I want to give you 5 words
of grace for you to use. Every time there’s a battle or
a difficulty, say this under your breath. Look at the problem and
say this under your breath, okay? Before I give it to you,
let me show you a story, a very famous story that
happened in Israel. You still can go to that place,
that valley there and still imagine, because the valley is
almost unchanged, alright? The topography and all that. 1 Samuel 17: “When the Philistine
looked about and saw David...” Goliath has been standing there,
challenging the people of Israel to fight him. For 40 days, he had been
standing there but no one dared to fight this 10-footer. Some say about 9
to 11 or 12-feet. We’re not sure but
he’s one of the giants and he was ugly,
he was mean.
In those days, their faces
are full of scars. “When he saw David,
he despised David because” “David was only a youth, ruddy,
and good looking.” “So the Philistine said
to David, ‘Am I a dog that’” “‘you come to me with sticks?’” “And the Philistine cursed
David by his gods.” “And the Philistine said to David:
‘Come to me, come to me!’” “‘I’ll give your flesh to
the birds of the air,’” “‘and the beasts of the field.’” “David said to the Philistine:
‘You come to me with’” “‘visible sword, with a visible
spear, and a visible javelin.’” Today, we will say: “missiles,
bombs, rockets.” “‘But I come to you in the
name of the Lord of hosts.’” Invisible God, who is eternal. “‘The God of the armies
of Israel whom you defied,’” Next. “‘This day, the Lord will
deliver you into my hand’” “‘and I will strike you and
take your head from you’” “‘and this day, I’ll give the
carcasses of the camp’” “‘of the Philistines to
the birds of the air,’” “‘to the wild beasts of the earth,’” “‘that all the earth may know
that there is a God in Israel!” Next. “‘Then all these assembly
shall know that the Lord’” “‘does not save with what is
visible, with sword and spear,’” “‘for the battle is the Lord’s,’” “‘and He will give you
into our hands.’” Right now, memorize this! Learn to mutter this
when you are in difficulty. Learn to say this
under your breath: “The battle is the Lord’s.
It’s not mine, it’s not mine.” Amen. Are you listening? “Pastor Prince, my teenage girl
is mixing around with bad company.” You feel it’s your battle.
It’s not your battle. Don’t touch it!
The battle is the Lord’s. Just like the tithe.
The tithe is the Lord’s. Don’t touch it.
It belongs to Him. Same way, the battle is
not yours to touch. Amen. Your arm is not too great,
your sight is not that far-reaching. God is stronger,
God is greater, God loves you more
than you love yourself. He loves your teenage daughter
more than you can love her. God is saying: “Don’t touch
the battle! It is mine.” The battle is the Lord’s. “But, Pastor Prince,
David still went to meet the…” Yeah, but how did he go? Dressed in an armor?
No, dressed as a shepherd boy! With a sword?
No, with a sling! So obviously he believed: “This battle is not mine,
the battle is the Lord’s.” So learn to look at your problems
now and if the devil says: “What are you going
to do about it?” Say: “The battle is not mine.
It’s the Lord’s.” “Lord, this is Your battle.” Throughout this year, say:
“Lord, this is your battle.” Now sometimes it won’t be
as quick as David’s victory but the Lord is hearing
what you are saying and the Lord loves it. His arms are bigger than yours. “Lord, this is Your battle.” The battle is the Lord’s—your
5 words of grace this year. Amen.
The doctors gave you a
bad diagnosis. Under your breath, say:
“This battle is the Lord’s.” That’s the good fight of faith.
You fight by not fighting. You fight by not fighting.
That’s the greatest fight. It’s like the devil wants you
to think there’s a place called “healed”
and you are not healed. He says:
“There’s a place called “healed”. “You see, you must
do your best to go there.” He’ll try to bring in things like:
“But you must be obedient” “enough to reach there.” “You must be holy enough
to reach there,” “you must be good enough
to reach there.” And you’re never there. Actually that’s not the truth. The truth is you’re already there! You are the healed and the
devil is trying to take your healing. And you’re saying: “No, this is a lying symptom.
