The Fighting Heart of the King

How is your heart doing? These things are a heart check, I hope, this morning. And I hope you have been exercising your heart in the training programme of kingship, really glorifying the Lord, worshipping Him, and singing His praise while you have been alone in the field with the sheep.

You know, the first commandment is that we should love the Lord our God with all our heart. So, if you are in that process, exercising your heart to glorify Him, you are in on the training process of attaining to kingship.

Scripture Reading

Now tonight, we will turn to look at another aspect of the perfect heart of the king. We will turn once again to 1 Samuel 13:14:

The Lord hath sought Him a man after His own heart,
and the Lord hath appointed him to be prince over His people.

Then, in 1 Samuel 17, beginning at verse 1:

Now the Philistines gathered their armies together to battle,
and they were gathered at Socoh, which belongeth to Judah;
and they encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim.

And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together,
and they encamped in the valley of Elah,
and set the battle in array against the Philistines.

And the Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side,
and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side:
and there was a valley between them.

And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines,
named Goliath, of Gath,
whose height was six cubits and a span.

And he had a helmet of bronze upon his head,
and he was clothed with a coat of mail;
and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze.

And he had greaves of bronze upon his legs,
and a javelin of bronze between his shoulders.

And the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam;
and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron:
and his shield-bearer went before him.

And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them,
Why are ye come out to set your battle in array?
Am not I the Philistine, and ye servants of Saul?
Choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me.

If he be able to fight with me, and kill me,
then will we be your servants:
but if I prevail against him, and kill him,
then shall ye be our servants, and serve us.

And the Philistine said,
I defy the armies of Israel this day;
give me a man, that we may fight together.

And when Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine,
they were dismayed, and greatly afraid.

Let us read also from verse 31 in the same chapter.

And when the words were heard which David spake,
they rehearsed them before Saul; and he sent for him.

And David said to Saul,
Let no man’s heart fail because of him;
thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine.

And Saul said to David,
Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him:
for thou art but a youth,
and he a man of war from his youth.

And David said unto Saul,
Thy servant kept his father’s sheep;
and when there came a lion, or a bear,
and took a lamb out of the flock,
I went out after him, and smote him,
and delivered it out of his mouth:
and when he arose against me,
I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him.

Thy servant smote both the lion and the bear;
and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them,
seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God.

David said moreover,
The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion,
and out of the paw of the bear,
He will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.

And Saul said unto David,
Go, and the Lord shall be with thee.

And Saul armed David with his armour;
and he put a helmet of bronze upon his head,
and he armed him with a coat of mail.

And David girded his sword upon his armour,
and he assayed to go; for he had not proved it.

And David said unto Saul,
I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them.
And David put them off him.

And he took his staff in his hand,
and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook,
and put them in the shepherd’s bag which he had,
even in his scrip;
and his sling was in his hand:
and he drew near to the Philistine.

And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David,
he disdained him:
for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance.

And the Philistine said unto David,
Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves?
And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

And the Philistine said to David,
Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the birds of the air,
and to the beasts of the field.

Then said David to the Philistine,
Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a javelin:
but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts,
the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.

This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand;
and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee;
and I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day
unto the birds of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth;
that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.

And that all this assembly may know
that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear:
for the battle is the Lord’s,
and He will give you into our hands.

And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose,
and came and drew nigh to meet David,
that David hastened, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.

And David put his hand in his bag,
and took thence a stone, and slang it,
and smote the Philistine in his forehead;
and the stone sank into his forehead;
and he fell upon his face to the earth.

Opening Prayer

Let us have a word of prayer.

Lord, we thank You that You are faithful, even in times when we would be faithless. You are faithful. You cannot deny Yourself. We are so glad to know, Lord, that You are with us, that You are able and sovereign, and that You will enable us this night both to speak and to hear in such a way that Your word may be imparted into our hearts.

Lord, we ask You to be with us in this way, to redeem this time for Yourself, to get something for Yourself out of this evening—from our hearts. We want to give You our heart, Lord, so that we can gain Your heart in return. This we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Fighting Heart

Now, the second aspect of the perfect heart—the heart of the king—is a fighting heart.

If we want to attain to kingship, we must have a heart to fight the enemies of God. Shortly after David had been anointed king in Israel, he was confronted with the enemy—God’s enemy and the enemy of Israel. This was in a situation where he had other problems. He was even being persecuted himself by Saul.

