THE BATTLE BELONGS TO GOD

Recently I was just thinking about our previous home, Rio Vista (RV) unit number. It was pointing to Psalms 23:5. You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies. Pastor’s sermon last week was a replay from Jan 2016. It was about possessing our possessions. How the battle belongs to the Lord. Pastor was saying we fight by feeding on God’s word and not fighting. That is why the Lord prepares a table for us in the presence of our enemies. 

“Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.“ — 1 Timothy 6:12 NKJV. We fight “the good fight of faith” — The word “good” is the Hebrew word “kalos,” which means “beautiful” or “handsome.” The fight of faith is beautiful because in the end, we win. The only fight for us to fight is the good fight of faith.

 

On hindsight I realised why God gave us this unit number when we bought our RV condo in 2010. There was a fight of faith to be fought and the Lord was teaching us to fight by feeding on His word. Indeed the warfare and assaults had been very fierce and relentless but in the end we still win. I recalled how the giants started appearing in Nov 2015, like a prelude to 2016, the year of possessing our inheritance. 

 

2016 was a year that we saw giants coming out from the woodwork like never before. Honestly if not for His grace, I wouldn’t have made it through. The assaults back then were on my life. The enemy threatened to take my life unless I gave up on this promise. He was that blatant. At that time Pastor was talking about our light afflictions achieving an eternal glory. I totally had no idea what he was talking about. 

 

The nature of our flesh is to be inclined to the visible and palpable, that which our five senses can observe. However, God lives in the invisible realm. “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.” — 2 Corinthians 4:17–18 NKJV

 

Pastor said this. This temporal difficulty you’re facing now is working for you a far more exceeding and eternal, permanent weight of glory! The word “glory” is the word “kavod” in the Hebrew, which means “heavy.” At the end of your trial, you will see yourself coming out of it with an added weightiness or influence. Your presence and words will carry weight. Now on hindsight I could see what God was doing. 

 

It was only at the end of this trial that I see myself coming out with added weightiness and influence. My presence and words now carry weight. But in the midst of the trial it made no sense as to why I was being assaulted so fiercely. I couldn’t see past the next day. I was glad to have even survived! Well, surviving wasn’t God’s best for us. Thriving is. And I also had to learn how to rest in the midst of the battle. 

 

Even though the promise has not yet come, I can tell God, “Lord, I thank You that I can be at rest because You are fighting this battle.” Hebrews 4:11 was impressed upon me in the early years of my stay home season. I couldn’t fully comprehend why God told me to labour to enter into His rest. Many times, I feel like the battle is mine to fight, but it is the Lord’s. He is still saying to me today, “Don’t touch it! The battle is mine.”

 

Then I also thought about our current house unit number. 03-05. I looked up Strong’s concordance and saw this meaning in Hebrew. It says ‘my wish is that’. The Greek meaning is to go up, ascend, come up higher. Put together it means: My wish is to go up higher. Wasn’t this what the Lord had been doing in my life since we shifted here? Bringing me into a higher place. Coming up higher to see His perspective. I had come full circle higher level. Gone up higher in the paths of His righteousness.

 

I was also wondering which verse would correspond to 305 and then I saw Psalms 30:5. It says weeping may endure a night but joy comes in the morning. Wow! There was a season I held on to this verse dearly. God kept telling me that my sorrow will be turned into joy one day. I would not be camping in this valley of Baca (tears) but only passing through. Indeed when we left RV and shifted here, God began turning my sorrows into joy. 

 

No wonder God said I had to move away from RV. Though it started out as a haven, after a while that place was associated with too much failures and disappointments. I badly needed a change in environment. I needed a new beginning. I had to forget and put behind these things of my past in order to move forward into my future. There is always hope in the new things. When we shifted, the cycle of disappointments was broken off. 

 

God is so good. He had totally erased all traces of my past, things that could cause me to remember my sorrows. He made me forget the troubles in my past season when He brought me to this new home. Now the memories of my past are becoming very faint. With so many changes in my life for the past two years, I hardly could remember the pain and sorrow I went through in those years. God replaced those pain with so much joy. 

 

So the narrative was this. During those years of fighting, I had to continually feast on the word of God. It was really my lifeline back then, especially in 2016. Though things started to turn around from 2018, I still struggled with certain recurring issues. God began His process of healing my soul wounds from 2018 but the process was only complete this year. But once we shifted over here, God really brought me to a higher level. 

 

Connecting to my tribe last Sep was a major milestone as well because it was only with these like-minded believers that I could hone my prophetic anointing. These people really made a big difference in my life. I don’t take them for granted. It was partly because of them that I could come up higher. In 2020, the Lord brought me to an even higher level in terms of hearing from Him and boldly declaring His word. Especially in the area of vision and dream interpretation. And also my sensing of people and situations. 

 

Even Heng said that ever since we shifted here, I became more joyful and much less affected over the issue that used to plague me. There was clearly a shift like in Psalms 30:5. I had been crying so much in the previous night season but joy always comes in the morning. I really thank God for all the changes and the new things in my life since we shifted here. I had prayed for those changes and they came. And these are good changes. 

 

I experienced how the Lord slowly restored joy back to my life. There was a time I was caught in this heaviness, this dark cloud over me. My mind was oppressed by all the warfare and I had so many battle wounds. God took me out and nursed me back to health. He also strengthened me and put me back in the battle field. When I got back there I was no longer fearful of the attacks. I knew the enemy had lost. We had the final victory.

 

As my eyes focused on the Lord and His word, I began to see how we can rejoice even in the midst of adverse circumstances because as intense and overwhelming they might seem, it was only temporal. This too shall pass and yes many things had passed. Only God’s word endures. God always has the last say. And He saves the best for the last too. Well, this year I learnt about true freedom, peace and joy in the midst of difficulties in the world. 

 

During the lockdown when our freedom was restricted, God opened my eyes to see what real freedom was about. Freedom from the control of our flesh. Freedom from our emotions and feelings. Freedom from reacting when the enemy pressed that button. This freedom can only be found in Christ. Then I also learnt what true peace was about. It wasn’t dependent on our circumstances but it was an abiding peace in what God has said and resting on His faithfulness because if He said it, He would do it. 

 

And joy, oh joy! It used to be so elusive. I remembered having to read up books on how to be happy at one time. I just couldn’t find joy and pleasure during those tough times. I only knew what pain was like. But God is so good. He said He would repay me more joy than the pain and sufferings I endured. And He really did! He blessed me so much that I couldn’t help but be joyful. But then again true joy isn’t found in just His blessings. True joy comes from a deeper intimacy with Him, knowing how much He loves me and how precious I am to Him!