Going Beyond Ministries with Priscilla Shirer – How to Win the Battle

Priscilla Shirer (born December 31, 1974) is an American author, motivational speaker, actress, and Christian evangelist. Her father is Dallas mega-church pastor Tony Evans and her brother is Christian entertainer Anthony Evans.
The daughter of Tony Evans, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship Church in Dallas, Texas,[1] Priscilla grew up well acquainted with the Bible. As a freshman at the University of Houston, she interned with a Christian radio station. Soon listeners were calling the station, inviting Priscilla to speak at their Bible study groups and other events. Soon she was invited to lead a weekly Bible study at the Zig Ziglar Corporation and then to join its speaker team. Priscilla has worked as an independent contractor for CBS and hosted a local television show, but recently she has focused solely on Christian ministry opportunities. She calls Anne Graham Lotz, daughter of evangelist Rev. Billy Graham, her mentor in ministry.

Together the Shirers established Going Beyond Ministries, a speaking bureau featuring Priscilla. The parents of three young boys, the Shirers share ministry and family responsibilities. While Priscilla continues to minister full-time, Jerry manages his schedule and other business aspects of Going Beyond Ministries.

Priscilla speaks around the world at churches and other events, including the LifeWay Christian Resources-sponsored Going Beyond conference and Deeper Still: The Event, where she shares the stage with Beth Moore and Kay Arthur. She has also authored several books.

Shirer graduated from Duncanville High School and Dallas Theological Seminary, earning a master’s degree from the latter in Biblical Studies.

In 1993, Shirer was a freshman at the University of Houston. Shirer was married in 1999 to Jerry Shirer, former Hilton Hotels executive. The couple has three sons.

In 2013, Shirer was a speaker at the 2013 Women of Faith conference. In 2015, Shirer made her film debut in the Kendrick Brothers film War Room. In October 2016, Shirer was recognized as one of four prominent women of faith during the 10th anniversary of God’s Leading Ladies Life Enrichment Program at The Potter’s House.[1] Shirer also featured at the 47th GMA Dove Awards.

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well hi y’all it’s a privilege to be

