The God who girds me with strength and makes my way blameless; He makes my feet like hinds’ feet, and sets me upon my high places. He trains my hands for battle, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You have also given me the shield of Your salvation, and Your right hand upholds me; and Your gentleness makes me great. You enlarge my steps under me, and my feet have not slipped. Psalm 118:32-36.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God says:
Let Me make you more than a conqueror. You may think of yourself as little and weak but I do not. Remember Gideon? He called himself small and insignificant but I called him a hero with the strength of an entire army (gibbor chayil). Judges 6:12-15.
Let the weak say gibbor ani (I am mighty, I am a hero, I am a conqueror). I commanded you to do that through My prophet Joel. Joel 3:10. And you who are in Christ are that, for He is El Gibbor (God Hero, Mighty God). Isaiah 9:6 (5).
What I did for Moses, Joshua, Deborah, Gideon, David, Judith, Jeremiah, Mary, Elizabeth, Peter, Paul, Lydia, and so many others I can do for you. Are you willing to let Me make you a hero? A champion? The victor?
Many of the truths of this are set out for you in Psalm 18, a song of David whom I took from being the least in his father’s house to being the greatest king of Israel and Judah. And I made him a champion, more than a conqueror. Let Me do the same for you.
It all begins when you turn your attention off your own incapability and look at Me. And that is the way David starts Psalm 18: “I love You, O LORD, my strength.” You have to know where your strength comes from to be truly strong. My apostle Paul understood, he wrote: “Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.” It is not by your power or might, but by My Spirit, whose power in you can do exceedingly above and beyond all you can ask or imagine. Ephesians 3:20. It is not your strength but Mine in you that makes you a conqueror. For you have this treasure in earthen vessels and the surpassing greatness of the power is of Me and not from yourselves. 1 Corinthians 4:7. It comes from the anointing (the Holy Spirit) and I anoint you with power, wisdom and the oil of joy, My joy is your stronghold (place of safety and protection).
The next line of Psalm 18 reads “The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliver, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my Salvation, my stronghold.”
Do you see Me this way? I am all these to you and more. Do you take your safety and refuge in Me? Do you look to Me at all times to firght your battles for you (the battle is Mine) and to deliver and protect you? My Name is a strong tower (fortress)l, the righteous run to it and are safe. All who call on My Name will escape.
And what should you do when you are troubled and weak? “In my distress, I called upon the LORD, and cried to my God for help; He heard my voice out of His temple and my cry for help came before Him and into His ears.” Psalm 18:6. I hear your every cry. Even the ones that are only in your heart. For I know the word before it is on your tongue. Psalm 139:4.
And how do I answer those who cry out to Me in truth? I bow the heavens and come down. Psalm 18:9. Remember what happened when the Israelites remembered Me and cried out to Me in the oppression of the Egyptians? I gave head to their cry and I came down to deliver them from the Egyptians and to bring them to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey. Exodus 3:8.
I bring you out of a tight prison to a wide and open space. Psalm 18:19.
I send from on high and draw you out of many waters. Psalm 18:16. Have you never read Psalm 32? “Let everyone who is godly pray to You in a time when You may be found, surely in a flood of great waters, they will not reach him.” Psalm 32:6. And in the book of Revelation you will find in the end times when the dragon wars on the Church, he pours water like a river out of his mouth so he might cause the Church to be swept away in the flood, but I protect her. And you are the body of Christ, the Church. Revelation 12:13-17. Stay in My shield, My fortress. I delver you from your strong enemy. Psalm 18:17.
And the meat of Psalm 18, so to speak, that you should chew on (hagah- utter, mutter, speak, and get in your heart) gives you the plan to make you a champion. It is in lines 32 to 40 primarily. Although I would like to start with lines 28 and 29, where David sang to Me, “For You light my lamp, the LORD illumines my darkness, for by You I can crush a troop and by My God I can leap over a wall!” Psalm 18:28-29. I give light to your lamp. I illumine your darkness. And I do this by My Word, which is tried and true. Psalm 18:28-30. The spirit (neshamah) of a man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all the innermost parts of his being. Proverbs 20:27. And My Word is a light to your path and a lamp to your feet. When you are filled with My Word you are filled with light and shine as if a lamp is upon you. The revelation of My Word gives light.
