How To Win The Battle

Where the Battle Is Won

Read | Matthew 26:36-46

If you want to experience victory in the conflicts and tough decisions facing you, consider what Jesus did. Before He got to the cross, the Lord fought a crucial, pivotal battle in the Garden of Gethsemane, where He wrestled with what lay ahead.

For our Savior, the weight of sin He would bear was overwhelming. He was about to experience complete spiritual separation from the Father. He went out to a peaceful and quiet place of prayer, where He got alone before the Father and cried out to Him. When Jesus left that garden, He walked out a winner. He would still drink the cup of suffering and separation, but He knew that in the end, He would triumph over it (Heb. 12:2).

Jesus’ example reveals that the key to winning life’s battles is to come before the Father—alone with Him and fully surrendered to His will. Godly counsel is important, but you cannot depend exclusively on others to tell you what to do. If you don’t spend time alone with the Lord, wrestling things out until you know what He is saying, you’ll never be sure you’re doing the right thing.

By making it a habit to spend time alone in God’s presence, you’ll be able to discern His perfect will as you come to major decisions with significant or even lifelong consequences. When you fully surrender to Him, you place the consequences of your choices into His most capable hands. After all, where could your decisions—and your future—be safer than in the control of our all-knowing, all-loving, all-powerful God?

-Charles Stanley