Can you be part of Israel or part of the church and be engaging in spiritual warfare without the presence or direction of God? Could you be warring in prayer and evangelism and still be ineffective and unfruitful? The answers to these questions are, “Yes, you can!”

In the text, Moses had told Israel not to go up and fight against the Amalekites because they would lose. The reason is due to the fact that sin was in the camp. They had transgressed against the commandments of God, and although they were part of the camp, they were not going to prosper or succeed. In their stubbornness and pride, the children of Israel did not take heed to the warning and went to fight on their own accord, without Moses and the Ark of the Covenant, which was symbolic of the very throne and presence of God. Do you want to know what happened? They lost, just as the man of God said they would! All of the children of Israel probably encouraged themselves and said to each other, “Forget Moses. We have fought before, and we have not forgotten how to fight by now. We do not need him. All we need is each other.” They probably warred more out of emotionalism than spiritual admonition, and the devil is not afraid because a person is emotional. He fears a man who is in connection with the King of Kings and LORD of LORDS, who lives it and prays it!

If a situation like this occurred today, where the man who led them out of bondage refused to lead them to battle, they would automatically judge and condemn, saying, “How could our leader not going to come with us? He is selfish and lazy!” They would start playing the blame game and put it all on the leader when he already envisioned the outcome of the battle. It was their sin and disobedience that brought defeat, not because the man said they would lose! It was not a lack of faith on Moses’ part, but pure common sense that blessings come upon obedience and curses upon disobedience!

So many people spiritually can find themselves in this very same position. They are fighting against the devil in themselves and not in God. Yes, they “declare by faith” in prayer and evangelism, but they have no works or holiness to support their faith. Habakkuk 2:4 says, “The just shall live by faith.” It is not about “speaking” by faith, but rather “living” by faith, showing your faith by your works! It profits nothing for a father to pray blessings over his home if he himself is addicted to pornography or living in adultery. If a wife speaks blessings over their children, yet they are gossiping about everyone else’s, then their prayers are lifeless because blessing and cursing cannot proceed out of the same mouth. It profits nothing for an individual to pray increase over their finances if they are using their income to support their addictions of alcohol and drug abuse. Until we are willing to give up those things that can separate us from God and be consecrated before Him, we will lose against our adversary! We cannot fight the devil out of emotion, but we must carry the presence of God with us and be led by His Spirit if we want to be more than conquerors in our daily lives!