Rev Dr Edgar Mayer;
For more sermons and other writings
check the following homepage: www.livinggracetoowoomba.org
Into
A Different Person
This weeks lesson in our
The bad news first: According to the
Bible spiritual warfare is a normal part of the Christian life. The intensity
of the conflict may vary but the pressure of sin and darkness is always there 1 Peter 5:8-9: Be self-controlled and alert.
Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to
devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your
brothers [and sisters the other Christians] throughout the world are
undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
This is how it is: The enemy is there always prowling around and therefore this side of eternity we can never let down our guard. Living under constant danger the Christian is always alert and watchful
always self-controlled (like a good soldier) so that no sin creeps into your
life. This is the bad news which plenty
of Bible passages back up Ephesians 6:11-12:
take your stand
against the devils schemes. For our struggle is
against the spiritual forces
of evil in the heavenly realms. 1 Timothy 6:12: Fight the good fight
of faith
2 Timothy 2:1-7:
be strong
Endure hardship with us
like a good soldier of Christ Jesus
Luke 22:31-32: Simon, Simon,
Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that
your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your
brothers. Luke 22:40:
Pray that you will not fall into temptation.
Luke 22:46:
Get up and pray that you will not fall into temptation.
Constant warfare and watchful living are
the bad news (or at least unpleasant
news) for today but the good news is
that we nevertheless experience constant victory. We fight the devil with joy.
Right? Do you agree? Christians are happy and joyful in all circumstances. This
is the good news or is this not your experience? Maybe it is not always my
experience. The devil doesnt seem to get tired but I do and then I whinge:
Why cant he prowl around somewhere else for a change? And then I become discouraged. Do you ever
get the feeling that God is asking too much of you? This morning (I
think) we (all) need to hear the good news again. We need
some practical instructions on victory living and joy.
Last week we talked about the person
Saul in the Bible and how he descended into rebellion against God and
witchcraft. However, before he got into trouble, Saul experienced what we can
all experience. God changed him and thus a timid a discouraged young
man turned into a bold king that rejoiced in victory over Gods enemies.
I read from the Bible 1 Samuel 9:19-10:13:
Samuel replied.
As
for the donkeys you lost three days ago, do not worry about them; they have
been found. And to whom is all the desire of Israel turned, if not to you
Saul answered, But am I not a Benjamite, from the smallest tribe of Israel,
and is not my clan the least of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin? Why do
you say such a thing to me?
Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on
Sauls head and kissed him, saying, Has not the Lord anointed you leader
When you leave me today, you will meet two men
After that you will go to
Gibeah of God, where there is a Philistine outpost. As you approach the town,
you will meet a procession of prophets coming down from the high place with
lyres, tambourines, flutes and harps being played before them, and they will be
prophesying. The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you in power, and you will
prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person
As Saul
turned to leave Samuel, God changed Sauls heart, and all these signs were
fulfilled that day. When they arrived at Gibeah, a procession of prophets met
him; the Spirit of God came upon him in power, and he joined in their
prophesying
When Samuel first met the young man,
Saul was insignificant in his own eyes (from
the smallest clan of the smallest tribe) and
he was worried about some lost donkeys. When it was time for him to be crowned
as the first king of Gods people, he was shy and hiding among the luggage. He
could not face people could not face the responsibility. There was always something going on for
him. His first experience as the king was rejection 1 Samuel 10:27:
some
troublemakers said, How can this fellow save us? They despised him and
brought him no gifts. But Saul kept silent.
However, God then changed him and
therefore Saul would from now on rise to any challenge with boldness an absolute positive attitude in the face of any threat 1 Samuel 11:1-11: Nahash the
Ammonite went up and besieged Jabesh Gilead
When the messengers came
and
reported
they all wept aloud. Just then Saul was returning from the fields,
behind his oxen, and he asked, What is wrong with the people? Why are they
weeping? Then they repeated to him what the men of Jabesh had said. When Saul
heard their words, the Spirit of God came upon him in power, and he burned with
anger
When Saul mustered [the people]
the men of Israel numbered three
hundred thousand and the men of Judah thirty thousand
during the last watch
of the night they broke into the camp of the Ammonites and slaughtered them
until the heat of the day
Saul the timid and troubled man had
become the bold conqueror with the Spirit upon him and burning with the anger
of God. Everyone else was weeping but Saul was positive and ready for action. Lets
now investigate how precisely this happened. We need to go back to the previous
reading and some core verses 1 Samuel 9:19-10:13:
Then Samuel
kissed him, saying, Has not the Lord anointed you leader
As you approach the
town, you will meet a procession of prophets coming down from the high place
with lyres, tambourines, flutes and harps being played before them, and they
will be prophesying. The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you in power, and
you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person.
