May The God of Victory Fight For You, by Pastor Samuel Obafaiye

There are many deities people have worshipped from generations past unto our time. I have divided these into four types:

Objects of nature considered as spectacular by man (sun, moon, stars, rivers, etc.);
Animals considered by man as powerful (elephant, lion, dragon, cobra, crocodile, anaconda, etc.);
Individuals considered by man as superhumans (Egyptian Pharaohs, Japanese emperors, Chinese emperors, Roman emperors, Dalai Lama, Mary – mother of Jesus, etc.);
And spirit beings who are rulers in the heavenlies (Apollo, Poseidon, Zeus, Angel Michael, etc.).

Though there are uncountable deities known as gods or goddesses; there is only one God that can truly answer the name ‘The God of victory’, this is the Lord God Almighty; the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth; the Lord of hosts; and the God of the spirits of all flesh.

Nothing and no one can engage in battle with the Almighty. As a matter of fact, non dare stands before Him to confront Him.

God has never lost and can never lose a battle; no one is a match for Him. Sometimes when we consider words and opposite, we talk about good and evil, straightaway we think of God as the originator of good and Devil as the originator of evil, which is true; but a mistake that might come from that is to think that God and Satan operates at the same level of opposing ends. It is not so.

God is the Creator, Satan is a creature. Not even the only creature.

God operates in a higher realm than Satan. The tangent at which God operates is way higher than that of Lucifer. It’s incomparable.

According to the Bible, the greatest opposition to God’s authority in all history were just two; staged by Lucifer himself. One was in heaven and the other on the earth.

In Isaiah 14:12-14, Satan staged a coup in heaven to overthrow God and make his throne to be above that of God, he however failed. The most interesting part of the event was that God did not physically get involved in the fight, it was Archangel Michael that dealt with the uprising.

Isaiah 14:12-14 – How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

Revelation 12:7-9 – And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

In Gen. 3: 1-15, after Satan saw that God was having a good time with Adam and Eve, he devised a plan to put separation between God and what He loved. Satan instigated Man to sin and there was a separation between God and Man. God, however, promised that the battle was not over, that the Seed of the same Eve will be used to bring victory.

Genesis 3:15 – And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Satan knew he had more power than man, so he would have thought there is no way his victory over man and the separation between man and God could be overturned.

But it so happened that Jesus surprisingly came in the flesh and dealt with Satan through His death and resurrection, and so ushers in victory for Man.

Colossians 2:9-10 – For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:

Colossians 2:14-15 – Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

So our God is by far more powerful beyond any imagination and even understanding.

Once upon a time, in I Sam. 5:1-5, the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant and hid it in the Temple of their god – Dagon. They were amazed at what they found in the morning. Dagon fell from its stand and laid face down before the Ark.

They helped Dagon up again and put it back on its stand. The following day, they found out that Dagon had not only fallen face down before the Ark; but his head and hands were cut off. Meanwhile, the Ark was just a symbol of God’s presence; one can only imagine if God Himself was involved physically to fight.

Our God cannot fall like Dagon; He cannot be helped to stand up; He cannot be put in His place by man; His head and arms cannot break. He is, however, a God that can do all these and more to other gods. May He fight for you.

One thing about the Almighty God is that He specialises in defending His own. He is not like other gods that forsook their worshippers at their greatest time of need:

In I Kings 18:22-40, on Mount Carmel, the worshippers of Baal agreed to Elijah’s context as they knew their god could produce fire; but on that day though, Baal disappointed them and they lost their lives. It’s either that God shut Baal’s mouth so he could not spit out fire, or Baal saw the Consuming Fire Himself coming and so Baal ran away.

May God shut and silenced the mouth of any Baal wanting to spit fire on you in Jesus name.

May they run away at the coming of your God.

In 2 Kings 3:24-27, the King of Moab was deserted by his god – Chemosh. Even when he had to offer his first son as a sacrifice to provoked Chemosh to grant him victory against the Israelites/Judah/Edomite, he still lost.

