My Helper, My Sustainer

Have you ever felt like God is angry at you for your sin, disappointed in you for your weaknesses, and punishing you for your repeated sinful choices? Has it felt like God’s left you all alone to fight the beast by yourself? Nothing could be further from the truth.
 
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Transcript

Have you ever felt like God is angry at you for your sin, disappointed in you for your weaknesses, and punishing you for your repeated sinful choices? Has it felt like God’s left you all alone to fight the beast by yourself? Nothing could be further from the truth.

Welcome to The Point of Purity Podcast. A weekly study filled to the brim with the all the tools from Scripture you will ever need to build a lasting life of Biblical purity. I’m your host Steve Etner – author, National Speaker, Certified Professional Mentor TM and Purity Coach for The Pure Man Ministry and this is Episode #190. This week’s Episode is entitled “My Helper, My Sustainer.”

Hebrews 4:16 tells us that we can “With confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

You can have confidence that when you cry out to God, He will hear you. Psalm 145:18 assures us that “the Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.”

And in 1 John 5:14-15 we see that “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of him.”

As we saw in a previous episode, in Psalm 25:1 David writes, “To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.” If you recall we are seeing David making the intentional choice to daily lift up his soul to God. Choosing to yield, to fully surrender every aspect – every moment of every day - to the Lordship and Leadership of God in his life.

From this we are discovering the necessity of daily making this same choice – lifting up our soul, fully and completely surrendering everything we are over to God. This can SEEM to be a terrifying thing, but it doesn’t have to be.

In Psalm 54:4 David declares - “Behold, God is my helper; The Lord is the sustainer of my soul.” Focus for a moment on the fact that David says, “God is my helper.” He says it again in Psalm 118:7 “The Lord is on my side as my helper.”

Let me pose this question to you: What do the words “God is my helper” mean to you as it relates to your struggle against temptation and sinful habits? Just think about this: GOD is my helper. The almighty, all-powerful, thrice-holy, eternal Creator of the Universe is my helper! He’s your helper! You can’t get any higher, any better, more powerful than that!

Secondly, God IS my helper. David didn’t say He could be my helper. He didn’t say God might be, or even He should be. He IS my helper. Present tense. Right now, the almighty God IS my helper.

Third, God is MY helper. He cares about me – personally. He cares deeply about you, my friend. Scripture tells us that He even knows the number of hairs on your head. He is MY helper!

And fourthly, God is my HELPER. In Isaiah 41:10 God says “Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and I WILL HELP YOU, I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.” The Apostle Paul adds, in Romans 8:31 ... “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” IOW: with God as your helper, you not only CAN defeat your sinful habit – but you WILL crush it!

Ahh, but here’s the question you must now answer: Do you believe – truly believe – that God is your helper in the area of victory over sinful temptation? For that matter, over any and every spiritual battle you face.

If your answer is “yes,” consider this next question: are your life’s choices and daily behavior supporting that answer? Truth-be-told, your answer, of necessity, has to be “no, I don’t truly believe God is my helper” – otherwise you wouldn’t be losing the battle, choosing instead to worship the false god known simply as “King Me.”

I want you to pause here and consider the power of what David is saying. “God is my helper.” “The Lord is on my side as my helper.” Exactly whom is David talking about? If you answered “God” or “The Lord” you would be correct. But it goes much deeper than that. David is referring to the Supreme, Sovereign, Almighty God; the all-powerful, thrice-holy Creator of the universe. This isn’t just any ol’ – lower case “g” god he’s referring to (and he’s definitely not speaking about King Me) – he is talking about the one and only Elohim! Think about that. The True God of the universe is your helper!

One of the major struggles you face is truly believing that God wants to help you through your spiritual battle, that He wants to help you overcome your bondage to King Me. Instead, you feel like God is angry at you for your sin, disappointed in you for your weaknesses, and punishing you for your repeated sinful choices. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Hebrews 13:6 says, “We can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me’?”

In Psalm 121 we read these encouraging words: “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. ... The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. ... The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.”

David writes in Psalm 46:1 that “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

In Psalm 28:7 he says, “The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped;”

And in Psalm 118:7 we read, “The Lord is on my side as my helper; I shall look in triumph on those who hate me”

Has the point God’s trying to make here gotten through? Has it sunk in yet that He IS your helper in your time of trouble, trial, and temptation? So, let Him help you!

Not only is God your helper, but David also says (in Psalm 54:4) that God is the “sustainer of my soul.” In other words, God is the only One upon whom you can fully lean and completely rest for strength and support - at all times - and in every aspect of your life. As you choose to daily lift up your soul to Him, only God will hold you up and keep you from collapsing or giving way under the weight of your trial, temptation, or test.

In Psalm 73:26 David writes, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

Here’s my point: In Psalm 25:1, David is saying that he is lifting up his soul to God – he is fully surrendering and totally yielding all that he is to God because he is confident that God will not only take care of him but meet ALL of his needs. Every single one of them. What about you?

So far, we’ve seen that lifting up your soul to God means you are choosing to totally and completely surrender everything you are and everything you have over to God. Let’s move our focus now upon the word “surrender” and ask this question: What does it mean to “surrender”? 

To “surrender” is to completely, willingly, and unreservedly yield every aspect of your life to the possession or power of the Almighty God, your Creator and the Savior of your soul. It is acknowledging and admitting to God that that which you are surrendering is no longer yours to have, to hold, and to use as you see fit. You are willingly submitting it all to the power and authority of God. He owns it all. Every aspect of your life, everything that happens to you and for you is under His Sovereign control.

