Sometimes when I’m in the middle of a battle I feel all alone. It’s as if no one can penetrate the wall of broken places surrounding me, and even if people are around me, I still feel alone. Do you ever feel that way? Yes, I didn’t think I was the only one who has felt that way. Battles are hard, they’re tiring, and often it feels as if there is no end in sight.
This past summer my husband was in ICU in the hospital with double pneumonia. I sat in the hospital room at four a.m. right after they moved him from the general floor room. His condition was worsening and he was not responding to medication. As I sat there with the sounds of all the machines bouncing off the walls all around me, a question came to my mind. “At what point is this serious enough I need to encourage our kids to come home.” Everything around me was surreal and I couldn’t believe how quickly things had changed. The battle was raging all around me. My heart was heavy and I could feel darkness and fear wanting to take residence within my soul.
The next twently-four hours the situation worsened and my husband was eventually intubated and placed on a ventilator, a breathing machine. The battle was real. It was raging all around me, wanting to take me under, to consume me, to discourage me. It was in that moment I felt the presence of God in the room. It was one of the moments where the power of God was so great, His presence so evident, and His presence was greater than anything else in that room. I felt the Lord speaking to my heart,
“Kristin, do you trust me?”
My response was, “Yes, Lord I trust you.”
Three times the Lord spoke to my heart asking if I trusted Him.
After the third time, God then spoke to my heart so clearly, “Kristin, I’ve got your back, no matter what happens, I’ve got this.”
Peace came over my entire body, soul and spirit. I had an God encounter that broke through the darkness of fear and brought hope and life to me.
When God speaks to us, it separates and divides the lies of the enemy or our circumstances and breaths hope and life into us. When King Jehoshaphat led the people of Judah in prayer and fasting, God came in and spoke words of hope that separated darkness from light in their situation.
In 2 Chronicles 20:14-18 we read,
Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly. And he said, “Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the Lord to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. Tomorrow go down against them. They will surely come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the brook before the Wilderness of Jeruel. You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.” And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem bowed before the Lord, worshiping the Lord.
Oh what hope God gives us, the battle is not yours, but God’s! Don’t be afraid, don’t be dismayed by your situation or circumstances, God has got your back!
Today I want to encourage you to give the battle to God, to spend time in prayer and fasting and wait on God. When God answers, He will intervene on your behalf!
Remember, the battle belongs to the Lord!!!