No Lord, this is Your battle.” “I’m already healed.
This is Your battle, Lord.” “I’m already healed.
This is Your battle, Lord.” “I’m already healed.” It is so much easier to know
that you’re in a building when you’re already
in the building. Are you listening? You are already healed,
not trying to be healed. The devil is trying to
take your healing. It’s not like you’re trying
to take your healing. No, the devil is trying
to take your healing. By calling his bluff,
you expose him. It’s a fight of faith. It might take some time. I’m not saying it’s going
to be easy and that’s why the Bible is
faith food for all of us. Can I have a good amen? Do you know what
happened to the giant? He came down! Boom!
That’s it. Alright? One stone. One stone because
the battle is the Lord’s. Who do you think made
the stone hit the mark? The Lord!
And the giant came down. The Bible says David
decapitated his head, took his head and
very interesting, the Bible says that he
brought the head to Jerusalem. The Valley of Elah is miles
away from Jerusalem. Why did David bring the
head to Jerusalem? Now there’s 1 rabbinical
tradition that says that the head of Goliath
was buried in a place that was called Gol-Goliath
and later on, there’s a perversion of the name from Gol-Goliath. The hill of Goliath became
Golgotha, where a greater Son of David,
Jesus Christ, would conquer a greater Goliath and
smash his head at the cross when He bore all our sins
and shouted: “It is finished.” Amen.
Alright, let’s fast forward. David became a king
and according to his seed, down through the years, there was another king
called Jehoshaphat. And King Jehoshaphat
was surrounded. Don’t show them just yet. He was surrounded by
the enemies. About 4, 5 enemies
were surrounding him. The Bible says a great
multitude came against him. And I love his prayer. If you got time,
read his prayer, alright? It’s found in 1 Chronicles 20,
for a 20/20 vision. It says this.
He looked to God and he said. I love this prayer. “‘We have no might nor power
against this great multitude’” “‘but our eyes are upon You.’” I love it! It’s like saying: “We have
no might, we have nothing,” “no resources against this
disease, against this condition” “but our eyes are upon You.” “I don’t know how my daughter
can be delivered,” “how my son can be delivered
but my eyes are on You.” And when they said that, the Holy Spirit fell upon
one of the sons of Asaph. He was a prophet and
he said this: “‘Listen, all you Judah
and inhabitants of Jerusalem’” “‘and you, King Jehoshaphat,’” “‘Thus says the Lord to you.
Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed’” “‘because of this great multitude,’” “‘for the battle is not yours
but God’s!’” Yes! Listen! This battle is not yours!
It is God’s! “But the enemies are
coming against me.” Jehoshaphat could have said. “But it’s not yours, king.
The battle is God’s.” “You don’t understand,
Pastor Prince.” “This is coming against my family.” The battle is not yours.
It’s God’s. And everything in your flesh
is saying: “You are just being irresponsible.” “You should worry.
How can you not worry?” When in fact you are doing
the greatest thing you can ever do against that
situation, against that problem. Even though you're in
the midst of a trial. Amen. Someone might say: “Pastor Prince, of course,
you’re so blessed.” You don’t know what
I’m going through.” How do you know that I’m not
going through a trial right now? How do you know? In fact I am going through
a trial right now, alright? We’re all always either about to
enter a trial, in the trial or outside the trial.
You understand? On this side of heaven,
it’s part and parcel of life. But I’m eating and I’m feeding. I’m not complaining.
Amen. By the way, the word “complain”
in the Bible is the word “lun.” God hates it when
His people complain. In Chinese you have “lun.” In English, also,
you have “loony”, right? And the word “lun” is complain but it is also means
to spend a night. In other words, if you
complain about your situation, God says: “One more night.” In other words, you stay
in that situation one night. It’s not from God.
