“But I know that the king
of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. So I will
stretch out my hand …”
Exodus 3: 19-20
I know that the king of
Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him,” God said to Moses.
I rephrase this statement
as follows: “I know that the devil will not leave you alone unless a mighty
hand compels him.” That sounds totally true. Satan has to be compelled to leave
you alone, to let you go. He will never willingly let you go.
This goes to show the
determination that Satan has when it comes to constraining the children of God;
he wants to keep them in bondage forever. Christians, therefore, need to be
more determined than the devil to free themselves from his shackles.
Unfortunately, a number
of Christians are too lukewarm or absent-minded to even think of getting their
freedom; such Christians, therefore, remain under Satan’s bondage in various
areas of their lives.
The devil is determined
to bind you forever. If the devil is to leave you, he has to be compelled, not
persuaded, to do so. But who compels the devil? Listen to this: “So I will
stretch out my hand…,” said the LORD.
So, the battle was not
really Moses’ but the LORD’s. Likewise, even in the challenging situations that
we face today as Christians, the battle still belongs to the LORD; the battle
is not ours to fight.
But it does not mean that
we sit back and relax!
Even though the battle
belongs to the LORD, we still have an important role to play in the battle.
It’s not like we just sit back and watch the LORD fight the battles. I believe
that the LORD may fight some of our battles unbeknown to us; I also believe
that for some battles, although it is the LORD who fights them for us, we will
need to ignite the battles ourselves.
So, what’s our role in
these battles?
First, we need to believe
in the LORD.
Second, we need to put our
complete trust in Him and never doubt both His willingness and His ability to
take us out of any difficult situations or circumstances. The Bible teaches
that we will not get what we want if we waver through doubt.
Third, we need to walk in
total obedience to the LORD. I see that in Exodus, as far as both Moses and the
Israelites were concerned, obedience and disobedience took center stage, with
each attracting outcomes consistent with it.
Fourth, we will need to
pray without fainting, making our petitions known to the LORD. We will need to
humble ourselves and confess our sins when we come before Him. We will also
need to fast as often as we deem appropriate. If we did this, the LORD would
surely stretch out His hand and compel the devil to leave us alone, which would
kindle various kinds of breakthroughs in our lives.
The problem I have
noted though is that some Christians take the battles into their hands, in the
process misfiring and targeting the wrong ‘enemy’.
Evil is our enemy. The devil
is our enemy. People are never our enemies. We should never fight flesh and
blood. Our battles are all spiritual, not carnal. We live in the dispensation
of the New Testament.
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