Do you truly, genuinely want to be free from your temptations and sinful habits? Do you want to live in constant, consistent victory over sin in your life? Yes? Then you must daily choose to surrender “your 'self’ to God.”

You must daily choose to yield completely and unreservedly everything you are and everything you have over to God’s perfect authority in your life. Then and only then will you be able to set yourself against the devil and successfully withstand his barrage of temptations. Only then can you “resist him, (standing) firm in your faith”.

Submitting yourself to God, lifting up your soul to your Heavenly Father – in every area of your life is the only way to (as Ephesians 4:27 commands) “give no opportunity to the devil”.

Never lose sight of the fact that the problem you are struggling with is not lust. It’s not anger, alcohol, drugs, greed, pride, envy, jealousy, rage, or any of a huge list of sins we may struggle with. Those aren’t the problem; they are the by-products of the real problem. The real problem you are struggling with is a worship disorder of the heart. In your heart you are worshiping the wrong god. Wrong worship leads to wrong behavior. To change your behavior, you must start by changing your heart.

Therefore, this submission to God, this lifting up of your soul, this total and complete surrender is NOT primarily about handing over your sinful desires to Him. Yes, that is certainly part of it. However, before you can – or will – choose to do that, you must first choose daily to surrender your heart, your life, your will, your desires – yourself over to God.

“To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.”

James 4:10 tells us that surrendering everything over to God’s authority in your life requires that you “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” Why? Because as James 4:6 reminds us, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

So, here’s a question for you to ponder: Throughout your battle with your sinful habits, in what ways have you been proud? Consider this: until now you have tried to fight the beast and live in victory in your own strength, your own willpower, your own ability to “fix” the problem. That is a form of pride.

Proverbs 16:18 warns us that “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” And in Proverbs 11:2 we see that “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.”

You cannot - and will not - experience victory and freedom apart from the power of God at work in your life. In Philippians 4:13 Paul declares “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” This is why you must choose to fully and daily surrender your soul AND BODY to the Lordship and leadership of God in your life.

Do you remember the powerful words of Jesus in Luke 9:23-24 when He says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.”?

To “deny” yourself is to permanently set aside your own personal desires and interests that are contrary to those of the One to whom you owe your life to. In other words, (as the Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20) “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God.”

This is the epitome of “lifting up my soul” to God! This is the essence of loving “the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37). This is the embodiment of James 4:7 - “submitting yourselves therefore to God”! It’s not about what you want, need, desire, long for, must have or can’t live without! Never, ever! It’s ALL about God’s glory, God’s honor, God’s praise, God’s will and God’s way!

Life is not about you. It’s not about your self-gratification or happiness or fulfillment or satisfaction. You are not alive for your own personal pleasure. You are breathing right now, your heart is pumping right now, blood is coursing through your veins and the synapses are firing in your brain right now because God has willed it. Not so you can enjoy the pleasures of the flesh, not so you can get something gratifying out of life - but so that you may glorify God and give Him all of your worship and praise.

I Corinthians 10:31 commands: “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

When you make life all about King Me, YOU are getting in the way. You are setting a different course and purpose for your life – one that is separate from and in direct opposition to God. You are taking the attention and glory away from God. In Isaiah 42:8 God says, “I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other.” This is why you must deny yourself. This is why King Me must die.

However, King Me isn’t going to just curl up in a corner and quit. King Me will never give up and go away. Unless you choose to daily die to yourself, King Me will continue to hound you, haunt you, and harass you until you give in and worship yourself once again. This is a never-ending struggle. This is an ongoing battle. I’m telling you this, not to discourage you, but to warn you. This is daily spiritual warfare.

Paul describes it well in Galatians 5:17. “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” 

Here’s a question for you to seriously consider. In your struggle for victory over your sinful habits, what are the desires of your flesh that typically hound you? I challenge you to read Galatians 5:19-21.

This leads me to another very important question for you: In your struggle for victory and freedom from temptation, what are the desires of the Spirit of God – what is it that God wants for you?

As long as you are alive on planet earth, you are stuck “driving” through life in your “car” (your sinful, fleshly body); a car that is permanently out of alignment, a car that is constantly dragging you off the path of godliness, pulling you away from a right relationship with God. The flesh wants nothing else but to please King Me. The flesh wants to feel good. Galatians 5:17 reminds us that the flesh is and always will be against God.

This is why you must daily keep your hands on the steering wheel, forcing yourself to stay on the path toward the will of God for your life. The Spirit of God within you is telling you to deny the flesh, refuse to let it draw you away and choose instead to submit to God. 

Listen as I read to you the words of Romans 8:5-8: “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

This is why you and I must daily “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:11-12)

OK. Let’s hit the pause button until next week’s episode. In the meantime, if you would like to learn more about today’s study, or if you’re interested in learning more about The Pure Man Ministry (what we do to help men across the globe find freedom and victory over sexual sin), be sure to visit our website to see the multitude of resources we’ve made available to you – you can find our website at ThePurityCoach.com.

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And if you have not yet subscribed to this podcast, let me encourage you to do so today so you won’t miss any of our upcoming episodes! So, until next time this is Author, Speaker, Certified Professional Mentor TM and Purity Coach Steve Etner reminding you that if you are going to glorify God in your everyday living, He must first be glorified in your every moment thinking.