Run Like a Roe

2 Samuel 2:18-23

18 And there were three sons of Zeruiah there, Joab, and Abishai, and Asahel: and Asahel was as light of foot as a wild roe. 19 And Asahel pursued after Abner; and in going he turned not to the right hand nor to the left from following Abner. 20 Then Abner looked behind him, and said, Art thou Asahel? And he answered, I am. 21 And Abner said to him, Turn thee aside to thy right hand or to thy left, and lay thee hold on one of the young men, and take thee his armour. But Asahel would not turn aside from following of him. 22 And Abner said again to Asahel, Turn thee aside from following me: wherefore should I smite thee to the ground? how then should I hold up my face to Joab thy brother? 23 Howbeit he refused to turn aside: wherefore Abner with the hinder end of the spear smote him under the fifth rib, that the spear came out behind him; and he fell down there, and died in the same place: and it came to pass, that as many as came to the place where Asahel fell down and died stood still.

This message focuses on Asahel who was David’s nephew, the son of his sister Zeruiah. He was one of David’s mighty men and one of the captains of his army. The scripture tells us that David’s mighty men didn’t start that way. In 1 Samuel 22:1-2 they were described as people that were in distress, discontented, and in debt.

The mention of Asahel starts once Saul dies. [Saul is the struggle w/ self]. Asahel was swift as a roe. The conflict of the story is that, now, it’s time for David to reign as king, but Abner, who was Saul’s general, refuses to allow God’s will to be done and makes Saul’s son Ishbosheth King over Gilead.

What stood out to me was the fact that Asahel’s actions said, “No! today is the day that the right king will reign. David is my king, and I will give my life making sure that he will sit on the throne.

How long you think this sprint may have lasted … I don’t know/ what/ do you think 5 minutes, maybe 7 minutes of a top speed run? As Abner is looking behind him and asking are you Asahel and warning him. Maybe a little longer with the adrenaline of the battlefield surging, but you get the point—it’s a snippet of time.

But what I see in this, is the Christian journey of a person’s walk with God. The race for God:

Hebrews 12:1

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

5th rib/apex— heart poured out on the battlefield.

The first thing I see is that early on in the run, Asahel had an opportunity to go get some armor, but he refused. I am admittedly taking some liberty with the text, but I like Asahel,  and I wish he would have lived. I wish that he could have been a captain in David’s army and fought further battles. I wish that he would have stopped to get that armor and lived another day, but that wasn’t God’s plan for his life. God’s plan for his life was that he would pour out his heart on the battlefield.

For you and I though, we need to make sure that we clothe ourselves in the armor of God as we engage in warfare with our enemy. We have to understand that we are fighting a spiritual, not a physical fight and the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God (2 Corinthians 10:4):

Don’t let vain imaginations get in your way as you fight this fight. What is a vain imagination? It could be many things, but at its core it’s a lie from Satan.

• Lies that say that you’re not really changed

• You’re children won’t serve the Lord

• You will die from that disease

• Your marriage won’t make it

• You can’t win this battle

Casting down vain imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself above the knowledge of God

Your weapons aren’t carnal/ worldly! They’re spiritual. Pick up that shield of faith, pick up that sword of the Spirit and stand on the truth of the word of God. Quit building your house on shifting sand. That’s all this world has to offer is shifting sand. Build your house on the rock that is Jesus.

Yeah, I wish Asahel would have picked up some armor and lived. I would have liked to have heard more stories about his leadership in battle, but that wasn’t God’s will for his life. But I will say this, “Both physically and spiritually, I want to die like Asahel. He died on the battlefield. Not only that but he died with his heart literally poured out.

Let’s take note of some of the thoughts about his pursuit:

1. He had one purpose— put the right king on the throne. What could the body of Christ do for the Lord if all His people made that the purpose of their heart. “Start with me Lord! I put you on the throne of my heart. I want you and you alone to reign in me, and now Lord fill up my brothers and sisters with your Spirit and a knowledge of your truth that they could live for you.” Teach me Lord to learn how to truly prefer my brother and sister more than myself. It’s your will for me to love them like you loved me. Let it be more than just lip service. Teach me how to have the same mind in me that was in you (Phil 2:5)

2. The scripture says that he didn’t turn to the right or the left. I counted at least 13 times that the Bible talked about staying the straight path and not turning to the left or the right.

