Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Mighty in Prayer Pt.5

Let's turn to the book of Chronicles. We want to pick up where we left off. Remember--as we study this life, the life of Hezekiah, this young man who came into prominence through the sovereignty of God--the wisdom of God that had placed him. The Scripture says that following the wickedness of his father who was in the ways of Jeroboam, the king of the division of the tribes. You remember the northern tribes. Jeroboam set up the idolatry in Samaria and destroyed the nation through his perversion. The invasion of Assyria was imminent, and the fall of the northern tribes, Israel. At this particular time, God was bringing a young man, Hezekiah, to prominence. We saw in the Scriptures that in the first month of the first year of his reign he determined in his heart to clean up the house of God. We started this study by realizing that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Amen? The visitation of God, that we so need in this day, is going to start with your individual housecleaning, looking into the inner sanctuary, the inner parts. Most of us are doing okay outwardly. If people looked at us from the external, most of us look halfway decent. Every one of us is defiled inside, aren't we? Because, in us, in our members, dwells--say it--no good thing.

That propensity is there. We are evil in our natural man. Our pride, our fears are an abomination to God. Fear and insecurity is just as much a sin as pride because it has to do with self-trust. We're afraid because of our weakness. We need to cast our care upon the Lord. Amen? We're prideful because of our insecurities and the overestimation of our value, thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought to, an assurance and a trust in our own abilities. That is an abomination to God. Both sides are sin. One side will look at the other and rail on them or mock them or whatever might be the tendency, but it is all evil in the sight of the Lord. Any self-reliance, any lack of pursuit is really an abomination to God. The over-valuing of the world's system and its treasures is an abomination to God. It is idolatry when anything is placed before Him in our lives.

With all of that in mind, we need to clean up this temple. Don't worry about other folks. Just look inside yourself and don't worry about the externals. Go into the holy place, go into the inner sanctums of your heart and ask the question, have I been purified? Am I free of ambition? Am I free of lust? Am I free of anxiety, personal gain, personal reputation, personal ambition, pursuit? Just begin to offer it up to the Lord and "...present your bodies [the Scripture says] a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your [spiritual] service." The daily rendering of ourselves to God is the worship that He's looking for. That is the sweet smelling savor. There is nothing that brings greater joy to the Lord than you presenting your life to Him, holy, unblameable, unreprovable in His sight, the Scripture says.

[Hezekiah] purposed in his heart to clean up the house of God. We saw that his father had closed the doors to the sanctuary. They were opened again and then he instituted worship and orderly worship. The priests were purified and he challenged the priests to sanctify their lives. If you will study Isaiah, in Isaiah's prophecy concerning this particular time, (down in Chapter 26, I believe it is) he is prophesying about the priests of this day and he talks about them being drunken and staggering. You couldn't even understand their prophesies or their utterances. The tables were filled with their vomit because of their drunkenness. Hezekiah begins to bring back a reproof to these and a restoration to the priesthood. He said the Levites had even more of a zeal for God than the priests did. We talked about that a little bit. The temple was restored and the worship was restored. They invited the northern tribes to come and, after all of these years of absence, to celebrate the Passover. What was the Passover? It was a type of the atonement. It was a remembrance of the great Day of Atonement, the blood that was put upon the doorposts in Moses' day, the passing over of the death angel. How often, Hezekiah was reminding us, we need to recognize that we are a people saved by grace. Amen? Our dependence is upon the blood of Jesus Christ. There is a judgment that is standing at the door and the only thing that will cause us to be able to stand up under that judgment is the finished work of Jesus. We rest in that.

We see the priesthood restored and the honoring of God with the substance, and the support of the system reinstituted. It said, "And because of that they prospered." They entered into another realm of temptation in their prosperity and we're going to look at that a little bit. In this prosperity, they began to become apathetic again. As Isaiah prophesies--you have to remember the whole book of Isaiah is taking place in this period of time--and as Isaiah is prophesying, he's talking about this apathy and he's talking about the day of judgment that's coming and the captivity of Babylon that's at hand, the attack of the Assyrians, the fall of the northern tribes. As you look at Hosea, as you look at Micah, the Minor Prophets that are prophesying at this same juncture, they talk about the fall of Samaria. They talk about the loss of Jerusalem in this moment of ease and prosperity, we find ourselves at this juncture. Hezekiah started off well. (I'm going to talk a little bit about this and probably interweave it into these last two sessions this morning and tonight.) Hezekiah started well. He cleansed the temple of God. The Scripture says that at this particular time, he resisted the king of Assyria and he would not pay tribute to him. "[We] render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's" (Mark 12:17). He was not going to bow his knee. Just like the three Hebrew children that we're going to see later, as they go into captivity. They stood against the gods of the world and said, "We will not worship your god. Our God will deliver us and even if He doesn't we're not worshiping your god." These young men were of the same spirit of Hezekiah. They resisted the world, and Hezekiah would not pay tribute. God honored him and blessed him and we find him now in this time of prosperity.

