How to Let Go of Battles That Aren’t Yours - Daily Hope with Rick Warren - September 22, 2025

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How to Let Go of Battles That Aren’t Yours
By Rick Warren

“The battle is not yours, but God's.” 2 Chronicles 20:15 (NLT)

Imagine you’re sitting on a plane that’s about to take off. As the plane goes down the runway, you start flapping your arms. As the speed picks up and the plane’s nose lifts in the air, you flap your arms faster and faster. Once in the air, the flight attendant approaches you and says, “What are you doing?”

And you say, “Oh, I'm helping us get off the ground.”

That’s ridiculous, right? But that’s basically what you’re doing when you try to do things only God is equipped to do. Just like you don’t need to hold up a plane, you don’t need to hold up God.

Do you want to know why you're tired all the time or frustrated or worn out by life? The reason might be because you're trying to fight battles that belong to God, and you are not God.

“The battle is not yours, but God's” (2 Chronicles 20:15 NLT).

People often try to be independent when they face a problem. They think, I’ve got to figure this out. If it’s to be, it’s up to me! But when you assume God’s role, it wears you out because you were never meant to carry problems by yourself in the first place.

Maybe you've been running in circles trying to solve problems in your marriage, your body, the economy, your school, or the world. You're trying to solve them in your own power. You're trying to fight the battle on your own, and you're tired. 

When your strength gives out and you finally give up, God wants you to come back to him. And when you do—when you tell him you’ve made a mess of things—you may think you’ve let him down. But God isn’t disappointed in you, because he's not expecting you to do what only he can do.

The truth is, you don't have God in your hands; he's got you in his. If you think you’ve got God in your hands, it's not God. It's an idol. If you’re trusting in something you think you can control, then that thing is not God.

So let go and surrender to God. Because that’s when he says, “Great! Now we can get something done.”

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Rick Warren is an innovative pastor, renowned author, and global influencer known for founding Saddleback Church, the Purpose Driven Network, the PEACE Plan, and Hope for Mental Health. He has written several best-selling books, including The Purpose Driven Life, which has sold over 35 million copies in 200 languages. Time magazine named Warren the most influential spiritual leader in America and one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Since stepping down from the lead pastor role at Saddleback in 2022, Warren has continued to inspire people through his Daily Hope Devotional and podcast Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope. His first book in a decade, Created to Dream, was released in April 2023.

For more Daily Hope with Rick Warren, please visit pastorrick.com!

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This devotional © 2018 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

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