Prayer:
Lord, open our eyes that we may see on every battleground that the mountain is full of horses and chariots of fire all around. We will never fear because those who are with us are more than those who are with them.
In The Name of Jesus, Amen.
Streams In The Desert: The Enemy Cannot Wear Us Out
The Lord cannot do much with a crushed soul, hence the adversary’s attempt to push the Lord’s people into despair and hopelessness over the condition of themselves, or of the church[, or of their country]. It has often been said that a dispirited army goes forth to battle with the certainty of being beaten. We heard a missionary say recently that she had been invalided home purely because her spirit had fainted, with the consequence that her body sunk also. We need to understand more of these attacks of the enemy upon our spirits and how to resist them. If the enemy can dislodge us from our position, then he seeks to “wear us out” (Daniel 7:25) by a prolonged siege, so that at last we, out of sheer weakness, let go the cry of victory. (Excerpt from Streams In The Desert Devotional, entry dated 4/4, Anonymous).
We may sometimes feel worn out. We need only to stand tall and stand firm. The truth is that the enemy can only wear us out if we allow it.
So how do we resist and maintain the victory?
Those Who Are With Us Are More Than Those Who Are With Them
When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” 16 He said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 17 Then Elisha prayed and said, “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. 2 Kings 6:15-17
This is the prayer we need to pray for ourselves and for one another, “Lord, open our eyes that we may see”; for the world all around us, as well as around the prophet, is full of God’s horses and chariots, waiting to carry us to places of glorious victory. And when our eyes are thus opened, we shall see in all events of life, whether great or small, whether joyful or sad, a “chariot” for our souls.
Everything that comes to us becomes a chariot the moment we treat it as such; and, on the other hand, even the smallest trial may be a Juggernaut car to crush us into misery or despair if we consider it.
It lies with each of us to choose which they shall be. It all depends, not upon what these events are, but upon how we take them. If we lie down under them, and let them roll over us and crush us, they become Juggernaut cars, but if we climb up into them, as into a car of victory, and make them carry us triumphantly onward and upward, they become the chariots of God. —Hannah Whitall Smith (From Streams In The Desert Devotional, entry dated 4/4.)
The Heavenly Army – Picture from The Holy Scriptures, Old and New Testaments books collection published in 1885, Stuttgart-Germany. Drawings by Gustave Dore. The image represents 2 Maccabees 5:2-3.
And it happened that over all the city, for almost forty days, there appeared golden-clad horsemen charging through the air, in companies fully armed with lances and drawn swords — 3 troops of horsemen drawn up, attacks and counterattacks made on this side and on that, brandishing of shields, massing of spears, hurling of missiles, the flash of golden trappings, and armor of all sorts. 2 Maccabees 5:2-3, RSV
Throughout Scripture, when good and evil war on earth, a simultaneous battle occurs in the heavenlies, cf. 2 Kings 6:14-17, Daniel 7:23-27, Revelation 12. This should give us all the most confident assurance known to mankind. If God is for us, who can be against us (Romans 3:31)?