able to be with you this morning and to

be able to do what I love and that is to

just share with you a little bit from

the Word of God believing the power of

the word of God anybody else

I believe it it gives us life and so it

is my privilege to be able to serve you

in this way I told the ownerle er

service this and I will say it again

that your ministry your women’s ministry

in particular through shine has been

such a personal specific blessing to me

the past seven years that I have been

engaged in one form or another I have

been a beneficiary of the ministry that

has come out of this house and so to be

able to just pour back into you in this

small way this morning really really is

a privilege and to have been able to

hang out with the girls all weekend at

times that we had a lot of fun didn’t we

y’all we had some fun God was here and

I’m so excited now to be with you on

this Sunday morning I want to say this

as well I had the opportunity to already

again say this at first service but I

want to say it again because I mean it

on Jerry and I my husband and I and our

boys have the privilege to be in a lot

of places to share God’s Word and and to

serve and you need to know that at this

church the leadership that God has given

you in your pastors but not only pastor

Stovall and pastor Kerry but the

leadership team that God has given to

Shepherd this house y’all that the

pastors and the leaders that God gives

us in our lives at my home Turk at your

home Church these these people have

given their lives to help to shape our

souls

they have given their lives to make sure

that when we see Jesus face to face we

hear well done people are given their

lives to do that and God at this church

has given y’all some great shepherds and

I hope you never take that for granted

and so it is a privilege of mind today

to be able to serve under the authority

and leadership of great folks like this

it’s a privilege and miss an honor I

want to pray for you Lord Jesus thank

you so much for your word thank you that

it is living in sharper and active than

any two-edged sword I pray Lord in these

few moments we will spend together that

you will do what you do and that is take

one message divided thousands of

different ways so that every single

person under the sound of my voice hears

directly from you in Jesus name

everybody says amen amen

we have been so excited to be here over

these three or four days that we’ve been

here not just my husband and I but my

boys are here as well I’ve got a 10 year

old named Jackson an 8 year old named

Jerry jr. and our little surprise one

his name is Jude he’s four years old we

don’t really know how he got here and I

named him Jude because that is as close

as I could get to revelation because it

is finished so Jackson JC and you

they’re actually in the kids ministry I

think they’re they’re serving over there

today we all wanted to jump in where we

could and serve so I think they’ve

helped to take up offering a prayer of

the offering and stuff over where your

children are so we all just love diving

in together and my boys are little

athletes they just like whatever is in

season at the time they want to play it

right now it’s baseball and my second

son is our one that really is engaged in

baseball now you need to know about my

my children my husband’s not in here for

me to introduce him to you he’s in the

back but Jerry is a big guy six foot

three and just looks like a football

player you know 250 pounds or so and my

boys are following suit these little

boys are giants my ten-year-old is

nearly as tall as me he wears a size 10

men’s shoe already my 8 year old looks

like he’s probably 11 or so and so

anytime we go out on that little league

baseball field the referees and all the

officials that we always have to show a

birth certificate because they don’t

believe so our children are the ages

that they are and they they already eat

too much I am in big trouble big trouble

and so my little boy is in baseball

right now

we love the bee

in the beginning of the baseball season

because it’s still cool outside you

still can actually enjoy the baseball

game on Saturday but y’all know what

happens in the summer months I live in

Dallas Texas I’m assuming it’s not too

different from Jacksonville Florida what

the summer is feeling like I mean it’s

just excruciating ly hot and I’m already

thinking back to last summer when we

were sitting through the Little League

World Series cuz my boy is a pretty good

baseball player because of his size he

can already knock a ball over a fence

he’s a good first baseman he makes lots

of catches and stops and gets pokes out

and he’s got a great team so they did

pretty good last year we went all the

way to the Little League World Series

which i think is hysterical because by

world they mean the people who live

right in our neighborhood so we were out

there at the Little League World Series

and you know what happens those of you

who have sons you know what happens when

they get to a series in any sport it

means that you go out early in the

morning and you play one game and then

if they win they go to the next game if

they win they go to the next game you

are just out there all day basically

until they lose over a series of days

whenever they lose and they’ve

disqualified themselves in the series so

we’re sitting out there in the hot Texas

Sun playing game after game waiting for

our next turn playing another game and I

don’t you know you’re hot I don’t know

