We’ve all been there. It seems like negative situations and circumstances seem to come all at once. One thing after another strikes our lives though seemingly small from the outside looking in; but the effect on us is overwhelming. We become overpowered by a force we have made superior in our minds. Feelings of fear, inadequacy, guilt, and helplessness overtake the reality of who we are and whose we are. David had to overcome these same thoughts. When Ziklag was attacked, and all the women and children were taken and carried off, the Bible says the men cried until they couldn’t cry anymore. Then they turned on David and spoke of stoning him. David did the unthinkable. He encouraged himself in the Lord. He asked the priest to bring him the ephod. This was a holy garment which the priests wore when they went in to commune with God. Being both king and priest (as we are) David put the holy garment on which bore the names of the tribes of Israel on the shoulders and over the heart. He went before the Lord and inquired what he should do. You will find that he not only wore the garment in times of prayer, but in times of praise. It represented what God had promised his father Abraham concerning them. He was encouraged because God had never gone back on his word.
The mind is a constant battlefield over which we must continually pull down strongholds, or houses of thoughts contrary to God’s word. According to 2 Corinthians 10:5, we must bring into captivity these thoughts to the obedience of Christ. Okay, How do we do that? We put on our ephod, the promises of God in our hearts, coming out of our mouths on a consistant basis. We give his word back to him because it will not return to him void of power, but it will be accomplished. We pray what we desire to see according to his word, not what we are experiencing. The Power (his ability, his efficiency, his might) is in His word.
He has crowned my year with goodness and my paths drop fatness Psalms 65:11
With favor He surrounds me as a shield Psalms 5:12
I am filled with all joy and peace through the power of the Holy Spirit because I believe God. Romans 15: 13
None of these things move me Acts 20:24
I am stead fast and unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord because I know my labor is not in vain. 1Corithians 15:58
Meditate on these scriptures and let the Holy spirit do a work in you.
Psalms 91
Psalms 3
Psalms 23
© 2009 Fredrick F. Nicholson all rights reserved