Tragically, the Scripture says that following that, in about the fourteenth year of the reign of Hezekiah, they began to experience another siege. This is the time that Hezekiah became sick and was going to die. The Scripture tells us that, at this particular juncture in Hezekiah's life, he turned his face to the wall and he began to pray. We will look in Isaiah and see a little bit in detail what that prayer was, but the point that I want you to see right now is this: It's not how we start the race, it's how we finish it. Amen? "Who did hinder you?" The apostle said (in Galatians 3:3), "Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now [going to finish in] the flesh?" "Are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" The admonition that comes to us constantly is to realize that it's the little foxes that spoil the vine. Most of us are not involved in gross things. Most of us are not involved in blatant lascivious living, but are there areas where we are giving access to the enemy in our lives; just the little things. That is what we need to guard against.

Hezekiah resisted the Assyrians, God blessed him and strengthened him at that particular time, and they prospered. What a great thing that this young man was experiencing in his life, a great beginning! But how are we going to finish this course? Overall, Hezekiah has a good report that was made about him, but in the process of this, we're going to see that the glory of God was robbed because Hezekiah truly lost sight of what God had raised him up to do, and that was to bring glory to His name, to worship Him. Let me ask you something. Are you using your prosperity to worship God? Are you using your good health to worship God? Are you using the liberty that we have in this nation at this time, the freedom, to worship God? When Judah lost sight of that, it was taken from them. We want to make some references here that I think can be helpful to us and cause us to analyze where we are in our pursuit.

A very interesting thing is said here in 2 Chronicles. Go ahead and turn to 2 Chronicles 32, and let's look at a couple of passages here that I think will be a blessing to us. In this Chronicles passage, we see that Hezekiah is now under the attack of the enemy. I want to talk about what to do when you find yourself under the attack of the enemy. You've been delivered in the past. You have great testimonies of the power of God. Your reputation--and Hezekiah had a great reputation. In the first month of the first year, he set his heart to cleanse the temple of God. Can you remember back to when you were first born again? Do you remember the zeal? Do you remember how nothing else mattered? Can you say you are still there today? Does the zeal of God's house eat you up? Are you as jealous for the glory of God today as you were when you were first born again?

A time of apathy had set in, in Hezekiah's life, and a tragic thing happens. When Hezekiah grew sick, it says that he cried out to the Lord and the Lord spared him. The Lord gave him 15 more years and following this prayer, here is what happened in Hezekiah's life. It says he was filled with pride. Just a few moments before that, he was weeping and crying out to God to spare his life. God spared him and he became prideful. God blessed him financially and he began to boast in that. When the emissaries of Babylon came, he showed them all the great things that God had given them and Isaiah the prophet came and said, "What did they see?" He said, "They've seen everything. They have seen the glory of the temple. They've seen the glory of my palace." Isaiah said, "Because you were worried about what the world thought about you and you wanted to identify with them and you wanted to boast in all that you possess, everything you possess will be taken and given to them. God gave it to you for His glory. Amen? Not to hold before the world, not to compare yourself with the world, not to be better than the world. God gave it to you in the secret place of your prayer and your intercession. God gave it to you in your humility as your face was turned to the wall and you cried and said, 'God, deliver me from myself and from the death of this world's system.'"

