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It was a lovely spring day spent with our grandchildren.  I suggested we put the hammocks up in the crab apple tree that is down the hill, by the tall bamboo grass.  They looked at me with sober faces and wide eyes as they quietly said, “No Mimi.  There are foxes in the tall grass.”

“Oh, just sing some songs.  The foxes will hear you and not come near.” was my response.  And so they started to sing every Jesus song they could think of–loudly!   The four of us spent the spring afternoon singing away in what they fondly call The Polka dot Tree.  And we didn’t see or hear one fox.

It made me think of the hundreds of times I have read and sifted out the rhythm of battle in the Psalms.  As children of God, the example is clear.  People of God are to cry out, pray, sing and exalt The Lord.  God Almighty does the battling of our enemies. God blows the enemy away like chaff. God scatters and confuses them.  Over and over again I see it in The Psalms: God’s children sing praises to and about God and God protects and destroys their enemies, often by the enemy’s own devices and traps.

I remember the first time putting this example into practice.  I was so upset and concerned for someone I love deeply.  I felt helpless toward their situation and yet I wanted to fight hard for them.  However, any of my efforts were deemed worthless, even intrusive. After spending time in the Psalms I thought, “Sing praise Lynn, God will do the battling. There is more than what we see in this physical world.”

Unlike many people, I don’t have a good memory of lyrics to songs. All I could think of was, “This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine.” So I took my pent-up frustration out by riding my bike.  I rode and I sang.  I pedaled hard and through stinging tears, I haltingly sang that little song over and over again. I sang with a determination to praise and serve my God in spite of life circumstances. And I sang with a heart attitude that the battle belongs to The Lord. He will do the battling!

It begs me to wonder if singing, like prayer, is an effective spiritual weapon. 

The Psalms speak of physical enemies.  But we Jesus followers, we have spiritual enemies.  “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Ephesians 6: 12

Does singing praises to The Lord, like prayer, invite our God into the battle that so often rages over us?  Singing, like prayer, seemed to be crucial for God’s people in 2 Chronicles 20:22, “As they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated.”

There are many times I do not know what to pray for those I love.  Since that bicycling day, I often sing a Jesus song over them, much like a mother singing a lullaby over her child.  I got that idea from the song that was sung over God’s vineyard in Isaiah 27:34.

Our grandchildren sang to keep the foxes away.  Foxes they have most certainly seen in their backyard. But it was a great reminder for me to sing as well as pray against ‘foxes’ that I cannot see.  Our true battle is in the heavenly realms where our God fights valiantly for us.  The battle belongs to The Lord!

“Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.” Song of Songs 2:15

Lynn Jackson
CO-Founder
Thrive Leadership Foundation
journeylynn@gmail.com