This morning from the pen of Charles Haddon Spurgeon:

"There fell down many slain, because the war was of God."              1 Chronicles 5:22

Warrior, fighting under the banner of the Lord Jesus, observe this verse with holy joy, for as it was in the days of old so is it now, if the war be of God the victory is sure. The sons of Reuben, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh could barely muster five and forty thousand fighting men, and yet in their war with the Hagarites, they slew "men, an hundred thousand," "for they cried to God in the battle, and He was entreated of them, because they put their trust in Him." The Lord saveth not by many nor by few; it is ours to go forth in Jehovah's name if we be but a handful of men, for the Lord of Hosts is with us for our Captain. They did not neglect buckler, and sword, and bow, neither did they place their trust in these weapons; we must use all fitting means, but our confidence must rest in the Lord alone, for He is the sword and the shield of His people. The great reason of their extraordinary success lay in the fact that "the war was of God." Beloved, in fighting with sin without and within, with error doctrinal or practical, with spiritual wickedness in high places or low places, with devils and the devil's allies, you are waging Jehovah's war, and unless He himself can be worsted, you need not fear defeat. Quail not before superior numbers, shrink not from difficulties or impossibilities, flinch not at wounds or death, smite with the two-edged sword of the Spirit, and the slain shall lie in heaps. The battle is the Lord's and He will deliver His enemies into our hands. With steadfast foot, strong hand, dauntless heart, and flaming zeal, rush to the conflict, and the hosts of evil shall fly like chaff before the gale.

Stand up! stand up for Jesus!

The strife will not be long;

This day the noise of battle,

The next the victor's song:

To him that overcometh,

A crown of life shall be;

He with the King of glory

Shall reign eternally.

Morning and Evening.

In the Old Testament we see many battles, battles where the people of God are being used by God to destroy and displace those people who are opposed to the living God.  People who worship and serve gods of their own making are an abomination to the One True God.

In our day there are still wars and battles and much bloodshed, however at this time in the daily life of our Nation there is a different kind of battle raging.  It is the battle for the souls of men.   The enemy is Satan and his army of demons.   One of his highest priority targets is our children.

Satan attacks our children on many fronts.   His first attack is in the womb.  This strategy has resulted in the murder millions of unborn children.   For those who he is unable to kill in the womb he attacks their surroundings, the family.

The attack on the family has many aspects.   First there is divorce.  Satan knows that a child needs the God designed environment of a loving father and mother in order to thrive and to be trained up in the ways of God.   A very high percentage of those who are residents of our prisons today have been raised in homes without both loving mothers and fathers.  

A similar satanic tactic to that of divorce is the strategy of promoting living together outside of marriage.   This tactic is successful for Satan due to the lack of commitment associated with cohabitation and because it is a sin against a Holy God.  This is a very popular means today of meeting basic needs outside the bounds of marriage.   Cohabitation of course brings instability into the lives of children born into this unstable atmosphere.   Because this arrangement brings guilt into the hearts of the parents they often do not seek to serve God and train their children in the ways of God.

Next there is the strong push by our enemy toward the homosexual centered “family.”  In this arrangement the roles of gender are clouded and gender confusion and identity results in generations who are confused about the God given roles of men and women and are encouraged to live in rebellion to God. We are no doubt soon to see this political push entering the realm of our elementary text books.

As our children get a bit older Satan offers seduction into the occult as a means of bondage.  He uses children to encourage other children to become engaged in occult practices which allow Satan and his own more and deeper access into their hearts and lives.  This access is designed by Satan to draw children over time into dark depression and ultimately into death by suicide.

If children escape these traps set by our enemy they will soon be exposed to the enticement of drugs.  He uses drugs to put our children in bondage.     In their    pursuit of drugs, the side benefits to his cause are robbery, and murder and much additional mayhem.

Of course these strategies touched on above are only the tip of the iceberg, but they illustrate the satanic war against our children.   If we return our thoughts to the scripture in 1Chronicles Chapter 5 we see that the key to winning the battles against the strategies of Satan is twofold.   First we must pray.   Secondly we must walk with God in righteousness because it is the prayers of the righteous that bring the power of God to bear strongly on their behalf.    So we must strive to walk with the Lord in faith and righteousness and then we must call on Him in prayer to fight the battles to which He has assigned us to fight.

1 Chronicles 5:18-22 (NASB) 

¹⁸  The sons of Reuben and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, consisting of valiant men, men who bore shield and sword and shot with bow and were skillful in battle, were 44,760, who went to war. 
¹⁹  They made war against the Hagrites, Jetur, Naphish and Nodab. 
²⁰  They were helped against them, and the Hagrites and all who were with them were given into their hand; for they cried out to God in the battle, and He answered their prayers because they trusted in Him. 
²¹  They took away their cattle: their 50,000 camels, 250,000 sheep, 2,000 donkeys; and 100,000 men. 
²²  For many fell slain, because the war was of God. And they settled in their place until the exile.

Note V 20:  “They were helped against them ….. for they cried out to God in the battle and He answered their prayers, because they trusted in Him.”

This is our call in our day!  We can win the battle for the hearts and souls of our children but we must cry out to God in the battle.  We must trust in Him!

Pray as if it all depends on God but fight as if it all depends on us.   Notice it says that they were helped.   We must get into this battle.  God cannot help us if we refuse to go to battle.   And we must pray!

Our first prayer perhaps should be …..   Lord, show me my part of this battle and by your grace grant me a spirit of prayer that will precede my every step. 

God deeply desires to protect the hearts and lives and souls of our children.  But He has limited Himself for His own purposes to essentially work through the lives and prayers of His people.   And we, as His people, must step up to this opportunity.  In this battle we cannot lose except that we fail to fight and to pray.