People must learn to face their battles. Again and again in my more than sixty-eight years of ministry for our Lord, I’ve seen people who won’t face their battles. They just want to get away from them, and they run away. But let me tell you that you don’t win the battle by running away.

In Ephesians we find a wonderful reading, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil (Ephesians 6:10,11). Put on the whole armor of God; that says it all. You won’t run away from the battles when you know you’re strong in the might of His power. You will be dedicated and consecrated, a soldier of the Old Rugged Cross; and you will have blood strength, blood power, and the might of the Lord. You will know that angels minister to you and help you in time of battle.

It’s wonderful to have on the whole armor of God, so make sure you’re wearing it. There’s a piece of armor to cover all of you except the back; there’s no armor for the back, so it serves you right if you run from the battle. Unfortunately, many people do run from the battles of life; they won’t face them, but I believe in facing reality and the battles that come with it. I believe in prayer, fasting, living in the Word of God, and staying prepared. I’m always prepared to do battle, and I’m not about to run. I face the enemy with full courage. I give the battle to the Lord, and victory is mine. He sees to it that I win, and it can be the same for you.

The Israelites Ran from the Battle

David is a great example of this. The armies of God were afraid, and they were running away from the battle. Goliath was standing tall saying, Send me a man. If I kill him, then you will be our slaves; but if he kills me, we will be your slaves. And he [Goliath] 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 a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. If he be able to fight with me, and to 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. When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid (I Samuel 17:8-11).

Saul was a coward because he had backslidden on God, and now he was running from the battle. He had been chosen to be the first king over the children of Israel although God didn’t want them to have a king; God wanted to be their only king. They said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD. And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them (I Samuel 8:6,7). Israel kept contending for a king, so God gave them kings; but just about every king they had failed them and led them into bondages of sin, disgrace, whoredom, and more. Baal worship was introduced along with all kinds of idol gods; it was an awful time for them.

The Israelites now needed Saul, and he should have been standing there for them. He was taller than any man from his shoulders upward, and he really looked the part of a king. He should have been the one to march out there and meet Goliath. Saul had everything in his favor, he was a choice young man, and a goodly: and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he (I Samuel 9:2).

Saul Was God’s First Choice

God did His very best in choosing a man to be the first king. It wasn’t that Saul didn’t have anything in his favor to win, he did; but he changed and became selfish. He lost the spirit of humility and took on arrogance; he lost the spirit of obedience and took on the spirit of disobedience. How terrible!

Saul had been such a magnanimous soul; he even hid away when they were going to crown him king. When they sought him, he [Saul] could not be found. Therefore they enquired of the LORD further, if the man should yet come thither. And the LORD answered, Behold he hath hid himself among the stuff. And they ran and fetched him thence: and when he stood among the people, he was higher than any of the people from his shoulders and upward. And Samuel said to all the people, See ye him whom the LORD hath chosen, that there is none like him among all the people? And all the people shouted, and said, God save the king (I Samuel 10:21-24). The Israelites had to go out and find Saul and bring him in to make him their king, but later he lost that noble soul. How pathetic! Saul had lost sight of God.

God had given Saul a new heart when He anointed him king, and he had it made. The Lord even prophesied through him. The Spirit of prophecy came upon him and he prophesied God’s truth, yet he still failed God. God gave him [Saul] another heart…And when they came thither to the hill, behold, a company of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them. And it came to pass, when all that knew him beforetime saw that, behold, he prophesied among the prophets, then the people said one to another, What is this that is come unto the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets (I Samuel 10:9-11)?

Saul Failed Miserably

At one time, Saul had been burning witches, but later he sought a witch for himself because he couldn’t make contact with God. And when Saul enquired of the LORD, the LORD answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets. Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and enquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor (I Samuel 28:6,7). That’s being far away from God. It’s no wonder that Saul wasn’t fit to go into battle; he couldn’t have been a winner. And it’s no wonder that Saul died without hope and without God. After seeking a familiar spirit, that’s exactly what he found. The witch that he went to didn’t call up Samuel; Samuel wasn’t about to be called up by the devil. It was just a familiar spirit. Familiar spirits can talk just like your loved one and look just like your loved one; that is what deceives people in spiritualism. Saul was deceived when the witch told him there was an old man coming up. And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth. And he said unto her, What form is he of? And she said, An old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed himself. And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams: therefore I have called thee, that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do. Then said Samuel, Wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing the LORD is departed from thee, and is become thine enemy? And the LORD hath done to him, as he spake by me: for the LORD hath rent the kingdom out of thine hand, and given it to thy neighbour, even to David: Because thou obeyedst not the voice of the LORD, nor executedst his fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore hath the LORD done this thing unto thee this day. Moreover the LORD will also deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines: and tomorrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me: the LORD also shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines (I Samuel 28:13-19).

