With God We Can (Jake Enns)

I just want to say thank you, Phil, for putting this together

and for the trip. I think it's a very special and

meaningful thing to do. And if anyone of you is ever

interested in joining a prayer mission team like that, the

Congress does them periodically, different countries, not just

Bolivia, so to pay attention and they'll be announced.

And then you can sign up as well if you choose.

Our sermon title this morning is With God We Can.

How much we can do in life has a lot to do with how much we

believe we can. There are many people over the

years who've gone on to do great things in life because someone

believed in them and encouraged them and they received it.

Have you ever done something because someone told you you

could? Are there things in life you've

accomplished because someone came alongside you, encouraged

you, took you under their arm and supported you?

And it doesn't even have to be big things like an

accomplishment, something like that.

It can be something that you maybe wanted to stop doing and

you can't or you feel you can't. Somebody comes alongside, offers

you some help, and you found that the thing, whatever it was

you're struggling with, you got free from.

You couldn't, but then you did. I truly believe in the big

picture of life. We must believe with God we can.

Think of it. If God tells us to do something,

do we think he's telling us to do that just to watch us fail?

There are many things in Scripture and Scripture we're

told to do that are direct commands of God.

They may be hard, but we're told to do them.

We're not promised it will be easy, but with God we can.

But too often we feel like, well, I can't.

I'm not able and the end result is the same because we limit

ourselves from achieving what God has for us, because we don't

trust and we allow fear to control us.

Yes, I know there are physical boundaries.

There are limitations in human life.

We know that there are great hurdles and limitations that we

physically do not have the capacity to overcome.

That is true, but overall God is in the miracle business and

things we say we can't do but other people can.

Let's be careful. Remember the story of Sarah in

the Old Testament when God said to Abraham, your wife will have

a son. She laughed, It's impossible and

she had a baby. Joseph had a dream about how he

and his brothers were in the field harvesting grain and

bundling it into sheafs of grain and all the other sheeps bow to

his sheaf. His brother said you will never

rule over us. They sold him as a slave for

good measure, making sure it would never happen. 20 years

later it happened. If God has promised something,

he'll come through. The question is, can we believe

it? Do we believe it?

Sometimes the impossible becomes the possible simply because

someone believes and has faith in God, uses that as a channel,

as a conduit through which to make it happen.

And sometimes it's the littlest, silliest little things that make

no sense that shouldn't happen. I remember many years ago to

tell this story and ask my wife's permission to do so.

And so I have permission. I was a student in Steinbeck

Bible College. But 27 years ago now, we had

this little tiny pressure cooker.

I used old little pressure cooker and the the little gasket

ring around the top, you know, we close it and it has to be

sealed so it builds pressure on the stove.

Well, it had gotten old and soft and expanded and it was way too

big. Came home one day and Anna had a

brilliant idea. She had cut the ring, cut out a

piece. Now it fit Well.

I knew what would happen. I said you can't do that.

You can't cut a gasket, it won't work.

Well, I'll try. I said it's not going to work

and if it works I'll buy a brand new dress.

Well, she apparently had to cut it just right.

She put it in there on the stove and it built pressure.

I lost the bet. I bought her a new dress.

It should not have worked. Ask any mechanic on planet Earth

does cutting a gasket work and they'll all say no.

But it did work here. When we think something won't

work, often times we think it's because we know that we have the

information. Well, God can work past that.

And apparently you can cut a gasket and fit it so nicely.

It does work. She proved it in her sermon

series. We're going through Judges.

And last Sunday we learned how God dealt with his people when

they fell into sin again, walked away from him.

The question I want to ask before I dig into the heart of

the sermon is did those people going into sin think, you know

what, we're going to go into sin and we're going to suffer years

of oppression for it, but it's OK, we'll do it anyway.

Did they think those thoughts? No, they did not.

They just thought we'll be the exception.

And as sin is never free, it wasn't free here either.

And the cost came and we had the store of Eglon and how King

Eglon of Moab oppressed them and the bondage and then what God

did with Ihad and he saved his people through the deliverance

of of Ihad. And then they had rest for 80

years and it was back to the same cycle over again, and this

time it was a 20 year bondage and they cried for help and it

was the same thing again. God, will you help us?

Will you get us out of this mess?

Today's sermon is a reminder that no matter how difficult and

how impossible things look, with God, we can.

God knows our situation better than we do.

