Don’t Turn Your Head

In my last post, Far Above, I mentioned discussing in a little more detail about defeating our enemy in the air.

We have to come to the realization that the devil is our absolute enemy. He’s ruthless when it comes to attacking us. He doesn’t fight fair. He will use every trick in his bag of lies against us, including twisting the Word of God ever so slightly so that we will become confused and ultimately start to question God. If we aren’t careful, we will fall for the same lies over, and over, and over again, while wondering how these things keep happening to us. It’s actually very simple: we aren’t staying focused.

Instead, we focus internally rather than externally. In other words, we focus on self rather than Jesus.

The enemy is a snake, slithering, prowling around like a lion, looking for someone who has taken their eyes off Jesus and is not paying attention. When he finds that person, he attacks. He also attacks those who are fully committed to Jesus. He watches and waits, then will use sly tactics to distract, going as far as to use God’s Word to trick others. That’s what he did to Eve in the garden; “Did God really say …?” (Genesis 3:1). He brings doubt and confusion.

The good news is, God is not the author of confusion, but of peace (1 Corinthians 14:33, NKJV)! Therefore, if you’re confused about anything ask God to give you the answer and help you understand, because He promises He will help you and also give you peace.

This is why it is so important for us to be like the eagle I mentioned in my last post. I said the eagle never turns its head back. It always looks ahead, never behind. This is such a good example of how we should be in our lives. Never looking back, always looking forward. For when we look back, we will inevitably trip up and fall.

The apostle Paul gives some good advice for which direction to look, “…but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us,” Philippians 3:13-14 (NLT).

Jesus reminds us in saying, “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy…” Right there proves the devil only wants to cause trouble. However, Jesus went on in that same verse and said, “My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life,” (John 10:10, NLT).

I love how the Amplified Bible says this verse; “…I came that they may have life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows],” (emphasis is mine).

The words in brackets are there to define what having an abundant life means. Jesus meant for us to have a rich and satisfying life, to have an abundant life, a full life, overflowing with blessings. But often what happens is we get distracted by things in life which take our attention away from the promises and blessings of Jesus. This is when the devil hits us with worldly things which the Bible defines as “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,” (1 John 2:16). The same three tactics he has used since the beginning of time.

Whatever battle we face though, we are promised victory. Yet, victory doesn’t come by us sitting and doing nothing. We must stand and face our enemy. Even though the victory is ours, we still must make a showing. In others words, we have to show up to the fight. We must be prepared. That means, we must have on all of God’s armor (Ephesians 6:10-18). No soldier goes into combat without armor or without being prepared.

The weapon may be formed, but it won’t prosper (Isaiah 54:17). I talked about this in the last post as well. Of course we are going to be attacked. But just like the eagle, if we keep looking forward, we will be prepared and we will be confident in the truth that we can defeat our enemy, because in truth he has already been defeated. He just wants to try to convince us he hasn’t been.

“Therefore you shall be careful to do as the LORD your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left,” Deuteronomy 5:32 (NKJV).

The eagle doesn’t fight a snake on the ground. He swoops down, picks it up with his large, razor-sharp talons, and flies far above the ground. In the air, he kills the snake. Then, he devours it. The one thing that confounds the enemy is when we begin to praise the LORD. Although he tries to defeat us by attacking our minds and our bodies, when we go to God in prayer, then begin praising Him, the enemy notices… and even the demons tremble, especially at the name of JESUS.

“You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe – and tremble!” James 2:19 (NKJV).

It gets really good right here. I mentioned fighting our enemy. However, the way we fight him is to begin to worship and praise the LORD! That’s right. Worship and then Praise. I mentioned above that we must stay focused on Jesus, which is the most important thing we must do. Yes, we will be attacked by the enemy and especially when we get close to what God has called us to do. The enemy doesn’t want to see us achieve those goals.

In 2 Chronicles 20, there were many armies that were coming to attack King Jehoshaphat and the people. Like we often do, they became frightened not knowing what to do. However, the Holy Spirit came upon one of the men, who then delivered the message to King Jehoshaphat: “This is what the LORD says: Do not be afraid! Don’t be discouraged by the mighty army, for the battle is not yours, but God’s,” 2 Chronicles 20:15b (NLT, emphasis is mine).

I would encourage you to remember this as well; the battle is not yours, but God’s. After this message, in verse eighteen King Jehoshaphat “bowed low with his face to the ground” and so did all the people (worship). Then, in verse nineteen, the people “stood to praise the LORD, the God of Israel, with a very loud shout,” (praise). *

The next morning, when they knew the enemies were coming to attack them, “the king appointed singers to walk ahead of the army, singing to the LORD and praising him for his holy splendor,” 2 Chronicles 20:21 (NLT).

You see, when we begin to worship the LORD and then praise Him, it confuses the enemy. What happened after this is the enemy armies began fighting against one another and killed every one of themselves (see verse 22).

Worship and praise to the LORD are very important to our victory over the enemy. We bow low to worship, then stand to praise Him. Praise with a loud shout. It confuses the enemy. Then watch as the LORD fights for you. I have learned through the years that when this happens, when the LORD is victorious, and He is always victorious, He gives me rest.

He will do the same for you. The battle isn’t yours and what isn’t yours doesn’t need your attention. Therefore, focus your attention on JESUS, tell Him what’s troubling you, then bow low in worship to Him. After you do, stand up and with a loud shout, praise Him expecting Him to take care of things. Then watch as He wins that battle!

You won’t be disappointed.

• To read more about King Jehoshaphat’s battle, read 2 Chronicles 20:1-29 in your favorite Bible translation (ours is NLT).

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