It is not easy to be made into a king. It is not an easy way.

I remember, in the late sixties, when God put upon just a bunch of young Christians in Denmark to confront the enemy in our country—with all these terrible things of pornography, abortion, and blasphemy. The hard thing was not the battle against these enemies. The hard thing was when many church leaders and servants of God stood up and spoke against us.

God has called us into a battle. If we desire to enter into kingship, we must be willing to be engaged in spiritual warfare against our enemies, and not sit down passively and let the enemy take the lot.

If there is any appointed time now for God’s people, I believe it is a time not for enjoyment, but for battle. The scene we have before us is not a picnic ground. It is not a camping lot. It is a battlefield.

And God so desires to see in His people today that fighting spirit, that fighting heart, that was in David.

The Persistent Widow and Fighting Faith

One of the things that has been a great encouragement to me has been the story of this old widow in Luke 18. This old lady is really a type of the king in the end time. She has that kind of heart that God desires to find in all of His people.

You remember the story about this old widow who came to the unrighteous judge to appeal for legal protection. He would not give it to her. She was far too insignificant for him to take up her case. At the beginning, he was annoyed when she came and pleaded her case, asking whether he would kindly look into the law book and see whether he could help her against her opponent.

But he was busy with many other, bigger matters that would no doubt give him much more money than this little case of this little widow. Yet she came back again the next day, and then once again, and said, “Your Honor, would you please look into my case? I need legal protection against my opponent.”

He said, “You were here yesterday, and I told you that I cannot help you. I have no time for such petty things, because I am occupied with those big matters here, piling up at my desk.” So she went away, but she stood in the doorway the next day, and the next day, and the next day.

Then he began to get nervous. Whenever he saw her standing in the doorway, he began to fear this little lady. He even began to fear for his life. At last he gave in because she came continually, stood in the doorway, and asked the same question every day. He was afraid that she would wear him out, assault him—or, as it is rendered more strongly in the Amplified New Testament, strangle him. Can you believe it?

Now, this is the type of Christian—the kingly type of Christian—that God desires to find in His church in these last days. In Luke 18, the Lord is searching. He is seeking to find that kind of faith when the Son of Man comes back: “Will He find faith on the earth?”

He is not speaking about saving faith, sanctifying faith, justifying faith, or all kinds of fine faith. He is speaking about fighting faith. Is there a fighting spirit in those people? Is there a heart for warfare? Is there a determination to fight against God’s enemies?

Otherwise, how can we become kings? How are we going to be able to join our King of kings, the mighty Warrior, when He opens up the last battle and drives the enemy out of the universe? How can we participate in that battle if we are not now in the training process—if we are not fighting now, confronting the enemy now in our personal life, in our family life, and in our local fellowship? Do you have a fighting heart?

David’s Response to Goliath

When David came, he did not know what was going on. He came to see his brothers that day, simply as the servant bringing them food and looking after their welfare. But when he came into that battlefield and saw how the whole army of Saul and Israel was intimidated, afraid, and put to flight by this Philistine, this little shepherd stepped forward.

He asked this simple question: “Why is nobody doing anything about it? This Philistine does not stand a chance against our God and against His people.”

This is the fighting heart that separates the king from the rest of the Lord’s people: that type among us who is not satisfied with letting the enemy take the lot. The enemy is always working, twenty-four hours a day. Some believers are just sitting down passively and letting him do whatever he wants to do in the fellowship.

But there are a few who will not tolerate this and who will stand up and say, “Are we not going to do something about it?” We believe in a God who has all power in heaven and upon earth. We sing the songs, pray the prayers, and tell one another that we belong to a God who has all authority and power—not only in heaven, but also on earth.

But when the enemy enters into our midst, we are like Saul and all the army of Israel. We are intimidated, frightened, and do not know what to do. Oh, may God give us a fighting heart like David, so that we decide to rise up and do something about it.

Goliath as a Picture of Spiritual Opposition

Goliath was frightening in stature. His name means “soothsayer”—not tooth-sayer, but sooth-sayer. It has something occult in it. This was not an ordinary human being. He is a picture of something superhuman: spiritual energy, spiritual force, spiritual strength, demonic power.

