Pick your battles wisely.

Every day you engage in warfare. Your battleground may be on your job where someone gossips about you, and you are determined to straighten them out! It may be at home where you contend with your mate about family, finances or your relationship. The question we need to ask ourselves is: Is this battle worth fighting?

Too often we get consumed with battles that have no spoils and actually leave us in a lose/lose situation! We’re worse off after such battles than before we started.

A great warrior—before he invests his time, energy and his life—will choose battles whose victory promises great spoil. As warriors in God’s army, you and I need the wisdom to not fight unnecessarily. Satan loves to pull us into no-win situations so we miss the important battles we should be fighting, the ones that bring great victories. We’re called to engage in battles that advance the kingdom of God, promote us in His kingdom and that will spiritually mature us.

Retaliating against someone who cuts you off on the road or trying to prove how important you are by making someone who dishonored you look bad… these are not battles worth fighting. There are no rewards because they don’t advance God’s kingdom. In fact, they damage our spiritual growth and misrepresent the God we serve. As sons and daughters of God, we are His ambassadors here on earth.

Long before David becomes king and before fighting the battle God designed for him in which he defeats Goliath (1 Samuel 17:17-30), he brings food to his brothers on the battle field. It is here that he hears the giant Goliath ridicule Israel’s army. When David asks what the prize would be for defeating Goliath, he is told that he would have favor with the king, could marry one of the king’s daughters and live tax-free for life. That’s quite a spoil isn’t it?

While David is talking to the soldiers, his oldest brother Eliab starts to ridicule him in front of the men: “Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness?”

I believe the one thing that made David a true champion was his ability to engage in the battles that were the Lord’s and ignore the rest. He had the wisdom to walk away from Eliab (a battle with no spoils) and, instead, spent his energy on the battle the Lord had anointed him to fight!

David understood his value was in God, not in people’s opinions of him. Because he turned away from the wrong battle that day, he was available to fight the Lord’s battle and be promoted from zero to hero… from a shepherd over his father’s sheep to king of Israel, watching over God’s people.

Before you engage in warfare, ask: “Is this the Lord’s battle? Will it advance His purposes and plans in and through my life? Will it cause me to grow spiritually and be a better representation of Jesus?

I encourage you today to pick your battles wisely. Be strong enough to walk away from the many to fight the few that fulfill your destiny, the ones the Lord calls you into—not the devil. When a battle is the Lord’s, the spoils will be great!

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