What an invitation we have! Just come with a loyal heart and a willing mind. Come and dwell. Make God your habitation.

Transcription

1 A complimentary study by Jeanie Rose of Daybreak Resources

2 Lesson 2 Where Is Your Confidence? The Foxhole Psalm Psalm 91 has been nicknamed the foxhole psalm. Understandably! Many of us do not attempt to find the overshadowing protection of God until our worlds are being blasted to bits. In the 1600 s evangelist John Arrowsmith wrote, Faith is endangered by security. That was true in the 1600 s and it is just as true today. When life goes without a glitch, without challenges, don t you just feel so self-confident, self-sufficient? But Psalm 91 is about being God-confident, God-sufficient. (Read the article on Faith, if you haven t already. Faith is to be nurtured and grown. You can expand yours!) A Right Heart Attitude In Psalm 91 the Psalmist is saying to us, Come and remain, stay and marry. Come with a loyal heart and a willing mind as David speaks to his son, Solomon. If you seek Him, He will be found by you Be strong and of good courage, and do it (build the Temple); do not fear nor be dismayed, for the Lord God my God will be with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you. (1Chronicles 28:9, 20) What an invitation we have! Just come with a loyal heart and a willing mind. Come and dwell. Make God your habitation. And then God will: Meet us with tenderness and nurture as a hen with chicks Surround us like a warrior in armor Preserve us from fear and the torment of fear Protect us from the death snares the enemy lays to steal away our lives before our time is complete. (Stay in His shadow and when your time comes to depart this present 1

3 world, your peace is deep no matter what the circumstances of your departure.) Side Bar What Are Your Images of God? Do your images need to be redefined? Many of us who grew up in punishing authoritarian homes have a view of God as One with a whip, a harsh disciplinarian. If inaccurate and harsh images of God are holding you back spiritually, ask the Lord to heal those wounds. Continue working on the renewing of your mind with Scripture. God will use it to reveal Himself to you in truth. Side Bar You can live with peace of mind, no matter what the circumstances! Charles Spurgeon sums up God s protective service in this way: Those who are the Lord s constant guest shall find that He will never suffer any to be injured within His gates; He has eaten the salt covenant with them, and is pledged for their protection. God-Confidence Wow! This is all about God-confidence rather than selfconfidence. The more able you are in your own abilities to 2

4 solve your own problems, the more difficult it is to operate in God-confidence. Into every life, however, comes a time when there is no way out of distress but God there is no way to accomplish the task at hand but God there is no way to peace of mind but God This is what Spurgeon is talking about. This is what David was counseling Solomon to step into: God Confidence! Do it, son. Build that temple, unbelievably big as it is. You can t fail. God is with you! (my paraphrase) Challenge to Action So Where Are You On the Issue of God-confidence? Time for some self-assessment and a bit of work: How many times in the last week, last month did you depend entirely on God for a solution to a problem? (faith action) How many times were you able to let go of fretting and fear by letting God shoulder your concerns? (faith action) Is your self-confidence score higher than your Godconfidence score? Are you facing a foxhole situation in your life? This is a wonderful opportunity for taking faith action and getting into God. A prayer to go with this situation would sound something like this: (Remember, read Faith, if you haven t already) Prayer Father, You are Abba and You are El Shaddai, the all-sufficient God! You are the God who is eternally capable of being all that I need. All that I need is in You and available from You. 3

5 O God, there is no possible need that should lead me away from You as I go in search of help. Oh God, I shall remain fixed in Your shadow! But Lord, I have learned to be so self-sufficient rather than God-sufficient. My reasoning mind is not cued to see You as my full sufficiency in all things. I spend endless hours Planning And executing plans To provide for myself. Help me, Lord! I wish to stay close, to abide in you with a perfect heart and a willing mind, learning to walk in that place of perfect trust for perfect provision: Your doing Not my doing Amen! (excerpt from No Storm Too Great!, a CD prayer based on Psalm 91) What is slowing down your progress of getting into God? What are you going to do about that? Plenty to ponder! Be self-honest. Honesty is an essential element in spiritual growth. And, spiritual growth is the reason why you re working on this study, right? Give this all the time you need. When you feel that you ve squeezed all the good juice out of this lesson, go on to Lesson 3. But, know this: you can come back to this lesson in a few weeks and there will be fresh juice. I don t know how God does that, but He does! 4

6 Side Bar Order your own set of No Storm Too Great CDs of Scripture prayer. Praying with them will enrich and accelerate your spiritual growth, as they have for many: Because I can't seem to have enough of listening to No Storm Too Great, since last night - my son has transferred the prayers into my phone so the first thing I did when I arrived the office was to pray along with you (Matt 18:19), Ministers of Fire. I feel ready to face the day. Margaret Z, London Side Bar In Summary Getting into God is a process, a faith journey. The journey is longer for some than others. The length of that journey is up to you. God is not holding back. For the most part, He allows us each to choose our rate of growth. But, this is not a time to procrastinate when God is offering such treasures along the road and at the final destination. Be encouraged and go for the diamonds! We possess great capacity for spiritual wealth for as He is, so are we in this world. (1John 4:17) You ve invested well to get to this point in the course. Congratulations! In the next lesson we will get into some practicalities of living a life of faith consistent with getting into God and experiencing the powerful fruit of that relationship. Shalom! I ll meet you in Lesson 3. Jeanie R 5