Genesis 26:16 Then Abimelek said to Isaac, “move away from us; you have become too powerful for us”.
Not everyone is going to like you being blessed. Like Isaac, other people became envious of his blessing and they asked him to leave and go somewhere else. And what did Isaac do? Did he dig his heels in and start defending his territory against the Philistines? No. He walked away and let the Lord do the fighting for him.
For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory. (Deuteronomy. 20:4)
Let me give you the backdrop to this story. Isaac is living in a time of famine and by faith trusts the Lord who blesses him. And then when his blessing is there to be seen by everyone, they become envious of him and demand that he leaves. In essence, they want what he has and they are trying to kick him out of town.
Jesus says in John 10:10, the thief (devil) comes to rob, to kill and to destroy…
Now the devil cannot just take your blessing away from you, but what the devil can do is try to rob you of that blessing.
The Philistines couldn’t just kick Isaac out, so what they did was intimidate him through blocking up his wells. How does your spiritual enemy, the devil do this? It’s through your mind and the negative, fearful, anxious thoughts he tries to get you to take hold of. The devil is like a bird... you cannot stop it from flying over you but you can stop it from building a nest on your head. Likewise, you might not be able to stop the devil sending you negative thoughts, but the way to stop him from building a nest of negativity in your head is to not give voice to his thoughts. Just ignore him. That's the key.
Whatever you are giving voice to in your life is what becomes rooted and established within you.
Isaac decided not to get embroiled in an argument with the Philistines – and what happens? The Lord visits him, blesses him and Isaac’s prosperity grew even more!
When we ignore the devil and do not give voice to his thoughts of negativity and worry in our life, that’s when the Lord steps in and does all the work, He fights our enemies for us!
Romans 8:28 says, And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
So, during times of difficulty when you are coming under attack, you will have thoughts of negativity, fear, worry or even accusations coming your way from the devil. Just learn to resist him by ignoring these thoughts. Do not give voice to them. I know it can be difficult at first, but this is the key to seeing the Lord fighting all your battles for you. You must “let go”, so God can “take hold” of the situation.
This is an important principle for marriage, family relationships, work environments and even climbing the ladder of corporate success. Let the Lord do your fighting for you. He always wins in the end!