Victory rests with the Lord!
[Proverbs 21:21-31]
In December 2013, as I looked back on this year, I started to meditate on 1 Thessalonians 2:1 at the early Morning Prayer meeting a while ago: “You know, brothers, that our visit to you was not a failure.” While meditating on this word, I evaluated this year in my own way: ‘I made this year in vain (failed).’ But when I look back on this year, I have no choice but to confess that ‘I have failed this year’ when I think of myself because I wasn’t victorious in my spiritual battle against sin, this world and Satan, and was defeated countless times. As I was thinking about why I was so defeated in the spiritual battle, I came to meditate on the words of Proverbs 21:31 – “The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the LORD.” I would like to receive lessons from today's words as we meditate on what spiritual battle we Christians must fight under the heading “Victory rests with the Lord!” and what the Lord is commanding us to do in order to win that spiritual battle.
First of all, I would like to think about four kinds of spiritual wars that we must fight.
First, we must fight pride.
Look at Proverbs 21:24 – “The proud and arrogant man-"Mocker" is his name; he behaves with overweening pride.” Can you imagine we, the disciples of Jesus, who say that we believe in Jesus, doing the Lord's work and walking with “overweening pride”? In Proverbs 21:24 the Bible says that such a person is “Mocker”. And the Bible says that such “Mocker” is “The proud and arrogant man” (v. 24). Such proud and arrogant man is “a mocker” (v. 11) who not only “does not love one who reproves him” (15:12) but also “hardens his neck after much reproof” (29:1). So the Bible says, “Do not rebuke a mocker” because “he will hate you” (9:8). Such mocker doesn’t like to be reproved. Therefore, he continues to act with overweening pride.
If we have pride in our hearts that overweens and continue to serve the Lord, then the greatest sin we are committing now is to cover the glory of God and even steal the glory of God. Think about it. In fact, if we say that we are doing the Lord's work and are doing it with an overweening pride, then will we boast of the Lord or will we boast of ourselves? Of course, with our lips we would say that we boast and glorify Him. But in our hearts, we will want to show off ourselves and receive all the praise, recognition, and respect from people. That is why we have many prospects to become like Saul, the first king of Israel in the Old Testament. He set up a monument for himself after victory in the war (1 Sam. 15:12). And after he disobeyed God's word, he asked Samuel to honor him before the elders of his people and before Israel (v. 30) without repenting his sins. If our hearts are as proud as Saul, we will not confess 'I am a worthless servant' after we have done the Lord's work. Rather we will set the monument in our hearts and long for ourselves to be exalted in front of the members of the church. Do you know what is characteristic of the proud and arrogant man that is mocker, who continues to do the Lord's work with overweening pride? The characteristic of such a person has the idea that he is superior to others (Walvoord). In other words, the proud and arrogant mocker has a sense of superiority. If we have proud hearts, we will compare ourselves with other people and have the thought of ‘I am still better than them’. To put it more seriously, if we have pride in our hearts, we can even pray to God, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men”, like the Pharisee who went up to the temple and prayed to God (Mt. 18:10-11). Can you imagine? What would the church like if I, who have sense of spiritual superiority, think I am better than other brothers and sisters in Christ and consider them inferior to me and thus even criticize and condemn them in my heart? Also, the characteristic of the proud and arrogant mocker who continues to do the Lord’s work with overweening pride is not satisfied unless he is at the center. And such a mocker doesn’t like to listen to rebuke (Prov. 13:1). Rather he despises the word of God (v. 13). And the proud mocker honors himself (12:9) and pretends to be rich (13:7). What if this man or woman is in the church?
