Monday, November 08, 2010, 7:06 a.m. – When I got up this morning, my husband told me that I should read Psalm 18, in particular vv. 31-36, which he read to me. He felt as though the Lord had some words of encouragement in there for me personally. So, I sat down and prayerfully read Psalm 18, praying “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening,” and what I read blessed my heart. Then, I read Matthew 11 for my quiet time with the Lord. Both passages of scripture spoke much encouragement concerning the spiritual battle that we are in daily as true believers in Jesus Christ, and as his disciples; his true followers.
Ephesians 6:10-18 (NLT) says this about the spiritual battle that we find ourselves in as believers in Jesus Christ:
So, when I read the words of King David in Psalm 18, I read them now in the context of Ephesians 6 where it says that our enemies now are not flesh and blood, such as were King David’s, but rather they are Satan and his evil spirits that war against our minds and hearts. And, our weapons of warfare are not carnal, but rather they are spiritual weapons with which we are to fight off the attacks of our enemy - the devil and his angels (evil).
Psalm 18:1-6 (NIV):
The battle is the Lord’s! He is the one who gives us the strength, the courage, the wisdom and the weapons of warfare with which to fight the attacks of the enemy. He alone is our strength, our rock (pillar; mainstay; stalwart; tower of strength), our fortress and our deliverer. We cannot fight a spiritual battle with human weapons of warfare. If we do, we are destined for failure. We cannot fight this battle in our own strength or with human wisdom, knowledge and understanding. This is not an intellectual battle of the wits. The battle that we are in as believers in Jesus Christ is a spiritual battle against an evil spiritual being and his hordes of evil spirits, so we must use the weapons of warfare God has put at our disposal if we are to be victorious in this battle against our enemy.
When we are up against the enemy and he attacks us in our minds, in our bodies, in our emotions, via our relationships with other people, and via our circumstances, etc., we must call upon the Lord. We must call to him for help and we must use the spiritual weapons that he has supplied for us, which are his, in order to fight off these attacks of the evil one. If we think we can do this with our own strength or with our own reasoning, then we are bound to fail and to be even more distressed and overwhelmed by whatever is warring against us.
Psalm 18:16-19 (NIV):
Have you ever felt without hope? Have the circumstances or relationships in your life ever been to the point to where you felt what David felt, i.e. that your enemy was too powerful for you? I have! I can even remember one day in 1982 saying to the Lord, “But Lord, you don’t understand!” Ha! Boy, was I ever wrong!! I believed that my enemy was too powerful for even God. I did not believe this with my conscious mind. Yet, my reaction to my circumstances said that I did believe that in my heart. Our enemy may be too strong for us in our flesh, but he is never too strong for God. God is much, much greater by far and he can cut our enemy off at any moment. In fact, our enemy only has the power that he has because God allows it. So, if we ever think that our circumstances are overwhelming and that there is no way out, think again!! Jesus has already won this battle for us when he died on the cross for our sins and when he conquered death, hell, Satan and sin. We don’t ever have to give in or give up, feeling as though what we are up against is too powerful for us, because we have a God who is the most powerful of all and who rules over all the earth.
When we call upon the Lord in our distress and we surrender to His will for our lives and yield our lives into his capable and loving hands, the Lord will be our support, he will deliver us through (though not necessarily from) whatever it is that is confronting us, and he will bring us out into a spacious place, i.e. “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free, stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Gal. 5:1). Jesus has set us free. The “spacious place” is in faith in Christ Jesus and it is through genuine faith in Him as lived out in our daily lives that we are able to conquer the enemy of our souls. God will rescue those in whom he delights, and “the LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love” (Psalm 147:11).
Psalm 18:28-36 (NIV):
The battle is the Lord’s! He is the one who arms us with strength. He is the one who gives us the ability to stand against the enemy and his evil schemes. He is the one who trains our hands for battle. We are schooled for this battle via our time spent with the Lord Jesus at his feet in prayer, in His Word, in listening to what he says, in heeding his commands, in yielding our hearts to him in full devotion and obedience, in being willing to be his servant in going where he sends us, saying what he would have us to say, and in being his hands and his feet to others who are in need of his love, grace, mercy and compassion, etc. He teaches us through our trials and our tests of life. He guides us through putting roadblocks in our way which say “This far and no farther!” He prepares us through sickness and through health. He educates us through other people, either through their rejection and unkind words, or through their love and words of encouragement (exhortation; rebuke; correction; uplifting). Our lives, the people in our lives and our circumstances are his training ground in which we learn how to put our trust in the Lord, how to use the weapons of warfare he has put at our disposal, and how to overcome the attacks of the enemy by calling upon our Lord. His saving grace is our shield, and it is Him who makes our way secure.