We’ve learned how to—trust in His finished work, but what about reverence? The fear of God, the aww of God, by the grace of God not turning to the right or left and running the straight course?

Hebrews 12:12-14

Proverbs 4:26-27

26 Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. 27 Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.

Asahel didn’t just walk a straight path he ran it full blast to preserve God’s will

3. He wasn’t interested in preserving his own will.

Matthew 20:25-28

25 But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. 26 But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; 27 And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: 28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

Everybody wants to be the boss and everybody wants to be seen. Every last one of us at some point and time in this Christian journey will get in the way of God’s will for our lives and the lives of others. Asahel wasn’t worried about his career, he wasn’t concerned about preserving his own life. He was on the battlefield serving his king!

4. Asahel was ready to die for this purpose. The Christian life as we have been discussing is all about dying to self. Simply stated, He died for us and our flesh must die for Him.

An ongoing spiritual tug of war where the Holy Spirit is constantly revealing to us the uncleanness of our hearts. Once you think your sanctified today, you will realize next year that there were other things that you didn’t even realize were there before. If you know that you’re wrong and refuse to humble yourself:

1 Peter 5:5-6

5 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. 6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:

One of the hardest things is to humble yourself to God, no really humble yourself. Because it’s one thing to humble yourself to God, but nearly every time I’ve done that, He asks me to humble myself to man. And man doesn’t want to make himself vulnerable to man because it makes him feel weak, but it’s really based in fear and a lack of faith that God isn’t big enough to get you through the situation. “I can’t do that. They will think I was wrong. I will look small in man’s eyes.” This is all a part of dying to self my friend. It’s more than the obvious things. It’s attitudes and mindsets and deep seeded personality flaws, insecurities from our past and we’re trying to preserve and protect self. No, self must die and then Christ can be formed in us:

You can’t have resurrection power if you don’t die with Him. You might have something, but if you’re not dying, it’s not what God is offering:

Philippians 3:10

That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

But with all that said, that is spiritual death. The death that we so often talk about. But Asahel died a physical death. He loved not his own life even unto death.

And that is what it will require if you’re ever faced with the real enemy that is trying to take the throne of your King. And you must know that is what he wants and he will not stop until he’s thrown into the pit or we die fighting the good fight of faith:

Revelation 12:11

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

A Raging River in my Soul

Psalm 23

A raging river in my soul

I often think about the lives of Bible characters and then remember messages that I have preached. These thoughts intersect with thoughts that I think about people that I know today.

Maybe you only think about a couple people, but I think about most of the people in the church pretty regularly. I consider the things that I know about each person’s life. I consider where they’ve been and where they are. I consider the trials and circumstances and the battles that they may face.

What happened to Tamar after Amnon threw her out and locked the door?

What could have Absalom done differently that would have prevented his anger and bitterness that resulted in his tragic death?

What made the little girl from Israel stay hopeful even after she was taken captive and forced to served in Naaman’s house? How was she not full of sorrow and heartache over losing her parents and able to witness about God’s power and help Naaman the leper get healed?

What would have happened to Peter after the denial had Jesus not helped him?

Did Paul just conveniently forget Stephen’s stoning?  Or was there a time, not mentioned in scripture where his heart was overwhelmed with sorrow for the things that he had done in the past?

Surely, he allowed God to heal his heart and turn his failures into victories instead of letting the devil use them in his life to make him want to quit.

He must have allowed the Holy Spirit to enter in to those deep places of his soul and bring healing? Or do you think that he just buried those thoughts somewhere deep in his heart, in one of those compartments in his soul— you know throw it in a room of the mind, close the door, lock it and forget about it?

I don’t know. The Bible doesn’t speak on that. Sometimes the Bible is either silent or synoptic on things and we can only wonder.

But we do know that in the world there are tribulations: the word means to be pressed. Life is full of trials that cause pressure and pressure that we just try to pretend isn’t there is not really being dealt with properly. These hidden problems can be quiet and peaceful one moment and suddenly swell into raging river the next.

Hurts and pains can occur anytime along the life span. We can be hurt as a child by our parents. Some people have had harsh childhoods. They grow up in an environment where there was either some type of abuse or neglect: verbal, physical, sexual… or maybe it’s not that, maybe it’s just neglect. Sometimes you can just feel like someone doesn’t love you or care much about you and that they are rejecting you and it can be painful. So what do we do about that? What are we supposed to do about that?

