objectives, they lacked the discipline and energy to reach it. They wanted an easy way. Maybe they had the “mood-swings”. Maybe they were lethargic and lacked the drive.

Lack of Gratitude

Secondly, Fear gripped them. Fear prevails where Faith fails and Faith fails where Gratitude is lost. Looks like the Israelites forgot the Mighty Hand of God that preserved them. Somewhere in their heads they thought that it was their strength that brought them so far. So, now they were afraid the enemy was too strong for them and the iron chariots seemed unbeatable.

Comfortable with sin

Thirdly, they were getting pretty complacent with sin. Instead of driving out the roots of sin from their lives, they allowed sinful practices to coexist. This caused a spiritual decay to set in. Therefore, they lost their faith, their purpose and their direction.

When we see iron chariots

Sometimes, the only thing that we can see are the iron chariots. Our vision gets fuzzy. But you need to know that the IRON CHARIOT is not the real problem. The real problem, the real devil is within us. The problem is our disobedience and our resistance to change.

I think God gets pretty mad when He hears stuff like, “That’s my character…I can’t change..”.C’mon when Jesus can give up His Kingship and glory for OUR benefit, giving up small personal tendencies that are sapping us of our potential and drive from inheriting God’s provision for us shouldn’t be a big deal.!

Every problem HAS a solution, but the solution starts with a change in us. But most of the times we expect the solution to just sweep across from the outside. We think that things will become better if our parents change, if our spouse changes, if our family gets organized or if others can become more considerate. However, the solution starts from US. If we are not gonna change, nothing is gonna change FOREVER.

Heroes who overcame the iron chariots

It’s amazing how just few chapters down in Judges, there were other folks who easily handled the iron chariots. And they are the famous duo, Deborah and Barak.

Judges 4:12-16 (NLT)
"When Sisera was told that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor, he called for all 900 of his iron chariots and all of his warriors…Then Deborah said to Barak, 'Get ready! This is the day the LORD will give you victory over Sisera, for the LORD is marching ahead of you.' ..When Barak attacked, the LORD threw Sisera and all his chariots and warriors into a panic. Sisera leaped down from his chariot and escaped on foot…"

These guys operated in obedience to God, discipline, faith, and unity of purpose. Result - God gave them victory.

So that clears the point, the iron chariots are no big deal for God. But the question is, are we ready to keep his commands and follow His ways? Are we ready to allow God to change us or are we giving excuses?

How to win our battles?

Obedience.

Learning to obey,

Callie Ariel