Don't try to get God on your side, make sure you're on his side.

"And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face...and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my Lord unto his servant?" (Josh 5:13-15).

During the above event in the life of Joshua, the children of Israel had just crossed over the Jordan River into the land of Canaan. As they prepared to do battle with the inhabitants of the land, Joshua had an encounter with what some theologians referred to as a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ. In this encounter, Joshua was no doubt greatly encouraged as he was reminded that the captain of the Lord's armies was with him and his people. But before he realized who the man standing in front of him was, Joshua asked, "Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?" (Joshua 5:14). In other words, Joshua was asking, "whose side are you on, our enemies or us?" The man with the sword drawn in his hand responded, "Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come." One preacher said of this response that when the captain of heaven’s armies comes to the scene “He doesn’t come to take sides, He comes to take over.” When Joshua realized who he was talking to, he fell on his face in worship and asked, “What saith my Lord unto his servant?” This is the question that we must all ask especially in the battles of life. In the battles of life we must seek out what God desire for us to do not try to tell him what we want him to do.

If we desire to fight the battles of life with God and not against God, we must embrace the attitude that Warren Wiersbe describes when he wrote, "I will always obey God. He is the Commander-in-chief of my life. This is His battle, not mine. My goal in life is to further His purposes not my own." Another preacher said, “In any struggle we must respond not by trying to "win," not by trying to "look right." No, instead we must seek to respond in ways that further God's kingdom.” Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission once said that there are three ways to do God's work: "One is to make the best plans we can, and carry them out to the best of our ability, or, having carefully laid our plans and determined to carry them through, we may ask God to help us, and to prosper us in connection with them. Yet another way of working is to begin with God; to ask His plans, and to offer ourselves to Him to carry out His purposes."

Jesus is the captain. Don't try to get him on your side, make sure you're on his side. Don't try to get God to take up your cause, make sure you're fighting for his cause and for his glory.