Now, going to lines 32 through 40, you will see the following:
- I gird you with strength. Psalm 18:32.
My own strength I give to you so that you run and don’t grow weary, walk and don’t grow faint. I take you up on eagle’s wings to soar with Me. But there is more here. Do you remember the armor I give you? I tell you to gird your loins with truth. And My Word is truth and if you remain in My Word and it remains in you then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. You have to feed to fight. And you have to feed on My Word. It is the table I set before you in the sight of your foes. You can only battle with the Sword of the Spirit, because your real enemy is not a person but the devil and his demons. And you can only crush his head by the imperishable seed of My Word.
- I make your way blameless. Psalm 18:32.
I chose you in Christ to be holy and blameless before Me before the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1:4. And He leads you in paths of righteousness for His Name’s sake. He is the Way and He is blameless. And as He is so are you in this world. In Him you have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of your trespasses, according to the riches of My grace which I lavished on you in Christ. Ephesians 1:7-8. I made Him who knew no sin to be sin so that in Him you might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21. Stay in the light of My Word and His blood continually cleanses you of all sin. And Jesus sanctifies the church by the washing of water with the Word so that she is holy and blameless, and you are a member of the church, the body of Christ. Ephesians 5:26-27.
- I make your feet like hinds’ feet and set you on high places. Psalm 18:33.
Stand firm having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, Ephesians 6:15, for how beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace, and brings good news of happiness, who announces Salvation. Isaiah 52:7. Let Me direct your steps. Wait eagerly for Me and I will pull you out of the pit and place your feet on a height and put a new song into your mouth of praise. Psalm 40:1-3. I have raised you up with Christ and seated you with Him in heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come, and I put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. Ephesians 1:21-23. Let Me make your enemies your footstool.
- He trains my hands for battle so my arms can bend a bow of bronze. Psalm 18:34.
Life and death are in the hand (yod) of your tongue. That is what I tell you in Proverbs 18:21. So how do you train for battle? The same way I told Joshua to train for the battle in the Promised Land—to meditate (hagah- mutter, utter, speak, ruminate) on My Words day and night, to speak them only and not turn away from them to the right or the left. And he did that and conquered all. The victory that overcomes the world is your faith, and the spirit of faith is that you believe and so you speak. Take up the Sword of the Spirit, which is My Word, and My power will be fighting for you. And My strong arm is Jesus, “to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?” Isaiah 53:1. By My own arm I came down and saved you. Isaiah 59:16.
- I give you the shield of My Salvation and My right hand upholds you. Psalm 18:35.
I clothe you in the garments of Salvation- Yeshuah- Jesus. He is your shield and your salvation. And I give you the shield of faith to withstand all the fiery arrows of the evil one. Do not fear, I have covered you with the shadow of My hand and put My Words in your mouth. And Jesus holds you in His hand and there is no snatching out of His hand, and when you are in His hand, you are in My Hand and you can never be snatched from Me. And even if you fall, you will not be hurled headlong, because I am the One who holds your hand. Psalm 37:24.
- My gentleness makes you great. Psalm 18:35.
The Hebrew word here is anvah, which means gentleness, meekness, and humility (anavah). Remember that Jesus tells you that He is meek (gentle) and humble of heart and invites you to come to Him to be restored, refreshed and rested. He stooped to make you great. I had My Son humble Himself to the form of a slave, even to the shame of death on the cross, to give His life to make you great.
Yes, in Jesus, I have girded you with strength for battle (given you the victory over sin and death in Him) and have subdued those who rose up against you. Do not ignore so great a Salvation. Receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness and reign in life through Christ Jesus.
I have given you the victory. Write the vision down and run with it. And I will give you not only hinds’ feet on high places but the wings of an eagle to soar above the mountains. But above all you want to go with the wings of the dove. My Spirit with and in you.
And now I say to you what I once said to Gideon: “The LORD is with you O mighty champion!” Now go in this your strength where I send you and surely I will be with you and you shall defeat the evil one as one man. Judges 6:12-16. And have no fear, the battle is Mine, you have only to go out and face the enemy and station yourself to see My salvation on your behalf for I am with you. 2 Chronicles 15-17.
I love you. Let Me make you more than a conqueror, because actually you already are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:37. If I am for you, who can be against you? Romans 8:31.