For quite a long while in times past, I usually said that the Lord of Host never looses a battle, but quite recently, the Lord corrected me and said, "Son, I can loose a battle to win a war. I never loose a war." According to His divine wisdom, when it pleases the Lord, He can choose to loose a battle in order to win a war. He can give up a battle, but He has never lost a war. We need to tap into this divine wisdom and apply its principle in our lives. It's all about looking at the bigger picture. You will gain more from winning a war than from winning a battle. You will also loose more when you loose a war than when you loose a battle. Some people are not ready to loose any battle, and as a result, they loose the war that is more crucial. Take for instance, evangelism. If you go to preach to an individual about Christ and an argument ensues, you are faced with the choice of winning a battle (the argument) or winning the soul of the sinner (a war). If you choose to win the argument, you will most likely loose the soul. This is why you should not get involved in arguments when preaching the gospel to unbelievers. Time to evangelise is not a time to argue about whose religion is more superior. Faith in Christ Jesus is more than just a religion. Simply tell the sinner about Jesus and God's love towards him or her. Share your salvation experience with him or her. Stir up his or her interest in Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit will do the necessary work of conviction. After playing your part, you can then invite the person to surrender his or her life to Christ.

When you observe that God is seemingly loosing a battle or battles, it is because there is a bigger war He wants to win. For instance, in the midst of intense persecution of the early Church, God allowed His beloved Stephen to be martyred. Why did He allow this? It's because He wanted to win the war of saving the ring leader of Stephen's murderers, Saul. Through Saul, He planned to convert whole cities and to virtually turn the world upside down, and He succeeded in this (Acts 17:6). At the end, it became a double gain for the Lord as Stephen had a triumphant entry into Heaven while Paul, who supervised his martyrdom, became a mightier instrument in the hand of God for the salvation of souls on a massive scale across the globe. This testimony about Paul in Acts 19:26 show the awesomeness of God's wisdom:
"Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands:"
Anytime you follow God's wisdom, you will know when to loose a battle in order to win a war.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.

Very true...