It’s Not Your Battle

This encouraging excerpt reminds us that when anxiety and chaos surround us, we can still find peace by fixing our eyes on God—because it’s not your battle. Drawing from 2 Chronicles 20, it offers practical tools and spiritual truths that help us rest in God’s strength rather than striving in our own. When we surrender control, He fights on our behalf and leads us into His perfect peace.

Let’s reverse course a little. Previously, we encouraged you to allow His peace and joy to reign over your anxious thoughts and mind. In this chapter, we’d like to give you some practical tools for using God’s authority to fight your anxiety and stress in the most powerful way possible.

Take a moment and read 2 Chronicles 20:12: “O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.”

That’s such a powerful verse. The Israelites knew they had no power to fight against their enemies. So even in the midst of their situation, they committed to focus their eyes on God.

In verses 15 and 17 of that same chapter, we see what the Lord said to them as they humbled themselves before Him:

Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s …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!

Praise God, the battle was never the Israelites’. It was beyond their power and capability to fight these foes. But through God, they knew they could be victorious. All they had to do was be still and watch as God delivered them from their enemies.

God makes it clear that this should be our attitude as well. When we worship and abide in Him, we will enter His peace and rest. When we wait on God and focus our eyes on Him, He will guide us in all things and take us on to victory.

In this passage, the Lord also clues us in on a truth that we should understand loud and clear: We would never be able to have rest in Him if we never had opposition in our lives in the first place. Think about that for a second. How easy is it to stay cool, calm, and collected when no one upsets the apple cart? Anyone can have peace when the waters are calm and the sun is shining. But the rest of God is given to us in our times of trouble so that we can experience His peace and joy. It’s truly a gift.

Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27). That means we can take hold of His peace even in the midst of the storm – for it’s precisely then that He grants us His rest. It’s never Jesus’ aim to lift every problem from our lives, but rather to give us shelter when the storms approach. He shows us how to live the same way He lived through a direct connection to His loving Father. Jesus never worried and neither should we!

You may be saying to yourself right now, “I’ll stop worrying when things in my life get sorted out. I’ll have plenty of time to rest in His presence when things get better.” Well, if that’s the case, then you might be in for a long wait. A problem-free life is never an option for the believer. That’s not to sound pessimistic, but just practical in this fallen world we live in. Life is full of constant turmoil, chaos, and confusion. It’s always swirling around us, over us, and under us, but it doesn’t have to consume us.

In Matthew 6:34, Jesus said we never have to worry about tomorrow because each day will have enough trouble of its own. That’s an eternal assurance we can take hold of from the Savior Himself. In all areas, we can enjoy His place of rest in the midst of the storm. We can be at peace during our difficult times because He is right there in the midst of it all, guiding us through.

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Excerpt taken from Simple Steps to Handling Stress by Inspiration Ministries

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