Songs of Victory

In the New King James Version, verse 7 of Psalm 32 reads,

“You are my hiding place;

You shall preserve me from trouble;

You shall surround me with songs of deliverance”.

The Living Psalms version reads,

“You are my hiding place from every storm of life;

You even keep me from getting into trouble!

You surround me with songs of victory”.

Psalm 50:6 in the Living Psalms reads,

“Call upon Me in the day of trouble

and I will deliver you.

You shall glorify Me”.

I’ve heard my husband (who is a pastor) on more occasions than one say, “I’m not hearing your faith”.  Or, “Where is your faith in this situation?”. He has even said that to me at times when I let the situation become bigger than it should be.

Some of you know the story of the “Giant” in my life. I had allowed a situation over the years to become a giant, just like the one in the Old Testament story 1 Samuel 17 of David and Goliath.  Remember it?  The Israelites were so afraid of Goliath, a Philistine.  Goliath was 9 feet 9 inches tall. His coat alone weighed 126 pounds.  Quite intimidating!

But…David was not afraid. He had confidence in the Lord.  Some of his quotes are:

“Let no man’s heart fail because of him (Goliath);

your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”

and

“You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. 

But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts,

the God of the armies of Israel, who you have defied. 

This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand…” 

(Read the rest of the story.)

David spoke his faith in God. He didn’t go around mulling over the problem. I allowed this giant to overwhelm me. When the Lord showed me this about my giant, He said, “When you  did that, you diminished my power over the situation”.  That was over a year ago. And now, when I see that giant coming and taunting me, the Lord brings the story to my mind again.  That is when my faith speaks, “In the name of Jesus, I command you to shut up.” 

2 Corinthians 10:5 says we need to “cast down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ…”

The enemy throws arguments at us and exalts the problem above God.  That is what we need to take authority over.  That is the Goliath we need to slay.  We don’t slay people, we slay the enemy.

Ephesians 6:12
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Sometimes I think we focus and talk about the problem more than we talk about our faith in the God of solutions.  I know I have.  But, the Lord wants to change the way we think and talk. This is one of my “R”s, Renew our mind.

He wants us to thank God for the solution, not just pray the problem over and over again.

I read somewhere the other day that said, we need to go to the Bible and find out what the Lord says about whatever situation we are going through.  Then, pray His Word, which is His will and then we will have the confidence that He hears us.  Then we can thank Him for the solution.

So many Christians just don’t live in victory. We continually struggle with the same problems year after year with no song of deliverance in sight.  I know I have been one of those in the past. I’m still bringing down some of them. However, the struggles don’t last as long any more because I found the lyrics to the song, you might say – The Word of God.

Sing the song of Deliverance.  Our God is able!  

Blessings,  Pat

Cast in Stone

                                                         Written by Terry and Becky Smith

Most people are familiar with the Biblical story of David and Goliath found in 1 Samuel 17. The story of how a young David brought down the Philistine Goliath, a giant of a man over nine feet tall, with a stone thrown from his sling and an undeniable faith in the Lord.

Recently the subject of David and Goliath came up in our prayer group. Someone pointed out that the instant the stone left David’s sling, that the Lord took control of its flight and directed it precisely at Goliath’s forehead to achieve the desired outcome. Another of our group suggested that among all the stones formed during the Creation, that God had pointed to this one particular stone and declared that “This is the one to bring him [Goliath] down.” Knowing that our Lord is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the creator of all things, it was easy to agree with that assumption. We imagined that smooth stone among the four others, placed precisely in that brook to be available within David’s reach for just this day and time.

Later that evening, while listening to Family Life Radio, the pastor’s sermon included the story of David and Goliath. He pointed out that the armor and weapons of David’s time, specifically Saul’s shield and sword, were just too cumbersome to be effective for the great mission, and that David chose to march into battle with only his belief in God and a crude weapon that appeared would be entirely ineffectual.

Again, that same evening, another prayer group member attended a service where the pastor pointed out that for every giant (“Goliath”) that we face in our lives that there is a special stone for the battle. Are you seeing a repetitive theme here?

The following night my husband lay awake in bed thinking of several “giants” in our world today… abortion, pornography, homosexuality, poverty, starvation, among many other evils. He realized that yes, there is a stone to utilize for every “giant” and that these stones are still available in the brook… the brook that is the source of Living Water provided by our Lord. Some giants require stones larger than others, but all are designed for the task, and all are within our reach. As the pastor on Family Life Radio said, when each of us, in faith, has done all that he or she can, the Lord will take it from there.

God speaks to us in many different ways. That over the course of a few days this message about fighting giants was delivered to members of our prayer group by multiple methods was no coincidence. The Lord was driving the message home, that we each need to do all we can to bring down the giants in our lives, our society, our world. We cannot sit idly by and think that God will take care of everything for us. He expects us to actively work with Him, and this requires a strong faith in Him, and a reliance on Him that goes far beyond the modern weaponry of our time. Only with God are all things possible.

Written by Terry and Becky Smith