And when we repent and surrender ourselves to Him, He wants to

help us and then He can help us. Our story today begins and

judges chapter 4. And we see how God used the most

Judges 4 · chapter mention

unlikely people to carry out his will in the most impossible

circumstances. And by now, for those of us who

are following this series, you know the cycle.

Turning away from God, suffering oppression, the consequences of

sin, remembering what they did, then getting back to God,

repenting, and God rescues them. And on it goes.

I was listening to an online Bible teacher go through this

passage and he commented on the book of Judges and he said

something like this. He said some people are good at

confessing, just not stopping sinning.

It's one thing to say, I know I'm sinning and I'm sorry and

I'm doing this. I'm sorry, but keep on doing it.

That's one thing Some are good at confessing and then also

repenting. They know that, OK, I need to

stop this. And then they do stop for a

while. And the Israelites fit that

category. They stopped for a time, but

that's not it. And what's missing is

transformation. And those of you who are in

there Wednesday night Bible studies here will have heard

about what it means to be transformed.

So the transformation didn't really happen.

There was always this partial turning.

And inside their hearts there were still some residue.

And after a while, they would go back to sinning again.

The passage in There's a passage in Romans chapter 12 I want to

Romans 12 · chapter mention

use as an introductory passage. In Romans 12 verse 2, the Paul

Romans 12:2

writes, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed

by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is good,

what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

In the book of Judges, the people of Israel repeatedly

conformed to the cultures of sin and followed after the sins of

the people around them. Then they would eventually reap

the consequences over a long period of time.

Then they would remember. They would cry out and confess

and repent and God would rescue. And this cycle repeats itself

many times over. And we have, we live in the same

kind of culture today. I want us to keep this in the

background of our minds what Paul wrote to the Romans as we

go through the passage of Judges chapter 4 this morning.

Judges 4 · chapter mention

Judges chapter 4, we have again a nation that conformed to the

Judges 4 · chapter mention

world around them. This time God gave them over to

a king who oppressed them for 20 years.

They again cried for mercy. God raised up a deliverer, a

very unlikely one, but it happened.

Let's read Judges chapter 4 beginning verse one the first 3

Judges 4 · chapter mention

verses. When he had was dead, the

children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord,

so the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin, king of Canaan,

who reigned in Hazar. The commander of his army was

Sisera, who dwelt in Hirosheth Hagoyam.

And the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, for Jabin had

900 Chariots of iron, and for 20 years he had harshly oppressed

the children of Israel. There's a bit of a map, what

it's supposed to look like. So there you on the map, you

have Hazer's north of the Sea of Galilee.

That's where Jabin was doing his thing.

He was ruling over that, over the nation of Israel from there.

Now, if you read Joshua many years ago, over a century before

that, he had conquered that place.

But apparently, over time, in different pockets of the

country, the Canaanites rose up again.

And King Jabin of Hazer is in charge.

And his commander of his army is Cicero.

He's more toward the ocean. We have a map later, later on.

He's more toward the sea. That's where Cicero, his

commander, is stationed. And he has 900 Chariots made of

iron. His military is well equipped,

very advanced for its time. And to get out of out from under

his control would literally take a miracle.

This is one of the things where the people were said, we can't.

Nope, we can't. How are we going to win 900

Chariots of Iron? Those were the military tanks of

their time. How's how's how's somebody on

foot with a spear going to chase after these guys and and kill

them? Can't be done.

They would be like in our day, a tank comes rolling into town and

somebody with small arms fires trying to win.

Absolutely no way. Chariots were a big deal in

their day. A chariot might have several

horses harnessed before it. And the soldier riding that

little cart he has, he's what he's armed, and he can dart here

and there fast, and he can shoot with arrows or throw Spears.

A soldier on foot has no chance. Well, let's see what happens.

Verse 4. Now, Deborah, a prophetess, the

wife of Lapidus, was judging Israel at that time, and she

would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Rama and Bethel

in the mountains of Ephraim, and the children of Israel came up

to her for judgment. That's interesting.

So this is the first time we find God using a woman to give

leadership in the worst possible circumstances.

They had never had this before, that they would be oppressed by

an army with 900 Chariots of iron and he's going to use a

woman to give direction. When those people were being

oppressed by the foreign kings, whether it's the Moabites or

whether it's Jabin, whoever it was, they were not disbelieving

God. It was not that they had quote

UN quote, thrown God out as if he did not exist.