Samuel wouldn’t have been an old man after death; he would have been young again, so it was false, all lies. But Saul was deceived by it. It got so bad and the devils took him over so completely that little David would have to use his harp to play the evil spirits away from Saul; that was the only way he could get rid of those spirits that tormented his mind. And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him (I Samuel 16:23).

Now Saul and all of his armies were afraid. Everyone was afraid but a little boy who had been away tending his sheep. David was maybe only thirteen years old, so who would have ever thought that he would be the one to battle Goliath, that he would be the one God would use. But God doesn’t need anyone big and mighty. It’s not by the might or power of man but by the Spirit of God that we win, and Jesus brought the Holy Spirit to dwell on the inside of us. Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts (Zechariah 4:6).

Paul said we need to live in the Spirit. This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh (Galatians 5:16). Jesus let us know we’d have power to trample devils underfoot. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you (Luke 10:19). He told us: Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid (John 14:27). We have nothing to fear and nothing to worry about, so we should have great happiness. The joy of the LORD is your strength (Nehemiah 8:10).

David Didn’t Run

David thought he had come to see the battle, and he also brought food from home for his brothers who were in the army of God. And Jesse said unto David his son, Take now for thy brethren an ephah of this parched corn, and these ten loaves, and run to the camp of thy brethren; And carry these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand, and look how thy brethren fare, and take their pledge (I Samuel 17:17,18). He didn’t think that his brothers who were much older than him would be cowards, that they and all the other soldiers would be afraid and shaking in their boots.

Goliath’s roar seemed to shake the ground, but David wasn’t afraid. Remember, he had already killed a bear and a lion, so he had no fear. David, armed with just his slingshot, was going to use what he had in his hand!

Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God (I Samuel 17:26), David asked? I’ll go after him; I’ll go get him! His brothers didn’t like that at all because they were afraid. They thought that their big-mouthed, little runt of a brother had just come to see the battle and was talking big.

And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he [David] spake unto the men; and Eliab’s anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle (I Samuel 17:28). The brother thought that David was too young and that he would never be put out before Goliath, but he was.

Nobody else was willing to go, and nobody else would have won but David; he was God’s choice. You don’t win by running, and David had no running spirit in him. He wasn’t going to turn his back on Goliath. The giant talked so big; but David told Goliath what the Lord gave him, that God would deliver him into his hands. Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: 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 carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel (I Samuel 17:45,46).

David knew that he was going to kill Goliath with one little stone. He had stopped by the “brook of life” and picked up five stones which signified J-E-S-U-S. And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine (I Samuel 17:40).

It doesn’t take all of Jesus for us to win any or all of the battles, and this time it only took one little stone. David didn’t take a big sword with him to cut off Goliath’s head either; he used the giant’s own sword. David let Goliath carry the big sword; he wasn’t used to carrying a sword because he just had a sling.

David Was Prepared

Now David is ready. He had practiced a lot in the past, and he’s not in a running away notion; he’s ready to run after the enemy. The Lord said to resist the devil, and he’d run from you. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you (James 4:7).

David ran after old Goliath; he knew he had what he needed, and God knew He had what He needed. God had someone who would listen, someone who would let the stone go at exactly the moment the Lord told him to; and it would hit Goliath right in the forehead. David wound up and boom—he hit the mark. And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came and drew nigh to meet David, that David hasted, 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, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him (I Samuel 17:48-50).

The old giant fell over to the shock and surprise of everybody on God’s side and on the enemy’s side. But there was no sword in the hand of David. Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled. And as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand (I Samuel 17:50,51,57). Little David ran up and grabbed Goliath’s sword and cut off his head, and Saul was shocked when he handed it to him.

God Gives Power to Battle

What a God we serve! But you’re not going to win by running away. Some of you have run again and again, but shame on you! The Lord has brought you all the power from Glory Land that He used; and He took on the form of flesh to show you that very man, as well as very God, could use the powers of Heaven to defeat Lucifer.