Those from Babylon came for two reasons. First of all, they came because they were intrigued by the miracle, the sign that God had given to Hezekiah with the sun moving back. They were into astronomy and this great miracle, this sign, blew their minds. They also wanted to ascertain the strength and the glory of this kingdom. Hezekiah opened the doors and perverted the glory of God in his own boasting. How often do we say, "This is the blessing of God and I wanted people to know that." There is the proper way to do that and then there is pridefulness. There are insecurities that we deal with and we want to be recognized by the world as being successful. What is your own heart motive? As you go in, as Hezekiah did, to clean out the temple, what is your own heart motive? The thing that we want to see this morning and as we go into this evening's study, is the need in this hour that we are living in, beloved, of true humility, true humility, choosing to make ourselves lowly. I am not talking about a false humility. I am talking about a true humility. False humility is pride that just says the right thing so everybody will think better about me. My motive is prideful. True humility is recognizing that this is God. This isn't me. This is for God. It's not about me. I don't care what the world thinks. I don't talk this way or live this way for them. I'm honoring God in my living, in my conversation.

We're going to talk about that a little more in this evening's session, the humility that had to be worked in Hezekiah. Because of his pridefulness, God allowed another attack to come from Assyria. He had resisted the first pressure. He would not pay tribute. God delivered him. God blessed him. He experienced the sickness; he was delivered from that. God prospered him beyond reason. Now Sennacherib is coming upon him because of the pride that was in his heart. That is where we find ourselves this morning. At this particular place, we want to look and see in Chapter 32. "After these things, [verse 1] the establishment thereof, Sennacherib king of Assyria came, and entered into Judah, and encamped against the fenced cities." The enemy is now coming in like a flood. Do you feel like your life is out of control? I have talked to a number of people just in the last couple of weeks that have come and said, "I've felt dry. I feel like the world is vexing me. I'm not doing anything gross but I just don't have the joy. I don't have the power." "I need a revival," is what they are saying.

Most of you can't identify with that because you're on fire for God and there is no care of the world that is holding you down and there are no weights and sins that are besetting you and you're full of joy and strength. I know that's where most of you are, but for those two or three that have been coming to me, I want to talk to you this morning. We're living in this world where we are being vexed daily. The spirit of iniquity is abounding around us. The love of many is waxing cold. We look at the established church and it is without power. It's just a matter of God's sovereign timing and the perceived church will instantaneously manifest itself as that great whore, the apostate religious system, uniting with the world with all of its religious trappings in place. All the church has become is the world with religious jargon. The divorce rate is the same. Premarital sex, babies being born out of marriage, the latest survey someone was just sharing with me. Fifty-three percent in this last survey said there is nothing wrong with children being born outside of marriage. Do you know what would be interesting? If you included certain questions in that same questionnaire, of those 53 percent that said there is nothing wrong with it, those same 53 percent would probably say they are Christians, as you put that survey together. There is a total disregard for the Word of God.

We're being vexed by this spirit that's in the world. We find the enemy coming and standing before us and saying in so many words, "You can't resist my power and therefore you might as well take these methods and use them for God." The enemy is standing at the door, the roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Do you know what that roar is declaring? "There is no help for [you] in God." Amen? "You've prayed and prayed. You have not received any answers. Why don't you come over to this camp? We're getting things done. You don't need to pray and believe God for that. You can finance it. You don't need to stand and sweat drops of blood in agony and prayer and stand in faith. Swallow these pills, you'll be okay." Every day we are being inundated with the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We pick up this book and we read in the Proverbs that our sustenance is in the tree of the Word of Life, the Word of God. "I have meat to eat that ye know not of...to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work" (John 4:32, 34). Amen? We started it. Are we going to finish? The meat is not in starting. It's in finishing this course that we're on. "[Don't] be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not" (Galatians 6:9). Amen? Do you feel faint today? Are you being worn down by this world's system? I'm not talking about you are denying God. I'm talking about you are just tired, weary, beat up. We need that refreshing from God.

The Scripture says that the first thing, and I told you we were going to go over four different--there are actually six--areas of victory over the enemy that I want to speak toward. Here is where you start. Get it in your notes. What is the first thing that we need to do to prepare ourselves for victory, especially in these times of darkness? What I mean by that is our minds are apathetic. We have no clear vision. We are at a place where the Word is not alive in us. The illumination of the Word is not so clear on the course we are on. We're not sure that we're on the path of God, His Word being a lamp unto our feet. We are not sure that we've heard from God. We are not sure that the Lord has decreed this thing. The uncertainties are there. The confusion is there. The doubts are there. "A double minded man is unstable in all his ways," the Scripture says. We find in verse 3, the first thing you do: Hezekiah took counsel. "He took counsel with his princes and his mighty men..." Have you gone to somebody and said, "Here's what I'm dealing with right now"? Have you had ears to hear what God is saying?

