Overcome Temptation and Be a Mighty Warrior

“When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, ‘The Lord is with you, mighty warrior”Judges 6: 12.

This chapter describes Israel’s seven-year oppression by Midian due to idolatry, prompting them to cry out to God. God calls Gideon, who is hiding out in fear, a “mighty warrior” to deliver them. To read the chapter for context, click here.

Do Battle Against Your Enemy and Overcome Temptation

I believe there is a principle in the second half of this verse. The Lord is with us by His Spirit, by faith. And true faith is obedient. True faith resists temptation, and does battle against sin, rather than yield to it. In other words, a person with faith is a “mighty warrior” against his enemies (sin).

Having said that, I want to be quick to add that if you have some long-standing bondage to sin, you may not get delivered quickly or easily. In fact, it may be a battle that you need to fight for weeks or months or even longer.

The key is that you hate the sin. To repent means to change your mind which then leads to a change in direction. It is not first and foremost of change in direction, but it does eventually produce that.

This is a subtle, but important distinction because James 1: 9 tells us that “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”. 

To Repent Means to Agree with God

That word confess means to agree with God about our sin, or to see it the way He does. Or to change our mind about it.

This is critical to understand, because if we are under the mistaken notion that any struggle, any battle, any loss of ground means we haven’t repented because we haven’t yet done a 180, we will become discouraged and give up.

In fact, a lost skirmish can provide invaluable insight that enables us to be more effective the next time around.

You are not giving up or giving in. You are fighting the good fight. And as with any war there are battles that you won’t always win. But so long as your heart is in the right place and you are striving against your sin instead of excusing, justifying and rationalizing it, you have repented. And you are a “mighty warrior”.

The Lord is with us by His Spirit when we exercise faith. When we look to the Lord to take care of us, and meet our needs, rather than sin, we can be sure the Lord will be with us too.

Sin Is an Attempt to Meet Our Own Needs

But to look to the Lord to do this for us requires that we overcome temptation and refuse to yield to sin. Sin is always an attempt, on some level, to meet our own needs apart from God.

Especially, if we’ve been in the habit of yielding to the same sin, it will require great effort and a battle to subdue it. But as we draw near to the Lord in this way, by refusing to meet our own need, He will draw near to us and meet our need and take care of us.

He’ll either do it with physical, natural provision, or with a promise, “manna”. Manna was a supernatural provision the Lord provided for His people to sustain them as they waited for their natural provision (Exodus 16). Either way, as we war against our sin, He’ll meet our need and be with us.

To read another post related to Overcome Temptation and Be a Mighty Warrior, see A Fool and His Beatings.