Jesus said, All power is given unto me, and I give it to you. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen (Matthew 28:18-20). I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee (Hebrews 13:5).

The Lord said to bring your problems to Him, and He would take them and give you rest. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28). But some of you run from your problems and from the battles of life, so you’re a loser. You can’t win when you run.

Wear God’s Armor

Start using the whole armor of God. You make sure you dress for the weather every day, but what about your spiritual clothing? What about the armor of God? A good soldier wouldn’t dare go into battle without his armor; that would be foolish. Yet soldiers of the Cross go forth without the whole armor on. Some will wear just a little bit, but then they don’t even use that in any great way. They’re not prayed up, and they’re not ready to go up.

You need to put on the whole armor of God. Paul had on the whole armor, and he didn’t run from the devil. The devil tried everything in the book on Paul, but he didn’t run even when they stoned him and left him for dead. Nor did he run when they were getting ready to stone him.

Jesus didn’t run, and He was Paul’s example. Paul lived and acted so much like Jesus after he got saved and received the Holy Ghost that, when studying them, you can’t tell them apart in their actions, their steps, and what they were able to do. Paul defeated the devil, and he gave his life as willingly as Christ gave His. Paul loved Jesus so much that he laid down his life for the sake of Christ. But many of you are running away from your problems; you won’t face them.

Face Your Problems

You’re going to have many problems, but some know how to face those problems while others don’t. When you don’t know how to or won’t face your problems, you become weak. You then continue to get weaker and weaker, and everything gets you down. You can’t be a real soul winner like that; you’re too weak, and you’re not an example. You’re not willing to suffer for His name’s sake; you just want to run away somewhere and hide.

This all started in Eden when Adam and Eve failed God, sinned against Him, and then ran to hide. They had a big problem, but they ran away and wouldn’t face it or God—just like a lot of people do today. They made themselves aprons of fig leaves to try to cover their nakedness instead of using the blood of Jesus, but “fig-leaf religion” is no good, and shaking the preacher’s hand is no good. Just to be baptized in water won’t help you because water can’t wash away your sins. Just shaking the preacher’s hand is no good either because it takes the blood to wash your sins away.

Being baptized in water is just an answer of a clear conscience toward God; it signifies that you’re buried with Him in water, you’re a witness to His death, and then you’re brought up into His resurrection and the newness of life.

We all must be resurrected out of sin and degradation. We were conceived in sin and born needing a Savior because we had the Adamic nature in us. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me (Psalm 51:5). You have to get rid of all that sin, including the Adamic nature.

Stop Running

Jesus came that we might have the heavenly nature that Adam and Eve had before they fell into the hands of the devil and went to the tree of death. But when you’re running, you take on that tree of death as sure as you’re breathing. Stop running away from your problems; stop whimpering and crying. You have Jesus for your problems, so turn them over to Him. Serve Him with all of your heart, and He’ll work everything out.

Some of you will mess up your life, and then you want to blame God. Why don’t you put the devil to flight by telling him, You’ve wrecked my life, but no more. I’ve given myself over to the Lord and to His divine will, and I’m using the blood on you, Devil. The devil can’t stand the blood. In the book of Revelation, God tells us a blood chain and one angel are all that it will take to put old Lucifer in the bottomless pit for a thousand years while Christ rules and reigns here on planet Earth. And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season (Revelation 20💯3).

This is all from the Bible, and there’s plenty more of it. Oh, yes, the curse will be lifted from the Earth. It will be lifted from the animals, and they will all be tame. The lion, the lamb, and the bear can all play together; there will be no evil spirits in them. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD (Isaiah 65:25).

Destruction Comes from the Devil

It’s the devil who causes destruction, not God; the devil destroys, not God. Jesus came that we might have abundant life and Heaven’s wonderful living with divine love, divine faith, divine peace, divine joy, divine everything. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly (John 10:10).

How many times have you run away from a problem? Sometimes you run to a minister; but if they don’t give you what you want to hear, you go to another preacher and you continue to make the rounds. You want to find somebody who will agree with you; but when you don’t, you’ll go to somebody who’s not a preacher. Isn’t that ridiculous? You need to stop running, get your act together, and face God.

Adam and Eve should have faced God. They ought to have known they couldn’t hide. Adam…where art thou (Genesis 3:9)? How many times has the Lord said that to you? How many times has He called your name whether you heard Him calling it or not? Where art thou? Are you out of place and worthless at that time because you’re running from your problem?

