Saturday, February 24, 2018

Defeating The Enemies Of The Soul Series – Lesson Three The Hittite



Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

This is the third lesson in our series. Two weeks ago, we learned that the Old Testament accounts of the Children of Israel were not written, preserved and handed down to us as merely a historical record of their journey. Rather we found that those accounts were intended by God to be a spiritual roadmap for our lives. We drew parallels between natural Egypt and the spirit of this world. We found that Pharaoh was a natural representation of satan and that the enemies faced by the Children of Israel in their conquest of the Promised Land equal the spiritual enemies we face in our Christian walk today.

Last week we discovered how the first enemy, called The Canaanite, hopes to render the Christian powerless by enticing them to Compromise. We cannot hope to live a victorious Christian life with one foot in the Kingdom of God and one foot in the world. We heard how to identify the voices of compromise and what to do to defeat that Canaanite in our lives.

This week we continue with the third lesson in this series. Today we will learn how to identify and defeat our second enemy: The Hittite

Exodus 3:8  “So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites.”

40 years after God delivered the Children of Israel from the hand of Pharaoh and brought them out of Egypt, He finally found a generation who would go into the Promise Land and face their enemies. (I hope you are reading along with me in the Book of Exodus this week.) You’ll find the parallel accounts of Israel in their Exodus provides a roadmap for each one of us today. We can easily find ourselves in the pages of the Bible.

When God finally found that generation who would face their enemies He encouraged them and their leader, Joshua, to be strong and courageous. God told Joshua not to be afraid nor be dismayed … because God would be with him everywhere he went.

Dismayed means to be so afraid that you are broken, shattered, confused and unable to focus or think clearly. The Hebrew word translated dismayed in Joshua 1:9 is the Hebrew root word for the word “Hittite”.

There is one reason why the Children of Israel did not go into the Promise Land and conquer those enemies in the generation before – Fear! Not just any fear … but the fear which made them afraid, unsettled, disabled, it left them shattered, broken in pieces and confused. They were in mortal terror – their fears terrorized them. They were “dismayed”.

They were confused and believed God had brought them out to let them die in the wilderness. Their hopes and dreams were shattered, and they felt there was nothing they could do. They said, “Why did God do this to us?” This is the goal of the Hittite. This demon spirit wants to limit us to living our Christian witness in the wilderness, short of the Promise Land.

The problem between the Children of Israel and God was not the battle nor the spoils of war. The real issue was trust. In life, in death, in war, in financial problems, sickness, tragedy, betrayal or divorce … will you trust God? In good times and in hardship, God will never leave you or forsake you. You are more than a conqueror! Will you trust God?

The reason they did not go into the Promise Land was because they were afraid … their fear caused them to be dismayed … the Hittite won that battle and for 40 years the Children of Israel and their children and grandchildren wandered in the wilderness, going in circles with no hope. They were going to church and receiving the Word from heaven, covered and led and protected by the Spirit of God but far from the promises.

There is a certain reverential and respectful fear or concern we should have for the processes of life when it comes to sickness and disease; or for the hardships which come along with financial concerns with loss of a job or stock market declines or bankruptcies; or with relationship problems such as separation or divorce, children who have gone astray, friendships in troubled times – yes, a fearful respect that demands attention is healthy but we should never be dismayed and go to pieces or lose it, or feel left without hope. Why? Because just as God told Joshua … “the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” (Romans 8:38 For I am persuaded …)

Some fear is good while some fear disables and strikes terror in the heart. Some fear keeps us from making bad mistakes while some fear leaves us broken and hopeless. Perfect love equals perfect trust, and perfect trust in God never leaves us feeling defeated or without hope.

How can we identify that fear which works for us and separate it from the fear that works against us? Fear born of the devil has torment.

There is a fear however that is born out of reverence and respect for someone, something or some situation. This fear is a healthy fear. Such as:

Psalms 111:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom …

The fear of the Lord does not shatter us or break us so that we “go to pieces” and “lose it”, with no hope and no direction. The fear that is respectful and reverential is a fear that brings peace, not turmoil, terror and defeat. We do not have to be dismayed when God is with us.

The six nations referred to by God in Exodus 3:8 represent those enemies each one of us will face in life as we march forward in our Christian walk. God wants us to claim new ground in the Spirit and possess our Promised Land. These six named nations do not include every tribe, clan or small group of people who hoped for and worked for Israel’s defeat. These six, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, are those who had the natural ability to dismay Israel and to stop them in their tracks. These enemies must be defeated in partnership with God. Remember – Faith makes things possible … Faith does not make things easy. God demands we participate in our miracles.

The Children of Israel could not afford to lose the battle with not even one of these enemies. If any one of these six enemies were not faced and defeated in their lives, the Children of God would fail to get what God was willing to give them. Today, our battle is with the spiritual enemies of God. We cannot inherit the promises living with one foot in the Kingdom of God and one in the world. Neither can we live the overcomer’s life if we allow ourselves to go to pieces in the face of our enemies.

God will never leave us or forsake us … the Lord our God is with us everywhere we go.

·        When you face the temptation to compromise your walk with Christ – don’t!

When fear wants to rob you of hope and shatter your dreams and leave you confused, terrorized or your life broken in pieces …
1.   Stop where you are and call it what it is – The Enemy of God!
a.   It’s the enemy of fear … It’s the Hittite
b.   Face it …
c.   Say – “That dirty demon is trying to make me afraid to face him.” – “Well, it ‘ain’t gonna’ work!” “Get behind me satan!”
d.   Forget the situation for a moment – face the fear … that’s the enemy … he’s trying to break you and confuse you and make you think you are in this battle alone … the devil is a liar!
e.   It’s not about your victory over the situation, it’s about your victory in the situation and you get that when you trust God!
f.    Tell fear that “The LORD my God is with me wherever I go!”
2.   Go to the Word of God and get some armor and ammunition.
a.   Find 3, 5 or 7 scriptures to use against that devil.
b.   The Word of God is your sword and shield …
c.   Confess the Word – it strikes at the heart of the Hittite.
d.   Joshua 1:8 ... meditate therein day and night …
3.   Get help.
a.   Get counsel – Godly counsel - not for others … but for yourself
b.   Find a friend who will stand with you and pray for you
c.   Confess your faults one to another and pray for one another …
d.   One will put a thousand to flight, two, ten thousand …
4.   Don’t go to pieces.
a.   Just don’t …
b.   If you find yourself losing it, repeat steps …

You can have victory over fear … don’t let it shut you down! The Bible says the greatest fear is the fear of death … you can defeat that enemy through the blood of Christ when you get Born-Again … Here’s how to do that …
Recognize        Repent       Receive

Then … Let us go at once for we are well able to defeat our enemies.