They were not atheists. They still went for guidance

from God. They still believe that God

existed, but they didn't equate their sin with their

consequences. So here's the prophetess

Deborah. She's the judge in Israel.

She would speak to the people on behalf of what God is teaching.

They had that just like today, churches mixing sin and Bible

and all together, we're still Christians.

They did the same thing, but God's faithful even in

idolatrous times, they were just like we are today.

It's not that they didn't know about God.

They knew about God and they would still go for advice, but

it doesn't mention anything about how sincere they were.

Shiloh was still there. They were still going to, to

this to to Here was Deborah where she was under the tree

there near, near Bethel, and they would go for advice.

She was just north of Jerusalem, Bethel and Rama and Jerusalem in

the South. That's where she was.

It tells us the children of Israel would come to seek her

out when they needed help. Again, remember, she's a

prophetess. She's also serving as a judge,

as an advice giver, A ruler, helping the people resolve their

issues. She's judging between people who

have disagreements and so on, speaking to them for God.

The word Deborah by the way, from what I've heard it means

the word bee, like a honey bee fits her well.

Now in all of this, she's very busy giving leadership direction

to this nation of Israel that's living in moral debauchery and

sin, but they still connect with her.

It was through this woman that God got the ball rolling that

would result in His people becoming free from oppression

under King Jabin and the story of Deliverance.

It was Deborah who was the 1st to speak and give instructions

from God to get the rescue plan in motion.

Let's read verse 4 and on. Then she sent and called Barrick

the son of Abinum from Kadesh to Naftali, and said to him, has

not the Lord God of Israel commanded?

Go and deploy troops at Mount Tabor?

Take with you 10,000 men of the sons of Naftali and the sons of

Zebulun and against you I will deploy Sisera, the commander of

Jabin's army with his Chariots and his multitude at the river

Kaishan and I will deliver him into your hand.

Let's look at the map from where Barack has Barack has called

from there he is, that's there's Issaqar Zebulun and NAFTA is at

the top, then Hazard at the top and then Kadish is up the very

top there, that loose blue line in the middle, that's Kadish.

That's where Barack is. And then here close down the

bottom by Jerusalem, close to Jerusalem.

That's where Deborah is. Anyway, she calls for Barack

tells him God has called you to fight against Sisera, that

dreaded and feared military generals, his 900 Chariots.

He tells him go to Naftali and Zebulun where close to Hazer and

get these guys and deploy them on Mount Tabor.

Both of those tribes were where the oppression was likely the

harshest and there's a reason why he's to station his man on

Mount Tabor. They would be relatively safe on

top of the mountain from Chariots.

Chariots are not good on on on hilly on hilly ground.

Then #7 we read what she says. Go there again, it says I will

deploy Sisera. I will and against you, I will

deploy Sisera. I'm going to make him fight you

and the IT was his Chariots, it was his multitude at the river

Kishan and I will deliver him into your hand.

Now this is a scary as it can sound.

There's there's a very descriptive detail how this

battle will go down. She tells him there will be war.

They will engage you. And of course, the Chariots are

mentioned again, and any time those Chariots are mentioned,

that's like a shudder going down his spine, like, what am I going

to do with that? Then of course, also the river

kitchen is mentioned as well. And that's key as well.

We'll see that a little bit later on.

That's the river that aligned with the bottom right of the

Mediterranean Sea that you see the river there.

Have you ever thought about it? The road to freedom can be

complex, difficult, risky. It's a lot harder to get to

freedom than it is to get to bondage.

And here's the plan that God's own, and this is what it's going

to take when people want to break free from bondage.

Some people do better than others, but breaking free is not

free. Breaking free is often hard.

It's laborious, risky, and dangerous.

In this story, there's a lot of moving parts.

Deborah was a prophetess. Her job was to summon Barrack

and give him the message he would would he be up for?

It's the next question. How was he going to respond?

Notice what he does verse 8 and Barrick said to her, if you'll

go with me, then I will go. If you will not go with me, I

will not go. He has conditions.

I'm not saying that was foolish or wise or anything.

I don't know, but it's interesting that he does that.

Maybe for the benefit of the doubt.

He was thinking she's smart, she's wise, she connects with

God. I'll take her with just in case.

Maybe that's what he was thinking or he could have been

thinking on the negative side. Well, let's see how far she

backs up. What she says we don't know, but

it does say this verse 9. I will surely go.

