This Is How We Fight Our Battles (Full Sermon)

Many people face struggles—whether addiction, financial lack, or health issues—feeling compelled to fight relentlessly in their own strength. However, the foundational teaching for believers is that success and supernatural victory are achieved not through human effort, but through the Spirit of Faith, which enables them to declare: “The battle is the Lord’s”.

Embracing the Spirit of Faith: Seeing the Invisible

The core requirement for victory is having a different spirit—the spirit of faith—which is defined by having a good opinion of God. This spirit acknowledges that a problem exists but immediately compares the problem with the greatness of God.

The Reality of the Invisible Kingdom

Believers must navigate life based on the eternal, invisible reality, not the temporary, visible one.

• Visible is Temporary: Everything visible, physical, or palpable—including sickness, debt, and the earth itself—is temporary and subject to decay.
• Invisible is Eternal: God, angels, and the full scope of spiritual blessings are invisible and eternal.
• Walking by Faith: The natural human inclination is to crave the visible (like the Israelites wanting a golden calf or a visible king). However, the affliction or difficulty a believer faces is actually “working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” if the eye remains fixed on the invisible. Moses, for example, maintained his natural force and eyesight until age 120 because he endured “as seeing him who is invisible”.

The Prosperity of God’s Kingdom: Big Grapes and Finished Work

Believers live in the Kingdom of God, an economy sponsored by heaven, not the failing economy of the fallen earth.

Abundant Provision (Grapes of Canaan)

God intends for His people to enjoy life and have abundant joy, symbolized by the luscious, heavy clusters of grapes found in the Promised Land. The joys of God’s kingdom far surpass the temporary pleasures of this world, which often lead to bondage and hangover.

The Promised Land itself symbolizes a finished work prepared by God. God intended for His people to live in cities they did not build, eat from vineyards they did not plant, and drink from wells they did not dig. The food of Canaan (like figs and olives) was “easy picking,” requiring no backbreaking work, contrasting with the stressed life and labor-intensive food (melons, garlics, onions) of Egypt (meaning “double stress”).

Possessing Our Possessions

The land (representing our full blessings, provision, and healing) is already granted, but believers must step by step take experiential possession of it. The wealth of the sinner, for example, is laid up for the righteous. The devil and his cohorts often act as “squatters,” sitting on blessings like healing, provision, or good family relationships.

The Failure of Unbelief

The generation that wandered in the wilderness for 40 years failed to enter the land of rest because of unbelief. They looked at the enemies (the giants, or Anakims) and saw themselves as grasshoppers in comparison.

• Giants as Bread: The leaders of faith, Joshua and Caleb, saw the giants not as threats that would devour them, but as “our bread”. God allows difficulties so they become food for faith, strengthening the believer.
• Consequences of Doubt: God was displeased with those who did not believe the blessings were ready. Those who complained (which leads to remaining in the problem, “looney”) stayed in the wilderness.

The Divine Strategy: Feeding is Fighting

The true battle strategy in the New Covenant is not striving but resting, which is achieved through spiritual nourishment.

The Meaning of Lehem

The Hebrew word lehem has two primary meanings: bread/feed and fight/war. This duality reveals God’s strategy: when you feed, you fight. The believer defeats the enemy by eating God’s Word.

Resting in the Finished Work

God’s works were finished from the foundation of the world. The Law of Double Jeopardy applies: since Jesus aggressively met and exhausted God’s righteous judgment for sin on the cross, the believer can no longer be judged for those sins.

Therefore, the believer’s Promised Land today is the land of rest.

• Labor to Rest: The command is to labor to enter into that rest, fearing lest one fall short due to unbelief. This means fighting the natural inclination to worry and strive.
• Stand Still: When trouble arises, the command is to position yourself, stand still, and see the salvation (Yeshua) of the Lord.
• Hold Your Peace: If a believer holds their peace, the Lord fights for them. If the believer insists on fighting, God holds His peace, and God must get all the glory for the victory.
• Addiction Breakthrough: Deliverance from addictions (like a 50-year smoking habit) is achieved not through self-effort but by choosing to rest in Jesus’ grace and believing the addiction was broken at the cross.