This is what Proverbs 22:10 says: “Drive out the mocker, and out goes strife; quarrels and insults are ended.” If we drive out the mocker and the proud who have sense of spiritual superiority in the church, strife quarrels and insults in the church will be ended. Don't you think it's true? Why are there strife, quarrels and insults in the church? It is because there is pride. Because we have sense of spiritual superiority that we think we are better than others, there are strife, quarrels and insults in the church. Therefore, we must guard our hearts not to have sense of spiritual superiority. We must fight pride so that it doesn’t enter our hearts. We must fight pride with the word of God. One of those words of God is Philippians 2:3 – “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves.” When fighting pride with this word, we have to ask ourselves many times over two questions: (1) Am I not doing the Lord's work now from selfishness or empty conceit? Am I trying to fulfill my selfish ambitions with my heart while saying with my lips it is a vision from the Lord? Also, now am I not saying that I am doing the Lord's work for His glory with my lips, but actually pursuing my own glory in my heart? (2) Am I doing the Lord's work with a humble heart? Do I really think of others better than myself? Or am I not saying that others are better than me with my lips, but actually thinking that they are inferior to me? We must fight pride. God hates those who are proud of their hearts (Prov. 16:5). We must keep in mind that the result of pride is destruction and fall (v. 18; 18:12).
Second, we must fight laziness.
Look at Proverbs 21:25 – “The sluggard's craving will be the death of him, because his hands refuse to work.” As we have already meditated on the Book of Proverbs, we have thought about laziness in many ways. In summary, these thoughts are: (1) The lazy man craves and gets nothing (13:4). (2) The lazy man desires the plunder of evil men (12:12). (3) The lazy man plunders what is left, even through all means of injustice (v. 12). (4) The lazy man pursues worthless and vain prodigality (13:11). (5) The lazy man is a great waster (18:9). (6) As a result, the Bible says that the lazy man becomes poor (10:4). In Proverbs 21:25, the Bible says “The sluggard's craving will be the death of him ….” In other words, the lazy man's earnest desire will kill himself (Park). What is the lazy man's earnest desire? Isn't it like playing and eating? If we look at the second half of Proverbs 21:25, the Bible says that the lazy man’s hands refuse to work. However, the bigger problem is that the lazy man craves for more all day long, even in the midst of an earnest desire to play and eat (v. 26). In other words, the lazy man doesn’t want to work with his own hands, but he craves wealth with his heart (13:4) and only desires the plunder of evil men (12:12). Isn't it funny that the lazy man hates to work with his own hands, but craves for more all day long? How funny is this because he doesn't sit around and work, but wants riches in his heart and craves fir more all day long? This is what Dr. Yoon-sun Park says: ‘The devil dwells in the heart of the lazy man. Covetousness and lust move stronger in the heart of the lazy man. The reason is because he doesn’t pour his mind and energy into labor, but focuses only on pleasure’ (Park). Do you think covetousness and lust move stronger in the heart of the lazy one? As we have already meditated on, the lazy man lazily moves his hand, but diligently turns his head. In other words, the wicked and lazy servant does a lot of tricks (15:19). At the same time, since he is lazy, he doesn’t even think about working hard and sweat. Also, the lazy man focuses only on pleasure and doesn’t devote his heart and energy to labor. What is the result? The Bible says that the result is that he will put himself to death (21:25).
How should we fight laziness?
(1) To fight laziness, we must fight covetousness in our hearts.
The reason is because the underlying problem of laziness is the covetousness of the heart rather than not working with one's own hands. How, then, must we fight against covetousness in our hearts and overcome it? To do this, we must learn the secret of contentment like the apostle Paul (Phil. 4:11-12). We must know what it is to be in need and what it is to have plenty. And we must learn to live a life of contentment only with Jesus alone. Then we can fight the temptation of covetousness that permeates our hearts. Also, in order for us to fight against covetousness, we must live a life of giving without sparing like the righteous (Prov. 21:26). When we live a life giving to our neighbors with joy and love, we will be able to fight the covetousness of our hearts and be victorious.
(2) To fight laziness, we must remember 2 Thessalonians 3:10.
Look at 2 Thessalonians 3:10 – “For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: ‘If a man will not work, he shall not eat.’” What we need to keep in mind is that if we don't like to work, we shouldn't even eat it. But do we actually stop our children from eating when we see them living in the house lazy and they don't like to work? At the time of the apostle Paul, in the church of Thessalonica, there were those who were idles and busybodies who didn’t work (v. 11). What Paul commanded and urged such people to settle down and earn the bread they ate (v. 12).
(3) To fight laziness, we must go to the ant and consider its ways and be wise (Prov. 6:6).