if it ever is okay for you to pray that

your kid loses so that y’all can go home

I don’t know if that’s ever okay and I

will neither confirm nor deny that I

ever did that but you’re just hanging

out there pouring sweat and we were

getting ready for the next game and my

son realized who the next team was that

they were playing and he got a little

insecure these boys on this other team

that we were getting ready to play that

were the next in the series for us to

contend with

they had already played my son’s team

earlier in the season and when my son’s

team which was a pretty good team met up

with this other team those boys on that

team had annihilated my son’s team I

mean these were serious baseball players

you know where the kids are serious and

the parents are serious and everybody is

serious on that team over there little

boys that seemed like they were born

and immediately their parents gave them

a baseball and a mitt and decided that

they were going to play baseball

I mean these are just those kids that

you want to race out there on the field

and knock somebody out from method with

your kid it was kind of kids and my son

saw that this was the team that they

were going to be playing and his hands

got all sweaty and his heart was beating

in his chest he was getting all nervous

and his head was hanging down as we

walked over we gathered up all his gear

we were walking over to the field and he

just was insecure and lacked courage and

as we walked over to the dugout to get

ready for the game we had to actually

pass the other team they were seeing all

on the grass underneath the tree trying

to get some shade and as we passed them

me and my son JC my second son’s

nickname is JC we heard the other team

two of the members of the other team say

this there’s JC you know he’s the kid

remember him he was the first baseman

that made all the stops when we played

them it’s JC the one that hit the ball

and it went over the fence that’s him my

son heard his name crossed the lips of

two members of the opposing team and all

of a sudden that head that had been hung

down was straight up in the air all of a

sudden he poked his chest out all of a

sudden his palms weren’t sweating

anymore and confidence overcame him it’s

amazing what happens to you when you

over hear what the enemy really thinks

about you there is a man in Scripture

that I want to talk to you about today

whose circumstance pretty much I’m sure

in a group to size mirrors your own

circumstance because there’s a man named

Gideon that is going up against the

battle where he feels outnumbered he’s

completely insecure he lacks courage and

confidence because he feels like he does

not have what it takes to contend with

what’s in front of him and many of you

are in your own personal battles there’s

a battle in your marriage there’s one in

your finances there’s something going on

with your parenting right now or there’s

a struggle happening on your job and

you’re feeling you feel like you’re in

the fight for your very life and don’t

you know that when we have physical

struggles there is always a spiritual

reality that is underneath them that we

are literally waging spiritual warfare

really the physical things that are

happening are really just symptoms of

the real problem the real problem is

that we have an enemy that is waging war

against our soul you and I are in

spiritual warfare we are in a battle and

if we’re not careful we can look at the

battles that we are fighting look at

look at the symptoms the marriage

struggles the struggle with our children

or in our own hearts or in our own minds

or in our bodies we can look at the

struggles and deal with the daily rhythm

of those struggles and we can lose our

confidence and like my boy JC we can see

the difficulty in front of us in our so

wringing our hands and hang our head

down because we lack security but

everything changes when you know what

the enemy thinks about you because

what’s in my friend even if you don’t

believe what the Bible says about you

your enemy knows that what God says

about you is absolutely true so so even

if you don’t believe it you need to know

that that he knows that you and I are

already victorious even if you don’t

believe it he knows that you have been

forgiven even if you don’t believe it

the enemy knows that he is already under

your feet he knows that you have been

given power and authority that he will

never ever have access to he knows that

he can form a weapon against you whether

that weapon will never be able to

prosper he know that since God is for

you nobody not even him can ever be

against you he knows that you have been

made competent by God’s Spirit it would

be ashamed for the enemy to know all

that stuff about us but us not know all

that stuff about us it would be a shame

for the enemy to be more convinced about

our potential and about our power than

we are everything changes when you know

what the enemy thinks about you when you

know brother/sister that when he sees

you coming he is shaking in his boots

there’s that child of God that has the

blood of Jesus Christ sprinkled on her

there is that man who is fighting for

his family because of the Holy Spirit’s

power that works within him

Gideon is afraid he’s got 300 soldiers

they are going up against the Midianites

camp the Midianite Army has 135,000

soldiers the ratio is 450 to 1 talk

about being the underdog

Gideon lacks courage and has complete

overwhelming paralyzing insecurity but