I was talking to a man yesterday and he was sharing with me what the Lord had done in his life just recently. He said he had realized that there was no blatant compromise. He would speak when things would arise, but everyone on his job began to treat him commonly. In other words, he had become one of them. It wasn't too long before that, that people would say something maybe off-color and say, "Oh, I'm sorry, man." Those things would be spoken to. He was known as the man of God in his work place. Are you? But he said he had lost that. Do you know what he did? He went to his boss and said, "I want to apologize. I've compromised my life before you, it's obvious. I don't know what I've done, but it's obvious I've compromised my life and you no longer have any respect for me as the man of God. I want to ask your forgiveness for that, that I haven't brought more light and more life to you and to these people around me. I'm here to tell you that things are changing." He said that his boss almost began to weep and said, "I'm sorry. What you are saying is right and I've treated you commonly. It's not just you, it's me." He said he left that particular confrontation and went and told those that were his subordinates and shared with them who he was. Some of these were new people that didn't know his testimony. "They didn't know Joseph," the Scripture says. They didn't know him and he said, "Let me tell you who I am." You can imagine their eyes probably got pretty big. He said he went into another meeting and one of these people began to talk and they said something a little off-color. This was a new person in the company that he had not addressed himself specifically and the person stopped and apologized. "There is no place for saying that here in these meetings." His boss went and called a meeting of all the other employees and said, "This is the man of God, treat him with respect." It's not about the person. It's about the glory of God. Amen? It's not about just not hearing off-color stories. It's about representing the presence of God. Are you doing that on your job? Are you doing that in your neighborhood? If you're not, have you taken counsel? Have you come to those brothers and sisters around you and said, "I need refreshing. What do you see in my life? What can we do to be fortified? What can I do to make my life stronger? What can I do to make my family stronger?" In this particular instance, Hezekiah was concerned about making the city stronger because of the attack of Sennacherib. We know the Scripture goes on to talk about the great preparation of the waters, Hezekiah's tunnel to where the waters could be brought into the city so that they wouldn't be taken under siege. They began to take counsel because they were aware of the hour. Many of us aren't aware of the hour, the imminent danger of Sennacherib.

The Scripture says, number two, as we read on here. Number two says here, verse 5, "Also he strengthened himself, and built up all the wall that was broken, and raised it up to the towers, and...[began to make weapons] darts and shields in abundance." Number two: He strengthened himself, fortifying the city. What are you doing to fortify your life? If iniquity is abounding, what are we doing to become more sanctified, stronger? Are you praying more? Are you fasting more? Are you seeking to die more readily on a daily basis by embracing the cross? The enemy is at the gates, what are you doing to fortify yourself? Who are you hanging around with? Do you know what? I will tell you that one of the things some of you need to do is get some new friends. I'm talking about even within these circles. You need to find out who is in hot pursuit of God and get on with those people. "Well, I'm more comfortable over here, we're the--" Please don't get offended, I'm not addressing any certain group. "We're the poker players. We're the yard sale folks. We're the mall-ites." Whatever it might be. Within all those groups, there are people who are pursuing God. Within your personal preferences, there are people that are after God. Are you part of them? Have you determined, "When I come up here on Tuesday and when I come up here on Thursday, I purpose that I'm not leaving until I've heard from God. I'm not leaving when everybody else gets up at 7:30 to leave. I'm not leaving until I've heard from God." "Well, I don't always know that I've heard from God." Okay, then just purpose this. I'm staying an extra ten minutes. Why? Because you're giving yourself ten more minutes to hear from God. You've purposed, you've built, you've fortified. You're doing something more than you were doing before. Are you doing more than you were doing before? Are you praying more? Are you fasting more? Are you witnessing more? Are you fellowshipping more? Are you serving more? Fortify the walls, because somebody on the other side wants your soul. They want to steal your crown. Don't let any man take your crown. Amen? We are at war.