God hates complaining. Look throughout the
wilderness experience, those who are complaining,
God hates complaining. You complain, you remain. You praise, you get a raise
above your situation. Alright? Don’t complain and remain.
Praise and be raised. Hallelujah! The battle is not yours, y’all.
It’s God’s. So do you know what is the
greatest thing you can say? Rest.
When it happens, say: “Lord, it’s not mine.
I can’t overcome this addiction.” “The battle is Yours.” And this is where
a lot of people say: “But Pastor Prince, you’re
teaching people they can do” “whatever they want.” That’s what you always say. I don’t know who you are
but let me tell you this, Mr Philistine, I have
a testimony here of a man who has been
smoking for 50 years. Last week, I shared about
a guy who was in a drug addiction and
before that, pornography. Our ministry has testimonies of
people being delivered from drug addiction
and also pornography. These are the two areas. So before you cry out
to the highest heavens: “We need to teach on holiness.” Show me your results
and I’ll show you mine. Okay? So here’s a guy who’s been
smoking for 50 years. “I was a heavy smoker
who used to smoke a minimum” “of 1 packet of cigarettes per day.” “One day I made a decision to quit
smoking after hearing a sermon.” “However, my efforts were in vain.” “I started smoking again
after a few days.” How many of you know that
by trying, you cannot. The battle is not yours.
It is God’s. “Then my son gave me Joseph
Prince’s book ‘Destined to Reign’,” “which I read in two weeks.” “I realised that Jesus has
redeemed me and this life” “is all about looking to Him,
all about believing and receiving” “what He has already done for me.” “I felt a great desire to quit smoking.” Ah, this is supernatural. Some people try to stop
but still have a desire. He said: “I felt a great desire.
I re-read some chapters” “from the book again and
wrote down my prayer on paper.” “But this time...”
Listen. This was written before
I preached this sermon. “But this time, I decided not to
fight against my cigarette addiction.” The battle is the Lord’s. Alright? He got a revelation from
reading the book. “...not to fight against my
cigarette addiction, because I knew” “I could not quit smoking
successfully through my own efforts.” “I just chose to rest in Jesus,
receiving His grace and” “believing that He has set me
free from my addiction” “at the cross.” “It was not my battle but His
and He has already won it for me.” Okay, what’s the result?
What’s the result? For those of you who are
shouting to the high heavens how dangerous grace is
and talking about holiness, this is the result: “I just needed to continually
realise that I am forgiven” “and justified by Jesus’ grace,
not by my obedience or actions.” “After struggling to quit smoking
for 50 years, miraculously,” “by simply resting in
Jesus’ finished work,” “I have kicked the habit
successfully and effortlessly.” “I have been free of cigarettes.
Jesus has done it for me!” “Hallelujah.” Amen! You hold your peace,
God won’t. He will fight for you. If you fight,
God holds His peace. and everything in you will cry:
“You got to do something!” Don’t do anything. And finally, all those giants
that they were afraid of and the walls of Jericho,
even the big lofty walls, all fell after 6 days of silence. Joshua made the people
go around the walls in silence. Not a word. “Hold your peace.”
Joshua said. Why? The Lord is fighting for you. On the 7th day, only
on the 7th day, he said: “Shout!” And all those giants they
were afraid of 38 years ago, those tall Anakims, big giants,
lofty walls all fell flat with 1 shout. The Lord will fight for you. I don’t care if it’s cancer,
whatever it is, the Lord will fight for you. Your place is fight not to fight
and labour to enter the rest. Alright? “Let us labour, therefore,
to enter into that rest,” “lest you fall into unbelief.”
Labour to be more restful. Labour to be more restful. You can’t do that
feeding on newspapers, on the media,
on the world’s food, melons, leeks, garlic, onions. No, you feed on olives,
vines, the food of God. And when you feed, you possess.
