When I Am Afraid, I Put My Trust In You
We Are A Growing Progress
PSALM 56:3-4
“Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You. In God (I will praise His word), In God I have put my trust; I will not fear. What can flesh do to me?
”Psalms 56:3-4 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/psa.56.3-4.NKJ
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David stated, "What can flesh do to me?"
How much harm can people do to us?
They can inflict pain and suffering and even death, but no one can rob us believers of our souls or future life in Christ.
But we can certainly harm ourselves!
The worst thing we can do is reject God and slip back from Him.
Nothing is worth losing your soul for; we believers may suffer at times, even for our faith, but this suffering is temporary, for the best is yet to come!
Jesus said, "Don't be afraid of those who want to kill your body, they cannot touch your soul" (MATHEW 10:28).
Instead, we should fear God, who controls this life and the next.
Jesus is the coming judge who will decide your eternal future and it is through Him alone that one is saved (JOHN 14:6).
My brethren, many of you are facing persecution in one way or another. Maybe through your neighbors or work colleagues, or even from your own family members; but the truth is, it is an honour to suffer for Christ.
Therefore, “Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:”
I Peter 2:18-21 NKJV
I encourage you in your suffering, to bring before God David’s prayer; he simply gave his battles to the Lord.
God is faithful to step in, give you joy, strength and peace through Christ, and ultimately, the victory.
But we must understand that our battles are not with mere humans, “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.”
Ephesians 6:12 NKJV
In David’s day his battles were out outward physical battles, but today our battles are inward spiritual battles, for much of our troubles are sourced in the spiritual realms.
Jesus said, ““Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.””
Matthew 18:18-20 NKJV
The source of our trials, tribulations, and even conflicts is generally the devil and his army of unclean spirits and demons.
Though, it is our own sinful choices that give them authority to enter into our lives.
James said, “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”
James 4:7-10 NKJV
But we believers are blessed, for our hope is found in Christ alone. He is my light, my strength, and my song. For all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be delivered (JEOL 2:32).
It is through our trials and tribulations that God teaches us and trains us, and moulds us into the people He created us to be (ISAIAH 64:8).
Therefore, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”
James 1:2-4 NKJV
Gods work in us starts the very moment we commit our lives to Him, “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;”
Philippians 1:6 NKJV
We believers are a growing progress, that through our trials and challenges we grow in maturity in Christ. “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.”
Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV
Therefore my beloved, make David’s prayer your own.
“Be merciful to me, O God, for man would swallow me up; Fighting all day he oppresses me. My enemies would hound me all day, For there are many who fight against me, O Most High. Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You. In God (I will praise His word), In God I have put my trust; I will not fear. What can flesh do to me? All day they twist my words; All their thoughts are against me for evil. They gather together, They hide, they mark my steps, When they lie in wait for my life. Shall they escape by iniquity? In anger cast down the peoples, O God! You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle; Are they not in Your book? When I cry out to You, Then my enemies will turn back; This I know, because God is for me. In God (I will praise His word), In the Lord (I will praise His word), In God I have put my trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? Vows made to You are binding upon me, O God; I will render praises to You, For You have delivered my soul from death. Have You not kept my feet from falling, That I may walk before God In the light of the living?”
Psalms 56:1-13 NKJV
All glory to God forever and ever! Amen.