He says, point number three, do you want to get victory at this time in your life? Begin to make some weapons. "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God [the Scripture says] to the pulling down of strong holds" (2 Corinthians 10:4). Virtually, we have one weapon, the Word of God, the sword of the Spirit. Go back and begin to refresh yourself with the Word of God. Don't just go through your daily devotions. Get the Word of God and hide it in your heart. Begin to memorize the Scriptures. Find the weak areas of your life and Scriptures that pertain to that and memorize them and mutter them and go look for people that you can share with and say, "This verse has changed my life" and begin to share it. It comes out of your mouth and it is powerful. Get some weapons. It says they made shields. We know what the shield is, according to Ephesians, as we look at the armor of God. The shield of faith, the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. "Take these things praying," he says. All of that armor is prayer armor. "Take these things praying," the apostle says in Ephesians. Prayer is not just Tuesdays and Thursdays. Prayer is not just formally getting on your knees. "Men ought always to pray, and not to faint" (Luke 18:1). Amen? Prayer is a lifestyle. Every breath you take is a prayer acknowledging, practicing, as we've given you that definition: Prayer is practicing the presence of God. I am aware of God's presence at all times. I think, I speak, the Word of God. I seek the will of God. What is God saying at this moment?

We talked yesterday about providential appointment or divine appointment. I'm not here by chance. This person is confronting me at this moment because God put them here. What can I learn from them? What can I share with them? How can I take opportunity to minister the Word of God? Because what you're doing is preparing yourself now for what is going to take place down here in point six and that's "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" James 4:7. When all of these things that are little foxes that used to come entice you, speak the Word of God. Address this thing. Confront it with the truth. You resist the enemy and what will he do? He'll flee from you. There is too much passivity, too much neutrality. I want you to understand something, beloved. If we are going to survive in this hour, we have to be on the offense. Amen?

We've shared in the sports vernacular, they talk about the great teams and winning the Super Bowl (since that's the season we're in right now). "You can't win without a great defense." You can't win if you don't score! Amen? You can have the best defense in the world and the best you can do is tie. What's the score? Nothing to nothing. Nothing to nothing. Nothing to nothing. Nothing to nothing, nothing! I want to score, praise God! Amen? I'm on the offense. Here we are, a people called to take weaponry in our hands and to set out against the enemy, "And having done all, to stand." That's what I want to talk about tonight a little bit. Hezekiah gave up ground that he had gained. He did not stand. He had resisted Assyria. He had cleaned the temple of God and then he gave the ground back up. We call it backsliding. We talk about backsliding and people think, "He's out doing drugs again or drinking or carousing or whatever else." Backsliding, beloved, is just giving back what you have taken from the enemy. What were you free from that is now in your life again? Fears, lust, covetousness, pride, ambition, apathy? What was it that God in His grace gave you and drove the enemy out, that in your lethargy now the enemy has taken back? I want that ground back, don't you? That's mine. That was paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ. "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."

What are you doing to make your weapons sure, proficient? Do you have the sword of the Spirit? Beloved, hear very clearly what I'm saying. "The Word of God is [alive], and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword...." Amen? That's when it comes out of your heart, not out of your head. Is it alive in us? When I pray, am I praying by the Spirit, in the spirit? Am I praying in faith? The word "faith" means trust, reliance, and assurance. Here I am coming to God, not praying because I'm expected to pray. "Christians pray and, as usual, God won't answer and then I'll go borrow the money." Am I praying trusting, assured, relying? "For faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1). I'm assured. I am absolutely relying upon God and if God doesn't provide it, I don't want it. Where are you today in setting up and fortifying? Where are we today in taking the weapons to stand against Sennacherib?

Turn to Isaiah for just a second. I don't want to get too distracted here. Isaiah 28, that's the chapter I was talking about. Here's why Isaiah 26 came to my mind. Verse 3, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength." Can you say praise God for that? Then we find over here in the twenty-eighth chapter, verse 7. He talks about the judgment that's coming upon the people in verse 5. "In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people, And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate. But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean. Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? [Look at what it says.] them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts." A child shall lead them. Childlike faith, simplicity. A generation who is drunk with the cares of the world, with acceptance to the world, an absentee priesthood, as priests of your house. "Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit." Amen? Are you full of the right Spirit? There is a drunkenness of this world's methods and treasures.

