The Power of Right Believing: 7 Keys to Freedom from Fear, Guilt, and Addiction (27 page)

When David heard their words, fear seized his heart and he became very afraid of what the king of Gath might do to him. The Bible tells us that “he changed his behavior before them, pretended madness in their hands, scratched on the doors of the gate, and let his saliva fall down on his beard” (1 Sam. 21:13). Can you imagine the mental state that David was in? The champion of Israel was now groveling on the floor with saliva all over his beard!

Incensed that his servants had brought a “madman” before him, the king of Gath threw David out. Then, in the very next verse, the Bible records for us that “David therefore departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam” (1 Sam. 22:1).

Now that you understand the context, you can appreciate the words that were penned from the depths of that cave. After such a demeaning episode, David could have hidden in the cave and indulged in self-pity and condemnation, but instead he sang these words:

I will bless the L
ORD
at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the L
ORD
; the humble shall hear of it and be glad. Oh, magnify the L
ORD
with me, and let us exalt His name together. I sought the L
ORD
, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.

—Psalm 34:1–4

In his darkest hour, David chose not to be defeated by his circumstances. Instead he chose to bless the Lord and let the praises of the Lord be continually in his mouth. Was he fearful? Absolutely! That is why he was hiding in a cave. However, despite his fear that King Saul would capture him or that the king of Gath would slay him to avenge Goliath, he sought the Lord in worship, and God in His faithfulness delivered him from all his fears.

From 3D Army to Fearless Warriors

My friend, I want you to see that David entered the cave in despair, but something happened as David worshiped the Lord. And it didn’t just transform him, but it also transformed all the men who were gathered with him. The Bible tells us that when David was in the cave, “everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him. So he became captain over them. And there were about four hundred men with him” (1 Sam. 22:2).

I call this the 3D army since everyone who was distressed, in debt, or discontented gathered to David. And in the psalm, David encouraged all of these four hundred men to sing out loud in the cave and “magnify the Lord” with him (Ps. 34:3). As they did, their faces became “radiant” and they “were not ashamed” (Ps. 34:5).

So these men didn’t remain as the 3D army. They were transformed from glory to glory and became known as David’s mighty men. You can read all about their great exploits in 2 Samuel 23:8–39. They became fearless warriors, giant slayers in their own right, and faithful men who served David all the days of their lives.

In the same way today, when you choose to worship the Lord in the midst of your trials, you can’t help but be transformed. You may start out being distressed, in debt, or discontented. But your story doesn’t end there. As you keep your eyes on the King of kings,
He
will exalt you and cause you to become mighty!

From Fear to Faith

Let’s take a closer look at what happened to David. In Psalm 34, he wrote, “This poor man cried out” (obviously referring to himself), and continued, “and the L
ORD
heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles” (v. 6). David was hiding from his enemies, but as he worshiped, we see a change in his frame of mind.

He started out terrified, but we see how he kept shifting his thoughts away from himself and his own fears. We see how he kept practicing the power of right believing by declaring in his psalm how the Lord had heard him and delivered him. In the end, he stopped seeing himself as alone and besieged. Instead he declared with boldness that “the angel of the L
ORD
encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them” (v. 7).

In other words, as David worshiped the Lord, he was no longer afraid of his enemies. The angel of the Lord became more real to him than King Saul or the king of Gath. And David, who had just escaped by feigning madness and debasing himself before the people of Gath, could now boast in the Lord and proclaim this with confidence: the angel of the Lord encamps around and encircles those who worship Him, and He will surely deliver them.

Do you believe that today? It doesn’t matter if you are feeling fearful, if you are in distress, in debt, or discontented. Believe right.
Believe that when you seek the Lord in worship as David and his men did, the Lord will indeed hear you and deliver you from all your troubles. Worship is one of the easiest, yet most powerful ways of being free from self-occupation. Look away from the painful symptoms or the fearful circumstances that are bothering you, and worship Jesus. Be occupied with Him and everything will work together for your good.

Would you do me a favor? I would like you to visit josephprince.com/power, where I have included a worship video of me leading my church in singing the words of David in Psalm 34. This is not something I can accomplish in a book, but I want to demonstrate to you through the video how worship is one of the quickest ways for you to focus on Jesus and overcome your feelings of defeat.

I am believing that as we worship the Lord, you will be completely free from any trouble or area of defeat that you are struggling with today. Let’s agree together that your body will be healed, that all your fears will disappear, and that all your addictions will be gone in the mighty name of Jesus.

