The Battle is the Lord's -- Cathy Bryant

"The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still." Exodus 14:14 (NIV)


“I can do it by myself,” came the sweet voice of my piano student. With valiant effort, she started the song again, counting out the rhythm. It wasn’t perfectly done, but she was trying her best to do it without me counting for her.

I couldn’t help but ponder the numerous times during the daily struggles of life I’ve told God that I could do it by myself.

For months I had been fighting a battle. I was determined to stand strong in the Lord, to put on His armor, and to meet the battle head on. All good things in and of themselves, but it seemed that every time I went to the battle front, I returned bruised and broken. “Why, God?” I cried out. “What am I doing wrong?”

Then through His Word, the answer came. This wasn’t my battle, and it wasn’t to be my loss or my victory. This was a battle that God would fight for me; it was to be His victory. Only then would I know how powerful and Almighty my God truly is.

Being His child means letting go, moving past ourselves and our personal strength and will. It means that we strive not for independence, but total dependence on Him. How can we learn who He really is if we’re focused on doing it ourselves?

Only when we truly recognize who He is can we learn to trust Him completely to fight our battles for us. It helps me to remember His omnipotence and His prior deliverance. As much as I dislike it, it also means confessing my own weakness and inability. When I try to take over a battle that He has promised to fight for me, I am in effect trying to play God.

My prayerful battle cry is that we will see Him as the One who fights for us, and that we won’t be afraid or discouraged. The challenge is to take our positions, stand firm, and watch as God delivers us. Remember—we do not fight alone. In fact, sometimes our part of the battle is to simply “be still.”


Cathy Bryant lives in a small Texas town with one amazing husband, two spoiled cats, and a garden-full of flowers, hummingbirds and butterflies. Her desire is to turn her God-given abilities and opportunities into an offering back to Him, in order to make Him known. She is currently working on learning more about the craft of writing and is testing her writing wings. You can visit her at http://www.wordvessel.blogspot.com/