You’re going to have problems outside of Eden; you grew up with them. But if you had a good, godly mother and father, they helped you solve your little problems; and now you ought to be able to turn the big ones over to God for Him to solve.

The Parents Are Responsible

My mom and dad taught us what to do with our problems and how to handle them. We didn’t have to go to psychiatrists or psychologists in our home; we had the Bible, and we had the wisdom and knowledge of God directing us. We had a mother and father who believed in honoring God and His Word, and they saw to it that we were taught the Holy Scriptures from the time we were able to learn. We were taught the Bible before we were taught the ABC’s. We were taught the Word of the living God so that when we started school, we all had a true foundation.

Our parents were sure of the knowledge we had of God, and we could visit any church that we wanted to. If we said we were going to church with some of our friends, they never objected. They were not afraid because they knew if there were anything false there, we would recognize it; we had the truth.

Jesus said, And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free (John 8:32). We knew about Jesus. We were rocked in a Jesus cradle to Jesus lullabies, and the first one was:

Jesus loves me, this I know,
For the Bible tells me so.

How wonderful to hear a mother say, The Lord will work everything out, Honey; everything is going to be all right. If we had a problem at school, Mama was there to say it would work out and that she would pray about it. That meant we would get wonderful results.

Victory or Defeat?

Are you still running from the battles of life and not winning? You’re either a winner or a loser today; you’re one or the other, but you can’t be both. Jesus is our victory; the faith that He brought made Him our victory. Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (I Corinthians 15:57).

Jesus is your victory if you’ll let Him be. But if you don’t let Him be, you’ll lose the battles of life again and again. Some of you have lost more battles than you have ever won because you ran. I’m not talking about physically running; I’m talking about not facing facts and turning your problems over to God. You either tried to solve the problems yourself or mixed other people’s theories in and didn’t seek the mind of God. You weren’t willing for God to have His way because you wanted what you wanted; you wanted to work it out your own way. The way of the Lord is perfect, but you left it and ran from it. If you had sought His will, you would have found His will and been a winner every time—not just one time but every time.

When distress comes your way, face it. Some people have a nervous breakdown over their problems rather than facing them. That’s ridiculous!

My Family Faced Problems

I don’t ever remember not being able to face problems. We were taught as children to be strong in facing the problems of life even before we found the Lord, and how much more so after we found the Lord? The Angley family had a reputation in the church for knowing how to face problems, and people started at once bringing their problems to me from the time I got saved. People would especially come to my mother for advice and help; they knew she had it together, and she was careful with the advice she gave.

If you ask some people for advice, they just run off at the mouth. It doesn’t come from their heart but from their head, and they don’t really know the mind of God for you. You have to be very careful in asking people for advice. But my mom helped a lot of people, and she saved many marriages. Also, a lot of people were saved, healed, and baptized in the Spirit through her help. Mom and my two oldest sisters were altar workers; and they would stay no matter how late it was to help people at the altar, tarrying until they were baptized in the good Holy Ghost with fire from on High.

Gideon Faced the Battle

Gideon is another great example of someone who didn’t run. He started out thinking he didn’t have a bunch of cowards who would run and cause him to lose the battle. He looked at his thirty-two thousand soldiers and thought, Lord, you’ve done wonderfully by me; I’m fully equipped! But the Lord spoke and said, Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand (Judges 7:2,3).

You have too many soldiers, Gideon. Tell everybody who is fearful at heart to go back home because I’ve rejected them. Gideon must have had a good heart or he’d have had a heart attack for sure! There he was facing the enemy, and there were so many of them that they looked like grasshoppers. But twenty-two thousand of Gideon’s men turned at one time and went back home afraid. They weren’t soldiers, and they weren’t ready. They only wore the armor of man, but they didn’t wear the armor of God. They didn’t have the heart of God, so they would have lost the battle. The few good soldiers that God could have used would have been killed by those who were afraid and running from the battle. They would not have been running into battle, but running away from the battle, and what a difference that makes.

But again the Lord said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go. So he brought down the people unto the water: and the LORD said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink. And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water. And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place (Judges 7:4-7). Gideon wound up with three hundred men, but those three hundred did not run from the battle.