right before the battle God sends Gideon

down to the enemy camp he stations him

right beside a tent where two men are

talking

Gideon hears his name past the enemy’s

lips he hears the enemy say that Gideon

in the 300 comes that they know they are

going to be annihilated Gideon can’t

believe they even know who he is much

less that they’re afraid of him but once

he hears the enemy weak his name and

realized that the enemy is so insecure

thinking about Gideon and the 300 coming

a confidence overwhelmed him he is ready

to go to battle knowing that the Lord

will give the victory it’s the same way

that you and I can leave this place on

this Sunday morning approaching the

battle that are in our daily lives we

can have security because now we know

what the enemy thinks about us now we

know that he already knows we have the

victory and so Gideon confident and

secure is getting ready to go into

battle and in judges chapter 7 he is

getting ready to show us how to win a

battle anybody interested in how to win

a battle in your life if you have your

Bible with you turn to Judges chapter 7

or your iPhone your iPad any manner of

imus just flip on over to Judges chapter

7 because there are some details in here

there are many actually but I’m going to

pick three of them to share with you

three things that are going to help us

know how to advance into battle and

claim the victory that is ours judges

chapter 7 verse 15 starts this way and

it came about when Didion heard the

account of the

dream and its interpretation from those

two men that he bowed in worship let’s

just start right here Gideon was one pin

secure and timid and paralyzed because

he had no courage

Gideon now is closer to the battle than

he has ever been the rumors of the

battle are what had permeated the verses

leading up to this point but now the

battle is imminent he is more clothed

and more up-close and personal with the

dilemma than he has ever been before but

we see him making a decision to worship

God it had been he doesn’t know how he’s

going to fight the battle he doesn’t

have a strategy for what specifically

he’s supposed to do

he has no details yet on how he’s

supposed to instruct the 300 as to how

they are to advance in battle and yet he

shows us that if we want to win a battle

we have to begin the battle on our knees

we have to choose to worship in advance

before we see how God are going to work

out the situation and so he worships in

the face of impending danger he

worshiped in the face of adversity he

worshiped even though he was still

outnumber and stretched far beyond his

reach

he worshipped before one instruction of

strategy for warfare was given he

worshiped because the enemy was already

afraid of him before the battle was

already was begun and so even in your

circumstances my friend even if you have

no idea how in the world God is going to

fix the dilemma that you are facing in

your life right now the way you win a

battle is to begin that battle on your

knees to make a decision to be the kind

of man to be the kind of woman that

worships God in advance even though they

have no clue of how God is going to work

that situation out think about Joshua he

goes into the promised land with the

children of Israel and as soon as they

cross the Jordan River there is a battle

to fight

Jericho sitting right there the

scriptures say that the wall were

tightly shut up that means they were

pretty much impenetrable they wanted to

be secure they had closed themselves up

and tightly shut up walls so that people

could not get in and

and wreak havoc in their city but Joshua

and the people of God surround them God

gives them instructions he says for six

days you walk around the wall on the

seventh day here’s what I want you to do

walk around the wall seven times and

then shout and then the walls will come

down don’t wait for the walls to come

down and then shall shout first before

you have seen one brick fall from that

impenetrable wall shelf in advance and

in response to your worship I’ll make

those walls come tumbling down I just

wonder if the wall but you’re waiting to

come down in your life you’re waiting

for the bricks to start falling God’s

waiting for you to start falling down on

your knees with your arms out threat

thanking him in advance for the victory

in your life you want to win the battle

whatever battle you’re facing whether

it’s in your own mind or in your own

heart or in your marriage or in your

family with your children and your

singleness on your job if you want to

win the battle if I want to win the

battles of our life we have to make a

decision to begin the battles on our

knees I have the opportunity to go to

Kyiv I was in the Ukraine just a couple

of weeks ago and it is a a community a

city a country that is really steeped in

a lot of history and tradition and I had

an opportunity to visit a lot of sites

while I was there one of the things that

I could not wait to see was the Orthodox

Christian temples and churches that are

still set up there from centuries ago

and so I was able to go in into these

very ornately decorated kind of golden

of the churches are just unbelievably

beautiful and you walk inside of them

and all the things that you might expect

just golden ornate designs and candles

lit everywhere and their logs tourists

like me that come in just to get a

glimpse of it you can walk down into

some stare down some stairs that go down

underneath the church buildings and many

