Morning & Evening Daily Devotional Reading– June 8

by Charles H. Spurgeon, Revised and Edited by William C. Neff

“Many died that day (in battle), because they were fighting against God.”

—1 Chronicles 5:22

Dear Christian warrior, as you fight under the flag of the Lord Jesus Christ, read this verse with holy joy! What was true in those days remains true today; namely, if the battle is of God, the victory is sure. The sons of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh could barely muster forty-five thousand fighting men, and yet in their war with the Hagarites they killed a hundred thousand “for they cried to God in the battle, and He answered them because they put their trust in Him.”

The Lord is able to do what He wants with many or with few; it is our duty to go forth in His name even if we only have a handful of men, for the Lord of Heaven’s army is our Captain. They did not neglect their sword, shield, and bow, but neither did they place their trust in these weapons; we must use all fitting means, but our confidence must rest in the Lord alone for He is the sword and the shield of His people. The great reason for their extraordinary success lay in the fact that “the war was of God.”

Dear friend, as you fight with sin, doctrinal error, and spiritual wickedness, you are waging Jehovah’s war, and, unless He himself can be beaten, you do not need to fear defeat. Don’t be afraid of being outnumbered. Don’t shrink from difficulties or so-called “impossibilities.” Don’t flinch at wounds or death, but wield the two-edged sword of the Spirit, and the defeated will lie in heaps around you. The battle is the Lord’s and He will deliver His enemies into our hands; they will fly away like dust in the wind. [M&E]