The change in Saul came when he stepped
in an atmosphere of praise where people were just returning from a worship
service and on the way home were playing lyres, tambourines, flutes and harps. The
praise atmosphere (generated by so
many instruments) was already impacting
the prophets among the group because in the midst of everyone singing
with joy the Spirit of God moved upon
them to declare the will of God in power. And this was not unusual. People
always knew that music and singing to God released the work of the Holy Spirit
1 Chronicles 25:1: David, together with the commanders of the army, set
apart some
for the ministry of prophesying, accompanied by harps, lyres and
cymbals
1 Chronicles 25:3:
prophesied, using the harp in
thanking and praising the Lord. [Notice the warfare aspect of this
ministry. David and the commanders of the army set aside people for praise and
then prophesying.] Saul stepped into
this kind of atmosphere people singing high praises to God with many
instruments and then he also came to
prophesy (with the other prophets) and
God changed him.
Now the same praise atmosphere that
changed Saul can change us. This is practical. When the warfare gets too much
for you, stop and come into a time of praising God. Listen to the experience of
a more mature Christian. He writes:
As a young pastor in Weaverville I had more than my
share of Blue Mondays. No matter what wonderful things had happened on
Sunday, sometimes all I could remember was what had been lacking in the
services. My slides into discouragement were fueled by the comparisons I made
between my spiritual heroes and myself
Then this man writes about the practice the spiritual discipline which changed his life:
Praise was one of the primary tools that God had equipped
me with as a young man to strengthen myself in the discouragement of my early
years as a pastor. I could be questioning a million things about my life, but I
never had to question whether I was in the right place when I was giving God
praise. It became my default when I slid into a fog of confusion and
depression. In Weaverville, our home was behind the church so I often went to
the sanctuary late at night, put worship music on the sound system, and spent
time praising and worshiping God. Sometimes I remained until early in the
morning. I danced, shouted, and basically required myself to do whatever I
didnt feel like doing. The Psalmist
David wrote, Bless the Lord, O my soul.
He commands his own soul to come into order and give God glory. Its important
that we learn how to bring our soul, and even our bodies into submission to the
purposes of God. Back then I would make sure that the intensity of my praise
was in equal proportion to the size of the cloud over my head. Every time,
there would come a point when something inside of me would shift, and I was no
longer making an effort. My mind, will, emotions, and body were completely
filled with conviction of what I was declaring to the Lord. I also noticed that
the cloud over my head had disappeared and I was alive in God!
I came to understand that the cloud wasnt just over my head; it was inside it. I mistakenly thought that
focusing on my lack and comparing myself to others was a posture of humility.
In fact, it was the opposite. Instead of focusing on Gods greatness in my
life, I was focusing on myself. I was actually agreeing with the enemy by
making my own problems bigger than Gods promises. And my agreement invited
that cloud of oppression to hover over me.
The only way to break an agreement with a lie is repentance, which means to change the
way you think. In that place of praise, I fed my mind on the truth of Gods
nature until it created a new
agreement with heavenly reality. When that agreement was established, the
reality started to manifest in my emotions, mind, and body. But I also came to
understand more deeply why my dad taught us to do what the Scripture said regarding praise. Making an agreement
with Heaven actually requires more than repentance of the mind. You need
physical proof to make repentance a legally binding reality. By lining my
physical body up with what the Word said, I brought my whole being into
agreement with the truth. In doing so, I experienced the principle that
physical obedience brings spiritual breakthrough. This may seem a little
backward to those of us who hate the idea of going through religious motions
and desire to be authentic in our worship. Physical obedience brings
spiritual breakthrough. But the measure of authenticity is not what youre
feeling or thinking. Those things either line up with authentic reality or they
dont. And if they dont, Scripture tells us that we get there by moving. Some say its hypocritical to do
something you dont feel like doing. I think its hypocritical to do only what
I feel like doing and call myself a believing believer. Right actions release
right emotions and right thinking.
But why is it right to sing, shout, dance and leap?
Why does God seem to want these radical expressions more than silent, awed
reverence? While there is certainly a time for the latter, acts of celebration get way more press in the
psalmists descriptions of how we approach God. The reason God is a God to
celebrate. His every action and thought toward us are extravagant expressions
of His love, kindness, goodness, and delight in us; and He gives it all not
only to bless us for a moment, but to invite us into the deeper blessing of
knowing Him. He delights in us, so He wants us to delight in Him. He rejoices
over us with singing [Zeph.
Not only that, but when we do what He is doing,
aligning our bodies as well as our spirits and souls with what He has said,
there is a release of His nature that flows to us in that place of intimacy.
