What do banners represent? Banners represent victory. When a team wins a championship, they are given a banner to celebrate their victory. They proudly display the banner in the rafters of their arena for all to see that they are victorious.
I bring this up, because many people do not realize that one of the seven redemptive names of God is The Lord-Is-My-Banner. In essence, He introduced Himself as the one who is victorious. Unfortunately, many Christians experience loss in their life and assign the blame of the loss to God. This is incongruent with the name, The-Lord-Is-My-Banner.
Let’s look at where the name The Lord-Is-My-Banner came from and then I’ll share a story about why understanding this aspect of God’s nature is so important if we are going to fulfill His plan for our lives. Look at Exodus 17:8-16:
8 Now Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. 9 And Moses said to Joshua, “Choose us some men and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand.” 10 So Joshua did as Moses said to him, and fought with Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 And so it was, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses’ hands became heavy; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. And Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13 So Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.” 15 And Moses built an altar and called its name, The-Lord-Is-My-Banner; 16 for he said, “Because the Lord has sworn: the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”
There are dozens of important lessons that can be learned from these eight verses, but in this article, I want to focus on just one. The Amalekites attacked Israel and for the first the first time in Israel’s history, they had to fight to obtain victory. Previously, God had done the fighting for Israel. For example, God sent the 10 plagues on Egypt to cause Pharoah to let the people go and then God parted the Red Sea and drowned Pharoah’s army in the sea after Israel crossed over. In these instances, Israel wasn’t asked to do anything other than believe and watch God work. In this story, they had to pick up weapons and fight. Why is this important?
When we give our lives to Jesus, He initially does the fighting for us Himself. He will have a pastor, family member, or friend do the praying, believing, and acts of obedience on our behalf because we are not able to do those things in our immaturity. As we grow in the things of God, He will ask us to fight our own battles. He does this because His goal for us is to be conformed to the image of Christ. He wants us to do life like Jesus did and learn to have victory in every situation. This can only happen if we learn to fight.
Another important by-product of us learning to fight our own battles is that God can use us in a greater way in the earth. When we can stand on our own two feet and get victories on our own, we can train others to do the same. This is called discipleship, which is the goal of The Great Commission.
I do want to be clear about a major point. When I say we are getting victories on our own, we are still doing it with the ability and weapons God provides. I’m not saying we do it in our own strength. It’s His ability, but it’s His ability flowing through us and not others to bring the victory.
This is why the revelation of God as Jehovah-Nissi or the The-Lord-Is-My-Banner is so important. Jesus illustrated this concept in His ministry with the disciples. Initially, Jesus did all the teaching, praying for the sick, and casting out of demons. The disciples saw the victories Jesus won, but they were not involved in the battle. After a time of training, Jesus sent out 12 in Matthew 10 and gave them these instructions:
7 And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.
Jesus didn’t accompany the disciples on this trip. They were told to go and obtain victory without Jesus physically present. This was the next stage in their maturation process. Again, I want to be clear, it was God’s power that healed the sick, cleansed the lepers, raised the dead and cast out demons; but it was God’s power flowing through the disciples.
When the disciples preached the kingdom of heaven is at hand, they were literally saying God’s dominion and rulership are within grasp. Then, through the power of their words and prophetic actions they released the anointing of the Holy Spirit to bring forth victory that caused the change in people’s circumstances.
This concept of The-Lord-Is-My-Banner is important to me personally because God used this truth to help me see a major victory when all my natural circumstances said I would lose. In 2007, God led me to take job as a recruiter that could be very lucrative but was also very demanding. Most of the people who were hired by the company I went to work for were fired within less than a year because they did not meet sales quotas. I took the job, though, because God told me this job would provide the finances to help me fulfill my dream of attending Charis Bible College in Colorado Springs.
I really flourished in my first few months on the job, but when the Great Recession started in 2008, my sales numbers went down, and things looked really bad. I began to wonder if I would be fired and began to rationalize my lack of success as God causing me to dry up on the vine so I wouldn’t lose my focus on going to school by making a lot of money. As I was praying about what to do, the Holy Spirit spoke John 15:16 to me:
16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.
He then spoke to me and said, “Son, I put you in that job so you would bear fruit and your fruit is supposed to remain. I didn’t call you to start out with great sales numbers and then see them dry up. Your numbers are supposed to remain strong and increase and your increase should remain strong for this office in Greensboro long after you are gone to Colorado Springs.”
He then said, “You need to believe me and declare my word and I will prosper you and you will have success.” The voice inside was so strong it rocked me, but it was just what I needed to hear. I began to put God’s word in me and declare it out of my mouth and I saw my sales numbers go through the roof in 2009, 2010, and 2011. This was a time most people in this country were struggling financially and yet I was living in victory. By 2012 Ashley and I paid off a ton of debt and saved up three years of tuition and moved to Colorado so I could attend school.
I don’t tell that story to brag on me because it was God’s power, but it was God’s power flowing through me. If I wouldn’t have believed and acted by praying and then working hard at my job, I would have never seen the victory. God didn’t give this victory to me without cooperation on my end. I had to cooperate and believe which is how I received.
This victory conformed me to the image of Christ because I learned how to prosper in famine. It blessed others who gained employment though my faith and it blessed my company. It also prepared me for they day God asked me to start a church in 2014 when I didn’t have any money and any people. I didn’t need any of that because I had a word from God and God is my victory. This belief is what has caused us to have success. When we started our church people told me we might fail because people might not come. I told them, “It will absolutely work because I have a word from God and God’s word always works. GOD IS VICTORY POINT BLANK AND PERIOD!”
Over the last six years we have grown and have purchased a building and have hired staff. We are flourishing during Covid times when many churches are struggling. Why? Because of a revelation of Jehovah-Nissi. The Lord-Is-My-Banner, and HE ALWAYS CAUSES ME TO TRIUMPH IN CHRIST JESUS. I hope this is a revelation you receive for yourself because this truth is available to all His children. God wants to see you have victory in every situation in your life! Victory is part of what eternal life is all about. If you would like to learn more about eternal life, click here to read my series called “What is Eternal Life?”
