The Battle Belongs to the Lord

by Karin Paparelli

"When the enemy presses in hard do not fear, the battle belongs to the Lord." You may recognize this verse taken from a familiar worship song, it's a song I've been singing a lot lately. Preparing for the Suffolk County March for Jesus I expected attacks from the enemy's camp, but surprisingly there were few. That is, until recently. A week ago the siege began full force!

This past weekend my husband and I went away to recharge our marriage and rest. Preparing for the March has been taxing on us individually and as a family and we needed a little R&R. With three small children this doesn't happen very often so we were blessed when our dear friends volunteered to take our children for the weekend so we could spend some time alone. Well the morning of our departure as we were driving our youngest child to his temporary home Satan came in like a flood. I began having breathing difficulties. I felt like I wasn't getting enough oxygen, my breathing seemed shallow. So I tried to reason. First mistake. Then I engaged in battle. Second mistake. Finally I pleaded with God to intervene and restore my breathing. Mistake number three. I went into a panic. I started to think of how close we were to the hospital, and maybe we should go to the emergency room before I died! While all of this was going on in my head, my husband was quite unaware. He probably sensed something was up, because I am not usually so quiet, but I had not yet confessed my looming peril, not wanting to upset our plans. We dropped off our son and said goodbye. As we drove away, I confessed. He remained calm. Since I had been struggling for fifteen minutes, I suppose he felt reassured that I was not going to suffocate, but that this battlefield was my mind! He tried to encourage me as best as he could and put on a scripture memory tape on spiritual warfare.

We arrived at the ferry. He went to run an errand and I sat in the car alone. I prayed that God would show me what to do. I recited scripture out lou,"Submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you" It wasn't working! I remembered Jesus said, " Ask anything in my name and it will be yours according to the will of my father in heaven". So what was the will of the Father? Certainly not to die on vacation! No, He wanted me to enjoy this much needed rest with my husband; to be focused and undistracted. So armed with the sword of God's word and the shield of faith I prayed, "Father in heaven, I know that it is your will that I be undistracted on this trip, Satan has done nothing but distract me since I left the house. Please forgive me for taking on the battle myself. I know that it is your battle and you are victorious. Please forgive my unbelief! Now I pray in the name of Jesus, according to your perfect will for me, that I be released from this torment. Satan I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to leave me. You have no right to be here!" Instantly I was freed! I started to sing praise to my God and Savior. He whom the son sets free is free indeed! The rest of the trip was restful and enjoyable.

I often need to remind myself that it is not my fight, but the battle does belong to the Lord. I suppose that is my struggle, my weakness. I want to win the battle on my own. And so the devil engages me, but I am no match for Satan, not on my own. He deceives me into thinking it is my battle, that there is something I must do. All I need to do is to rest in the assurance that Jesus has overcome the devil. I need to trust that the battle belongs to God and He is victorious. He already won! To trust and not battle sounds easy and perhaps for some it is, but not for me. You see I have been fighting my own battles for a long time. I am learning how to sit still and let someone else fight for me. As I said before it is my weakness, and it's a long way to perfection.

This is only one of my weaknesses, there is another and Satan used this one too. The word says, "And they overcame him (Satan) by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony and because they did not love their lives so much". The first two are not difficult for us to apply; we pray by the blood of the lamb, and we recall our own testimonies easily enough, but have we let go of our lives? You may think so until you think you are dying. And then you may say or do anything to preserve that life. Satan is overcome when we no longer love our own lives more than death. The apostle Paul understood this when he said, "To live is Christ, to die is gain" . May that be my battle cry!

To my dismay, Satan has not yet fallen into the great abyss. Just two days ago my brakes failed on my car. But praise be to God, it happened in a service station! I suppose as long as I am doing the Lord's work and threatening Satan's kingdom, I will be a target. So I will put on the full armor of God, pray for wisdom and discernment, and remember, the battle belongs to the Lord!

May you walk in His grace. Thy kingdom come!

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