Have No Fear

Gideon’s three hundred have meant a lot to me. It won’t take great numbers to win in this hour. One person and God are a majority any hour of the night or day. You don’t have to be afraid. The Lord told you, Be not afraid, and the Bible throbs with that message. You don’t have to be afraid; you’re to never fear, never run, and never turn your back on the enemy. Remember, there’s no protection for the back. God intended you to face the devil just like Jesus did, and He gave you His same power to do it. The same divinity is yours because we have the same divine nature that Jesus had. The Bible says He gave His divine nature to us. Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust (II Peter 1:4).

When you get saved, you take on the divine nature. You get rid of that old sinful nature and that’s why you can live free from sin. If you don’t get rid of the sinful nature, you’re going to sin because you were born in sin. But all of that is wiped out through the blood of the Lamb; you’re made pure, clean, and holy just like Jesus and the first Adam before he fell.

Daniel Stood for God

We’d have never heard about Daniel if he hadn’t stood for the battle. Jesus mentioned Daniel when He was here on Earth. Why?—Because he never ran! But others did; his own people forsook him and he became a slave. Daniel was carried away from Jerusalem because of his people’s disobedience and arrogance toward Lord God Almighty. Israel was worshiping idol gods and had turned from the true and living God, so they lost their battles. The enemy came in and took them over, and Daniel was carried away as a slave.

But Daniel never ran away from the battles. He never ran when they told him that he’d be thrown into the den of lions for praying. No, he faced it; he even opened his window toward Jerusalem morning, noon, and night and prayed a bit louder. Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime (Daniel 6:10).

Daniel didn’t run when they came to arrest him and take him to the lions’ den. He didn’t run, and he didn’t bow. Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions…And a stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his lords; that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel. Then the king arose very early in the morning, and went in haste unto the den of lions. And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel: and the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions? Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live for ever. My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt (Daniel 6:16,17,19-22). The lions were roaring and hungry, but Daniel had not been their bait.

Stand in God’s Place

When you don’t run from the devil, you’re not his bait. You have nothing to fear and nothing to worry about. That should cause you to stand still and put on the whole armor of God. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil (Ephesians 6:11).

The Bible tells you that when you’ve done all to stand, Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:14-17). You don’t fall over and run, you stand. And what do you stand on?—Divinity and the blood promises. You stand on that which Jesus stood on, and He is our foundation. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12).

Don’t Run from Sickness

Jesus came with healing in His wings; He stood up to the devil and defeated him. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall (Malachi 4:2).

Jesus cast out devils, and He said, These signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues…they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover (Mark 16:17,18).

We don’t run from sicknesses and diseases. I minister to those with AIDS, and the people who travel with me to other countries go into AIDS houses and minister to them. Taking a blest cloth that I’ve prayed over, they put it on the people; and they are being healed, delivered, and set free. You don’t win by being afraid. But some evangelists have stopped going to other countries where so many of the people are dying with AIDS. They’re afraid to go into the midst of those people, but we wade right into the crowds of people and minister to them. We’re not afraid because we have Jesus, and we’re there to deliver the people. But you can only deliver people if you have that delivering power from on High.

When you have that power from On High, you’re not afraid. You have security knowing the Lord is with you, and you know you’re covered. You know that Abraham’s God is your God. You know that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is your elder brother. You know He’s your Savior and Lord. You know the Holy Spirit, the third person in the Trinity of the Godhead, is your power. You know He’s working within you, dwelling on the inside of you, and will never leave you day or night. He’s there to use divine power to put the enemy to flight, and we have nothing to fear.

The Hebrew Boys Won

Think about the Hebrew boys; they didn’t run, and they won. Had they run away from the battle they would have failed; they would have bowed down and worshiped the devil. But they didn’t do that; they refused to, and the fourth man appeared in the fire. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God (Daniel 3:23-25).

When you look into the furnace, do you see three or four? I always see four; and when you see four, that’s plenty. When you have Jesus, you don’t need much else; He’s all you need. Remember that! When you have Jesus, you’re a winner. When you have Jesus, you can walk the waters; the waves won’t knock you down because the promises of God support every step you take away from your little boat. You walk the waters of the angry deep unafraid seeing the fourth man right there with you and knowing He’s the one who said, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm (Mark 4:39). That’s mighty indeed!

Will You Be a Winner?