of them where there are caves and

labyrinth of tunnels that take you to

where monks used to live centuries ago

and underneath they

not only are there rooms you can see

where monks used to live but there are

caskets glass caskets that contain

bodies of people that were considered to

be the face of old those bodies are

wrapped up in towels and they’re there

in glass caskets and again there are

tourists just like me but there are also

people who very much still believe that

there is power in those saints the

bodies of those saints from centuries

ago so we saw Thrones of people

thousands of people coming themselves

bringing their babies bringing their

spouses bringing to us the sick the

people that needed healing whether

emotionally financially or otherwise so

that they could come in and touch that

casket or kiss that casket so that some

of that power would leave this casket

and and come to them that person that

dead person and come to them and while I

was watching a happen I thought to

myself but that person dead certainly

can’t do anything for you because when

they were alive they couldn’t do

anything for you but our Jesus it’s not

dead he is alive and seated at the right

hand of the Father and all power is in

his hand right to mobic to help us wage

the battles in our life and not only

that in one of those churches I went in

it was a beautiful platform kind of like

this when it was ornate and gold and

candles everywhere and people were

coming in to kneel in front of that

platform and there was an entryway

almost like a parting right in the

middle of this this staging that was at

the front of this church and you could

look through this entryway like someone

could walk through the middle of this

stage and you could see there was

another golden ornately decorated room

through the center of the others of that

church the stage there and I said to the

woman who was with us who was helping us

to figure all this out and kind of

giving us a tour I said to her who goes

back there and she said well we can’t go

back there because women aren’t allowed

back there only men can go and she said

not all men can go you have to be a

certain kind of guy from a certain

Escalon and life of certain affluence in

the community everybody’s not allowed

back there and I said well what’s back

there she said well it’s kind of

considered like the Holy of Holies

and only certain men can go back there

and as I watched people literally

at bay from what they considered to be

the glory of God the presence of God the

ability to worship God when I watch them

standing back and away from that because

they weren’t the right gender or they

weren’t the right way so they weren’t

the right absolu intial status in

society to be able to go back there I

thought thank you Jesus Christ at 2,000

years ago when you died on Calvary you

tore the veil from the top to the very

bottom and so we all have the privilege

we all have the privilege to worship God

so we should never take that for granted

but no matter what your gender no matter

what your race no matter what your

background no matter what educational

level you come from you and I all have

the privilege to go boldly to the throne

of God Hebrews says and worship Him in

spirit and in truth we should never take

for granted never take for granted that

we have the privilege to begin the

battle on our knees because Yohe listen

now he doesn’t need our worship he

receives it because he wants to but he

doesn’t need it he’s still God whether

we worship Him and or not he just is who

he is so we have the privilege while

others right now in the year 2013 still

don’t think they have access to him you

and I can come boldly to the throne of

grace he gives us the privilege to win a

battle by beginning the battle on our

knees the question is why did Gideon

think our what gave Gideon the courage

to worship God even though the

Midianites were rallying their troops

for battle right there in front of him

what gave him the courage to do that I

think we find our answer at the end of

verse 15 it says Gideon returned to the

camp of Israel and he said arise for the

Lord has given somebody say has given

the Lord has given the camp of Midian

into your hands I love this so much

Gideon goes back to the 300 and he says

to them get up boys

the Lord has already given the victory

into our hands he does not say to them

y’all get up because I hope God’s gonna

give us victory today

he doesn’t say arrived let’s go in hopes

that maybe possibly if we work hard

enough we can claim the victory that’s

not what he says he says guys let’s go

because the Lord has already given us

exactly what we’ve asked him for you

know how you win the battle you begin

the battle on your knees and you face

the battle from a stance of victory

there are some things in your life my

friends simply because you are a

believer in Jesus Christ that have

already been accomplished for you they

have already been done you are not

fighting in your battle right now that

you’re facing in your life you are not

fighting for victory you are fighting

from victory you are already victorious

I am already victorious because we are

part of the family of God he has already

overcome the world Satan knows it you

and I need to know it as well that

victory is already ours you begin the

battle on your knees and you face the

battle from a sense of victory what does

that mean you know what it means listen

the Bible is filled with promises that