He was superhuman. I mean, he was ten and a half feet high. The weight of his scale armour was eighty-five kilos. I do not know how much that is in pounds, or whatever measure you use, but I understand kilos—eighty-five kilos! Just think of it: the thing that protected his breast weighed eighty-five kilos. And the head of his spear weighed ten kilos.

Surely, there were many reasons to be afraid that day. He was not an ordinary human being; he was this superhuman being. His name is connected to occultism. Here is a picture of the powers of darkness.

We are reminded that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. We have a battle to fight against these powers of darkness. If we desire to attain to kingship, we must be willing to join the warfare. We must be engaged in the battle. We must learn how to use the weapons that the Lord has provided.

Spiritual Weapons and Hidden Wisdom

These weapons are not of a carnal nature. That is why it is interesting to read about David. He could not fight the Philistine clothed with the garments and armour of Saul. It was impossible. He could not walk. He had to fight in another way.

When we enter into this battle, we are not to use carnal weapons. We must learn about our spiritual weapons.

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh,
but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds.

God has provided His people with secret weapons that are mighty to deal with the spiritual forces and to pull strongholds down. Most Christians know about these weapons, but very few seem to make use of them. We lack a fighting heart. We lack a fighting spirit. We have not got that perfect heart that God is seeking among His people today—a heart that will fight God’s enemies.

Because we have not got the fighting heart, we cannot make use of the weapons that have been provided. These weapons will remain theory until we, like David, enter into the battle. If there is one area in the Christian life that cannot be taught in theory, it is this area of spiritual warfare.

You can only learn spiritual warfare when you engage yourself in the battle. It is while you are in the battle that you learn about these weapons. It is while you are battling, committed to confrontation with the enemy, that you learn how to make use of them.

David had to say, “How can I use Saul’s armour? I have not proved it.” But the stick and the stones were secret weapons developed in God’s creation. They speak of spiritual weapons unknown to the enemy. When Goliath saw this little shepherd with his stick, he began to laugh. He did not know that the stick and the stones were secret weapons that would bring him into defeat.

Goliath was hit in the only unprotected area in all that tremendous armour: his forehead. And this speaks about the fact that, when we enter into battle, we can only overcome the enemy by the wisdom of God, by the mind of God. God’s wisdom is greater than the strategy and mind of the enemy.

God knows where the soft spot is in every kind of battle and in every kind of enemy. He knows how to strike the enemy where he is unprotected, so that he will fall down. But the way God does this is most unusual. It is beyond our imagination. We cannot figure out how God is going to win the battle.

That is why we must come to know the hidden wisdom that even the enemy does not know about. If you go to 1 Corinthians 2, it is interesting when Paul speaks about that hidden wisdom of God.

Yet among the fullgrown we speak wisdom;
yet a wisdom not of this world,
nor of the rulers of this world, who are coming to nought:
but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery,
even the wisdom that hath been hidden,
which God foreordained before the worlds unto our glory:
which none of the rulers of this world hath known:
for had they known it,
they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

This is interesting, because not only the rulers of this age, but the ruler of this world behind the rulers of this age, cannot perceive God’s wisdom. He did not know that the cross was God’s hidden wisdom. The cross was God’s hidden weapon that brought him to his knees, that brought him to fall down.

God has secret weapons for His people. But we must know how to operate these weapons, and we will never learn about them until we engage ourselves in the very battle. Oh, it is a burden in my heart that we may get the fighting spirit, that we may get the fighting heart, and that we may start right away and engage ourselves in the battle.

Unless you are given to intercession, prayer, and spiritual warfare, you will never be able to perceive God’s secret wisdom or get hold of the way that God is handling any battle.

Divine Strategy in Warfare

God has His own strategy for every battle. David had to learn that not only when he confronted Goliath, but later on when he fought against the Philistines. Look at 1 Chronicles 14.

And the Philistines had come and made a raid in the valley of Rephaim.
And David inquired of God, saying,
Shall I go up against the Philistines?
And wilt Thou deliver them into my hand?

This is part of the spiritual battle that takes time. This is why we have to stay in the battle, go into the battle, and engage in warfare. Otherwise, we will not get into the secret place where the hidden wisdom will be provided.

And the Lord said unto him,
Go up; for I will deliver them into thy hand.

So they came up to Baal-perazim,
and David smote them there;
and David said,
God hath broken mine enemies by my hand,
like the breach of waters.

