Revival is never free. Wherever God moves, resistance follows. This past Sunday, Pastor Chip Dean brought a message titled “The Battle for Revival” from 1 Chronicles 11 that was equal parts battle cry and encouragement.
The Greater the Revival, the Greater the Resistance
Pastor Chip opened with something worth celebrating. Over 900 people were on campus the previous Sunday. Ninety-four kids in preschool. People getting saved, baptized, and plugged into groups. God is clearly moving at First Baptist Powder Springs.
But Pastor Chip was honest. Along with the revival has come real spiritual warfare. He shared about Pastor Buddy Reeves being in the hospital with an irregular heartbeat, every medicine failing, a procedure being prepared, and then in the middle of the prayers of the church, his heart returning to normal rhythm on its own. He shared about two different families who received alarming test results during pregnancy, prayed for weeks, and returned to the doctor to hear the words we no longer see anything. He shared about his own wife Michelle experiencing a setback in her recovery from a C-section, bleeding that concerned them both, and how they prayed the passage from Mark 5 over her until it stopped.
Pastor Chip did not present these things to impress anyone. He presented them to make a point. The greater the revival, the greater the resistance. When God is working, Satan works harder. The moment you stop running into the devil, it is probably because you are running the same direction he is.
The early church knew this tension well. Acts 4:29 records their response to threats and opposition. They prayed and asked God to grant them boldness to keep speaking his word. The place shook. They were filled with the Holy Spirit. They kept going.
Fight for Your Savior, Not Yourself
Pastor Chip anchored the message in 1 Chronicles 11, the story of David being made king over all Israel and the mighty men who fought alongside him.
He made the application clear. David is a picture of King Jesus. When you give your life to Christ, you are uniting yourself to him just as Israel united to David. You are devoting your life to your king.
The problem is that life pulls us toward fighting for ourselves. We fight to feel valued. We fight to be seen. We fight to be comfortable and successful. But the Bible calls us to redirect every bit of that energy toward fighting for our Savior.
Pastor Chip pointed to Saul before he became Paul. Saul had enormous passion, conviction, and intensity. He was just pointing it all in the wrong direction. Then Jesus stepped in and said, take all of that and put it into me. That is the invitation for every one of us. Look at your life and ask where you are fighting for yourself when you should be fighting for your Savior.
He also made a statement that landed hard. Who you fight for defines what you fight against. If you fight for yourself in your marriage, you will always be fighting against your spouse. But if you fight for Jesus in your marriage, you fight against your own sin and for your spouse. The direction of your fight changes everything.
Fight by the Power of the Holy Spirit
Pastor Chip introduced the first of David’s mighty men, Jashobeam, who killed 300 Philistines at one time with a single spear. The point was not to celebrate Jashobeam. The point was to show what God can do in a person who is filled with the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 6:12 reminds us that our battle is not against flesh and blood. It is against spiritual forces. That means you cannot fight it with physical weapons. You need spiritual fuel. When you feel weak, empty, and insufficient, it is a sign you are trying to fight in your own strength. The Holy Spirit changes that. With him, there is no sin you cannot say no to, no situation you cannot get through, no fear you cannot have faith over, and no person you cannot witness to.
Fight with the Word of God
The second mighty man was Eleazar, who went into battle alone after all of his army brothers fled. He had one sword. He clung to it and killed the entire opposing force. The Bible says his hand seized to his sword because he had gripped it so tightly.
Pastor Chip had the entire room make a fist and squeeze as hard as they could while he told the story. Then he asked them to slowly try to open their hand. The point was physical and memorable. The more you cling to the word of God, the more it clings to you. The more you get into it, the more it gets into you.
Ephesians 6:17 calls the word of God the sword of the Spirit. Hebrews 4:12 says it is living, active, and sharper than any two-edged sword. That is your weapon. Not your argument. Not your debate. Not your own reasoning. The truth of God’s word.
Fight for What God Has Given You
The third mighty man was Shammah. Every other soldier ran when the Philistines came. Shammah stood his ground alone in a field of lentils and defended it until God gave him the victory.
Pastor Chip asked the room a question. Have you ever felt like you are the only one trying in your marriage? The only one in your family following Jesus? The only one in your workplace, your neighborhood, your school?
Shammah’s story was written for that moment. When everyone else has run, you stand. Not in your own strength, but because God gave you that ground and the enemy cannot have it. Fight for your marriage. Fight for your family. Fight for your purity. Fight for the calling God has placed on your life. Fight for the gospel in your community.
Then Pastor Chip said something worth carrying all week. You are not fighting for victory. You are fighting from the victory. Jesus already won. You are not trying to take ground he has not already secured. You are simply walking into what he has already given you.
There’s a Seat for You
Whether you are in the middle of a battle right now or you are just beginning to understand what it means to fight for something greater than yourself, you belong here. We are a church that believes revival is worth every bit of the resistance that comes with it.
Plan Your Visit and come be part of what God is doing here. Or take your next step and Get Connected with our church family. We would love to fight alongside you.