Ants work willingly, diligently and cooperatively, even without a supervisor (v. 7). In addition, the ants are considerate of each other, mutually cooperate, and divide professional occupations according to size. And even in the hot summer, the harvest season, the ants prepare food for the cold winter. Therefore, we must go to the ants and learn to prepare for the future (v. 8).
Third, we must fight evil.
Look at Proverbs 21:27 – “The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable-- how much more so when brought with evil intent!” After reading the news about the purge of Mr. Seong-taek Jang from North Korea, I learned a new four-character idiom. I listened to it with attention because it is said that the four-character idiom expresses his purging. That four-character idiom word is “陽奉陰違”. It means that betraying in the heart while pretending to obey on the outside (Internet). In a way, the wicked man spoken of in Proverbs 21:27 is a person who practices “陽奉陰違”. That wicked man carries the evil that God hates in his heart, but makes a sacrifice to God. In other words, the wicked man is wicked on the outside while offering a sacrifice to God on the outside. Dr. Yoon-sun Park says, ‘It is an act of rebelling against God on the inside while pretending to obey God on the outside. It’s kind of flattering’ (Park). The Bible says that the sacrifices of the wicked man that is offered to God in flattering manner are detestable in God's sight (Prov. 21:27). But how much would it be abominable to God when we offer sacrifice to God “with evil intent”? The sacrifice of the wicked man who deliberately performs a sacrifice to accomplish his evil intent is abominable in the sight of God (Park).
So did the Israelites in the days of the prophet Isaiah. They sacrificed countless offerings to God without doing right and justice (Isa. 1:11). Regarding these sacrifices, God said: “The multitude of your sacrifices-- what are they to me? …” (v. 11), “… I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats” (v. 11), “… this trampling of my courts?” (v. 12), “Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me …” (v. 13), “… I cannot bear your evil assemblies” (v. 13), “Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them” (v. 14). Also, in the days of the prophet Jeremiah, the Israelites committed these abominable sins. They took the word of God spoken through the prophet Jeremiah as a reproach and they had no delight in it (Jer. 6:10). Obviously, the word of God was not reproach. But the Israelites considered it so. The reason is because their ears were not circumcised. It is because their hearts and ears liked this world and hated the word of God (Park). So they replied that they would not listen to the word of God (v. 17). And they did not listen to God's word proclaimed diligently from early morning (7:13). They didn't even answer when God called them (v. 13). Rather, the Israelites listened to the false prophets. They delighted to listen quickly to the false prophets who were greedy for gain (6:13) and lied “’Peace, peace,’ But there is no peace” (v. 14). They trusted in deceptive words to no avail (7:8). And they followed false gods (v. 9). They refused to listen to God's word (6:19) and didn’t obey His voice (7:28). Although God commanded them, “Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, Where the good way is, and walk in it”, the Israelites replied, “We will not walk in it” (6:16). And they did something detestable in the sight of God (v. 15). Nevertheless, they were not ashamed at all, nor were their faces blushed (v. 15). Then they entered God's house (temple) to worship God (7:2) and stood before God and said, “We are safe” (v. 10). In other words, the Israelites had committed many sins up to this time, and after performing some ordinances, they regarded themselves as being forgiven before God and were comforted (Park). Then they went out into the world and did all this abomination again (v. 10). Eventually, the Israelites went into the temple of God and held hypocritical religious ceremonies in order to go out into the world and continue to do something abominable in the sight of God. What an evil act that provoked God? (v. 19) Still, the Israelites didn’t take their actions as shameful (6:15). They kept God's hated evil in their hearts and made sacrifices to God. They offered sacrifices to God differently on the outside and on the inside in a flattering way that was abominable in the sight of God. They deliberately offered sacrifices to God to fulfill their wickedness.
Like the Israelites, we must not offer these abominable sacrifices to God in the sight of God. We must not come to the Lord every Sunday to worship God with sins in our hearts, worship just outwardly, and worship just to comfort the sins we have committed for a week. Rather, we must come before God with a pure heart, honest and sincere heart, and humbly worship God with faith in Jesus Christ. Like the psalmist, we must worship God with a prayerful heart, saying, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Ps. 51:10).
Fourth, we must fight lies.
