Day 206
Psalm 119:41-42 NIV
"May your unfailing love come to me, 0 Lord, your salvation according to your promise; then I will answer the one who taunts me, for I trust in your word."
The psalmist requested God to deliver him. He based his request on God's Word. He wanted to respond to the one who was taunting him. The promises of God encouraged him to expect salvation and not to be discouraged by the unkind words of his enemy.
It is so important that we meditate, memorize and confess God's Word regularly. We must also practice doing what it says. The Word of God never fails. By following the instructions of the Lord, we will find success over and over again. By agreeing with God, we will find ourselves prevailing in every circumstance. When the enemy comes to discourage us, he will end up discouraged instead. God will deliver us, and we will have the last laugh. The psalmist said when his deliverance came, he would answer the one who was taunting him. It is great that he would expect God to come through and allow him to respond to his enemy. However, like the Hebrew men who were thrown into King Nebuchadnezzar's furnace, we can go beyond that and answer before the deliverance comes. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego told the king if he threw them into the furnace, God would deliver them.
The important thing is that we have an answer based on God's Word. When the enemy talks ''junk" to us, it is an opportunity to see how much we trust in the Word. The tests we face reveal where we are spiritually. If our response is to answer immediately with confidence, based on the Word, then we know the Word of God has taken root in our hearts. If on the other hand, we are almost defeated before we remember what God has said, or we remember but it does not comfort us much, then we know we have work to do. We may not have developed our walk with God to the point of total trust in Him, or we may have gotten slack in our relationship with Him.
Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. So, we must begin to hear the Word from ourselves, as well as from others and declare what the Lord has said. We must fellowship with God and draw close to Him to make this real. For us to hear the Word of God and not just words from the Bible, we must know God and listen to the scriptures as though He was speaking to us personally.
I will meditate, memorize and confess God's Word. I will be obedient to God. As a result, my experiences will help me increase in confidence where the Word is concerned. I will have an answer for my enemy when He attempts to torment me. My answer will always mean defeat for him and victory for me.