The God of victory comes to His children rescue, even at times when they made mistakes. Abram made an error as he stayed in Gerar. He said Sarai was a sister of his and so the king took Sarai to become his wife. God had to warn Abimelech in a dream to return Sarai to Abram with lots of gifts (Gen. 20:1-18).

God defended Moses from attacks from his siblings and leaders under him. Mariam and Aaron were silenced by God; Korah and his accomplices were swallowed up alive.

God defended Joshua during his tenure as the leader of the people. No individual, group or nation was able to withstand him.

God defended Hannah from Penninah and her in-laws. She became the mother of the next High Priest in the land.

God defended Jehoshaphat as three countries came to fight against Judah. The countries helped to eliminate themselves.

The God of victory that defended these people will defend you. He will fight your battles.

He will silence your enemies. He will shut their mouth forever.

No one will be able to withstand you.

Every confederacy against you shall be scattered. They shall not be able to re-group again in Jesus name.

May your presence terrorise your foes. May you enjoy victory over every opposing person; opposing spirits and opposing situations in Jesus name.

There are different sources of attacks from which a man can suffer: from God obviously (proud or disobedience to Him) – king Saul; from Satan (as trials of faith) – Job; from humans (as persecutions and test of endurance) – Joseph; and from self (carelessness) – Samson.

There is the need to examine oneself to know where an attack is coming from and as such deal with it appropriately.

The only Person that can rescue from any of these attacks is God Almighty.

There are also different kinds of wars:

Conventional warfare – the people of Canaan under Jabin versus the people of Israel under Deborah. Guerrilla warfare – the king of Syria lying in wait for the king of Israel, exposed by Elisha. Diabolical warfare – the rods of magician and rod of Aaron turning to a serpent.

Again, in all of these, it is the Almighty God that can save them all. If people are attacking you openly, in an ambush or with diabolical means, may the Almighty God deliver you.

One thing I have noticed is that every battle is given a name.

Operation desert storm; Operation Liberty; Battle of Somme; Battle of Hastings (1066).

Is there a particular named battle you are fighting now? May the God of victory deliver you.

Are you fighting poverty? 2 Kings 4: 1-7 won. The same God will deliver you.

Are you fighting bareness and fruitlessness? I Sam 1:2-6. May God of Hannah deliver you in Jesus name.

Are fighting family name extinction? Ruth 4: 5-15, May your name live on till Christ comes.

Are you fighting oppression and hatred? Mordecai was hated by Haman, but Mordecai saw his end.

May you see the end of the Haman against your life.

Are you fighting jealousy and envy? Daniel overcame them all in Babylon and Persia.

May those who are envying you be your stepping stone to greatness?

Are you fighting illness and diseases? Woman of the issue of blood received the victory. You will receive your own.

Are you fighting persecution? Joseph fought this from his older siblings. Because he used to bring their bad reports to their father (Gen 37:2).

Jehovah will grant you victory.

Are you fighting removal? Isaac fought removal in Gerar, but God granted him Rehoboth within Canaan (Gen. 26:16-22).

Many of you came to Leeds by personal or family decision. For my family, it wasn’t so. Our coming to Leeds from London was to be a punishment. God, however, granted us amnesty and has shown us great grace by making room for us.

May God make room for you and make you fruitful in this land.

Are you fighting any matrimonial war? Leah was fighting for her husband love, but Jacob loved Rachel. God, however, grant Leah victory, 8 sons and tribe of Judah.

The toughest battles every man/woman will fight are three: death, grave and hell. Jesus as the Son of Man had to fight the three of them and won.

One day, you and I will be confronted with these battles. But thanks be to God who had given us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:55-57 – O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Prayers

Father, make me an overcomer in life.
Father, do not allow anything to claim victory over my life except you.
Father, in the battle that I face today, and in the battle that I will face tomorrow, let me be victorious.
Father, make me an object of victory even unto others.

The sermon, May The God of Victory Fight For You, by Pastor Samuel Obafaiye, was delivered on November 26th 2017.