The Holy Spirit is the most joyful person in existence, and joy is one of the
primary expressions of His kingdom in our lives (see Romans
I want to pick up a few points from this
mans testimony. Praise works because when we are praising God we are lining
ourselves up with the truth. The truth is not always how you feel. The truth is
not always what circumstances suggest to you. The truth is not always what
makes Blue Mondays blue. The truth is that God reigns
also in your life all of the time. No
money problem no relationship problem no drug problem is bigger than our God and he is for us
Romans 8:18: I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing
with the glory that will be revealed in us. Romans 8:28: And we know
that in all things God works for the good of those who love him
Romans
8:38-39: I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor
demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers
will be able to
separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Ephesians 1:3: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in
Christ.
The truth of God is always worth
celebrating. He saved us and loves us and cares for us and as we love him back God works for the good of us always. Therefore, when we are confused and depressed when we are giving
in to these negative emotions we are
giving in to what is not true outright lies which suggest that there is no hope and that there is no God.
When someone is going through a hard
time and does become more and more dejected and disheartened, we are feeling
sorry for our friend and therefore
are reluctant to put any more pressure
on the person but on the other hand this is from the testimony before
there is a need for someone to call this
person into repentance. Show love come with chocolate and a cup of tea but also come with a wakeup call,
saying: You are wrong to pity yourself. You are wrong to see yourself as a helpless
victim. Have faith in God and praise him. Repent!
Do you need to repent? Praising God is
lining ourselves up with the truth and positioning ourselves on the side of God
and we are to do this by faith which means precisely that we are also to praise
God on Blue Mondays. Nothing honours God more than faith and it
is by faith that all of the gifts and favours of God come to us Hebrews
11:6: Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who
comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who
earnestly seek him. Hebrews 4:1-3:
let us be careful that none of
you be found to have fallen short
we also have had the gospel preached to us,
just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because
those who heard did not combine it with faith. Now we who have believed enter
[into all that God has promised]
Romans 5:1-5:
we have been
justified through faith
we have gained access by faith into this grace in
which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only
so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering
produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope
does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by
the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
On a practical level any sort of
repentance requires some sort of action to demonstrate that you mean what you
say. Even the Bible knows that words are sometimes cheap and therefore
admonishes us Luke 3:8: Produce
fruit in keeping with repentance
In
other words: Do something. Show that you mean what you say. When it comes to praise, this means that we
make our bodies line up with the truth. Even when we do not feel like it, we
get up, raise our hands, leap for joy, dance and sing.
In faith we act according to
the Bible descriptions of praise and thus act according to how God designed
human expressions of joy. (Just watch the crowd when the winning try is
scored at a State of
Like the pastor in the testimony do
it. Repent by making yourself do what you dont feel like doing: Get
up, raise your hands, clap, sing with a strong voice, dance and blow the
trumpet. You may say that this is
not for everybody but this may just be an excuse. The pastor also shared:
my problem was to stepping out of my reserved personality box that is
until I realized that God commands us to do it, and that He wouldnt command us
to do something that He didnt put in our new nature. That means my real
personality in Christ includes the capacity to demonstrate my love for God
through biblically mandated expressions
As a result, I began to dance before
the Lord with joy in private long before I had seen anyone do it in a service
(Bill Johnson: Strengthen Yourself In The Lord, Shippensburg: Destiny Image
2007, p67).
Then, the breakthrough will come. As with the pastor there will come a point when something inside you will shift and you
will receive from God by faith. As you line yourself up with the truth
repent of believing the lies of defeat God
will draw near to you and fill you up with his presence through the Holy Spirit
Romans 14:17: . the
The breakthrough will come. First, you
praise God in faith you obey with
your body even when you dont feel like it but then as you obey the
emotions of joy will come as well inexpressible joy through the Holy
Spirit. As you are praising God you step
into the atmosphere of heaven itself and anything can happen in this kind of
atmosphere. At this point I remind us again of what happened to Saul. The way
God changed him is the way he changes us 1 Samuel 9:19-10:13:
As
you approach the town, you will meet a procession of prophets coming down from
the high place with lyres, tambourines, flutes and harps being played before
them, and they will be prophesying. The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you
in power, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different
person
Praising God is the key to your
breakthrough and we can see this also in the way God reacts to the opposite of
praise, that is: grumbling. The Bible warns us Numbers
Three more practical points. So far we
have heard: 1) [Powerpoint
slide: Praising God works because you line yourself up with the truth.] Praising God works because when we are
praising him we are lining ourselves up with the truth. We step into the
atmosphere of heaven. 2) [Powerpoint slide: Praise God in faith
because we receive from God by faith.] If
you are in a place of discouragement, repent of believing a lie. No problem is
bigger than God. Trust him again. Exercise faith because all of the gifts and
favours of God come to us by faith. Let your praise be an expression of faith.
