For several years now, I have been overcoming what the professionals call an "incurable" illness, and contending for a miracle of healing. Not contending to be healed one day, but contending to see the full manifestation of the healing I know that I already have through the finished work of the Cross. It has been a glorious journey – full of ups and downs, breakthroughs and testimonies. And all the while the Lord has given me the grace to keep my eyes on His promises, and the faith to know that they are mine because of His sacrifice.
One of the many miracles along the way was during the last six months when the Lord connected me with an amazing doctor in Europe who was able to accurately diagnose what was going on, and create a course of treatment. Recently I arrived back in Europe for another round of treatments. My first morning here I was in prayer and the Lord spoke to me. He told me that my assignment while I was in Europe this trip was to learn to delight in Him – no matter what. He let me know that "delighting in Him" is a key that helps bring forth all of His promises when we are in the midst of a battle – to see what we know is ours come forth. He also spoke to me that this was not just a key for me, but for all of the Body of Christ while we are in this "entering-into" season of early 2012.
Knowing His Promises
Knowing God's Word, knowing His promises, and knowing that they are ours is very important. We must know what is ours through the Cross. We must know that everything pertaining to life and godliness HAS BEEN (not will be, but has been) given to us through Christ Jesus (2 Peter 1:3). But even more important than knowing the promises is to know Him who made the promises. Knowing His love and kindness and mercy and grace and generosity... Knowing His character and nature... Knowing that this Amazing Father of ours who gave His Son for us withholds none of His goodness, blessings or promises from us... ever! (Romans 8:32)
If you are in the midst of a battle right now, if you are contending for a promise of God, if you have been declaring and decreeing in faith, I want to say, "Well done, good and faithful one!" Every one of your decrees has had an impact. Every one of your declarations of His promises and His Word has made a difference. Well done! I also want to share with you the key the Lord shared with me: Delight in Him – no matter what!
No matter what the doctor reports say. No matter what the bank statements say. No matter what the headlines say. Delight in the Lord! All of His promises are yes and amen! And all of His promises are for you. If you haven't seen them fully manifest yet, don't give into the temptation to despair or grow weary. Instead, take a moment from focusing on the promises and turn to the One who made them. Turn your eyes to Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face! Delight in Him. Delight in this One who has given us everything, who has done everything. Delight in the Lord who is faithful and true and good and loving and kind and generous. Delight in Him. No matter what! And all the rest of it will just melt away. I know. I am doing this every day, over and over again. And as I delight in Him, the One who has promised that I am healed by His stripes, it is so easy to believe and receive the promise with fresh faith and certainty – no matter what!
Probably the best known Scripture in the Bible about delight is Psalm 37:4 which reads, "Delight yourself in the Lord and He shall give you the desires of your heart." Two phrases – one an instruction, the other a promise. Let's take them one at a time.
A Soft Heart is a Receiving Heart
"Delight yourself in the Lord." That word delight in the original Hebrew is "anag" which means "to be soft or pliable." When our circumstances are difficult, or we have been believing for a promise of God to come forth and it has not yet manifested when we think it should or the way we think it should, we can often suffer from disappointment and discouragement. This can cause us to harden our hearts toward God, giving into fear and lies like, "Well, He hasn't come through yet so maybe He isn't going to." But when we take our eyes off those circumstances and put them back on God, we remember what He is really like. We remember that He is loving and kind and merciful and gracious and generous and faithful and trustworthy – no matter what! When we stop trying to figure out what He is doing, and focus on what He is like, it becomes easy to delight in the Lord. And as we do, our hearts "anag" – they soften, opening back up to Him, and we are able to believe and receive again.
God Does Not Need to Be Bribed
The second part of the Scripture promises, "And He will give you the desires of your heart." The word give in the original Hebrew is "nathan" which has many meanings including "to bring forth." Psalm 37:4 is not a quid pro quo statement. God is not saying, "Okay if you first give Me delight then I will give you the promises you have been wanting." God is not holding out on us until we sweet talk Him with delight. Not at all! He is giving us a key to unlock those promises, to bring them forth!
We must always remember that God has already given us everything (2 Peter 1:3, Ephesians 1:3, Romans 8:32, Luke 15:31, Romans 8:15-17). The promise of Psalm 37:4 is not that if we give God delight He will give us the blessings we desire. The promise of Psalm 37:4 is that when we delight in the Lord we will remember what He is like, we will remember all He has done, and we will remember that He has already given us all that He promised through the Cross at Calvary. When we delight in the Lord, every hard place in our heart begins to soften, we begin to trust Him and His Word again, and then we are able to come back into a place of bold faith that looks beyond our circumstances to know His promises are true – no matter what! Our delight in the Lord actually works to bring forth what is already ours that a part of us had stopped trusting and believing for.
Victory Is Certain
Psalm 37:4 doesn't tell us to delight in our circumstances. It doesn't even say for us to delight in God's promises. It says to delight in the Lord! Jesus said in John 16:33 that we would often have challenges in this world, tests and trials. But He told us that when we do face times like that, we must remember that He has overcome the world for us. In other words, He was saying that when our circumstances are not delightful we are to remember Him who always is delightful, and as we delight in Him we will remember that no matter how things look right now, victory is certain because He has already secured it for us (2 Corinthians 2:14).
Delight is a key. Delight is a weapon. Delight is a refreshing cup of cool water after a long, dry spell of enduring in faith. Delighting in the Lord is its very own reward, and how marvelous that it also helps bring forth every other reward we have through our inheritance in Christ!
Robert Hotchkin
XP Ministries (Extreme Prophetic Ministries)
Email: rob@xpmedia.com
1 comment:
I think that many Christians have a hard time “delighting in the Lord” because they are mostly taught to fear Him. Many churches mix the Law in with the message of Grace that causes Christians to be sin conscious and not able to truly delight in a Holy God. In some churches the pastors even use the blending of Law and Grace to control their congregations.
May I suggest that you watch the teachings of Joseph Prince on Grace, if you have a problem accepting God's love. He explains the fullness of Grace, and in the end you will be able to have a confident expectation of good from our Father.
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