This blog has been adapted from my radio broadcast. An archived copy is available at patriciasamuels.org.
Ephesians 6:11-13: "Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand."
Verse 16: "Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked."
Our main thought and our anchor text is "Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked." The title of our lesson is Trouble Your Trouble!
We're dealing with the aftermath of the Recession. The people in Washington are saying that it's over; however, it must be like the Juneteenth days after Slavery. The Emancipation Proclamation went forth, freeing the slaves, but the people in Texas didn't get the news until two years later! The news came on June 19th, which is abbreviated, €Juneteenth.€ So, it must be like that; they're saying it's over, but it doesn't look like it's over anywhere you look. However, we bless God that again we're in the world, but not of the world. We are God's people and He takes care of us despite whatever else is going on.
So, I want to talk today about troubling your troubles. The Recession is trouble and then there may be some other troubling things that you're facing in your personal life - maybe you have a court date, maybe you're facing some type of criminal charge, or somebody lied on you, or somebody's stolen from you... Whatever trouble that you may be facing, you want to trouble your trouble! You want to stand up in the face of it and whip it! Our scripture reference tells us to stand. €Having done all that the crisis demands,€ it says in Amplified Bible, €Stand.€ So, you don't want to back down from your trouble; you want to face it head on and you want to send it into flight. We talked in our main thought about faith: Above all taking the shield of faith wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. Those fiery darts are thoughts of the wicked; thoughts the devil puts into your mind. You want to quench ALL of them. We do this with our faith. We release our faith with the words of our mouth. Later in this blog, I will give you a lot of scriptures on trouble that you can personalize, confess and use to defeat the devil!
Part of the motivation for this lesson, is that I was thinking about the mother of my childhood best friend. Kim's mother, Mrs. Seales, always had a witty comeback. She always had something clever to say. When Kim and I were in college, we would go to summer school over the break. One summer, Kim couldn't get a class that she needed, so she ended up sitting out one of the summer sessions. During this time, they started airing reruns of Gilligan's Island on television. This was before stations like TVLand would run these types of shows ad infinitum. So, one morning Kim woke up and realized that Gilligan was coming on. She got really excited and exclaimed, "Oooh, I'm gonna watch GILLIGAN!" Mrs. Seales took one look at Kim and said, "You better Gilligan you a job!" She always had the best comeback. She is a sweet lady to this day, yet always on point with the comebacks. When we were much younger than college-age, Kim and her brother would ask their mom for things and if she said no, they would, of course, try and wear her down. In these moments, she would always say, €I'll aggravate you more than you aggravate me." No matter what they did she'd just look them square in the face and say, "I'll aggravate you more than you aggravate me." This is what I want you to do with the devil. You tell him, "I'll aggravate you more than you aggravate me! I don't care what you come in here trying to do. I am the one that is the Blood-washed, Blood-bought baptized believer on the Lord Jesus Christ. You don't run anything, but your mouth! God gave me the power to tread on scorpions and all of the works of the enemy. I am the one in control. You are under my feet!" So, you stand there flat-footed and you don't take it. Don't back down. Don't put up with the devil's stuff. Tell him, "I'll aggravate you more than you aggravate me!"
So, we're talking about putting on the whole armor of God, being strong in the Lord and in the power of his might; taking the shield of faith and quenching all the fiery darts of the wicked.
Let me go ahead and give you these scriptures. In your prayer time, read them and get them into your spirit. Start confessing them as though they were your own. Personalize them. Start putting your name in there and putting your situations in there and start fighting the devil with the Word of God. This is how you whip him; this is how you put him under your feet.
"The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble." Psalm 9:9
"The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee." Psalm 20:1
"For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock." Psalm 20:5
"I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast considered my trouble; thou hast known my soul in adversities; and hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy: thou hast set my feet in a large room." Psalm 31:7-8
"Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah." Psalm 32:7 (Selah means pause and think about that.)
"But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord: he is their strength in the time of trouble." Psalm 37:39
"Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble." Psalm 41:1
"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." Psalm 46:1
"And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me." Psalm 50:15
"For he hath delivered me out of all trouble: and mine eye hath seen his desire upon mine enemies." Psalm 54:7
"But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble." Psalm 59:16.
"Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man." Psalm 60:11
"Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder: I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah." Psalm 81:7
"In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me." Psalm 86:7
"He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honor him." Psalm 91:15
"Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble; incline thine ear unto me: in the day when I call answer me speedily." Psalm 102:2
"Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses." Psalm 107:6
"Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me." Psalm 138:7
"Do not be afraid of sudden terror, nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes; For the Lord will be your confidence, and will keep your foot from being caught." Proverbs 3:25-26 NKJV
"The righteous man is rescued from trouble, and it comes on the wicked instead." Proverbs 11:8 NIV
So, I pray that you will take these scriptures and trouble your trouble! Don't back down. Having done all, stand. Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. I've given you twenty different verses here that you can use to fight the enemy when he brings trouble your way. You CAN fight back. Don't
Ephesians 6:11-13: "Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand."