She said, I'll go with you. Nevertheless, there will be no

glory for you in the journey you're taking, for the Lord will

sell sister into the hand of a woman or another woman.

Then Deborah arose and went with Barek to Kadesh way up north,

and Barek called Zebulun and afterlife to Kadesh.

He went up with 10,000 men under his command and Deborah went up

with him. So now they're in motion.

Both Deborah and Marek both go up to Kadesh to assemble the

army. He calls for these tribes and

takes them under his control. So far so good.

Things are starting to build. But in case we think all of this

is unfolding cleanly and smoothly, there's no forces at

work here. It's everything's going as

planned. It's going as planned.

But notice something else goes on to verse verse 11.

Now Heber the Kenite of the children of Hobab, the

father-in-law of Moses had separated himself from the

Kenites and pitched his tent near Terebin near the terebinth

tree at Zinem Zine name can't pronounce that property anyway,

which is beside Kadesh. Remember Kadesh up north.

So there's a man named Heber Heber the the Kenite.

He's related to the Israelites, but he's also friends with Jabin

of the of this of Hazor. They were distant relatives back

in Exodus. You can find the story of Moses

how all that happened. But anyway, now the flames are

going to burn. And here's where it gets

interesting. Verse 12 judges for verse 12.

And they the people of Heber, the Canites, they reported to

Cesara that Barrack, the son of Abenom had gone up to Mount

Tabor. Oh, Heber's people reported to

Sisera. What's going on?

Barracks son of a minimum has gone up to Moab with an army of

10,000. That's betrayal.

How? Why would he ever do that?

Why would he ever say this is what they've done?

Why would he get involved? This is just my belief.

I don't know this for sure, but I think he was more afraid of

Sisera than he was of the God of Israel.

He had, he thought, you know, Israel has no power.

Don't worry about them. I just want to keep jabbing king

of Canaan on the Canaanites of Hezra.

I want to keep him on my side. He should have been quiet, but

anyway, God was using Heber to do this because of who he was, a

double character. You see, the truth is this.

If we align ourselves with God, He will use us as vessels of

honor. If we align ourselves with evil,

God will still use us, but as vessels of dishonor.

I think that's what's happening here.

Well, Heber informed Cicera that Barrick is what Barrick is

doing. Cicera gets to work.

Sister wastes no time and responding, and here's what he

does. Verse 13 Judges 413 So Cicero

gathered together his Chariots, 900 Chariots of iron, and all

the people who were with him from Hirosheth Hogoyum to the

river Kishon. Cicero's military might gathered

and concentrated on this one spot.

He would eliminate the threat of Barrack and Cicero's mind.

It's not a question of Who Will Win.

He will strike first. Or he would encircle Barrack

with his army and make a siege around Montabor.

Whatever it was, he was going to get this done.

And again, the verse, the river cushion is important.

That will come up in chapter 5. Now things are ready.

Barack with the soldiers on Mount Tabor, there's no concern

who's going to win, just a matter of getting the job done.

Some commentators suggest this was a siege tactic, Hemming

Barack and on because he couldn't get down.

The Chariots were in the way and once they would come down, he's

going to mow them down anyway. Verse 14 falls out different

than Deborah, said the barrack up.

For this is the day in which the Lord has delivered Sisera into

your hand. Has not the Lord gone out before

you? So Barek went down from on table

with 10,000 men following him. And the Lord routed Sisera and

all his Chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword

before Barek. And Sisera alighted from his

chariot and fled away on foot. But Barek pursued the Chariots

and the army as far as Hirosheth Hagoian.

And all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword.

Not a man was left. Deborah gave leadership, Bear

carried it out, and the rest is history.

As they say, God came to the rescue.

We're not told exactly what the details are, how this happened,

but there's a passage in chapter 5 that gives some some detail on

the surface. One would say, well, if this

were 900 Chariots of iron, the men of Israel are only on foot.

What happened that they won the battle?

In chapter 5, verse 19 to 21, there's a little bit of insight

there. This is a song that Berek and

Deborah sing after the battle. It says the kings came and

fought. Then the kings of Canaan fought

in Tanakh by the waters of Megadood.

They took the spoils of silver. They fought from the heavens.

The stars from their courses fought against Sisera.

The torrent of Kishon swept them away.