Look at Proverbs 21:28 – “A false witness will perish, and whoever listens to him will be destroyed forever.” From Proverbs 6:19, we have learned that one of the seven sins that God hates and detests is “a false witness”. God hates the false lips of those false witnesses, the false witnesses who unwillingly spit out lies to harm the other person they hate (12:22). These false witnesses open their mouths of deceit (6:12). That is, they speak lies and deceitful words with their deceitful mouth (12:17). They deliberately distort the truthful words and spit out lies out of their mouth (Note: 19:28). Particularly in business, those who speak lies and deceit with a crooked mouth gather wealth with deceitful words (21:6). So, although it may seem prosperous at first with a lot of wealth, it is “a fleeting vapor, the pursuit of death,” (v. 6). And the false tongue has “hate” involved in human relationships. Look at Proverbs 26:28 – “A lying tongue hates those it crushes, And a flattering mouth works ruin.” What does it mean? It means that the liar hates the other person who has been hurt by his false tongue. And because he hates the other person, he tries to hurt and harm the other person even if the liar is lying. This is what Dr. Yoon-sun Park said: ‘It is his business that false witnesses pretend to lie and testify. He feels no remorse for his lie, as if he had been fine with his conscience (1 Tim. 4:2). He feels pleasure to lie’ (Park). When we lie, our conscience must feel remorse. And we should never have pleasure in lying. And what we need to keep in mind is that the false witnesses will perish (Prov. 21:28). Look at Proverbs 19:5 – “A false witness will not go unpunished, And he who tells lies will not escape” (Note: v. 9).
We are to be hearers of the truth. In Proverbs 21:28, the Bible says, “, But the man who listens to the truth will speak forever.” What does it mean? That means that those who listen closely to others but only accept truths with solid evidence have strength (Park). First, we must devote ourselves to listening carefully to the word of God's truth. The reason is because in doing so, we can gain strength through the word of truth. And it is because when we listen carefully to the word of truth, we can stand firmly on the word of truth and discern lies. Then like Jesus we can fight against the temptation of Satan, the father of lies, with the written word of God. And we must be truthful witnesses (Prov. 14:25). We must be truthful and faithful witnesses of the Lord who speak the truth without lying (12:17, 14:5). Look at Proverbs 12:19 – “Truthful lips will be established forever, But a lying tongue is only for a moment.” We must grow up in the knowledge of Jesus Christ as those who have been saved through faith in Jesus Christ, who is our true Wise Man. Then we will become more and more wise believers. And the wiser we become, the more we will obey God's commandments in awe of God. And the more we obey God's commandments, the more we live a life that becomes the personification of the word of God so that we will live to introduce God's wisdom, that is, Jesus Christ, into this vain world. The true wise man is a true witness. Jesus' witnesses preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and bring many people back to Jesus. I hope and pray that we may become truly wise Christians.
Finally, in order for us Christians to win spiritual battles, I would like to think about three things the Lord is commanding us to do.
First, the Lord commands us to do righteousness and love.
Look at Proverbs 21:21 – “He who pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor.” Here, “righteousness” refers to doing right in front of God and man, and “love” refers to loving people (Park). What the Lord commands us is to walk right before God and man and to love people. And one of the ways of loving our neighbor right in front of God and man is giving without sparing (v. 26). On the contrary, if we don’t act right in front of God and man, we are coveting the things of our neighbor (v. 26). There is such a desire in the heart of the wicked man (12:12) who chases fantasies (v. 11), and is only craving for more all day long (21:26). In order to overcome this sinful old nature, we must act right in front of God and people as the Lord commands by loving our neighbors. We must strive to live a life of love in giving without sparing.
Our Jesus did right before God and people according to Heavenly Father's will by loving our neighbors. Jesus gave us love until He gave His life generously on the cross. The Bible says that God gives “life, prosperity and honor” to us who believe in this Jesus (21:21). That is, God gives us eternal life, God's righteousness and glory.
Second, the Lord commands us to act wisely.
