PS 27

Developing the Heart of a Warrior Psalms 27:1-14

Psalm 27 NKJV

A Psalm of David. 1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid? 2 When the wicked came against me To eat up my flesh, My enemies and foes, They stumbled and fell. 3 Though an army may encamp against me, My heart shall not fear; Though war may rise against me, In this I will be confident. 4 One thing I have desired of the Lord, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord, And to inquire in His temple. 5 For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock. 6 And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me; Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord. 7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice! Have mercy also upon me, and answer me. 8 When You said, “Seek My face,” My heart said to You, “Your face, Lord, I will seek.” 9 Do not hide Your face from me; Do not turn Your servant away in anger; You have been my help; Do not leave me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation. 10 When my father and my mother forsake me, Then the Lord will take care of me. 11 Teach me Your way, O Lord, And lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies. 12 Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries; For false witnesses have risen against me, And such as breathe out violence. 13 I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living. 14 Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!

As believer’s we have not been called to be problem starters but problem solvers.

We’ve been called to be intercessors, gap-standers, conquerors, warriors of faith.

That’s why Paul constantly reminds us that our daily walk, as believer’s, is through a battleground.

Philippians 3:13–14 NKJV

13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, the enemy will be waging war against you.

He desires to bring you/me down. He wants nothing more than to destroy our faith and confidence, and to shatter our hopes and dreams and ultimately to defeat us.

This is where the heart of a warrior comes into play. (Story of Jap WW 2 Solder. 1972 He was a true warrior. )

In the very depths of your soul, beats the heart of a warrior, you will be prepared for whatever may come your way.

King David was a veteran of many physical wars, as well as many spiritual wars.

David knew how to engage the enemy and was determined to be victorious.

I believe, David is a prime example of developing the heart of a warrior and there are a number of lessons we can learn from this Psalm.

The first thing I want you to see is, developing the heart of a warrior begins by:

1. Placing our focus on our God, Not on our Fear. VS 1

Psalm 27:1 NKJV

1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?

“Light” Joy or blessing.

“Salvation” Deliverance, rescue. Salvation finds us in the dark, but does not leave us there,

This can only be accomplished when we focus on… who God is… how great He is, and what He means to us.

Max Lucado shares the story of a parakeet named Chippie, who has had a very bad day.

Here’s how it all began.

Chippie’s owner decided to clean his cage… with a vacuum cleaner. She was almost finished when the phone rang, so she turned around to answer it. Before she knew it, Chippie was gone.

In a panic she ripped open the vacuum bag and there was Chippie, covered in all manner of things one would find in a vacuum cleaner bag, and poor Chippie was gasping for air.

She rushed him to the bathroom, shoved him under the faucet and washed the dirt away. Suddenly she realizes that Chippie is cold and wet so she reached for the hair dryer!

Poor Chippie never knew what hit him.

His owner was asked a few days later how he was recovering.

"Well", she replied, "Chippie doesn’t sing much anymore. He just sits and stares."

Have you ever felt like that? One minute you’re singing praises, and the next you’re caught up in a whirlwind of stress. Life sucks you up into its vortex and just when you think you’ve recovered from one storm another storm begins to blows in.

What should you do? Well you can do 1of 2 things.

1. You can be like Chippie the parakeet and let your fear steal your song/joy.

2. You can develop the heart of a warrior, refusing to let your song die.

“my light. my salvation” Personal.

He is our light… He is our salvation and because of Him, NO enemy can take God’s salvation from us!

David says that spiritual warfare requires confidence. VS 2-3

Psalm 27:2–3 NKJV

2 When the wicked came against me To eat up my flesh, My enemies and foes, They stumbled and fell. 3 Though an army may encamp against me, My heart shall not fear; Though war may rise against me, In this I will be confident.

When the wicked (Evil, ungodly) attack, he likes to tear you apart. So we have to have confidence.

Confidence not in our own strength and abilities but in God, in His strength, HIS abilities and His power.

When we focus on God the enemy will always stumble and fall BUT when we lose our focus and the enemy to cause us to fear, we lose precious ground in our spiritual battle. Because fear causes us to back away instead of standing strong or moving forward…

“Encamped” Settle in or set up camp. That is what the enemy likes to do. David knew this well

BUT David, the veteran warrior for God, knew the secret to winning the fear game was to focus completely on his God and not on his fear. We need to be confident in God’s strength and not our own.

