When I sat down to write this devotional, I certainly had no intention of referencing a 80’s/90’s Christian rock band and letting you all know that “Yes, I’m that old”, but here we are! One of my favorite Christian bands in middle school and junior high was Petra. They had the big hair, good rock music, and a message that made me feel good and my parents approved of! My two favorite albums were Beyond Belief and Petra Praise – The Rock Cries Out. The latter is the one I will be referring to today.
If there is one thing we can all agree on, it’s that there is a lot of turmoil happening in our world. Whether local or abroad, there are so many stories of war, violence, hate, and persecution. Now, I will be one of the first to remind people that the world has always had evil in it and perhaps we just have access to so much more information than in previous centuries. After all, reading through the Old Testament, there’s a lot of really awful things that happened in those times!
Ecclesiastes 1:9 states, “History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new.”
Just read the account of Noah and the flood in Genesis and we see in chapter 6, verse 5 that “The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and He saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil”, so there has always been evil rampant on the earth. However, I feel as though the enemy is scrambling. It’s messy and chaotic. It’s as if he knows his time is running out and he’s trying to wreak as much havoc as possible.
All that said, another thing I will remind people of is that there are a lot of good people in the world. There are so many people who will come alongside and help, have good hearts, truly love and care about those that are hurting, and want to do good things. Even in the days of Noah, amidst all the human wickedness that God observed, Noah and his family found favor because they were good, righteous people. However, I want to talk about a different aspect of the current state of the world.
But wait, what does an 80’s Christian rock band have to do with any of this? Where does Petra come in? Right here! They had a great reminder for as believers when it comes to trials and tribulations that come up in life, big and small. One of my favorite songs on the Petra Praise album is a song titled, “The Battle Belongs to the Lord” written by Jamie Owens-Collins.
“In heavenly armor we’ll enter the land
The battle belongs to the Lord.
No weapon that’s fashioned against us will stand
The battle belongs to the Lord.
We sing glory, and honor, power and strength to the Lord,
We sing glory, and honor, power and strength to the Lord!”
Further in the song…
“When your enemy presses hard, do not fear
The battle belongs to the Lord.
Take courage my friend, your redemption is near
The battle belongs to the Lord.
We sing glory, and honor, power and strength to the Lord,
We sing glory, and honor, power and strength to the Lord!”
As believers, we have to fix our eyes on Jesus, knowing that He has already won and this battle belongs to Him! It is not up to us to fight alone! Yes, we have each other and our church family is so great about coming together to encourage each other, help one another, and pray together for the various trials we go through and the challenges we face. However, more importantly than that is the King of Kings, the Lord God Almighty himself goes before us and fights the battle with us, giving us the strength, courage and ability to fight victoriously!
A great scripture that we can go to for encouragement and guidance is Ephesians 6:10-18, which says,
“ 10 A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. 12 For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
13 Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. 14 Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. 15 For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. 16 In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. 17 Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.”
Now, I’m not saying that the problems or hardships we face aren’t physically hard. By all means, I have faced some very real trials and pain in the physical realm, however, there is ALWAYS hope in the spiritual realm when we have accepted Jesus as our Savior and walk with Him through our daily life! I promise you, no matter how difficult the circumstances are that you are going through, He will not leave you! I believe a lot of what this scripture is referring to is the temptation, the negative thoughts and feelings that creep in, etc. because if there is one thing that I can assure you, the devil loves to kick you while you’re down. However, when we are physically “down” whether it be health issues, financial struggles, relationship problems, or any other challenge, you can trust that God will be there for you. As we clothe ourselves in the armor of God, we can stand strong in our faith, knowing the truth of who God is and have that assurance of our salvation through Jesus Christ, and be encouraged and strengthen through the Word of God, the Bible. Knowing that what truly matters, is that the Lord God is with us and if we believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior, repent of our sins, and live for Him, we will be victorious in the end, no matter what that ending looks like in the physical world.
To close out this devotional, I will leave a few more scriptures here that I pray bring you encouragement and hope, and remember, regardless of what trial may come, “The battle belongs to the Lord!”
John 16:33 “ I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
Romans 5:3-4 “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.”
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 “ We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. 4 [a]We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. 5 We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.”
Pastor Ann Canaday