Look at Proverbs 21:22 – “A wise man attacks the city of the mighty and pulls down the stronghold in which they trust.” Do you think “wisdom” is better or “power” is better in war? Look at Ecclesiastes 9:16a – “So I said, "Wisdom is better than strength.” Look at Ecclesiastes 7:19 – “Wisdom strengthens a wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city.” Clearly, the Bible says that wisdom is better than strength. And the Bible says that wisdom makes the wise more powerful than the ten powerful men. In Proverbs 21:22, King Solomon says that the wise man wars with wisdom and breaks down the walls of the strong city that the enemy warriors rely on and trust. What does it mean? The secret to winning the war lies in wisdom rather than strength (Park). As I meditated on these words, I remembered a wise woman from 2 Samuel 20. Look at 2 Samuel 20:16 – “Then a wise woman called from the city, ‘Hear, hear! Please tell Joab, Come here that I may speak with you.’” The background story of this word is the story of when General Joab came to the city of Abel Beth Maacah (v. 14) against a man named Sheba, the son of Vigri from the hill country of Ephraim, who was against King David (v. 21). At that time, when Joab wanted to destroy the city wall with all the people (v. 15), a wise woman in the city cut off Sheba's head and threw it on Joab from the wall (vv. 21-22). Thus, she delivered the city from Joab’s hand. This wise woman was able to prevent the city from destruction by acting wisely.
In order for us to win spiritual battles, we must have wisdom. The spiritual battles must be overcome with wisdom that God gives rather than strength. Look at Matthew 10:16 – “"Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.” The Lord has sent us to this world, and there are many false prophets in this world who comes to us in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves (7:15). That is why Jesus says, “I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves” (10:16). Therefore, Jesus commands us to be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. In order for us to fight and win in spiritual battle, as the Lord says, we must be wise like serpents (KJV). Here, what does the phrase “wise as serpents” (KJV) mean? There are two interesting interpretations:
(1) First interpretation: ‘The word serpent is very negative for us. It feels bad and if we look at Genesis 3:1, the serpent appears cunning. But the serpent is not only cunning, it is also a symbol of wisdom. Thus, the Egyptians represented the serpent as a symbol of wisdom in their commercial script. The Lord spoke of the wisdom of the serpent above all else, saying that the serpent carefully copes with the various difficulties that come to it and escapes those difficulties. Among animals, the serpent is said to be the one which best grasp the difficulties that face them and quickly avoid them technically. The serpent has the ability to quickly foresee and avoid difficulties like this. Therefore, the Lord said that when His disciples preach the gospel in the world, they need wisdom, discernment, and vigilance against the threats of those who interfere with the gospel of Christ in a world that seeks their lives. He tells you that you must have the power of wisdom that will never be harmed by the crowd who are trying to harm God's kingdom, people, and church in order to know in advance who will harm you. … And that the serpent is wise speaks of careful discernment. The serpent's wisdom speaks of the ability to discern and judge all things. … Wisdom like the serpent means that we don’t look for disaster by thinking about what will happen to us, but use wisdom to go wherever we go and to do what we should do’ (Internet).
(2) Second interpretation: When Jesus sent His disciples to many towns, he said, “… be as shrewd as serpents …,” this word means to speak wisely in the symbolic meaning of the Jews. In the Jewish symbolic sense, the serpent is connected with “wisdom,” which is said to be due to a split tongue. All beasts have one tongue but the serpent has two. So, from the standpoint of the ancients, the body organ called the “tongue” was something that allowed us to speak well. So the people came to think that having two tongues would be able to speak much better than having one tongue. And it is said that being good at speaking is said to be that much wise. The Pharisees and the scribes quoted the Torah and spoke wisely. But the result was that the words that the disciples had to convey should be words of life, compared to the words that were like killing poison. It is not the snake that speaks with a tongue full of killing poison, but rather the snake that saves people, and we must speak wisely. It was the gospel that testifies of Jesus Christ (Internet).
Both interpretations seem to make sense. But I think the second interpretation is a little more valid. The important thing is that we, as Christians, must speak wisely and act wisely in preaching the gospel in this world and living the worthy life of the gospel. We must win the spiritual war with the wisdom of God. Since victory belongs to the Lord, I hope and pray that we will be victorious with the wisdom that the Lord gives us.
Third, the Lord commands us to guard our mouths.