You can read on through Isaiah here in the next couple of chapters. He is bringing judgment upon them for their false worship and he despises it. "Woe to the rebellious children, [Chapter 30, verse 1]...that take counsel, but not of me; [seek the world's wisdom, the world's methods] and that cover with a covering [tolerance], but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin" by accepting it and saying, "Oh, it's a sickness. It's a disease." It's sin. Call it what it is. Homosexuality is not a disease; it is sin. Alcoholism is not a disease; it is sin. Drug addiction is not a disease; it is sin. Call it what it is. In our generation, you don't hear people talking about sin anymore. Everybody is a victim. They're not victims. They're rebels. They're not victims. They are people that are defying the righteousness and the holiness of God and choosing their own flesh, to serve it instead of offering themselves a sweet smelling savor to God, living sacrifices. A people that trust in the shadow of Egypt, he goes on to say, the world's system. I want to tell you something. You may trust in the world's financial system, you may trust in their medical system, but there will be some needs that will arise that the world won't be able to provide. There will be diseases that will come that they have no cure for and you'd better realize that there is a balm in Gilead. Amen? By His stripes, we are a people that are healed! Our God can open the windows of heaven and pour out blessings that we can't contain. He goes on in this chapter and says in verse 9, "That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord: Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits." "Tell us what we want to hear. Tell us we're good. Tell us we're victims." This was the environment of the kingdom in the days of Isaiah and Hezekiah.

We realize that they had no power. They had a form of godliness but denied the power. The temple was in operation. The priests were in order. The religious system, the machine, was grinding out, but where was the glory of the Lord? When they are faced with an enemy here, Hezekiah, realizing that they've come short because of the pride of his own heart, humbled himself. He began to seek counsel. They began to make preparation. They started their weapons and then--we'll end with this for this morning--this is a powerful part of this. Number four: "And he set captains of war [verse 6] over the people..." Thank God for those that are captains of war in our midst. Not all of them have official titles of deacon or captain, but thank God there are people in our midst that have this spirit. It says, "...and gathered them together to him in the street of the gate of the city, and spake comfortably to them, saying, [This is what we need to be speaking to one another, beloved.] Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him." Can you say praise God for that! This is the message that has to become real to us. When the great prophet spoke to his associate--the Ethiopians had come against them like the sands of the sea--and he says, "Don't worry about it. There are more for us than there are for them." The associate looks at him and he says, "Man, this must be that new math!" But he said, "Lord, open his eyes." As his eyes were opened, he looked upon the mountaintops and they were filled with fiery chariots, the messengers of the Lord, the angels of God.

I have good news for you this morning. There are more for us than there are for them. Amen? We look and we go, "we're just such a small people," and I'm not just talking about this fellowship. I am talking about this remnant around the world, those that are true believers, those that trust the Word of God, and those that are known by His name. We are so few in number, but there are more for us than there are for them. A people who can go out into the battle, into the fray, knowing that "a thousand shall fall at [our] side, and ten thousand at [our] right hand; but it shall not come nigh [us]." The pestilence is not going to come to my house. It will not come across my threshold. Are you praying that way for your children? The world can't have them, praise God! Amen? I'm not giving my kids up. I'm not giving my grandkids up. I'm not afraid of the arrow that flies by day, the pestilence of night. We are at war, and in our prosperity and in our apathy, these little foxes are gaining ground. That which used to be a treasure to us is now common. "The zeal for the house that I cleaned up and, in my prosperity, I covered with gold and filled the treasures of this temple with silver, and then pride filled my heart and I was smitten to the point of death. I cried out and God heard me in my humility. He gave me my life back and I was filled with pride." This is what Hezekiah is saying. This is what so many of us can identify with. Trial and adversity had come and the zeal that I used to have, and the trust that I used to have from God that would cause me to resist the king of Assyria and not pay tribute. Instead of that, I go into the temple and I strip the gold off the walls of the temple, and empty the treasury and give it to the enemy to buy myself a little peace and security. I would rather die than defile the temple of God. I'll tell you what. You may kill me and you may take it, but I'm not giving it to you. How readily have we given up the glory of God, the power of prayer, the badge of holiness, for our momentary ease, for our Isaiah 28 beer busts, party time? We are not drunk with beer, just with amusement and ease and abundance. We've lost our jealousy for the glory of God.

We are called to come back and fortify ourselves. In the goodness of God, He puts pressure on us again through Sennacherib, through whatever the trial is that you're facing right now, through the awareness of your own apathy, through the awareness of the dryness, and we see on the horizon, the consequences of those that are falling around us. We begin to refortify. We seek counsel. We build up the walls. We make weapons and now, beloved, we must encourage ourselves in the promises of God. Get around people who are going to speak the Word of God, who will speak encouragement, who will speak to your victory. Hang around people that, when you begin to complain about your marriage and you begin to complain about your spouse, don't just pat you on the back and say, "Oh, you poor thing." But they will reprove you and rebuke you and say, "What are you doing to make it better? Stop blaming the other person. What are you doing? The Word of God says this is your role. This is your function. Are you seeking to glorify God? It doesn't matter what that other person is doing. Are you glorifying God?" Encourage them in their role to glorify God. Those are the people you need to hang around with. Be strong. Be courageous. Don't be afraid or dismayed, for there are more for us than there are for them. With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us, and to fight our battles. Praise God!

