The powerful Word of God

Psalm 25

 To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
² O my God, I trust in You;
Let me not be ashamed;
Let not my enemies triumph over me.

As New Testament believers we are called to love our enemies and hate our one true enemy, the devil and his principalities of darkness. To me this gives the Psalm a whole new meaning for us in looking at our enemy.

^{Psalm 25:3-5} Indeed, let no one who waits on You be ashamed;
Let those be ashamed who deal treacherously without cause.

⁴ Show me Your ways, O Lord;
Teach me Your paths.
⁵ Lead me in Your truth and teach me,
For You are the God of my salvation;
On You I wait all the day.

Anyone else out of sheer desperation and exhaustion feel like they are waiting upon the LORD all of your days?

Isaiah 40:28-30, Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the Lord,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.
²⁹ He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength.
³⁰ Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
³¹ But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.

Amen

^{Psalm 25:6-7} Remember, O Lord, Your tender mercies and Your loving kindnesses,
For they are from of old.
⁷ Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions;
According to Your mercy remember me,
For Your goodness’ sake, O Lord.

We are never at a higher risk for the enemy to use guilt on us as we are when we are burdened by our burdens…if the sin has been repented of and you have asked for forgiveness and turned from it than you have been set free from it.

1 John 1:8-10,⁸ If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

^{Psalm 25:8-11} Good and upright is the Lord;
Therefore He teaches sinners in the way.
⁹ The humble He guides in justice,
And the humble He teaches His way.
¹⁰ All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth,
To such as keep His covenant and His testimonies.
¹¹ For Your name’s sake, O Lord,
Pardon my iniquity, for it is great.

Here David is not only reflecting back on his own sinfulness but he is expressing his desire for God to teach him. Listen, we need to be willing to be teachable.

Proverbs 1:7 says, the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.

^{Psalm 25:12-15} Who is the man that fears the Lord?
Him shall He teach in the way He chooses.
¹³ He himself shall dwell in prosperity,
And his descendants shall inherit the earth.
¹⁴ The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him,
And He will show them His covenant.
¹⁵ My eyes are ever toward the Lord,
For He shall pluck my feet out of the net.

Anyone else been trapped in the net?

I want to share with you something personally because I believe that many of you will relate to this. I am in a season, a very long season of dealing with something.

This isn’t really something new that I am dealing with, quite honestly I am pretty accustom to dealing with this specific thing but this time I know it is different. In fact it fell so heavy upon me this time that I made the decision to seek counseling over it.

At me 2^nd session with my counselor I poured out my heart over this and I said, “You know if I just had a name for this I feel like I could conquer it.” We talked about spiritual warfare for a bit and then she said what you are dealing with here is much more than just an annoyance or circumstance, you are dealing with an AFFLICATION.

As weird as this sounds I was pumped for I finally had a name for it.

¹⁶ Turn Yourself to me, and have mercy on me,
For I am desolate and afflicted.

The NIV versions says, “Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.

About a week after I had my big epiphany over my Affliction I sat down early one morning to watch Beth Moore on Lifetoday. As I grabbed for my coffee I heard her say that today’s lesson was over Trouble vs. Affliction.

I’m sure my mouth hit the floor. I knew that it was no mistake for me to be watching that morning. God knew I needed a word on it and he gave me one.

Beth had us open our Bibles to Psalm 25 and by memory she read it to us. When she got to vs. 16 where it says, Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted, I choked up.

How many of us have experienced the loneliness of our Affliction? Because here’s the deal. We are either going through an affliction, coming out of one and headed into one. I know that may sound negative and disappointing but this is what I believe to be truth.

I can connect the 3 or 4 areas in my life that this Affliction is connected to or that it directly affects. So what happens is this, I am more aware of the things surrounding these areas, I am more faithful in my commitment to pray over these areas, but too I am more protective and sometimes that protection turns into idolism.  Do you understand what I’m saying?

In other words I am obsessed over these areas because of the distrust I have and the doubt I have in God over them. I not only deal with those things but I also cross up the boundary lines between where God and I stand. It shouldn’t be war lines, I need to get behind him.

Here is where the enemy gets me. I can feel that I am praying and laying these things down at the foot of the cross and seeking and discerning God but truly in my heart I am harboring doubt that I will be set free from bondage that I am in.

In those moments of doubt, which is really unbelief, the enemy suits up and takes his shot at me, whether it be a dream, a horrible thought or visual, an overwhelming fear or the common “what if”, when I allow the enemy to overtake my thoughts he recognizes those weak areas and he pounces on them. John 10:10 says, The thief (the devil) does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I (Jesus) have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

Are there any of you that can relate? Anyone else deal with the mental spiritual battle with the enemy?

So my question for us is this, How do we stop this mental warfare?

Galatians 5:1 says, 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.

So the 1^st thing we are going to do is:

1.    Stand firm in the Freedom that we have through Christ and refuse to be enslaved by it.

Philippians 4:6-7 says,

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; ⁷ and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

2.    Get down on our knees in prayer and seek his counsel

Hebrews 4:12 says,

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

*Memorize Scripture & Speak it!

3. Silence the enemy with the POWERFUL Word of God

Listen, if you have not ever memorized Scripture this is your encouragement to do so. I have a 7 year old and a 4 year old who memorize Scripture way better than I do so if they can do it you and I can.

Here is why this is such a valuable asset and weapon for us especially in dealing with warfare. Instead of fueling the battle/fire with doubt and fear we fight back with the ALL powerful, FULLY alive and active Word of God. It looks like this:

When we feel the enemy attacking us here in our mind we need to enter into this battle armed. We need to STAND FIRM IN OUR FREEDOM IN CHRIST, SEEK GOD IMMEDIATELY AND SILENCE THE ENEMY WITH THE POWERFUL WORD OF GOD.

Because here’s the deal, Jesus has already won the battle, we are his, the victory is his and He crushes the enemy under our feet. The enemy just wants to try and make us believe that it is all a lie.

^{Psalm 25:17-18} The troubles of my heart have enlarged;
Bring me out of my distresses!
¹⁸ Look on my affliction and my pain,
And forgive all my sins.

^{Psalm 25:19-22} Consider my enemies, for they are many;
And they hate me with cruel hatred.
²⁰ Keep my soul, and deliver me;
Let me not be ashamed, for I put my trust in You.
²¹ Let integrity and uprightness preserve me,
For I wait for You.

²² Redeem Israel, O God,
Out of all their troubles!

2 Tim 1:7, For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Sometimes in our Affliction and trouble God brings out things that need to be dealt with. For me he has shown me some things that I need forgiveness over and some things that I need to forgive, he has shown me sin that needs to be dealt with and some healing that needs to take place before I am able to walk through it victoriously.

One thing that Beth had mentioned in her series on this that has really stuck with me is, God can either deliver from these Afflictions or God can take our very affliction and deliver us through them. Once I realized that and bent the knee to it, I asked him to keep me right where I am even though it is hard and uncomfortable and painful, until I can receive full redemption over it. Because when I walk through it this time, so help me, I will be fully REDEEMED!!!

Isaiah 43:1, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by your name;
You are Mine.