Verse 16: "Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked."
Our main thought and our anchor text is "Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked." The title of our lesson is Trouble Your Trouble!
We're dealing with the aftermath of the Recession. The people in Washington are saying that it's over; however, it must be like the Juneteenth days after Slavery. The Emancipation Proclamation went forth, freeing the slaves, but the people in Texas didn't get the news until two years later! The news came on June 19th, which is abbreviated, €Juneteenth.€ So, it must be like that; they're saying it's over, but it doesn't look like it's over anywhere you look. However, we bless God that again we're in the world, but not of the world. We are God's people and He takes care of us despite whatever else is going on.
So, I want to talk today about troubling your troubles. The Recession is trouble and then there may be some other troubling things that you're facing in your personal life - maybe you have a court date, maybe you're facing some type of criminal charge, or somebody lied on you, or somebody's stolen from you... Whatever trouble that you may be facing, you want to trouble your trouble! You want to stand up in the face of it and whip it! Our scripture reference tells us to stand. €Having done all that the crisis demands,€ it says in Amplified Bible, €Stand.€ So, you don't want to back down from your trouble; you want to face it head on and you want to send it into flight. We talked in our main thought about faith: Above all taking the shield of faith wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. Those fiery darts are thoughts of the wicked; thoughts the devil puts into your mind. You want to quench ALL of them. We do this with our faith. We release our faith with the words of our mouth. Later in this blog, I will give you a lot of scriptures on trouble that you can personalize, confess and use to defeat the devil!
Part of the motivation for this lesson, is that I was thinking about the mother of my childhood best friend. Kim's mother, Mrs. Seales, always had a witty comeback. She always had something clever to say. When Kim and I were in college, we would go to summer school over the break. One summer, Kim couldn't get a class that she needed, so she ended up sitting out one of the summer sessions. During this time, they started airing reruns of Gilligan's Island on television. This was before stations like TVLand would run these types of shows ad infinitum. So, one morning Kim woke up and realized that Gilligan was coming on. She got really excited and exclaimed, "Oooh, I'm gonna watch GILLIGAN!" Mrs. Seales took one look at Kim and said, "You better Gilligan you a job!" She always had the best comeback. She is a sweet lady to this day, yet always on point with the comebacks. When we were much younger than college-age, Kim and her brother would ask their mom for things and if she said no, they would, of course, try and wear her down. In these moments, she would always say, €I'll aggravate you more than you aggravate me." No matter what they did she'd just look them square in the face and say, "I'll aggravate you more than you aggravate me." This is what I want you to do with the devil. You tell him, "I'll aggravate you more than you aggravate me! I don't care what you come in here trying to do. I am the one that is the Blood-washed, Blood-bought baptized believer on the Lord Jesus Christ. You don't run anything, but your mouth! God gave me the power to tread on scorpions and all of the works of the enemy. I am the one in control. You are under my feet!" So, you stand there flat-footed and you don't take it. Don't back down. Don't put up with the devil's stuff. Tell him, "I'll aggravate you more than you aggravate me!"
So, we're talking about putting on the whole armor of God, being strong in the Lord and in the power of his might; taking the shield of faith and quenching all the fiery darts of the wicked.
Let me go ahead and give you these scriptures. In your prayer time, read them and get them into your spirit. Start confessing them as though they were your own. Personalize them. Start putting your name in there and putting your situations in there and start fighting the devil with the Word of God. This is how you whip him; this is how you put him under your feet.
"The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble." Psalm 9:9
"The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee." Psalm 20:1
"For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock." Psalm 20:5
"I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast considered my trouble; thou hast known my soul in adversities; and hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy: thou hast set my feet in a large room." Psalm 31:7-8
"Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah." Psalm 32:7 (Selah means pause and think about that.)
"But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord: he is their strength in the time of trouble." Psalm 37:39
"Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble." Psalm 41:1
"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." Psalm 46:1
"And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me." Psalm 50:15
"For he hath delivered me out of all trouble: and mine eye hath seen his desire upon mine enemies." Psalm 54:7
"But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble." Psalm 59:16.
"Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man." Psalm 60:11
"Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder: I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah." Psalm 81:7
"In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me." Psalm 86:7
"He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honor him." Psalm 91:15
"Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble; incline thine ear unto me: in the day when I call answer me speedily." Psalm 102:2
"Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses." Psalm 107:6
"Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me." Psalm 138:7
"Do not be afraid of sudden terror, nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes; For the Lord will be your confidence, and will keep your foot from being caught." Proverbs 3:25-26 NKJV
"The righteous man is rescued from trouble, and it comes on the wicked instead." Proverbs 11:8 NIV
So, I pray that you will take these scriptures and trouble your trouble! Don't back down. Having done all, stand. Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. I've given you twenty different verses here that you can use to fight the enemy when he brings trouble your way. You CAN fight back. Don't