Jesus is great in all of His ways. He’s our great I-Am, and He’s always the same. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

Are you a winner? If so, you’re not going to run from the battle. We can’t run from the enemy but only toward him to defeat him. In the name of Jesus we go, and all power He used is in that name. Jesus gave us that name, and He gave us the authority to use that name. Paul used it, and later in life Simon Peter learned to use it in a great way. But the greatest of all of the Apostles was Paul, and he learned to use more of the power of God than did any of the others. Paul learned to use it in such a great way that the Lord poured out ever so many books through him from on High for our knowledge and wisdom.

The battle is yours, but what are you going to do with it? Are you going to run from the battle, or are you going to turn it over to the Lord and let Him take it? When He said, Come unto me and bring your burdens, He was also saying, Bring your battles to me.

Battles Belong to the Lord

I turn my battles over to the Lord. I take others’ battles and turn them over to the Lord, too; and by doing so, some think I’m not interested in them. If I weren’t interested in them, I wouldn’t turn them over to the Lord; I’d just throw their battles in the garbage can and let them be. Instead, however, I turn them over to the Lord knowing they’re in good hands. I praise Him for looking out for people and for taking care of them.

You can have help today, but you have to stop running and stand still. The Israelites were used to running. At last, however, they were coming out of Egypt’s bondage, but they were afraid. Stand still, the Lord told Moses, and see the salvation of the Lord. And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you today: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more for ever (Exodus 14:13).

Stand Still

When you stand still, you turn the battle over to the Lord. The battle was turned over to the Lord when the Israelites stood still, but they had to be quiet. The Lord said to study to be quiet (I Thessalonians 4:11). The Israelites had to get quiet; and when they did, the Lord took over and the pillar of fire came between them and their enemies. The enemy couldn’t come any closer because the fire would have burned them; but it didn’t burn the Israelites, it just gave them light for the journey.

When the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, the Lord trapped their enemies; they had nothing to do with it. And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them (Exodus 14:26-28). The most magnificent army of that day was following hard after the Israelites, and the Lord closed the waters and drowned them all like a bunch of rats; that’s how little the Lord thought of the army that was chasing His people.

If the Israelites had not run from the enemy, in eleven days they would have been in Canaan, the land where the milk and honey were flowing. But they wouldn’t obey and fight on God’s side in the wilderness, so they ran and lost battle after battle.

Lost Battles Mean Lost Souls

Don’t lose another battle. God’s people can’t afford to lose even one battle in this hour. When you do, you lose souls; and we need to fight for every soul that can be won in this final hour. Jesus is soon coming, and we need to do battle with the enemy and know we’re on the Jesus winning side. In the name of Jesus I come! Use that name with all power. Shame on you if you run and have claimed to use the name of Jesus! All of Heaven’s power is in that name, and we have the authority and permission to use that name.

You who are unsaved, it’s time for you to stop running. It’s time to bring those sinful problems to the Lord. You think you can never live free from sin, and you can’t in your old ugly self; but you can if you’ll be made a brand-new creation. Lift your hands and let the Lord forgive you of your sins. Say this prayer: Oh, God, save my soul! I’m so sorry I’ve sinned against you; but I’ve come home, and I’m going to serve you, Lord, the rest of my life. I believe, I do believe the blood of Jesus washes away all of my sins. Come into my life, Jesus! Come on in!

If you meant that prayer, now you can say, Hallelujah, He has come! Hallelujah, Jesus is mine!

Have you put all of your trust in the Lord? If so, then suddenly you’re a winner, and suddenly you can walk the waters of life. Now you can follow in His steps and wear His shoes.

Claim Your Healing

You who are sick and afflicted, you can be healed of AIDS, the AIDS virus, diabetes, heart trouble, lung trouble, leprosy, paralysis, or any kind of death disease; there is not a disease or affliction that the Lord cannot or will not heal. The battle is yours to win if you don’t run away. Trust Him. Lord, here they are. You told me years ago that you would heal the people. You’ve healed and delivered millions through this Jesus world outreach ministry. Heal! I come with the divine healing blood of Jesus, and I’m using that blood, injecting it into your bodies and into the bodies of your little ones who are dying. Maybe they’re dying with AIDS, but they can be healed right now; and you can be healed, too.

The Lord is healing whole families of AIDS. We’re having their cases documented now to prove through medical science that the Lord heals AIDS today. There is life! Jesus came and said, I am abundant life; I am the new and living way, but you have to live for God. Jesus healed sinners, but He told them to go and sin no more.

Watch as you and yours get well, and write to tell me about it. And remember, the Lord must have all the honor, the praise, and the glory. May God’s richest blessings rest upon you is my prayer.