The Lord is Our Banner | 11:00

At the cross, sin was defeated, Satan was disarmed, death was conquered. And so now as a follower of Jesus, I love this. This is so good. We don't fight for victory, we fight from victory. Did you catch that? We don't fight for the victory. The victory's already been won. We fight from the victory of Jesus, and his banner over us is his love. This passage teaches us today that the Christian life is lived in the rhythm of let go, let God, let's go because of what Jesus has done for us. [01:01:27] (48 seconds)  #FightFromVictory

Sometimes, the the greatest contribution we can make in spiritual warfare isn't trying to fight someone else's battle for them, but rather it's holding up their arms by prayer and encouragement, by walking beside them, letting them know that god is with them. Charles Stanley wrote, god never intended for us to live the Christian life alone. We need one another's strength, prayers, and encouragement. In other words, this is why the scripture says we're to bear each other's burdens. We're to encourage one another. Folks, this is the reason we have church. [00:55:37] (35 seconds)  #HoldEachOthersArms

You ready for this? Because spiritual maturity, spiritual growth occurs when we learn to trust god by stepping into the battle by faith, by obedience. God's not content with you being a spiritual baby. He wants you to grow up and get in the game. The Christian life is not passive. It is active dependence. God supplies the power, but we still have to step into the battle. And when that happens, two realities come together. Prayerful dependence leads to active depend active obedience. [00:57:44] (46 seconds)  #StepIntoFaith

But what I do know is that they were not warriors, which gives us our first lesson. God was teaching them that they could not win this battle in their own strength. They had to learn to let go. They had to let go of self reliance and they had to put their trust in him. Teaching every one of us, this is such an important lesson. Are you listening? Teaching every one of us that the Christian life begins when we release the illusion that we are actually in control of anything. [00:48:35] (37 seconds)  #NoSelfReliance

After the battle, Moses goes down and he builds this altar, and he calls it the lord is my banner. In ancient times, and this even goes up in through the civil war, you had one guy whose responsibility was to carry the flag. He didn't carry a gun. He didn't carry a sword. He carried the flag. He is the most vulnerable guy on the field, yet the most important person on the field of battle. Do you know why? For two reasons. One, he told the enemy, this is who you're fighting. But more importantly, he tells his troops, this is who you're fighting for and who's fighting with you. [00:59:24] (47 seconds)  #LordIsOurBanner

That's what he does. He waits toward discouraged, distracted, and drained to attack. It's also interesting that the that the name of the place where they stopped was called Rephidim. It actually means rest in the Hebrew. Finally, after all they've been going through, the Israelites have finally got a little bit of peace and rest. And again, that's when the that's when the enemy attacks. He attacks us when we when our guard is down and we're resting. [00:47:26] (33 seconds)  #GuardYourRest

What they did was more like a real warfare tactics, and they attacked from behind. They attacked from every different angle, and they waited to they they they they attacked the the widows, the children, and the most vulnerable. Ain't that just like Satan in spiritual warfare? He attacks us when we're most vulnerable. He attacks us when when we're not looking. He never attacks us when we're vigilant and strong. He waits until we're, remember, halt, until we're hungry, angry, lazy, and or lonely and tired. Lazy probably could fit in there too. [00:46:50] (35 seconds)  #AttacksTheVulnerable

So, yes, we are to let go, we're to let God, but then third, we're to let's go. That is we're to fight the good fight. This is this to me is is just so important. Moses, while he was praying on the hill and Joshua was fighting, the truth is, God could've gone like Thanos. He could've gone and the Amalekites could've been just destroyed. But instead, he invited the Israelites to get into the battle. Why? Why doesn't god just come up and snap his fingers? You ready for this? [00:57:09] (38 seconds)  #InvitedToFight