That ancient torrent, the torrent of Kishon O my soul

marched on in strength. One of the explanations for the

victory is that this flat land by the river was chosen

specifically for this battle by sister himself, but he didn't

know what would happen. And the story goes that there

was most likely a very heavy downpour, massive flash flood or

something and made the land totally useless for chariot

operations. Didn't work and back in chapter

4 when sister gets off his chariot and runs away on foot,

maybe that has something to do with it.

Something went very, very wrong he hadn't encountered on nature

interfering or could also been maybe that and running away on

foot. He would be better be able to

blend in with the rest of his fleeing army and hopefully get

away. Whatever the details, we know

that chaos, confusion and problems ensued.

This powerful, unconquerable man in his army.

We're now just running for their lives, losing the war, and

Barrick pursues them. When the ancient writers wrote

their stories, they were not worried about a lot of detail,

and part of it had to do with the culture in which they wrote

and to who they wrote. We today are so far removed from

these times and stories and cultures, we need to do a lot of

study to grasp the details of it.

We're so far away from it. But the point of the story here

is Cicero lost and Barrack overpowered him.

But Barack, Barack was not content with just overpowering

the army. For the victory to be complete,

he had to get the leader, Sisera, to be completely free

from this Jaben, king of Hazar. He needed to do eliminate

everybody. See, sometimes people, they just

want to get partial victory just just so much that's not

uncomfortable anymore, just so much that things are better.

And that's not what happened here.

Barack goes all out, It says here in verse 17 and on it says

Sisera fled away on foot to the tent of jail.

The wife of Heber the Kennite, remember him, He's the one who

formed Sisera of what Barrack was doing.

So there's trust there says, for there was peace between Jabin

Jabin, king of Hazer and the House of Heber the Kennite.

And jail went out to meet Sisera and said to him, turn aside my

Lord, turn aside to me and do not fear.

And when he had turned aside with her into the tent, she

covered him with a blanket. Then he said to her, Please give

me a little water to drink from thirsty.

So she opened a jug of milk, gave him a drink and covered

him. And he said to her, Stand at the

door of the tent. And if any man comes and

inquires of you, say, and it says, is there any man here, you

shall say no. This was a bold move on Cicero's

part. Again, culture is important

here. One speaker mentioned that in

that day and age, the men would have their own tent and the

wife, the wife, the wife with her maidens would have their

own, her own tent. And no man ever would walk into

this married woman's tent except the husband of that woman.

And if any man would, would do so at the risk of his own life.

Here's Cicera coming to jail's tent and she invites him in a

pretty secure place. Cicera knows this.

He goes inside, she covers him with a blanket he asked for for

for a drink, to give some milk. And he does this because he

trusts her. Well, was she trustworthy?

Notice what she does. Verse 21.

Then Jael Heber's wife, the Heber, the guy who informed on,

on, on, on Barack on, on the army gathering, Heber's wife,

took a tent peg, took a hammer in her hand, went softly to him,

and drove the peg into his temple, meeting his head, and

went down into the ground, for he was fast asleep and weary.

So he died. And then as Barack pursued

Cicero jail came out to meet him and said, come, and I'll show

you the man whom you seek. And when he went into a tent,

the early sister were dead with a peg in his temple.

That was the place of his demise where he least thought he would

end it. It says in verse 23.

So on that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan in the presence

of the children of Israel, in the hand of the children of

Israel grew stronger and stronger against Jabin king of

Canaan until they destroy had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.

Notice who the writer of Judges gives the credit to God.

God used all these events, all these many moving parts, all

these different events were all part of the package that God

used to destroy this king, His army and his power and to lift

his people out. Well God never wanted His people

to send in the 1st place but they did.

They suffered when they repented and cried out.

God used a very elaborate and very complex method and way and

track to get them back to freedom.

So what happened then in verse? And we won't read chapter 5 or

just a few verses. Here's a song that Deborah and

Barack sang together. Awake, awake, Deborah, awake,

awake, sing a song. Arise.

Barrick can lead your captives away or son of a bin Owen.

Then the survivors came down, the people against the nobles.

The Lord came down for me against the mighty.

Notice the focus. It's not about what we did, what

we accomplished. God can and God did.

Then Judges chapter 524. It goes on and says most blessed

among women is jail. The wife of Heber, the Kenite.

Blessed is she among women in tents.

He asked for water. She gave him milk.

She brought out cream and a lordly bowl.

She stretched out her hand to the tent peg her right hand to

the workman's hammer. She pounded Sisera.

