What or who are your enemies? King David had several. Thus, he poured out his heart in this plea to the Lord for rescue and refuge. We have enemies today. You might be living in a peaceful place where you don’t have a foreign enemy to fear, like Israel has Hamas, the Houthis, and Iran, or Nigerian Christians who have the Islamic terrorist groups. Your enemies may be fear, addiction, financial woes, or a harmful relationship. This is a prayer that you can easily adapt for yourself…
Psalm 143
A psalm of David.
1 Hear my prayer, O Lord;
listen to my plea!
Answer me because you are faithful and righteous.
2 Don’t put your servant on trial,
for no one is innocent before you.
3 My enemy has chased me.
He has knocked me to the ground
and forces me to live in darkness like those in the grave.
4 I am losing all hope;
I am paralyzed with fear.
5 I remember the days of old.
I ponder all your great works
and think about what you have done.
6 I lift my hands to you in prayer.
I thirst for you as parched land thirsts for rain. (Interlude – pause and reflect)7 Come quickly, Lord, and answer me,
Psalm 143 NLT
for my depression deepens.
Don’t turn away from me,
or I will die.
8 Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning,
for I am trusting you.
Show me where to walk,
for I give myself to you.
9 Rescue me from my enemies, Lord;
I run to you to hide me.
10 Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God.
May your gracious Spirit lead me forward
on a firm footing.
11 For the glory of your name, O Lord, preserve my life.
Because of your faithfulness, bring me out of this distress.
12 In your unfailing love, silence all my enemies
and destroy all my foes,
for I am your servant.
For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.
Hebrews 4:12 NLT
Hitting Enemies with the Word of God
Since the Word of God is like a 2-edged sword, we need to use it. That means studying it daily. So, let’s look at other Bible verses that will give us peace, refuge, and strength.
God is faithful when you ask with the right motives…
You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. 3 And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.
James 4:2-3 NLT
David’s correct when he says that, “No one is innocent before You.”
We were all born sinners!
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.
Romans 3:23 NLT
David cries that his enemy forced him to live in darkness. Anyone with a drug, alcohol, or other addiction lives in darkness.
The Good News is that Jesus is the Light!
The Word [Jesus] gave life to everything that was created,
John 1:4-5 NLT
and his life brought light to everyone.
5 The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness can never extinguish it.
Don’t feel hopeless.
Jesus brings us a HOPE that nothing on earth can bring!
We born-again believers have this hope through the Holy Spirit…
And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. 27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. 28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
Romans 8:26-28 NLT
Are you paralyzed with fear?
We need not have any fear at all!
38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38-39 NLT
If you think that God doesn’t speak to you, you’re not reading the Bible! You can hear of His unfailing love every day by simply reading His Word.
Through His Word, He will teach you to do His will.
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
Romans 12:2 NLT
The Holy Spirit Becomes Your Guide
He, the Holy Spirit, is with you 24/7! Jesus told us…
“If you love me, obey my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate [Helper], who will never leave you. 17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. 18 No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you. 19 Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also will live. 20 When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.”
John 14:15-21 NLT (emphasis mine)
Notice Jesus says “obey” twice. Thus, signifying that obedience is vital to a relationship with Him.
Jesus didn’t suffer torture and die, taking all our sins away forever and defeating death by rising 3 days later so we could have RELIGION! No! He died so we could have a RELATIONSHIP with HIM.
Isn’t it about time you let Him in?
