Fight On Your Knees

                                                   Fight on your knees

 “Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and forgive their sins and restore their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14

This came right after the dedication of the temple. What David wasn’t allowed to build for the Lord Solomon was. The bible says, when Solomon finished praying, fire descended from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. As God was giving them the instructions once again to worship only One God and to keep His statutes and covenant shortly after that they forgot. And even as the warning was given that if they turned away and abandoned His commands came and the consequence they still chose not to follow with whole hearts. They allowed the other gods to start to slip in. 

Why do we do that? We don’t just see the glory of the Lord fill the temple as Solomon did, but we get the glory of the Lord within us. We GET to be filled, and we settle for half filled.

“Don’t leave the enemy possession in the field.” A.W Tozer

Reading the Old Testament in Kings has been this constant reminder of how the Israelites forgot. They didn’t worship the One true God instead thought that they could live with idols and God which resulted in halfhearted obedience. They thought they could fear the Lord and fear other gods. And they didn’t choose obedience to the one true God. We do the same. 

“Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, purify your hearts, you double-minded.” James 4:7

I don’t want to be halfhearted for the Lord. When I am in that place it is me trying to figure out how it will all work out. It is my restless spirit in a back-and-forth mindset attempting to sort out what I am supposed to be doing and how I am supposed to be feeling. If I am just depending on my mind that causes me to get into a spiral and all the questions will begin to come. But when I submit to God, I am resisting my mind, and His Word promises that those thoughts will flee. When I am drawing near to Him, I am separating myself from what I am feeling and thinking. I am choosing not to have a divided loyalty and a divided heart. “Lord I am so scared about this next season, but I know you are with me in all of it.” Instead of, “Lord what am going to do and how is this going to work out?” 

Drawing near to God is releasing all my insecurities and fears. It is allowing those everlasting arms to embrace me. 

Father,

I don’t want to fight against your embrace. Help me to pray and believe and pray and believe. Your Word is there so that I can know your heart. I turn from my thoughts and say I have your Authority for the enemy to flee my mind. Help us remember that you fight for us. Help us to stand still and move out of the way of what you desire to do within us. We bear your name Jesus. Your name brings us Peace. Your name brings us Assurance. We can trust in you Jesus.

Amen