She pierced his head. She split and struck through his

temple at her feet. He sank, He fell.

He lay still at her feet. He sank.

He fell where he sank. There he fell dead.

What a song, that's what it was. Deborah Barrack, with the help

of jail, had done the impossible.

They knew it was not them, they knew it was God working through

them. We won't take time to go through

that song, but I want to encourage us to read that

chapter, both chapters, in fact, chapter 4 and chapter 5 today

sometime. Read it slowly, meditate on it

and see what God did. A story of rescue when people

repented. What difference does this make

for us today? God has not changed one bit from

back then. I trust as we have seen how God

works in Scripture, He still works today.

Deborah, the unlikely prophetess.

Who would have thought she would be a prophetess.

Barrack, the military leader who depended on her in jail, the

wife of Heber. The problem in the story was the

evil king Jabin. First there's sin and then the

evil king, his army commander. 900 Chariots.

Everything seems so impossible in Psalm chapter 40 verse one

Psalms 40 · chapter mention

and three we read. I waited patiently for the Lord.

He inclined to me. He heard my cry.

He also brought me up out of the horrible pit, out of the miry

clay. He set my feet on a rock and

established my steps. He has put a new song in my

mouth. Praise to our God.

Many will see it in fear and will trust in Him.

I've had questions and conversations with people at

times, and they tell me what they all cannot do.

They've tried this, they've tried that, and for this reason

and that reason. Nothing's working in deep

distress and difficult circumstances they've gotten

themselves into. Others have done things that

gotten themselves into this and they play the victim.

We're not victims, not with God, we're not victims.

Sometimes people come for help and they don't really want help

so much as this. Just look at how bad I have it

and if life was better than I would have it better.

The greatest battles are the battles of the mind and the

heart. When I ask someone in difficult

circumstances and situations what some options might be for

them to try, they grow into great detail of why they can't

and why it won't work, why they're stuck.

The battle's already lost in the mind before it's ever fought.

In the real world. There's so many circumstances we

cannot control. But it's not about the

circumstances that are that determine our outcome in life.

It's our response to the circumstances that determine our

outcome in life. Geez was a man in this world, he

was God. Some, but also many, faced many

difficulties. He never once faltered.

He never once allowed himself to be drawn in or controlled by

people or sin. Oh, he suffered horribly.

But every obstacle, instead of stumbling over it, he stepped on

it and use it toward his goal. When life turns difficult,

either because we sinned or because others sinned, there is

a path out. God can.

We can because God can. Maybe there's a sister in your

life who's got you under his thumb.

Maybe he's got 900 ironclad reasons why you can't succeed.

Those are his Chariots. You've gotten come to

compromises. You can't find your way out.

Maybe it's not even a sin issue, but something needs to happen.

You can't see your way through. What about just surrendering to

Christ and saying, Lord, I can't fix this unless you fix this,

I'll just endure it. Whatever your sister might be,

God does not need special people.

He can use a woman like Deborah, She's not a soldier like jail.

She was a housewife. She's not a soldier.

What God wants is repentant and surrendered hearts, committed

hearts and devoted hearts. And God can reach into any

problem and solve it, just like we find in Judges.

For whatever you are, wherever you are, I want to remind you,

Jesus loves you. He's reaching out with his grace

to you. He's inviting you to trust Him,

to give you his life, give you his life, your life to Him.

And no matter how big your Chariots around the air,

Chariots of your enemies are, with God, we can.

With God we can. Let's pray.

Lord, we're grateful to you for your word, for your mercies, for

your power, for your grace, and for your presence.

You died for us, so we don't have to be slaves to sin.

And we find so many stories in Scripture where people walked in

slavery, in bondage, not because you wanted them to be, because

they chose to. They chose sin, the path to

bondage. You want us to walk in holiness

and joy and in peace. There are no circumstances in

our world so difficult that your spirit cannot overpower them or

bring us healing and joy and peace as we walk through them.

That's your will for us, Lord. May we accept it, but that

countless thousands of your Saints have overcome.

They've trusted you and surrendered.

They took up their cross of suffering and in so doing gave

up the bondage and received freedom.

They gave up their fear and receive peace, and they gave up

their worries and receive joy. Thank you Lord, for Your word

that reminds us again and again of Your holiness and Your great

love and Your mercy. May we be committed, devoted and

loyal to You. Pray in Jesus name, Amen.