3) [Powerpoint slide: Repent of discouragement with acts of obedience. Let
your body praise God until the breakthrough comes.] Line your body up with the truth. Sing and dance Repent of your
discouragement by lining up your body with the truth. Get up, raise your hands,
leap for joy, dance and sing. Let physical obedience bring a spiritual
breakthrough.
Now the first new point: 4) Live
in a healthy state of problem denial. One pastor writes: I have decided
to live in a healthy state of denial. When the devil puts a request for
attention across my desk, I say, REQUEST DENIED! I am aware that there are
situations constantly around me that, if Im not careful, can bring me into
discouragement. Most of the time Im living about 15 minutes away from
discouragement if I make a series of wrong choices. But I also know that I
never again have to live with discouragement like I used to. I have learned to
ignore problems just enough so they dont become a threat to the affections of
my heart. I know Im not being irresponsible because God has promised me over
and over that if Im faithful to be who He has called me to be, especially as a
worshiper, He is more than happy to bring the solutions
(Bill Johnson:
Strengthen Yourself In The Lord, Shippensburg: Destiny Image 2007, p75).
Further: I have purposed to try to live in such a way
that nothing ever gets bigger than my consciousness of Gods presence.
Sometimes conflict can be a simple as bad news on TV. If it starts to weigh on
my heart and grow bigger than my awareness of God, I consciously turn my
affection toward Him to become more aware of His presence. If that doesnt
work, I turn off the TV or leave the room to redirect my focus until my
awareness of Him is bigger than that which weighs heavily on my heart. I cant
just know in my head that Hes bigger; I have to have my entire being in a
position where I am aware of His presence and expect His world to invade my
life and circumstances
(Bill Johnson: Strengthen Yourself In The Lord,
Shippensburg: Destiny Image 2007, p60).
I repeat: 4) Live
in a healthy state of problem denial. Then, another simple point: 5)
Make time for praising God. And my last
point: 6) Praise God in
tongues. I quote again the pastor from before:
However, there are two specific verses that describe
something that we do to build ourselves. Jude writes, But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith,
praying in the Holy Spirit (Jude
How does praying in tongues build us up in our faith?
To answer this we must first understand what we are doing when we pray in
tongues. Paul explains, For he who
speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God, for no one understands him;
however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries (1 Corinthians 14:2). When we
speak in tongues, we are using our voices to give utterance to the expressions
of our spirits as they commune with the Holy Spirit. This is powerful because
our spirits pray in perfect agreement with God because they speak from the new
nature we received when we were born again. By engaging our soul, along with
our physical body in what our spirits are saying, we come more completely into
agreement with the Holy Spirit. As we sustain this prayer, it leads to the same
breakthrough we experience when we physically express praise we become aware
of the manifest presence of God. Or, you could say that our bodies and minds
begin to experience an increased measure of the reality that our spirits
already experience in the Lords presence (Bill Johnson: Strengthen Yourself
In The Lord, Shippensburg: Destiny Image 2007, p83-84).
If you have the gift of tongues, make
use of it. Spend time praying in tongues by speaking the words or you may even
sing in tongues 1 Corinthians
14:15-16: So what shall I do?
I will sing with my spirit
praising God
with your spirit
Praying in
tongues is most frequently a declaration of praise to God and therefore
since the Holy Spirit himself is giving you the praise words they are pure and powerful. In times of
need the Spirit will help you to find words which cut through the feelings of
discouragement. This is a wonderful gift.
If you do not have the gift of praying
in tongues, you are not a second-class Christians but become hungry for this
gift. Do not shy away from this unknown experience. The Bible encourages you 1 Corinthians 14:1:
eagerly desire spiritual
gifts
I come to a close and tie everything
back to the beginning. This weeks lesson in our
I sum up the points that we covered: 1) Praising
God works because you line yourself up with the truth. 2) Praise God in faith because we receive from
God by faith. 3) Repent of
discouragement with acts of obedience. Let your body praise God until the
breakthrough comes. 4) Live
in a healthy state of problem denial. 5) Make time for praising God. 6) Praise God in tongues.
Praising God is the atmosphere of
heaven. This is where the truth is. This is where the Holy Spirit works. This
is where lies get defeated. This is where your circumstances change. This is
where you change. Praise God and be free from your problems. You can allow
yourself to focus on God. What happened to Saul is going to happen to us (again and again) 1 Samuel 9:19-10:13:
you
will meet a procession of prophets coming down from the high place with lyres,
tambourines, flutes and harps being played before them, and they will be
prophesying. The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you in power, and you will
prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person.
This morning praise God until
you praise God. No matter how you feel at first, praise God in faith and
obedience (repent of discouragement with your body get up, raise your
hands, dance) until God breaks through
to your emotions and consumes you with joy. Praise him and you will be changed
into a different person. Amen.