It is a lovely phrase, because the battle is the Lord’s. We do not fight with sword or spear. The battle is the Lord’s, and we are fighting with these secret weapons and with this hidden wisdom that will penetrate the enemy in his soft, unprotected spot.

And the Philistines yet again made a raid in the valley.
And David inquired again of God;
and God said unto him,
Thou shalt not go up after them:
turn away from them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees.

And it shall be, when thou hearest the sound of marching
in the tops of the mulberry trees,
that then thou shalt go out to battle:
for God is gone out before thee
to smite the host of the Philistines.

We can never imagine or figure out how God is going to strike down the enemy unless we are really given to intercession and spiritual warfare and are in on the training programme. We will never be able to see what kind of weapon God will use in any particular situation.

A Testimony from Copenhagen

Just this past Pentecost in Copenhagen, in my city, we experienced a big heathen festival, a carnival, where half a million people came into the streets of Copenhagen to dance, get drunk, and engage in much sexual uncleanness. The whole city was saturated with the spirit of the enemy.

We were there, just a small group of Christians. My heart is made like this: I cannot just go on and have normal meetings in the church when things like that are going on right outside the door. I cannot. Something happens with my heart when I see Goliath even in my own hometown.

When we learned about this tremendous heathen festival, we decided to begin to pray together in the prayer group. Long before the carnival took place, we had prayer meetings in which we inquired of the Lord, “What should be done to strike this activity of the devil in our city?” It would lead thousands of people into sin.

As Christians, we cannot sit passively in the church, sing our hymns, pray our prayers, have fellowship, listen to the word of God, and just sit there when the enemy is coming in like a flood. We cannot do it. Yes, we can do it, but then we are not going to enter into kingship. We are never going to become kings with the King of kings, because the King of kings is a warrior.

If we want to be part of this glorious position, we must rise and do something about it, as David did. I find the whole people of God so many times paralyzed and doing nothing, saying, “What can we do? It is so overwhelming. The enemy has so much power, and he has so many millions of people in his hand. What can we do with just a small bunch of people?”

Yes, but look at David: this small shepherd who came into the battlefield while the whole people of God were scared to death. His first concern was, “Who is defying the name of the Lord?” Oh, if we could get a fighting heart and get started.

As we prayed on, we inquired of the Lord, because we dared not just suggest a lot of things. We knew that if we came up with our own ideas, they would fail. We did not have the wisdom.

I learned that long ago, especially when we fought against a blasphemous film. After three and a half days of constant prayer together, suddenly the Lord gave us the five smooth stones and the stick. Interpreted into that situation, it was to write a letter to His Holiness the Pope in Rome.

Through that event, unusual as it was, the Lord brought the whole project down and crushed this Philistine that was going to blaspheme the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It has never been able to come up again.

This time, as we waited upon the Lord in prayer, somebody suggested that we should pray for rain so that the whole carnival would drown. It was a bright idea. I liked the idea. But we did not just go out in our own flesh, because spiritual warfare must be done with spiritual weapons.

As we went on praying, the Lord impressed upon our heart that we should pray for a financial disaster. I cannot tell you why things like that come. The Lord has His own way of dealing.

Apparently, the Lord did not want the event stopped from occurring. He wanted to teach us many lessons while we battled, even during that time when five hundred thousand people were dancing through the streets of Copenhagen. But we began to pray and ask the Lord to strike them with a financial disaster.

The amazing thing happened: when the event was over, they had a deficit of one million Danish kroner. Shortly before I left for the United States, I met some of the people from the committee who arranged this carnival in Copenhagen. They were begging for money because they were totally broke.

The whole thing has been dissolved and broken down, and I do not think they will be able to get it together anymore. Do you really believe that we belong to a God who has all power, not only in heaven but also upon earth? Do you really believe it?

Why should we let the enemy get the lot? Why should the enemy triumph? Why should the enemy take people captive? Why should he go on murdering people whom God loves?

Training Through Previous Battles

David said, “I cannot fight with Saul’s armour, because I have not proved it.” Now here comes an important part of this training programme. The basis for our training to fight and overcome the enemy is our past experiences—our past testings. You had better have some of those.

Whenever you meet enemy pressure, whenever the enemy gets at you, you have an opportunity to train in the royal training programme and pass the test. This is what happened with David. He was not able to come, so to speak, out of the blue and overcome the Philistine. Something had gone on before he came to the battlefield that day.

