International School of The Bible
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Psalms 3:1-8
1 <<A Psalm of David when he fled from Absalom his son.>>
LORD, how they have increased who trouble me! Many are they who rise up against me.
2 Many are they who say of me, “There is no help for him in God.” Selah
3 But You, O LORD, are a shield for me, My glory and the One who lifts up my head.
4 I cried to the LORD with my voice, And He heard me from His holy hill. Selah
5 I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the LORD sustained me.
6 I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people Who have set themselves against me all around.
7 Arise, O LORD; Save me, O my God! For You have struck all my enemies on the cheekbone; You have broken the teeth of the ungodly.
8 Salvation belongs to the LORD. Your blessing is upon Your people. Selah
In airplanes there is not only an altitude meter, there is also an attitude meter. The altitude meter shows how high you are flying, but the attitude meter shows whether the nose of your plane is pointed up or down. That is very important when you are navigating only by instruments in bad weather. If you do not know the plane's attitude, you could crash, or stall.
It’s the same with us.
Notice in Psalms 3:3, David says that the Lord is the One who changes the attitude of his head.
Our head not only contains our eyes and ears but also our mind which functions within our brain. If our eyes, ears and minds are focused down, our entire life will go in that direction. It would have been very easy for David to keep his focus, his attitude down. Absalom his son had organized a military rebellion against David, his own father. The crowds were saying, “There is no help for him in God.”
David pulled out of a "nose dive" the same way we can.
We need to not only see that our enemies have already been defeated, but we need to live our life as proving that we believe that to be true.
Are enemies are twofold.
First our enemies are external spiritual beings and circumstances that occur in our lives. Second, our enemies are those mindsets that we carry from the old nature, our carnal mind, that support the lie. The lie says that not only are our external enemies stronger than us, but so are our inner enemies, our wounds, our addictions, our depression, our negative thinking, etc. The lie says to you that you have not really been changed by the finished work of Jesus' death and resurrection.
You may be living in a nation that is in poverty and war. You may find it difficult to find work and feed your families. You may be stuck in an addiction. But these enemies that oppose your well being cannot have indefinite dominion over you. You can overcome!
These verses tell us about the amazing finished work of our Savior Jesus and what He accomplished with His death and resurrection for us. These verses are to "lift up our heads" into the proper attitude.
9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;
10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.
11 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,
12 buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,
14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
Then we are warned against indulging the flesh, our old carnal nature which includes using vows and rules and regulations to fix our character flaws.
Colossians 2:20-23.
20 Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations--
21 “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,”
22 which all concern things which perish with the using--according to the commandments and doctrines of men?
23 These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.
Such [practices] have indeed the outward appearance [that popularly passes] for wisdom, in promoting self-imposed rigor of devotion and delight in self-humiliation and severity of discipline of the body, but they are of no value in checking the indulgence of the flesh (the lower nature). [Instead, they do not honor God but serve only to indulge the flesh.]
Colossians chapter 3 tells us more about our attitude.
First it encourages us again with the facts about who we are in Christ and what He did for us.
It encourages us to "set our minds" to an upward attitude.
Colossians 3:1-4.
1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
Then in the following verses in chapter 3 we are admonished to adjust our attitude in the way we treat others and ourselves. Note however, that this new conduct is the result of setting our minds on things above, on Jesus Chirst, and on who He made us to be. It is not the result of simply our own efforts. It is by grace!
Colossians 3:5-25.
5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience,
7 in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.
8 But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth.
9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds,
10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,
11 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.
12 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering;
13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.
14 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.
15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
18 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter toward them.
20 Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord.
21 Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.
22 Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God.
23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men,
24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.
25 But he who does wrong will be repaid for what he has done, and there is no partiality.
These activities, these methods of lifting up your head, will defeat all of your enemies, the ones in you and the ones around you!