We need a warrior to rescue us.
We are surrounded on every side by enemies. In every arena of life, new challenges, new trials, new dangers and new pains have cast themselves upon us. It may be that you are going through the deep and unrelenting cauldron of illness or injury. Or perhaps financial crisis has robbed you of blessings you once had. Maybe family and friends have been lost to you or separated from you. Your leaders are failing you. Perhaps all of the above and then some. Has the battle been lost, some ask? Will destruction block our road to a certain future?
As we examine our situation on a personal, national and world-wide scale, one singular thought begins to invade our minds and our hearts—we need a warrior to rescue us.
God is a warrior.
Psalm 9 is a psalm where David is celebrating God’s deliverance from his enemies. As the worship leader in a church encourages the people as he invites them to celebrate God, so too is David inviting people to thank God for specific deliverance from nations that would do them hostility and harm.
This Psalm describes a just Warrior-God that defends his people as well as the innocent from the evil of nations. In the case of the individual believer, he comes alongside us in our moments of trial and temptation to empower us by his Holy Spirit to overcome.
Although David is writing this in his immediate context regarding literal enemies trying to destroy him, there is an ultimate transcendent truth in this Psalm that he is ever watching and defending his people and the enemies of God and they will, in fact, face his final, disastrous, and righteous justice as he delivers us from their clutches.
He fought his greatest battle on the Cross. He defeated the evil one and his minions forever and as the Psalm proclaims, he rules forever.
The sin and evil of this world is fleeting and temporary. It does cause us great pain, turmoil and heartache. But our Warrior-God is always standing ready to defend. We don’t always recognize his timing, ways or his wisdom, but we will win because he always wins.
He is our defender, our Warrior-God.
Who can possibly go up against him?
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I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;
I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.
2 I will be glad and exult in you;
I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.
3 When my enemies turn back,
they stumble and perish before[c] your presence.
4 For you have maintained my just cause;
you have sat on the throne, giving righteous judgment.
5 You have rebuked the nations; you have made the wicked perish;
you have blotted out their name forever and ever.
6 The enemy came to an end in everlasting ruins;
their cities you rooted out;
the very memory of them has perished.
7 But the Lord sits enthroned forever;
he has established his throne for justice,
8 and he judges the world with righteousness;
he judges the peoples with uprightness.
9 The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.
10 And those who know your name put their trust in you,
for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.
Psalm 9:1–10 ESV
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We can come to know Christ through confession of our sins and repentance (turning away from sin). Let me encourage you to do this by talking to God through prayer. Here is an idea of how you might do that:
"Dear God, I believe your son Jesus Christ died in my place on the cross and rose from the dead on the third day following his death. I confess my sins, all of them, to you now with a humble heart. I repent of those sins and ask you to empower me with your Holy Spirit in overcoming further sin. Amen”
If you prayed this or a similar prayer committing your life to Christ and becoming one of his followers, let me encourage you to find a good, Bible-believing church. If you live in the Weslaco/Rio Grand Valley area of Texas, let me invite you to the church I attend, Mid-Valley Assembly (www.midvalleyassembly.com).
Begin talking to God in prayer and reading the Bible daily. A good way to begin to read the Bible is to start with the Book of John in the New Testament.
Feel very free in connecting with me if you need any further help in your walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. You can do this via the above email or facebook page or this web page.
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Mercy Road Ministries was founded and now led by Ben Bounds. Ben has pastored churches across Texas for over thirty years and is an ordained minister. He holds a BA in Pastoral Ministry and Biblical Studies from Southwestern Assemblies of God College and did graduate theological studies at the BMA Theological Seminary.
Ben's first book, The Divine Chase: Responding to a Pursuing God, was released on 12.08.2017 through Westbow Press, a division of Thomas Nelson and Zondervan. It is available in paperback and hardback through your preferred bookseller (Mardels, Barnes and Noble, etc.) and paperback, hardback as well as ebook through online book retailers (www.christianbook.com, www.cokesbury.com, www.amazon.com, www.booksamillion.com, www.barnesandnoble.com, etc.).
Ben is the host of Staying in Bounds, an on-air Bible devotional broadcast multiple times daily on KWJV 103.7 FM Weslaco, TX which can also be heard worldwide online at www.kwjvthestar.com. Ben and his wife, Linda, together have four adult children and nine grandchildren. They live in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.
Ben can be contacted for preaching engagements at benbounds695@gmail.com or 903.441.3279. Ben can also be contacted via his website @ www.benbounds.com, which is also his blog and contains more information about his ministry.
Follow Ben @ https://www.facebook.com/mercyroadministries/ and this website www.benbounds.com.
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©2018 by Ben Bounds. All rights reserved.
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