are available to believers in Jesus

Christ in fact there are over 8,000

promises over a thousand promises that

are written in the scriptures that can

be claimed by believers in Jesus Christ

a thousand opportunities for us to

experience what the Bible says because I

don’t know about y’all but listen I

don’t want to just know that he’s

powerful because I read about how he can

divide the Red Sea in the Old Testament

how he raised Lazarus from the dead in

the New Testament

I appreciate what he did in the

scripture but what I want is to see all

of that experience in my own life I want

to experience God for myself so he has

given us over eight thousand

opportunities to experience him through

the scriptures to experience him

personally in our life but most of those

promises he did not place in our hand he

placed them within our reach that means

that there is a process involved you

have to cooperate with him in order to

experience the victory that’s already

yours

it’s not that you don’t have the pro

it’s just that you have to cooperate

with him in order to experience it and

grab hold of it in your life you and I

have the opportunity to walk in victory

to claim the victory to experience the

victory that is already ours do you

remember when Joshua and the children of

Israel when they went into the Promised

Land Joshua chapter 1 God said to Joshua

every place you put your foot that land

it’s yours it’s already yours but you

have to put your foot on it and claim it

in order to experience it and to enjoy

it do you know that the children of

Israel spent many years dozens and

dozens and dozens of years holed up in a

little side of Canaan when the entire

land of milk and honey the entire

promised land of milk and honey was

available to them they were holed up in

one little corner of the Promised Land

because the enemies were over there and

they didn’t want to risk what what it

might take to fight those enemies they

were so intimidated by the enemy in

Canaan they stayed in one corner instead

of experiencing all that God had for

them it wasn’t that it wasn’t theirs

it’s just they weren’t willing to go get

it what would happen if you and I

decided we’re not going to be

intimidated by the enemy over there

anymore so we’re going to decide to

stand on the victory that the scripture

says is already hard and then place our

feet firmly on the promises of God

believing that what he said is exactly

what he can accomplish in our lives you

win the battle my friend you win the

battle by beginning the battle on your

knees and facing the battle from a

stance of victory think about how the

300 must have been affected when Gideon

came back and said arise the victories

already ours I didn’t think about that

because the last time they saw Gideon he

was leaving the camp in fear and

insecurity to go down to listen to those

two men on the enemy’s team talk about

him when he left he was insecure and he

lacked confidence but now he’s coming

back and his head is up in the air and

he’s saying guys let’s go get us a

victory how do you think the morale of

the 300 changed when their leader came

back

in what God had said the whole camp was

completely 100% different the morale

rose their confidence all row that swept

through there like a wildfire because

one person came back believing in God

what would happen if you were the one

that went home confident that that maybe

our marriage can be safe mm-hmm I’m

going back short because on the

authority of God’s Word the two of us we

can make it on the authority of God’s

Word I am standing confidently on what

God says believing that victory is

already ours what kind of environment

would change in your life on your job in

your home at your high school in your

university if you just went back

believing that God is who he says he is

and that he can accomplish what he says

he can accomplish everything hinges on

one person believing God on one person

choosing to be the one that will take

God at His Word I have a friend that

lives across the street from me her name

is Rachel she’s actually been one of my

closest friends for about 10 years now

so it’s neat to live to be a neighbor

with a very close friend and as Jerry

and I live in a very rural part of

Dallas Fort Worth we like it that way

there are creeks and trees and mud and

bugs and all the things need in their

life and so we like living there for

that reason I like to send them outside

to play any time they come inside and

say mom were bored I fell no you’re not

you see that tree out there go play with

it

you can eat it you can play tag with it

I don’t know what you do with it but

you’re not going to be bored today out

in the country here boy so we love

living out here but I’ll tell you a

problem we have we first moved out to

this this little area of Dallas and I

moved there because my friend was there

and I would go visit her and we loved

the area so much every time I would

visit her we thought well let’s see if

we can find a place for ourselves out

there we found a wonderful little house

and this little house actually is we

weren’t as much as excited about the

house itself which is a great little

house but it was the land that I loved I

loved that my boys could run and play

tall trees I just love trees and this

house is nestled underneath a bunch of

tall trees and it’s beautiful but it

posed a problem because we could not get

for the life of us a strong signal so

that we could get Wi-Fi high-speed

