Do You Want Relief or Victory?

We call, asking God to move, and He does, but sometimes He does not give us immediate relief from the assault. Instead, He desires to give us victory over it. These things, relief and victory, look very different.

Transcript

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Hi everyone, I'm Ivy. You're watching the podcast of Authentic Worshiper. And I have a message today called Do You Want Relief or Victory? Do you want relief or victory? This is a message that I came across when I was reading along in the Psalms, and one small verse just exploded in my heart. The Lord just spoke to me about how to proceed in the battle that I'm now facing. And I want to share this with you. I hope it will encourage you as well. This is Psalm 138, verse 3. And it says, On the day I called, you answered me. You made me bold with strength in my soul. David said, On the day I called, you answered me. You made me bold with strength in my soul. Now, many of us are dealing with the trials and tribulations of life. And we call to the Lord in distress and we say, This is a critical matter, Lord. I need you to respond. It could be a financial matter, or maybe a health uh issue, or maybe a relational issue, whatever it is, some of the things we go through feel so critical and are so critical, and we need the Lord to answer. And he many times will answer immediately. Sometimes he answers immediately. But other times he answers like this. And this was peculiar to me. We know that sometimes we have to wait on the answer from the Lord, but this is what he wants to give us as an answer if we can receive it. On the day I called, you answered me, you made me bold with strength in my soul. Now, I sometimes I don't want boldness, I want relief. I'm I need relief, Lord. But instead, he says, Well, I'm gonna make you bold this time. This time I'm gonna make you bold. Well, what does that mean? What does that mean? So I looked it up, and when I did a deep dive trying to study the meaning of that word made me bold, it just so helped me. So here's what I found. Uh, the word means to urge severely, to harass persistently, to press or urge with troublesome persistence, and it suggests an annoying persistence in trying to break down resistance to a request. It means to capture, to act insolently, it means to behave proudly, to act stormily or boisterously or arrogantly. It means to rage, to be fierce, to act fiercely, to press upon, to urge on. That's what it means. Now, sometimes when the uh the trials of life come against us, we get scared or we get mousy and pitiful. Oh God, what's happening? And that's okay. But the Lord wants to bring you to a place of boldness today. He wants to bring you to a place where He and you act together with the upper hand over the assaults of the enemy. He wants you to not have to have not only relief, you know, where we just go, oh, thank God it's over. But victory, where the enemy that has come against you is not just stopped, but he is subdued, and you have your foot on his neck. The Lord wants you to have such victory that you gain an authority that you didn't have before. He wants to work in you during during this time of battle so that you have his authority, almost like you're being debutized, to go out and be used of him to deliver people that are in the same situation that you're in. He doesn't want you just to find relief, he wants you to be because of this, he wants you to be useful in his hand. He wants you to walk in authority that would break yokes off of other people. Does that make sense? Okay, I want you to hear what I wrote about this. I wrote, the Lord will sometimes give us boldness as our answer. Boldness to do what? To fight. Sometimes when we are attacked by the enemy, we get mousy and pitiful. So when we cry out to the Lord, he begins to make us bold. And he says, Okay, you want victory? You'll need to fight. Come on, I'm gonna help you, but you'll need to fight, and I'll put the fight down inside of you. I'll give you the boldness, I'll put the fight inside of you so that you can storm hell and take the victory. And when you come out of this, you will not only have relief, but authority. Your enemy will have been not merely stopped, but subdued. And you will find that I have given you authority, not just for your situation, but to rescue others out of their situations. So don't be discouraged that my answer is not immediate relief, but it's a summons. It's a charge. It's a charge to engage in the battle. Now remember, I'm fighting for you, and it is I that give you the victory, but you must fight. So I hope that this brings clarity to your situation, and that you are being emboldened by the Lord now to rise up and speak the word of God over your situation, to pray uh uh continually to pray earnestly and persistently over this situation. So I want to pray for you. Father, I pray for those that are listening. I pray, Father, that they wouldn't settle for just relief, but for victory. They would desire to press on into victory. That's what you're speaking to me to do in my situation. And I pray that others would join me by doing the same in theirs. Father, you said that we would hear your voice behind us saying, This is the way, walk in it when we turn to the left hand and when we turn to the right. So, Lord, I know you'll give us strategies day by day, moment by moment, step by step, strategies for the day as we persist in pursuing your victory in these matters, Father. David said, I have pursued my enemies and overtaken them, and I did not turn again until they were consumed. That's Psalm 18, 37. He says, I have pursued my enemies and I didn't turn around until they were consumed. And I pray, Lord, that the people watching would have that kind of stamina, that kind of perseverance, that kind of endurance. Father, strengthen my brothers and sisters to stand until they see the victory. You said that whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. So, Lord God, give them strategies, strengthen them to stand, Father God. Let the word be in their mouth, Father, let it be in their ears. And Father God, I pray that, Lord, you will show them great victory and then use them to bring it also to others. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, thank you for watching, and I will see you next time.