Our memory verse is taken from the book of Deuteronomy 1:40-46
Our God is a man of war; no doubt. Our God is a God of battles. In fact, He said, “you shall hold your peace and I will fight for you”. But there are battles God does not want us to fight. There are battles God will not fight for us. To fight those kinds of battles is to suffer disgraceful defeat. It is a tragedy to run the race God did not ask you to run. It is a tragedy to fight the battles God did not ask you to fight.
Beloveth, try and know the limit that God has defined for you. There are battles God will not go out with you to fight, and in those kinds of battles, you have to respect God’s opinion when those times come. Paul and Silas in Acts 16 were ready to go and preach the gospel in Asia, but the Holy Spirit said “No! Do not go.” Supposing those men had refused the voice of the Holy Ghost and went ahead to preach? After all, what they wanted to do is good. But a good idea is not necessarily a God idea.
Supposing they had refused to listen to the Holy Ghost and said “we are working for God, we must go!” They might have died in active service before their time. They would have died while fighting for God, without God. There are battles God does not fight with us, no matter how favored and how anointed we are. It is possible for you to buy poison and re-label it as a soft drink. It is possible for a man to pick up a serpent from a bush and program the serpent into his own life.
It is possible for you to be digging your own grave and hiding the spade. It is possible for you to buy the ticket taking you to nowhere. You buy a ticket taking you to nowhere; you just go. Unfortunately, it is possible to set the battle in an array against yourself. It is possible to hire a lawyer against yourself. It is possible to vote your destiny out of power. What I have described to you is sad but it is what is happening. You can manufacture weapons and begin to use the weapons to fight yourself.
WHAT KIND OF BATTLES SHOULD YOU NOT FIGHT?
1. The battle against the Holy Ghost. You can win all battles, you can resist any enemy, but do not fight the Holy Ghost. If the Holy Ghost says ‘sit down, you sit down. If He says ‘keep quiet, you keep quiet. ‘Do not talk’, do not talk.
Sometimes, I will face some people and ask ‘do you have to talk? You really do not have to talk. Keep your mouth shut!’ Maybe you say ‘they are insulting me. Okay, tell me where they are pasting the insults on your body.
When the Holy Spirit says ‘keep quiet, you keep quiet. The day the Holy Ghost gives up on you, you are finished. Are you fighting the Holy Spirit? You will not win. Are you fighting the Holy Spirit? I hope not. If you are, you better repent. Let the Holy Spirit beat you, slap you, throw you on the ground; it is for your own good. Do not fight against the Spirit of God. That is the number one battle you must not fight.
2. Do not battle against the word of God. The Bible says “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” It also says “He has exalted His word above His name.” Listen: the word of God will not adjust itself to fit your own lifestyle. You are the one who will adjust yourself to fit it.
Somebody told the great British Preacher that somebody was attacking the Bible and that he should defend the Bible. He said ‘me? Defend the Bible? You cannot defend a lion, the lion will defend itself.’ If you run ahead of the Bible, you must reverse. If you are trailing behind the Bible, you must catch up with it. Fighting against very clear instructions of the word of God is like fighting the weather. If you are fighting the weather, the weather will kill you.
So, going against the clear teachings of the Word of God is suicide. To go against the clear teaching of the word of God is to face the angelic firing squad. It is dangerous to fight the word of God. Are you here this morning and the word of God has been saying ‘Do not do this, do not do that, and you are not listening? ‘Do not commit fornication, and you are not listening? ‘Stop drinking’, and you are not listening? You are positioning yourself for bullets from an angelic firing squad. It is a battle you can never win.
The Bible says “heaven and earth shall pass away but not an atom, not an iota of my word will pass away unfulfilled.’ Are those the words you want to contest? Are those the words you talk against, anyhow? Be careful.
3. The third battle you should not fight is biting the fingers that have fed you. If you bite the fingers that have fed you, you are actually fighting God. It is madness to throw stones into the river or well from which you drank before because you might never tell; you may have to go back to that well again. But by that time, you might have thrown in so much rubbish into the well that it becomes undrinkable for you.
When some people are asked, “Which secondary school did you go to?” They reply “I will not tell you”. “Which primary school did you go to?” They say ‘I will not tell you. They are ashamed to tell you, but that school they are ashamed to mention did something for them. Has someone ever done well to you in this life? Do not antagonize the person: never. The Bible says ‘whosoever repayeth good with evil, evil shall never depart out of his house.
Do not speak evil against anyone who has blessed you or who has helped your life before. If such a person has annoyed you, it is best to keep quiet and hand over the case to God. The Bible says “never repay evil for evil”. It is a battle you can never win. If you are biting a finger that has fed you, note this very well.
4. The fourth battle you can never win is speaking against God’s anointed. No matter what any pastor or anyone has done to you, just report to God and leave it there. To his God, he is responsible, not you. God has not given the rod of the discipline of His servants to anybody. He will personally supervise their discipline if He wants to discipline them.
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