Come magnify the Lord with me, come worship Jesus with the words of David, and experience His goodness and deliverance!

A
s the marauding armies of Moab, Ammon, and Mount Seir descended upon Jerusalem, Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, called for a state of emergency and gathered all of Judah to seek help from the Lord. All the men of Judah, with their wives and their little ones, stood before the house of the Lord with grim faces, waiting anxiously to hear from their king. They knew their enemies outnumbered them many times over, and the fear of losing everything they had now crushed their spirits. Some of the women cried uncontrollably, fearing for the lives of their husbands in the ensuing battle. The children in their midst, who had never witnessed their parents and relatives so fearful and downcast, just waited with uncharacteristic quietness for the king to speak.

Have you been in a situation like this, where your circumstances appear to be completely hopeless? Where you felt immobilized and overwhelmed by the challenges surrounding you, with no way out or even a temporary respite in sight?

That is exactly what happened to the small tribe of Judah when they were besieged on all fronts by three powerful and bloodthirsty armies rapidly advancing toward them (see 2 Chron. 20:1–4). With their enemies mercilessly bent on annihilating them and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, it was a forlorn and hopeless situation, and it looked like they were bound for a tragic end.

Hope for Hopeless Times

There may be seasons in our lives where it seems as if our challenges are coming at us simultaneously from every direction, and we are completely inundated by problem after problem. Perhaps the strain of a financial challenge led to cracks in your marriage as well as the development of a medical condition
and
a heavy mental oppression. Under the accumulated weight of it all coming against you at once, you feel as if your entire life is spiraling out of control and falling apart. Day by day, your circumstances appear to be fast deteriorating despite your best efforts to salvage things.

In such desperate times, what do you do when you honestly don’t know what to do?

I believe that the answer can be found in the Bible’s account of the battle of Jehoshaphat. There are many precious and practical gems of wisdom there that you and I can benefit from, especially when it comes to facing great pressure and feeling paralyzed by the sheer scale of the adversities surrounding us.

Overcoming Fear

I just want to draw your attention to the fact that when Jehoshaphat was informed that a great multitude was coming against him, he feared. That’s right, Jehoshaphat’s first reaction was fear! I don’t know about you, but this gives me hope! I’m so glad that the Word of God doesn’t censor unglamorous details. It gives us an authentic portrait of who Jehoshaphat was. He wasn’t a valiant warrior king who was always full of faith and endowed with a disproportionate dose of fiery courage, always ready to take down his enemies. No, he was a regular guy. He was just like us. When he heard the bad report about his enemies, he did what you and I would have done—he panicked.

But what set Jehoshaphat apart was that even when he was fearful, the very first thing he did was to “set himself to seek the L
ORD
” (2 Chron. 20:3). That is something you and I need to learn to do as well whenever we are fearful. Instead of spiraling deeper into the abyss of self-defeat, know that when you are feeling overwhelmed by your circumstances, that is the time you need to set yourself to seek the Lord. It’s certainly not the time to run away from God or get bitter, angry, frustrated, and disappointed with Him. Hey, God is not the author of your troubles. He is the author and finisher of your faith, victory, and success.

Jehoshaphat shows us that it’s quite all right to be fearful. We all experience bouts of fear from time to time. God doesn’t condemn you when you are afraid. But when you receive a negative medical report or some bad news about your family or business, set yourself to seek the Lord. Jesus is your answer! His perfect love for you will cast out all fear.

Having True Bible Hope

After Jehoshaphat had gathered all Judah to him, he stood before the people in the house of the Lord and prayed, “O L
ORD
God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand You?” (2 Chron. 20:6).

What do you see in the words of Jehoshaphat’s prayer? Instead of rehashing his fears to the Lord and lamenting about how overpowered by their enemies their small tribe was, Jehoshaphat centered his prayer and thoughts on just how big and powerful his God truly is. He proclaimed boldly that “no one is able to withstand” the Lord. No one, not even the mighty warriors of Moab, Ammon, and Mount Seir! In a hopeless situation, Jehoshaphat
hoped
in the Lord.

I call that Bible hope! Hope is a beautiful word in the Bible. Hope in the New Testament is the Greek word
elpis
, which is defined as a “favorable and confident expectation” or “the happy anticipation of good.”
¹
This means that when you hope in the Lord, there is a joy in your countenance (simply put, a smile on your face). There is a
confident assurance in your heart that, bleak as the circumstances appear to be, it’s not over yet.