When You Can't Fight, God Fights for You
"Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day" (Exodus 14:13).
This is the last part of the Lordship series. Israel is out of Egypt, but now they stand at the Red Sea. Pharaoh's army is behind them, and the sea is in front of them.
"And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace" (Exodus 14:13-14).
Do not be dismayed by what you see in front of you. Do not let your heart panic. Stand. Do not turn back. The road behind is closed anyway. Whatever bondage or situation you are looking at today, the Lord can do something so that you will not see it again.
The Battle Is Not Only Physical
"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Ephesians 6:12).
This war was not just between two people or two nations. Over nations there are spiritual princes (Daniel 10:13). When there is a conflict below, there is also a conflict above. When we are struggling with a situation in life, we often do not realize that a spiritual war is going on too.
No one wins a battle in the physical world without first winning it in the spiritual world. Everyone has to come to a place where they cannot do anything. As long as the battle is yours, you will not get the victory. "The battle is not yours, but God's" (2 Chronicles 20:15).
There Is a Spiritual Reality Behind What We Do
We fast. We lift our hands. We sit at the Lord's table. We fellowship. We praise in His presence and sing new songs. We preach the Word. It can look like ordinary physical activity. But behind all of it is a spiritual reality.
Moses standing in front of the Red Sea with a rod in his hand looked foolish. But God had told him, "lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it" (Exodus 14:16). When a person understands that, he stops trusting his own mind and starts listening to God.
The Night of the Lamb
In Egypt God sent ten plagues. In the first nine, Israel did nothing. In the tenth, they had to take part and obey.
Each household took a lamb and put its blood on the doorposts (Exodus 12:7). God said, "when I see the blood, I will pass over you" (Exodus 12:13). That night the tenth plague, the death of the firstborn, came on Egypt (Exodus 12:29). And God said, "against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD" (Exodus 12:12).
A New Beginning
"This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you" (Exodus 12:2). Your calendar starts in January. Theirs started from the month of their deliverance. Their real life began the night they were set free, and they remembered it for generations (Exodus 12:14).
They ate dressed and ready, "with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand" (Exodus 12:11). They baked unleavened bread because there was no time to wait (Exodus 12:39).
Before they left, they asked the Egyptians for silver, gold and clothing, "And the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians" (Exodus 12:35-36). I see it as the first payment for all their years of slavery.
Fear and Faith
Fear makes us react the wrong way. Fear makes us do things to escape. Faith makes us do what we should do. You are not an orphan. You have a Father.
But waiting and being still is one of the hardest things in life.
God Does Not Always Take the Short Road
"God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt" (Exodus 13:17).
We want things done fast. But God sometimes takes time to finish His work. He can use your circumstances to change you, and to judge those who troubled you.
"Egypt was glad when they departed: for the fear of them fell upon them" (Psalm 105:38). Then Pharaoh changed his mind. God said, "I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD" (Exodus 14:4).
God was separating them from their past. Until we understand that our life is not our own, we will keep trying to live it our own way.
The Rod Has No Value Without the Power Behind It
At the sea, Israel began to cry out and complain. But "the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds" (2 Corinthians 10:4).
The rod in Moses' hand had no value by itself. Look at what the song says in the next chapter: "And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap" (Exodus 15:8). Moses lifted the rod, and God breathed.
Sometimes three minutes of obedience is enough to reverse a thirty-year problem. God may give you one instruction, and one act of obedience can turn the whole situation.
God Judged the Power Behind Pharaoh
God called Pharaoh "the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers" (Ezekiel 29:3). Pharaoh trusted in the waters of Egypt, and the waters became the grave of his army. "There remained not so much as one of them" (Exodus 14:28).
When God gives deliverance, He does not only change the situation. He deals with the Pharaoh behind it, the power and the source behind it. We pray, "Lord, change my situation." But we need to come to our own Red Sea moment and see the spiritual reality behind it.
Who Will Bring Down the Wall?
The walls of Jericho were massive. You might be a great fighter, but what will you do about the wall? There is a wall standing in your life too. Who will break it?
Before the battle, Joshua met a man with a drawn sword. Joshua asked, "Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?" And he said, "Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come" (Joshua 5:13-14). You think there is your side and the enemy's side. There is a third side, the Lord's.
The Lord gave Joshua a strange instruction: march around the city for seven days, and on the seventh day shout (Joshua 6:3-5). Have you ever thought about the army of heaven that marched with Israel under that Captain? When the people shouted, "the wall fell down flat" (Joshua 6:20).
Hear the Voice of the Holy Spirit
When you pray, do you have time to listen to what God wants to say? God does not always do it the same way twice. The ways of the Spirit are very different. In deliverance, the most important thing is hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit. He is the trainer. He is the commander.
David Was a Worshiper Before He Was a Fighter
Israel's army was terrified for forty days (1 Samuel 17:16), because the battle was spiritual. David was a worshiper before he was a fighter. Read the psalms of battle carefully. Then hear what came out of his mouth: "Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts" (1 Samuel 17:45).
Words spoken in faith carry weight in the spirit.
When You Pray in Secret
When you shut the door and pray, God sees you in the invisible: "thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly" (Matthew 6:6). When you lift your hands and sing and dance in His presence, heaven moves.
At midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises in prison, "And suddenly there was a great earthquake... and every one's bands were loosed" (Acts 16:25-26).
Stand Still
The biggest changes in life come when we stop fighting in the flesh. The first sign is that a person becomes quiet. He has understood that his own efforts did not do it.
So stand at your Red Sea. Do not fear. Your deliverance comes from God.
The Lordship Series
This is Part 4 of a 4-part teaching on the lordship of God, first preached in Hindi as Prabhutv. Here is the full series in order:
Part 2: How God Breaks Every Bondage
Part 4: When You Can't Fight, God Fights for You (you are here)
More Teaching Series
The Mystery of Open and Closed Doors: Start with Part 1: The Stealer of Joy
The Decision Series: Start with Part 1: Why Decisions Matter
Marriage in the Lord Series: Start with Part 1: Marry Only in the Lord
Declarations
I will not fear. I stand still and see the salvation of the LORD.
The LORD fights for me, and I hold my peace.
The battle is not mine, but God's.
My weapons are mighty through God.
I hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, and I obey.
Every Pharaoh I have seen today, I will see no more.
Stay Connected & Grow Deeper
Watch the full message: Part 4 of the Lordship (Prabhutv) series on YouTube. Please note that the message is preached in Hindi.
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