The great trust David had in the Lord for the victory over Goliath had to come from somewhere. That trust was based on his previous encounters with the enemy and on his previous experiences.

But David said unto Saul,
Thy servant kept his father’s sheep;
and when there came a lion, or a bear,
and took a lamb out of the flock,
I went out after him, and smote him,
and delivered it out of his mouth.

And when he arose against me,
I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him.

Thy servant smote both the lion and the bear;
and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them,
seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God.

Is that not amazing? This is the training programme. Whenever the enemy comes as a lion or a bear into your personal life, your family, or your fellowship, and tries to get hold of one of the sheep, you have an opportunity to learn warfare.

Most people in the church, when the enemy comes in and takes away one of the sheep, sit down and find some excuse. They say, “Well, this brother or sister was too weak in faith. They did not have faith in God, or they disobeyed God. There is nothing we can do about it. We can just pray and hope that they get better and come back someday.”

How many times the enemy can walk right into the church, right into the fellowship, get hold of somebody, and drag them out. Then we are like Saul and Israel: intimidated, paralyzed, sitting down and not knowing what to do.

But when it happened to David, when the lion or bear came to get hold of one of the sheep, he ran after it. He took hold of the sheep and took the sheep out of the mouth of the lion or the bear. Then he was attacked by those animals, and by his bare hands he took hold of these enemies and killed them.

He had that kind of heart that God is seeking among His people: a fighting heart. He would not give in. He would not let the enemy get away with it.

A Testimony of Intercession

I remember once in our church a brother who was overwhelmed by the enemy. He was not merely depressed in the normal sense of the word; he was really overwhelmed, almost possessed. First, he lost his job. Then his marriage came to the brink of collapse. Everything was in a mess.

People were praying for him and remembering him in prayer, as we often do when we pray on Sunday morning in church: “Remember this brother or that sister.” But there was one king among us.

That brother said, “I will not sit down and let the enemy get away with it.” So he went on a forty-day fast. He fasted and prayed for forty days. It was a terrible battle.

He ran after the lion. He took hold of the sheep. He seized it. As the lion came against him, he fought the lion, and finally the victory was won. This man experienced a deliverance so overwhelming, so glorious, that he is a leading testimony in the church of God wherever you go in Denmark.

There was a king. There was somebody with the heart of a king—someone who would not let the enemy get away with it.

Oh, if God would give us a heart to fight when we encounter the enemy, when we see his activity in our personal life, in the local assembly, and in the family. It is time for us to enter into the royal training programme and get into the battle.

The Purpose of Testing

That is why we want to appreciate and accept the testings to which we are put, the temptations, as tools whereby God will bring us up to be kings mighty in warfare.

I believe that, for this reason, God has allowed the enemy still to have some influence and some power. God could have finished him off long ago, but he is still here. God is, so to speak, allowing him to have some influence and power so that He may bring up His people to learn to overcome him in confrontation with him.

That is at least the reason why the Lord allowed some of the enemies to remain in the Promised Land: in order for the new generation born in the wilderness to be trained in warfare.

The main thing is not that we manage to drive the enemy out of the universe today. There is a set time for everything, and God has a set time when the devil, the enemy, will be driven out of the universe once and for all.

The main thing is that we go on fighting. The main thing is not whether we are able to drive the enemy completely from this earth. The main thing is that, as long as the enemy is here, as long as his presence can be felt, and as long as his activity can be known and experienced, we go on fighting.

It is the only way that we can be brought up, trained, and become kings who will be able, together with the King of kings one day in the last final battle, to finish him off once and for all and to take all authority, reign, and rule with Christ.

If you are not engaged today, if you will not rise up and deal with the enemy now in your personal life, if you will not battle in your family, and if you will not rise up and stand firm against him in your local assembly, you can never fight him on the national scale—or at last on the international scale.

When the Lord opened this up to me, my problems and difficulties appeared in a completely different light. I saw that these temptations, this pressure that the enemy can put upon us, and the problems we have in the church are glorious opportunities for us to learn warfare, to grow up, and to learn how to handle the enemy’s activity.

There is someone restraining the enemy and the antichrist until the set time has come when he will be manifested. There is a short time upon the earth when God will allow the enemy to manifest his power in a way that we have never felt before in all history.

We are not foolish enough to believe that we can change this, not even by prayer or spiritual warfare. It has to come. But what appears to my heart is that, as long as we are here and as long as the enemy is here, we are to restrain him until the hour has come.

