CURRICULUM

Win the Victory

Answer for Students
Unit 06 - What Makes a Hero?
FOR STUDENTS
FOR TEACHERS
FOR TEACHERS
LESSON
70

TEXT: Judges 4:4-15

With God’s help, we can face any battle.

Try to imagine for a minute, a whole army going to war on foot—without guns, swords, or shields, or anything to protect themselves. It doesn’t sound like a good idea, does it? Surely no commander-in-chief would consider such a course of action. It would mean defeat. But this happened in Bible days—and not only that, those soldiers WON the battle! How could such a thing have happened? The army had a special “weapon” on their side—God was with them! And that made all the difference.

Do you know that sometimes when it feels and looks as though everything is going against us, it might really be the opposite? If God is on our side, things could be working for us instead.

In the Book of Judges, we read about a woman named Deborah. God had appointed her to be a judge of the Children of Israel. The people loved and trusted her, and they came from near and far to ask her advice. They knew that God was with her and that He helped her in making decisions.

One day God commanded her to send the Israelites to war against the Canaanites. Deborah called Barak and made him the general of the army. There was a problem, though, and it was a BIG one. The Israelites didn’t have horses or chariots. They didn’t even have weapons or ammunition. How could they fight a battle? They knew that the Canaanite army had 900 chariots of iron. It didn’t look as though the Israelites would have a chance.

Deborah knew that with God on their side they had nothing to fear. She was sure if God told them to go out and fight this battle, He would be there to help them win it. She knew God could do the impossible.

Barak was willing to go to battle to bring the Israelites out of bondage, but he could not depend wholly on his army to win. He knew if they were to succeed, God would have to go with them. He believed that only God could win this battle for them. He also wanted Deborah to go with them as God’s representative. Barak told her that if she would go into the battle with them, they would go, but if she wouldn’t go, they wouldn’t either. So Deborah went.

That day, the Lord gave them a great victory. The Canaanites were completely destroyed, and peace came to the land once again. Deborah had known without a doubt that God would be with them and give them the victory, and He did!

We might compare our Christian lives to fighting a battle. We may have to face some difficult situations when the enemy of our soul comes at us with “heavy artillery.” He wants to win this battle, and he’ll use whatever tactics he can come up with. It may be a serious illness or severe pain. Perhaps those we think of as friends turn against us, talk about us, or ignore us. Maybe a long-awaited trip, a special plan for the summer, or a goal set in school falls through. Or, you are crushed by grief over the loss of one you loved.

The devil knows just where to make his attack, but he can’t compete with our ammunition—the power of prayer! If God is in control of our lives, He’ll be right there to help us in any battle. If we let Him fight our big battles as well as the smaller ones, the victory will ultimately be ours, even though it might not look like it at the time. He has promised to be with us—we can trust Him. Just like our key verse says, when our trust is in Him, we don’t have to be afraid.

Jesus wants to direct your life. If you ask Him to come into your heart, He will come in and take control. Sometimes it may seem that we are all alone when trouble comes, but we can have confidence in God that He will lead us in the right way. We don’t have to fear, because we know that “If God be for us, who can be against us?”

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