How do we enter battle?

I was introduced to Ann Voskamp earlier this semester due to the Catalyst Conference and a very wise women in the Bryan library who told me to make sure I went to her session.  It's been a long time since I have been able to say that a session changed the way in which I looked at life.  Granted, it wasn't the session or even Ann Voskamp that changed my perspective; it was definitely God. However, sitting in that session was something I'll never forget.  And now I remember to always enter into thanksgiving before I enter the battle.

"We forget to pause before we enter into our Lord of the Rings epic battle." Ann Voskamp's discussion on fighting these battles spoke straight to my tired and weary battling heart.  She tells the story of this woman whose child has just 'come out;' she has two children who are handicapped, and one child doing drugs.  Oh, and her husband left her.  Ann is sitting next to this woman as she knit's Ann rainbow socks.  This woman tells Ann that she must wear the socks so that she (Ann) remembers to stand on God's promises every single day.  This woman fights a battle for her children's souls and for their lives.  she fights a battle for her own life.  She fights a battle not to be discouraged.  She says that when all else fails, she remembers to be thankful for every day God gives her.  She pauses to thank God before she enters the battle.
"Nothing overwhelms us like God's love overtakes us." The audience's response to this is silence.  Nothing overwhelms us like God's love overtakes us. The profundity of this statement is incredible.  Really let it sink in.  I confess that I have allowed this world to overwhelm me, rather than allowing God's love to overtake me.  How many battles do we lose just because of this.  she says that the reason why so many leaders get burned out is not because of all they have to do.  Leaders get burned out because they allow themselves to become overwhelmed rather than overtaken.  Nothing overwhelms us like God's love overtakes us.  I am always overwhelmed.  Her solution: to pause, to be grateful, to send out the choir before the infantry.
2 Chronicles 20 is the story of Jehosophat going into battle.  In the face of an overwhelming battle, he paused.  He sends out the choir, and he, as the leader, gives thanks to the LORD.  When we give thanks, we tap into our reservoir of joy.  Joy is the victory.  Stopping to give thanks inserts joy into the battle.  Joy is our game changer.
Our identity with Christ is directly related to our intimacy with Christ.  Why do believers seem to search and search for "calling" to give them identity?  Because they have no identity, no intimacy with Christ.  They have to get that next John Piper or free Francis Chan book.  Reading it and/ or carrying it around makes them look extremely spiritual.  No matter how many books you read or Bible verses you memorize, your identity will be non-existent until you have intimacy with Christ.  Intimacy with Christ will give us a desire to pause before the battle.  Intimacy reminds us of our need to be with Him.  Intimacy reminds us that we cannot breathe without Him.  Intimacy begs us to pause- it is the natural response to being so close and so connected with the God of the universe.  If we continue to push, we will continue to forget.  We will forget to pause.  We will forget to give thanks.  We will forget our identity, our intimacy, God's love.  We must stop pushing.  It is so much more important to remember than it is to accomplish.
We must be present in his presence.  We can either give God thanks or we can give him a good impression.  A good impression is simply religion.  Religion is what starts wars.  Religion gives us a sense of entitlement.  Religion doesn't have anything to do with God.  When we enter into the LORD's presence before the battle, we let God know who he is and then we know who we are. <<Go back and read that sentence again<< God is good and we are loved.  This is relational.  When we really understand this, God becomes a relational being rather than a religion being.  We were created to give God glory.  We give him glory by giving him thanks.  Giving thanks wins battles.  If Satan continues to steal our joy, if our flesh continues to overwhelm us, of course we lose the battle.  If the enemy can steal our joy then he can steal our strength.  Our joy and our intimacy with Christ is directly related to our strength, which we cannot win the battle without.  Why?  Why would we rather strive so hard for Christ rather than be satisfied with him?  The Christ-life is not about getting God to love me, it's about thanking Him and letting Him love us. So we strive and work and sweat and cry over, well, everything because we think that we have to earn his love.  But he already loves us.  He already desires to be in relationship with us.  How much do we really let Jesus love us every day?
If we have not received God's love today, we cannot pour out God's love to others.  My job is to pour out God's love to other people.  It is literally what I get paid to do.  I pour and I pour and keep pouring until there is nothing left in me.  I have been exhausted in my attempt to do God's will by pouring out his love onto others.  I forget to pause though.  I forget to truly let him fill me back up.  I say that I am working on building intimacy with Christ- and maybe I am.  But how often do i forget to let him fill me all the way up.  Do I even give him the time to do that?
"Stop counting on your future and start counting on your Christ." I wonder how much smoother our lives would be if  this is what we did.  We need to stop planning our own futures.  God already has it planned, so coming up with our own plans is going to do anything super helpful for us.  When we are intimate with him, when we are pausing, he gives us the desires of our hearts- not in that he gives us what he wants but that he changes our desires to his desires and then those desires are fulfilled.  "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not onto your own understanding, but in all your ways submit to him, and he will direct your paths." We need to start depending on our Lord instead of on ourselves.  Our futures are his battles after all.