Look at Proverbs 21:23 – “He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity.” King Solomon already said something similar in Proverbs 13:3 – “He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin.” As Christians, we must guard our mouths and not lie with our lips. We shouldn't lie habitually. The reason is because if our lips are deceitful and habitually lie, it will bring shame and disgrace to us (v. 5). Furthermore, our path will be rough as well. Then, in the end, we will come to ruin (v. 3). A little while ago, we thought about two interpretations of the Lord's words, ‘You must be wise as serpents’ (Mt. 10:16). Regarding the second interpretation, I would like to think of two more explanations regarding our lips (Internet).
(1) The first additional explanation is Genesis 3:1a – “Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made ….” Here, the Hebrew expression ‘to be crafty’ [Hebrew word is “arub”] is used as the same word in the expression that David hided well when King Saul was chasing David. Look at 1 Samuel 23:22 – “Go now, make more sure, and investigate and see his place where his haunt is, and who has seen him there; for I am told that he is very cunning.” Therefore, this word is a word for being wise in every way it does or says or thinks, and it was applied to the serpent who persuaded Eve. Eventually, the image of a serpent was settled as an image that twists and deceives other people with words. This serpent again appears in the book of Revelation and is also described as ‘the one who deceives the whole world.’ Look at Revelation 12:9 – “And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.” Therefore, according to the Jewish concept, of all the wild beasts of God, the serpent was the most well speaking and wise beast.
(2) The second additional explanation is Matthew 3:7 and 23:33 – “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?” (3:7), “You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?” (23:3) John the Baptist and Jesus said to the Pharisees and the scribes, “You brood of vipers,” “You serpents, you brood of vipers.” Here, the expression “You brood of vipers” contains the fundamental character of the Pharisees. The scribes and the Pharisees were those who taught the law and explained the Torah. They were all good speakers. However, from the standpoint of Jesus or John the Baptist, the scribes and the Pharisees were not speaking the words that save people's lives according to the true law, but they were people who were speaking words that eventually lead to destruction and ruin. They seemed wise because they spoke well, but they were those serpents full of killing poison inside. Their words were the same subtle words as the serpent who twisted Eve into cunning words in the Garden of Eden and eventually killed them. It is an expression that the Pharisees and the scribes spoke well as the serpent in the Garden of Eden, just as Adam and Eve eventually died through the serpent’s cunning words.
The reason for sharing these two additional explanations is that the Bible Proverbs 21:23 says, “He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity.” It is to receive a lesson that we must not deceive and twist others with our words like the serpent in Genesis 3 and we must not speak well that are full of poison that kills others with our word like the Pharisees and the scribes in Matthew 3:7 and 23:33.
Look at Proverbs 12:13 – “An evil man is trapped by his sinful talk, but a righteous man escapes trouble.” The Bible says that the evil man is trapped by his sinful talk. Our mouths shouldn’t be like this evil man’s mouths. Also, as Proverbs 14:3 says, we should not be like a fool whose talk brings a rod to his back. Instead, our mouths must speak the truth, And we must truthfully and faithfully preach the gospel of Jesus Christ that saves people's lives.
As I already mentioned in the introduction, when I look back at this year 2013, I thought ‘I have failed this year’. At the early Morning Prayer meeting on that day when I had that thought, I meditate on the words of 1 Thessalonians 2:1 and I was comforted by His word. Although I failed and made this year in vain, I was comforted when I came to think that my covenant God, the true and faithful God, alone made me succeed through my failure this year. I am grateful for God's grace for the fact that despite my sins against God, repeatedly loss the spiritual battles against myself, sins, the world, and Satan, and covering the glory of God, God has been faithful in fulfilling His good, perfect and pleasing will. In the midst of this, with the focus of Proverbs 21:21-31, God has taught me and us four kinds of spiritual wars that we must fight and three things the Lord is commanding us to do in order for us to win spiritual battles. We must fight pride, laziness, evil and lies. We have been taught by the Lord to do righteousness and love, to act wisely, and to guard our mouths. By receiving these instructions, we will continue to fight spiritual battles by believing that victory rests with the Lord. May we all enjoy the grace of the Lord who gives us victory.