What The Lord Said To Me Today
12/04/2000
PERSONAL DEVOTION
He Is My Defense


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Do you have a personal revelation of Jesus, your Lord, as your defense. I do! That is one thing that I can crow about.

Some people, it seems, live a life filled with pain and trouble. Then, they are led to Jesus. Their lives are, in many cases, improved in their natural temporal circumstances. Other people, like me, have had it differently.

Prior to Jesus, in my life, I had very little trouble and I was relatively happy. I had plenty of money and success. Material possessions abounded. Since Jesus invaded my life, I have had much trouble and very little money. But the Lord has delivered me out of all of it.

Whenever anyone comes to me, in deep distress and trouble, I remind them that the only way you can ever personally experience a miracle is to be in a desperate situation that requires one.

We live in a day when the tabernacle of David is being set up again, in a spiritual sense. Christ is being formed in us in greater detail. God is moving in His church. Testing and trouble accompany such moves, for like Jesus, we learn by what we suffer and we are perfected by the sufferings.

The psalmist David was no stranger to trouble. His trouble began on the day he as anointed by Samuel. After this time, we see him battling giants, dodging spears and running for his life.

What can we learn here: David ran for seven years, then came out of the cave. For ten years, he reigned, but in Hebron. So it is 17 years from anointing by Samuel to reign in Jerusalem for David. What of that first seven years? Much of it was spent living on the run. I have heard it said that when we are in the mess, that is where we get our message. I have found that to be true in my own life.

One of my favorite things to read in the bible, when I don't know what to read, is to read the Psalm for the day, and each 30th one thereafter. I did that today, at the leading of the Spirit. Look at this:

Psalm 4:1-3 "Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me and hear my prayer. O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame? How long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? Selah. But know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himslef: the Lord will hear when I call unto him."

Psalm 34:4, 7, 10, 15, 17-19 "I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing. The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all."

Psalm 64:1-4 "Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer: preserve my life from fear of the enemy. Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity: who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words: That they may shoot in secret at the perfect. Suddenly do they shoot at him and fear not." Verse 7 "But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded. So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves: all that see them shall flee away."

Psalm 94:1 6-18 "Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? Or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity? Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence. When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O LORD, held me up....But the LORD is my defense; and my God is the rock of my refuge."

Psalm 124:1-4 "If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, now may Israel say; If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, when men rose up against us: Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us: Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul."

I am confident that you too will find that the LORD is an ample and more than adequate defense for the trials and stresses you find yourself in right now. He was there for David, on a regular basis. Sometimes, we must wait upon him before we see that hour of deliverance, but what a testimony we come away with.

I remember a time when I needed the LORD like that. It was 1992. My first wife had filed for divorce against me. She had been very violent for years toward me, and had never received Jesus Christ as Lord in her life. Now, it seemed, she would only be happy if I were dead, or penniless, or both.

To make matters worse, I was without a job and having no success finding one. My child support due date came and went with no deliverance evident. I attended one hearing before a totally unsympathetic judge, who ordered me to pay or be jailed. Just enough money came in to pay, praise the LORD, but not enough for anything else. That fall, I attended several more court hearings before that judge, who seemed to get meaner and more hateful toward me with every hearing I recall sitting out in front of that court, reading the psalms, trusting and believing that God was with me and would make a way for me.

It seemed clear to me that if that judge were to reach final judgement on the case, I would be stripped of all contact with my children and pay onerous child support and alimony. Just when It appeared darkest, I received notice in the mail of the next hearing. Quite to my surprise, the hateful judge had RETIRED. She was replaced by a fair judge who reached a decision that was fair to both parties.

The lesson I learned in that six month ordeal is that we must not lose faith when the day of our deliverance is postponed: when we have to wait to see it. We must hold fast and fear not. Meditate upon the psalms and songs of deliverance. Hold fast to your faith that your LORD will deliver you. In the day of trouble, he is an ever present help in time of need. Indeed, He is my defense, I shall not be moved.

Stephen L. Bening
a servant and prophet of our Lord Jesus Christ

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