Internet access it was a problem it took

us about 2 or 3 months to figure out how

we needed to navigate on the airspace so

that we could kind of peel through these

tall trees and get the signal we needed

for for this high-speed Internet access

and you know it’s hard to go back to

dial-up once you’ve had a taste of

high-speed it just it just doesn’t work

out too well and at the time I was in

the middle of writing a Bible study and

so I really needed the research ax easy

access quick access of my computer in

internet and had to send huge files back

and forth to publishers and so I was

really having a lot of trouble so I was

so grateful for my friend Rachel because

my friend Rachel even though she has a

lot of huge trees around her house as

well they had long since figured out

this internet thing and so I would just

grab up my book and grab my Bible and

grab my laptop and I would grab my purse

and I would march across the street and

sit down in her kitchen table and mooch

off of her high-speed Internet access

in fact she began to expect to me one

time I went over the door which is wide

open just there was just a screen door

there she knew I was coming she wasn’t

even home she just left the door open

the screen door and I walked right in

and there in her kitchen table she put a

lamp right there and a pen a cup of

coffee she knew I was coming

so I sent right there every day for

quite some time and just mooch off of

her high-speed Internet access it was so

great to have somebody near me that had

the can

affection that I did not have based on

the positioning that I was in right then

it should be that in your life and in

mind that when our circumstances

position us in a place where we’re just

underneath a lot of tough circumstances

and issues and dilemma that are keeping

us from having the high-speed connection

that we want to have a peace or joy or

faith we got to have people in our life

where we can go over into their life and

mooch off of a little bit of their high

speed faith or joy or peace

relationships worth having – there are

people that change the entire

environment of our home or our job or

our organization because they come

firmly established on the promises of

God but even more important than us

looking for somebody else to do it how

about you do it how about you be the one

that other folks can come to because

you’re the one firmly planted on the

truth of God word God’s Word how do you

win a battle you begin the battle on

your knees and you face the battle from

a stance of victory now I don’t know if

it was while Didion was on his knees or

while he was racing back to the 300 to

tell them arise let’s go I don’t know

when exactly it happened but at some

point God downloaded to him the

instructions the strategy for the battle

verse 16 he says to his men or he

divided the 300 men into three companies

he put trumpets and empty pictures into

the hands of all of them with torches

inside the pitchers verse 18 he said to

them when I and all who are with me bro

the trumpet then you also blow the

trumpet around the camp and say for the

Lord and for Gideon now in my Bible

there are headings that are above I read

from the new American Standard Bible and

there are headings above each chapter

just a little synopsis of what that

chapter is about but also inside of each

chapter there are verses grouped

together they’re actually called

pericope they’re these sections of

Scripture that are grouped together and

above each pericope there is another

label in my Bible so you might have a

couple of verses together in the Bible

in your version and then it will have

another label above it so you can see

what these verses in particular about

above the verses that I just read you

are right

right in that vicinity there’s a heading

in my Bible

that says the confusion of the enemy now

I know the Bible is completely inerrant

and that nothing should be changed but

if I had been writing this particular

part I probably would have labeled this

part the confusion of the 300 because of

Guinean had come back to if I was one of

the 300 and Gideon had come back to

confed go get a jar a light and a

trumpet and let’s go to battle I would

have said you have got to be kidding me

you mean you don’t want me to get a

sword you don’t want me to get a bow and

arrow you don’t want me to take off my

jewelry and check on my earrings and

ball up my fists and get some Vaseline

and get ready to rumble you got to be

kidding me what kind of battle strategy

is this it makes absolutely no sense and

here’s the deal my friend most of the

time God’s strategy doesn’t make sense

you want to know how to win the battle

you begin the battle on your knees you

face the battle from a stance of victory

and you choose to plan for battle using

divine strategy God’s strategy will

rarely match up with your strategy in

fact Isaiah 55 puts it this way his ways

they just aren’t your way his thoughts

they’re just not sure sup we would be so

much better off if we stopped trying to

make his stuff artha stop trying to make

his ways not match our ways I don’t know

about you guys we’ll listen I oftentimes

rationalize myself out of being obedient

to God because if it doesn’t make sense

to me I think it must not be God but the

contrary is often true if it doesn’t

make sense to you it’s probably God

because only God could come up with

something like that

and some of you have had a solution for

that problem bubbling up in your spirit

for a long time you’ve been thinking