We restrain him not in order to drive him out of the universe today, but in order that we may learn and be prepared, so that we can be kings with the King.

The Anointing for Warfare

It is tremendous to look at the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, because I believe there is a new anointing today for God’s people—an anointing for warfare.

If I understand the times in which we live, it already is, and it is going to be even more, a time of conflict and battle. If that is so, then the purpose of God would be that His people would be a people, an army, a people who will fight. Therefore, I believe there is a new anointing for God’s people to experience.

It says about the Lord Jesus in Hebrews 1:9:

Thou hast loved righteousness,
and hated iniquity;
therefore God, even Thy God,
hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness
above Thy fellows.

Notice that it is not only to love righteousness, but also to hate lawlessness. That is the prerequisite for this anointing. The Lord Jesus not only loved righteousness.

I hear many Christians say today, “Should we really be given to this negative business of fighting against? Should we not just love righteousness? Should we not be people engaged in positive thinking and positive doing? Should we really be people who are against something—who are against someone?”

The Lord Jesus was. He not only loved righteousness, but He hated lawlessness. Can you believe there was a hatred in the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ? If there is no hatred of sin or lawlessness in our hearts, we can never have this fighting heart.

If you love the Lord, it is wonderful, but you must hate the enemy as well.

The Church’s Twofold Ministry

That is why, when we read about the church in Matthew 16, there is a twofold purpose. It is not only that the church may be built; it is also that the church may fight.

And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter,
and upon this rock I will build My church;
and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

There is a twofold ministry: to build the church and, at the same time, to fight the battle against the gates of Hades. This is a twofold purpose.

God’s people must be aware that we are in a battle, and God’s people must, in an increasing way, engage themselves in this battle. If you are going to enter into kingship and qualify for kingship, you must exercise your heart to fight against the enemy.

David’s Failure to Go to Battle

Strangely enough, this was the point in David’s experience where he failed. This is the final scripture I will bring to you, from 2 Samuel 11.

And it came to pass, at the return of the year,
at the time when kings go out to battle,
that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel;
and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah.
But David tarried still at Jerusalem.

And it came to pass at eventide,
that David arose from off his bed,
and walked upon the roof of the king’s house:
and from the roof he saw a woman bathing;
and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.

Just think of that. This fighting king, this man after God’s own heart, who had fought God’s enemies all his life—just one day in the spring, this fighting heart failed him. We do not know why. He sent Joab and the other servants with him, and he stayed home at Jerusalem. He did not engage himself in the warfare.

Then this tragic event happened. He was overcome by the enemy because he was not engaging himself in the fight.

I am quite sure that this is the tragedy of many of God’s servants. The minute we retire from the battle, the day we do not have that fighting heart any more, we are in trouble. The enemy will get us.

Let us understand that we are not only speaking about some exclusive position of kingship that some of us, by the grace of God, might enter into. We are also speaking about something that is a necessity if we are going to walk with God and be protected against the schemes of the enemy.

Oh, may God in His mercy set us once again on fire. May He give us that fighting heart. We live in days in which we cannot really imagine the battle that is building up now in the spirit. There is a great conflict.

My heart yearns when I see how great parts of the church of God are totally unaware of what God is doing today, totally pacified and paralyzed, not even interested in getting themselves engaged in the battle that is going on.

May God have mercy upon us, so that we, by the Holy Spirit, may become a people with this kind of heart—aggressive, fighting for the Lord against His enemies.

Closing Prayer

Let us answer to the Lord.

Lord, we do pray this evening that You, who know the time we live in, would give us that spirit of revelation so that we may understand the seriousness of the hour, know where we are, be stirred up, and be engaged, Lord, in this battle that is going on.

Lord, I pray for my own heart, that You would, in an increasing way, grant me that fighting spirit, that fighting heart, that heart which would never let the enemy get away with it in my own life or in my own local fellowship.

Lord, I pray for my brothers and sisters. Would You really stir them up with Your Holy Spirit? Lord, I know that I am not able to do it, and words would even fail me if I tried.

But I ask that Your Spirit would impress upon the hearts of my brothers and sisters this necessity of arising and fighting the enemy in the battle. Lord, we ask for Your mercy. Be merciful toward us, even this evening.

Give us that fighting heart. Set us on fire. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.