The Lord is on my side! Such is the bold declaration of the believer. So confident is he in the righteousness of his cause and the truth of his position that he declares his side to be the side that the Lord is on.

Such is the hated declaration of the believer. Sides? That is a very loathsome word to many. They prefer to think that there are no sides. If they must have sides, then they prefer that there be as many sides as man wishes, and above all and at all costs—the costs of the truth and righteousness—let all the sides get along. And surely if there are sides, then let there not be two sides. So they will declare before all, “There are not two sides!”

But there are, there only ever have been, and there only ever will be two sides. Not three or four or ten or twenty. There are two: the Lord’s and the devil’s, the truth’s and the lie’s, and justice’s and evil’s.

And all those who deny that there are two sides stand on the side of the lie. They will unite with and have a good word about everyone, except about those who stand on the side of the truth.

And do not suppose that these two sides are equal. The Lord’s side is always victorious. Such is the confidence in which the believer makes his bold declaration. Indeed, more profoundly, the devil’s side and all his opposition must serve the Lord’s side as that which is strictly subservient to and sovereignly determined by God as the necessary way to the realization of the Lord’s victory.

The Lord and his people are one. His side is their side; their side is his side; his cause is their cause; and their cause is his cause. He took them to be of his party! You cannot be attacked without the Lord being attacked, and no one can attack the Lord apart from attacking you.

And the devil’s side hates the Lord and his side, so the devil’s side constantly attacks. And the attacks are fearsome. The devil’s side attacks by discontent, insinuation, false doctrine, lusts, evil reports, persecutions, afflictions, family, friends, lovers, and avowed enemies. And the devil’s side can do many things to you—ultimately take your life; or worse, torture you by a thousand cuts and stabs to your soul to wear you out and to wear you down, but more than that, to make you afraid.

The devil loves fear. His side operates out of fear and seeks to instill fear. He loves this fear above all: “The Lord is not on your side. The Lord has left you and forsaken you.” That paralyzes the Christian soldier. If the Lord is not on his side, that soldier cannot stand for a moment, and his cause is all wrong, and he must lose. Indeed, the fearful soldier stops fighting, abandons the struggle, and casts away his sword and shield in headlong flight from the field.

He who overcomes shall inherit all things, but the fearful shall have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone.

The Lord says to his beleaguered troops, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” The Lord says that so that we may boldly say, “The Lord is on my side, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. If father and mother forsake, the Lord will take me up. If friend and lover forsake, the Lord will be my friend. If I lose my life in this world, the Lord will give me my soul in heaven. If I lose house and job, and have nothing, the Lord is with me, and so I have all.” So I may boldly say, “The Lord is on my side.”