about it and it wakes you up in the

middle of the night but you keep

discounting it because it doesn’t make

sense and maybe the Spirit of God is

saying to you today plan for battle

using that divine strategy Lord you want

me to apologize to my spouse you know he

started it right

Lord you want me to give back 5 that

will $5 financial gifts to this

particular ministry that’s not going to

accomplish anything and

it’s my Starbucks money I know you don’t

want me to give my $5 to church Lord you

want me to move here even though it

seems like there’s a better house over

there

Lord you want me to take this job even

though they’re gonna pay me more money

at this job Lord you want me to leave

corporate America and go to ministry it

makes absolutely no sense at all

nobody’s going to understand cuz I don’t

even understand my friends are going to

think I’m crazy that’s the exact

strategy that you might need to win the

victory that’s in front of you my

friends you have to decide you and I

have to decide if we’ll be like Simon

that when when God said to him push out

into deep water and cast out your net

again will we be willing to say it

doesn’t make sense but at your bidding

I’m going to say yes Lord anyway battles

are won when we begin the battle on our

knees face the battle from a stance of

victory and plan for battle using divine

strategy I’ll close with this I was

thinking about a friend of mine that

works well she worked for our ministry

she was an intern for the summer as she

travelled with us a bit she wasn’t

familiar with the Dallas Fort Worth

Airport and if any of you have ever

flown through Dallas you know that we

have an airport in Dallas it is big so

we’ve got terminal a terminal B terminal

C terminal D and terminal E so before

you can even start to begin to find your

plane you have to at least get to the

right terminal once you go to the

terminal there about 30 dates or so in

each terminal then some of those gates

have an a part and a B part so it might

be gate 30 a and gate 30 B so you really

have to be detailed on where you are

going and on this particular trip that

we were taking we were leaving from

terminal D so we drove up to terminal D

with with my entire family and our new

friend Katie and this was her first time

really at the Dallas Fort Worth Airport

and so we got into the airport we went

through security and you know what that

means we basically took all our clothes

off to get through security and Katie

happened to get into a line that was

going really slow so my entire family

made it through security before Katie

had even gotten close to going through

and so we saw her there on the other end

of the line and my husband decided to

texts and he said hey we’ll meet you at

the gate our date is 22a now once you

came through security in the V terminal

our gate was literally right to the

Ryman it wasn’t far at all just a few

steps and so we said well meet you at

the gate gate 20 to 8 she waved back at

us and said I’ll meet y’all there well

we said there is a gate waiting for her

and then they they started boarding the

flight we were still waiting for her we

got on the plane and we sat down man the

minutes were clicking we were getting

really nervous because I looked like he

was gonna completely miss the fight we

had no idea where she was she was just

right there in security which was just a

few steps away from our gate we sent her

text she didn’t answer them we could not

figure out what was going on but after

just a few moments and I mean literally

right before the plane was getting ready

to take off I mean to the point where

they had started to call her name across

the loudspeaker in the airport like

you’re the last person to board the

flight we were getting ready to leave

you you know you were in trouble when

they start calling you name

she finally raced down the jet bridge

she raced onto the airplane she was

sweating her hair was plastered onto her

face she looks completely spent she

plopped down on her feet in a Katy’s

what in the world happened she said well

Jerry text me to come to 22a but I just

I assumed that he meant a 22 so I went

to a terminal I got on the tram that

takes you all the way around the entire

airport and went all the way to a

terminal because I just assumed that’s

what he meant and Jerry overheard her

say that and he just shook his head and

he said Katie man if you would have just

believed that what I wrote was what I

meant it would have saved you so much

time and energy and sweat I just

wondered today it’s a divine strategy

you’ve been given the one that you’ve

been discounting because it does not

make sense I just wonder if the Holy

Spirit of God today is saying to you if

you will just believe that exactly what

I’m saying is exactly what I mean

victory will be yours and I’ll save you

a whole lot of sweat on the way

you want to win the battle begin the

battle on your knees face the battle

from a stance of victory and plan for

battle using that strategy yeah that one

that sounds ridiculous to you you use

that strategy and victory will be yours

let me pray for you Lord Jesus thank you

so much for this clear simple word from

Scripture I pray Lord that you would

cause it to be embedded and sealed into

our hearts so that it changes us and

transforms us I’m praying it’s

circumstances that are represented by

those who are all over this room

circumstances will be changed

victory will rain down over them in

Jesus name Amen