Deuteronomy 20:4 (NIV) ‘For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.”

DAILY READING ; Luke 6:1-26; Genesis 3-5; Psalm 2

Tamrat Layne was a guerilla fighter and self-proclaimed atheist, who believed that freedom only came out from the barrel of the gun. He and his best friend, Meles Zenawi led the guerilla army in the Ethiopian Civil War in the 1980’s to overthrow the existing oppressive government.
After taking over the government, Tamrat Layne became Ethiopia’s Prime Minister from 1991 to 1995. Thereafter he was succeeded in 1996 by Meles Zenawi as Prime Minister.
However when the two close friends began to have disagreements over their leadership ideologies, President Zenawi brought charges against Layne and the Federal Supreme Court of Ethiopia sentenced Tamrat to 18 years in prison for corruption and embezzlement.
Though he claimed to be innocent of all charges against him, Layne was locked up in an isolated cell known as The Dark Room.
Feeling totally betrayed by his best friend, Layne became obsessed with thoughts of killing Zenawi.
In the prison, he started reading books and studied all kinds of religions, but nothing seemed to give him relief.
One day, a nurse slipped a piece of paper under Layne’s pillow that said ‘Jesus loves you, Jesus is the way, and Jesus is the only one who can give you hope.’
Somehow Layne couldn’t get his mind off the words on the bit of paper. To his amazement, that evening, he had a vision of Jesus which totally transformed his life.
After surrendering his life to Christ, Layne felt the Lord asking him to forgive Zenawi. It was a very hard decision for Layne but eventually he chose to obey God and completely forgave Zenawi. Miraculously, in twelfth year of his eighteen-year sentence, Layne was released from the prison in December 2008.
Thereafter he set up a meeting with Zenawi. Face to face with his old friend, Tamrat hugged him, and said, “I forgive you, and I love you.’

Zenawi was stunned and became emotional. Layne was glad he had obeyed God, especially when Zenawi later died .
Since then, Tamrat Layne has been an active Christian, sharing his faith and testimony through several media platforms with people around the world.

David was the victim of multiple conspiracies. It looked like everything ganged up to frustrate his life. He was a victim of betrayals and confrontations even from his own son, Absalom.
But despite all that David suffered in life, he decided to hand over his battles to God. Several times when he could have taken matters into his own hand, he decided to honor God and obey His Word.
When David had an opportunity to smite Saul, because he feared God, he decided not to do so.
The result of his honoring God was that the house of David began to wax stronger, while the house of Saul waxed weaker. God turned the tables in David’s favour. Eventually Saul melted into oblivion, while David, till date, remains the most beloved king in Israel. Again when David could have retaliated and killed Nabal, but chose not to, that night God Himself dealt with Nabal, thus David was delivered from bloodshed.
As you pass through life, you will often be confronted by situations that could make you bitter, but you must learn to always leave matters in God’s hands.
The truth is that God can fight for you more than you can ever fight for yourself. When God is on your side, there is no battle or situation that can overcome you.
You may be a victim of multiple conspiracies, confrontations, disappointments, human failures but through God’s help, you will always overcome.
David was a victim of all of that, but through divine help, he was always victorious. He fought 66 battles and never lost one battle.
Therefore, if you will decide today, to let go and let God, you will certainly experience His amazing miracles of victory. No matter who or what has conspired against your life and your destiny, you will triumph over them all. God will turn your adversity into your advancement!
What the enemy has brought against you, the Lord will use it against the enemy! What you passed through, God will use it to pass something good to you.
Let us therefore, today, decide to trust God and follow His instructions and be at rest. As we draw closer to Him through study of the Word, prayers and praise, certainly, the Lord will fight our battles and we will hold our peace.

PRAYER: Father please grant me the grace to always allow Your Word to take preeminence over my feelings and emotions. In every situation I may face, let only Your will be done in my life, in Jesus’ Name.
QUOTE;
Trials, oppositions, resistances are oftentimes only an indication that your promotion is around the corner. WORDBITE 222