Fighting for Others

“When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he called out the 318 trained men born in his household and went in pursuit as far as Dan” (Genesis 14: 14 N.I.V)

Relatives and friends can be a lot of trouble. Some need a lot of help and attention due to the wrong choices they make. Abram’s nephew Lot was like that. He drifted through life seeking worldly comforts at the expense of his spiritual life and suffered greatly for it. He chose to live in Sodom and would have been totally destroyed if Abraham had not come to his aid. After being taken captive when Sodom was raided, Abram at great personal risk, set off to rescue him. But instead of amending his ways Lot continued living there and it was only Adam’s prayers that saved him when the Lord set out to destroy Sodom.

We have many people needing our help. We need to fight battles for them as they struggle through poverty, grief, addictions, relationship failures and other problems. Abram was quick to assemble 318 trained men from his household to fight for his nephew. God worked through them to defeat the much larger enemy army.  Likewise we should always be ready with the full Armor of God (Ephesians 6: 10-18) so that we can have divine power to destroy strongholds, arguments and every pretension against God; both for ourselves and on other people’s behalf.

Our interest and generosity to others is not in vain. God always leads us to triumphal procession in Christ (2 Corinthians 2: 14-16). He protects us and blesses us (Genesis 15:1). In this Christmas season, purpose to give others the opportunity to know Christ; to live a renewed, redeemed life free from bondage of the evil one.

*****

"Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril. When you are ignorant of the enemy, but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal. If ignorant both of your enemy and yourself, you are certain in every battle to be in peril."

*****