Next, a warrior’s heart is strengthened as we learn to:

Practice Unbroken Fellowship with God. VS 4 - 10

Psalm 27:4 NKJV

4 One thing I have desired of the Lord, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord, And to inquire in His temple.

“Have I desired”—what we cannot at once attain, it is well to desire. God judges us very much by the desire of our hearts.

What our your desires? Have gospel conversations. To grow closer to God. To make wise decisions. To be the light of the world.

When David says "all the days of my life" he is talking about having a constant and intimate relationship with God.

He is not talking about coming to God only when we’re in trouble but staying in constant, unbroken, fellowship with Him!

B. Look at verse 5. Why did David have assurance in times of trouble?

Psalm 27:5 NKJV

5 For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock.

Because before trouble (problems, difficulty, failure) ever got to him, he had been training to be a confident warrior of Almighty God and he knew that he was safe in the arms of his God.

Find Illustration about training. River Run, I had to train in order to make it.

One of the greatest mistakes you can make in spiritual warfare is to wait until you’re in the battle to train for the fight.

We have God on our side, we have His word, prayer, His wisdom, If you let the devil throw the first punch, he will knock you out! You and I MUST train BEFORE the battle ever begins and we must throw the first punch!

Psalm 27:6–7 NKJV

6 And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me; Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord. 7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice! Have mercy also upon me, and answer me.

David didn’t just show up when he felt like it. A major part of his life was worshiping in God’s house!

David was an excellent warrior for God because he was faithful to the house of God. He was not a fair-weather follower but dedicated to God and to His temple. Not only that, he brought his needs before God on regular basis not just when he was in trouble

The 21st Century believer is losing the battle in this area.

Psalm 27:8–10 NKJV

8 When You said, “Seek My face,” My heart said to You, “Your face, Lord, I will seek.” 9 Do not hide Your face from me; Do not turn Your servant away in anger; You have been my help; Do not leave me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation. 10 When my father and my mother forsake me, Then the Lord will take care of me.

When David cried out to God - God answered him.

Notice what God’s answer was "Seek my face" and David immediately replied, "That’s exactly what I will do then.”

God never asks us to seek the things of this world. He asks us to seek His face. He wants more than anything to have a real and personal relationship with you.

God desires closeness and even when those closest to you reject you God desires to spend time with you.

The key to victory in spiritual battle is a consistent, unbroken, relationship.

Do you walk with God face to face, or is your relationship with God "on and off"?

I want to challenge you to strive for consistency and make worship a priority.

3. Learning to travel on a straight path. VS 11

Psalm 27:11 NKJV

11 Teach me Your way, O Lord, And lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies.

“Teach me your way” (Not let me do it my way)

“Smooth path” plan KJV. Here he is talking about his life, to be the light for his enemies to see, tp live a moral life.

Very little is said today about the value of morality.

Traditional values in society have been torn down in the name of fairness and tolerance.

This has also led to weakness in spiritual warfare as the enemy tries to convince us that our values are outdated or "intolerant". As Christians, our desire must be the straight path.

Psalm 27:12 NKJV

12 Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries; For false witnesses have risen against me, And such as breathe out violence.

When you live a morally upright life, people will be cruel to you.

They will falsely accuse you of being "holier than thou" BUT you trust in the Lord for patience and protection.

Try living for Jesus and do or say something that makes someone mad and watch how they will attack your Christianity…We see it every day, as men/women are viciously attacked and accused of being imposters.

What amazes me is the very things they accuse you of being are the very things they do on a daily basis. But see they aren’t trying to live for the Lord…

I heard people. You Christians are always judging people and judging people is wrong. (Isn’t that a judging statement)

Psalm 27:13 NKJV

13 I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living.

God is a good and loving God who will reveal to you His goodness in your time of need.

There is a "good" and "right" way to live and there is a "wrong" way to live.

Those who teach moral relativism may try to erase the lines between right and wrong but we as believers know there is a difference between right and wrong.

Psalm 27:14 NKJV

14 Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!

The only way we can overcome society’s demand to compromise is to follow David’s advice here in verse 14.

We must look to the LORD, not to society around us for our guidelines for what is right and wrong. If we wait to see which way the moral winds are blowing we will be lost at sea.

Can I ask you something? Do you have that warrior’s heart? Are you winning life’s battles? Take some solid advice from the veteran warrior, David.

Make the adjustments the Word of God calls for and you WILL be victorious.