I know you people are pretty seasoned in the word. Maybe someone will watch on video and say, “Well, I’m over here waiting to hear preacher, what must I do?” You must, I must, the people in this room must learn how to allow God to heal them.

“Nah, I’m good preacher. I’m a man and now you’re talking about girl stuff. Feelings and all that kind of stuff.” Well, maybe you think right now that you don’t need healing from hurt that has been caused to you, but is it possible that someone else needs healing from hurt that has been caused by you?”

In one of the recent messages I preached, I mentioned that the veil is torn and access has been granted. In His presence there is fullness of joy and where the presence of the Lord is there is free-dom. Would we enter in and let Him minister to these places of hurt in our hearts.

Have we let Him into the deep places of our hearts? To turn on the light, to search the heart to try the reins, not looking for sin alone, but looking for sick spots, disease, infections of the heart, poisonous plants or roots of bitterness that have been placed by other people, or will we let Him reveal the hurts that we have caused others?

No, I like locking it away in a compartment and hiding it. That works for me. No, it really doesn’t because many times this is the weight that besets you. Many times this is the weight that breaks in on you and messes up you race.

Hebrews 12:1

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

Weight- a bulky mass, a hindrance, an encumbrance.

I have to be honest, as we move further into the plan of God, I’m realizing that this church isn’t going to be for everyone. This church is for people who want to know what God is really saying to the churches, a church for people who are willing to let Him start with them and from there use them to start on someone else, but don’t be deceived, once He starts, He will never stop because He wants to deal with both the sins and the weights that are trying to beset you. Satan, through sins and weights is trying to wall you off in the race [illustration].

I’m over here running...

But there are weights, burdens and I don’t even realize it but they’re getting in the way. They change the way I treat other people. I’ve been hurt, so I hurt. Oh man you’re talking Psychology. No, I’m talking Psuchology.

The pains that we suppress and refuse to give to God can affect our spirit man? They can cause a heaviness or cause one to become broken, which results in us not handling our business right towards others.

Sometimes we’re the one that caused the pain, but we’re so busy thinking about how we’ve been wronged that we’ve moved past what we did to others and we’re  ready for our blessing from God, but He’s got me stuck in a spot and I can’t move. Why can’t I move from here? Why does it seem like I’m stagnant in my walk? Why do I not grow? Maybe He wants to deal with these things in our heart. The issues of the heart. The weights and the sins we caused others or that have been caused towards us. He wants to heal us.

It doesn’t matter whether you use the word soul, heart or mind it doesn’t matter— all these words speak about a certain layer in the inner person that we really don’t know much about. The word has some things to say about it:

1 Thessalonians 5:23

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God wants the entirety of our person to be separated from the world and to be made holy unto Him. We know that this is an ongoing process. We understand that this is an ongoing work of the Holy Spirit. We understand that the Holy Spirit works through the work of the cross and like a surgeon He’s cutting away flesh and planting seeds of fruit that will result in a new harvest of hope that will result in joy for you, your family and others around you.

If you were already wholly sanctified, if your soul was already where it needed to be then He wouldn’t warn you:

Romans 12:2 (a)

And be not conformed to this world…

He wouldn’t tell you that there was work to be done in  your mind if it was already completely fixed. I had a conversation with a man of God recently who made the point but the mind is nous and the soul Psuche. Yes, I know that but the mind, nous is a smaller part of a larger compartment called the Psuche or the soul, which is the mind, the will and the emotions. The mind is a smaller part of a larger compartment, but in a sense it’s really the control center of the soul, which is who you are as a person.

In the life of the believer, the Holy Spirit is supposed to be the dominant controlling force in our lives and under that our mind, which influences the soul is supposed to be subject to the Spirit of God and help the Spirit render our soul in its proper order. Once it’s under the domination of the Spirit, then the other two parts of the soul can be in order: the will and the emotions.

Romans 12:2 (b)

…but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

God doesn’t want us hiding the weights and pains from the past in a deep compartment in our soul. He doesn’t want us:

• “drugging” it away,

• drinking it away,

• taking pills it away,

• going to therapy it away.

• He wants us to bring it to Him.

• He wants us to let Him in so He can speak to us, have His way with us and do a deep work in our hearts.