I'm going to end with this for this morning. Are you fighting your battle or are you going to let God fight your battle? Do you have it all figured out? Have you already analyzed this and figured out what the whole problem is? I want to tell you what. If it's not you, you've come up with the wrong answer, because your problem is you. Amen? "No, my problem is the government. My problem is my employer. My problem is my spouse. My problem is the economy." No, your problem is you. Let God fight your battles. We are unprofitable servants and the reason we find ourselves where we are is because of the love and the mercy of God. He has brought you to this place of realizing that your own flesh, reliance on yourself, your own appetites and covetous spirit and pride and apathy and slothfulness have put you where you are. God wants to deliver you from yourself. This is His love, by putting this enemy before you to cause you to recognize your lack, so that you will cast your care upon Him and realize He cares for you.

The encouragers, this was a ministry. They went around. He set up captains who went around and spoke comfortably. "Be strong, be courageous. This thing that you're facing, it's strong as the flesh, but you've been given all power and all authority over all the power of the enemy and nothing by any means shall harm you. I know this hurts, but I want to tell you something. There have been many people here before. "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God... will with the temptation also make a way to escape" (1 Corinthians 10:13). Amen? Your situation is not unique. I was just there last week and God set me free. Praise God!" Are you finding people to speak comfortably to? Are you going around and finding brothers and sisters and comforting with the same comfort wherewith you've been comforted? "I was under the same bondage of that thing that you were. God illuminated me. Here is the victory, praise God! Our faith is calling things that are not as though they were. Speak what the promises of God are concerning this situation and your faith will make you free. Praise God!"

In the midst of this, we've gone through the first four aspects of fortifying and preparing ourselves for victory. Tonight I want to go through, in the middle of this thing, one through five, the tactics of Satan. Then we are going to finish up with five and six, the methods of deliverance in this chapter and see the victory in our lives. We need to be aware. Satan is subtle. He's powerful. He knows the frailty of our flesh. He knows the bait that natural man will take, so don't be natural, be supernatural. "For all that is in the world, lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life..." Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. How do you deal with lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life? Through humility. None of those things entice a humble man. What is humility? The proper evaluation of one's own worth.

Father, we thank You this morning for Your Word and the life of Your Spirit. We ask that in the midst of this battle, inundated with a church promoting the world's doctrine of tolerance, we will be fortified. Father, we are not tolerant of sin. We are not tolerant of false doctrine. We are not tolerant of hypocrisy. We are not tolerant of apostasy. We set out against those things that steal your glory. We are a people eaten up with the zeal of your house. Give us strength in this hour to stand, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

Let's stand before the Lord. Have we cleansed the temple of God, overlaid it with gold, just to strip it off and give it back to the enemy? Where are you in this sequence of events? Some among us are just new believers, first month of the first year. Praise God! Clean that thing up. Don't listen to anybody around you that might discourage you and say, "Yeah, but I started that way, too, and look at me now." Put your hand over your mouth and say, "Look at that person over there. He started that way and here it is 30 years later and he is just as excited as the day he started. You ought go hang out with him. Praise God! In fact, I think I'll come with you." I'm a companion of those that keep Your commandments, Your precepts. Where is our treasure? That becomes the real issue.

As Gary plays for us, we'll take just a moment. You can read through this chapter again this afternoon. It's not going to get any easier, beloved. It's only going to get more difficult. Iniquity is going to abound. What are we doing to fortify ourselves, to build the walls up to the towers, to prepare our weapons? Let's sing it together and just worship Him. Change My Heart, O God. Father, it's our hearts' desire. We just ask that You would strengthen us now. Open our eyes to identify the place that we occupy. Help us to cleanse this temple, to fortify these walls, to prepare our weaponry, to resist the enemy and watch him flee, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

Turn to someone next to you and say, "Our faith is the victory!" Go in peace. God's love go with you.

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