Matthew 11:25-30 (NIV):
Instead of the “yoke of slavery” to sin, to legalism, to men, etc., we are to take our Lord’s yoke upon us and to learn from Him. I had read something about this previously in relation to the yoke that oxen have to carry, so I looked it up and found this description:
The Solid Rock / Edward Mote / William Bradbury
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.
When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.
His oath, His covenant, His blood
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.
When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found;
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne
Ephesians 6:10-18 (NLT) says this about the spiritual battle that we find ourselves in as believers in Jesus Christ:
So, when I read the words of King David in Psalm 18, I read them now in the context of Ephesians 6 where it says that our enemies now are not flesh and blood, such as were King David’s, but rather they are Satan and his evil spirits that war against our minds and hearts. And, our weapons of warfare are not carnal, but rather they are spiritual weapons with which we are to fight off the attacks of our enemy - the devil and his angels (evil).
Psalm 18:1-6 (NIV):
The battle is the Lord’s! He is the one who gives us the strength, the courage, the wisdom and the weapons of warfare with which to fight the attacks of the enemy. He alone is our strength, our rock (pillar; mainstay; stalwart; tower of strength), our fortress and our deliverer. We cannot fight a spiritual battle with human weapons of warfare. If we do, we are destined for failure. We cannot fight this battle in our own strength or with human wisdom, knowledge and understanding. This is not an intellectual battle of the wits. The battle that we are in as believers in Jesus Christ is a spiritual battle against an evil spiritual being and his hordes of evil spirits, so we must use the weapons of warfare God has put at our disposal if we are to be victorious in this battle against our enemy.
When we are up against the enemy and he attacks us in our minds, in our bodies, in our emotions, via our relationships with other people, and via our circumstances, etc., we must call upon the Lord. We must call to him for help and we must use the spiritual weapons that he has supplied for us, which are his, in order to fight off these attacks of the evil one. If we think we can do this with our own strength or with our own reasoning, then we are bound to fail and to be even more distressed and overwhelmed by whatever is warring against us.
Psalm 18:16-19 (NIV):
Have you ever felt without hope? Have the circumstances or relationships in your life ever been to the point to where you felt what David felt, i.e. that your enemy was too powerful for you? I have! I can even remember one day in 1982 saying to the Lord, “But Lord, you don’t understand!” Ha! Boy, was I ever wrong!! I believed that my enemy was too powerful for even God. I did not believe this with my conscious mind. Yet, my reaction to my circumstances said that I did believe that in my heart. Our enemy may be too strong for us in our flesh, but he is never too strong for God. God is much, much greater by far and he can cut our enemy off at any moment. In fact, our enemy only has the power that he has because God allows it. So, if we ever think that our circumstances are overwhelming and that there is no way out, think again!! Jesus has already won this battle for us when he died on the cross for our sins and when he conquered death, hell, Satan and sin. We don’t ever have to give in or give up, feeling as though what we are up against is too powerful for us, because we have a God who is the most powerful of all and who rules over all the earth.
When we call upon the Lord in our distress and we surrender to His will for our lives and yield our lives into his capable and loving hands, the Lord will be our support, he will deliver us through (though not necessarily from) whatever it is that is confronting us, and he will bring us out into a spacious place, i.e. “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free, stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Gal. 5:1). Jesus has set us free. The “spacious place” is in faith in Christ Jesus and it is through genuine faith in Him as lived out in our daily lives that we are able to conquer the enemy of our souls. God will rescue those in whom he delights, and “the LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love” (Psalm 147:11).
Psalm 18:28-36 (NIV):
The battle is the Lord’s! He is the one who arms us with strength. He is the one who gives us the ability to stand against the enemy and his evil schemes. He is the one who trains our hands for battle. We are schooled for this battle via our time spent with the Lord Jesus at his feet in prayer, in His Word, in listening to what he says, in heeding his commands, in yielding our hearts to him in full devotion and obedience, in being willing to be his servant in going where he sends us, saying what he would have us to say, and in being his hands and his feet to others who are in need of his love, grace, mercy and compassion, etc. He teaches us through our trials and our tests of life. He guides us through putting roadblocks in our way which say “This far and no farther!” He prepares us through sickness and through health. He educates us through other people, either through their rejection and unkind words, or through their love and words of encouragement (exhortation; rebuke; correction; uplifting). Our lives, the people in our lives and our circumstances are his training ground in which we learn how to put our trust in the Lord, how to use the weapons of warfare he has put at our disposal, and how to overcome the attacks of the enemy by calling upon our Lord. His saving grace is our shield, and it is Him who makes our way secure.
Matthew 11:25-30 (NIV):
Instead of the “yoke of slavery” to sin, to legalism, to men, etc., we are to take our Lord’s yoke upon us and to learn from Him. I had read something about this previously in relation to the yoke that oxen have to carry, so I looked it up and found this description:
The Solid Rock / Edward Mote / William Bradbury
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.
When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.
His oath, His covenant, His blood
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.
When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found;
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne
