Walking Supernaturally

Walking Supernaturally

in a 

Fallen World

This page deals with...

How to lay down

Offense.

Learning from David's Choice

2 Samuel 7:1-2

The Bible says,

Now it came to pass

when King David

was dwelling in his house,

and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies all around,

that the king said to Nathan the prophet,

“See now, I dwell in a house of cedar,

but the ark of God dwells inside tent curtains.”

Beth says,

Let's step back, and I will add these comments:

King David had been living in a beautiful palace.

David was grateful to God for all God had given him.

Continuing with Beth's background comments:

~

One day as David was looking out

at the tent that housed the Ark of the Covenant,

his thoughts

came bursting out of his mouth to Nathan the prophet

who was standing nearby,

"I live in a house of cedar

(a house of grandeur and privilege)

and God lives in a tent."

David's heart was filled with a desire

to build a magnificent house for God.

The more David thought about it,

the more excited he became.

He began to picture

the ornate, awe-inspiring building abundantly decorated

with gold.

As David was speaking to Nathan the prophet

about building a house for God,

Nathan got excited along with David.

Yet...

Later in the evening, God spoke to Nathan and told him that David would not be the one to build the temple. 

God told Nathan to go and give a lengthy message to David. that included the news that David would not build the temple.

The entire message is written in 2 Samuel 7:4-17.

Summary so far...

It appeared that

David had a Fabulous Idea

and then

God said, "No."

~ ~ ~

God shut the door on David's idea.

A Personal Note:

Sometimes I pray to God and ask that

my thoughts and ideas

on a situation or topic, etc. 

won't get set in concrete in my mind -

  if

God does not want me to do it.

I know that

if

I get enthusiastic about some great thing

with great ideas attached

and I start making plans

and I get my emotions all excited,

then,

it is much harder to hear God saying "No."

And after hearing

"No,"

then there is the difficult task

of having to lay down all my plans and ideas and instead

try to be happy towards God's will.

I just would rather

God shut my ideas and plans down early in my thought process.

BUT

if

God doesn't,

then I sometimes wrestle with offense against God.

I sometimes get my ideas so stirred up

inside myself

that I yearn to convince God to do it my way.

Back to David...

When David heard the message that Nathan gave him, it would have been normal for David to feel let down and disappointed.

It would have been an opportune time for David to pick up some hurt or self-pity or anger or other-type offense toward God. David could have let it influence his relationship with God.

You and I have occasions almost every day to pick up offense.

Sometimes offenses that we harbor - 

g-r-o-w

and turn into bitterness and resentment.

Offense is one of the

main

monsters

we deal with.

And many times we make friends with

the monster of offense

instead of running it out of our life. 

God wants us to be aware

when

offense

is

creeping into our relationship with God and with people.

Walking Supernaturally

Back

to

David

Instead of accepting ANY kind of offense,

or

ANY kind of negative choice,

David chose humility.

He humbly received the news that he was not to build the temple. Then David immediately focused on God's good promises for him.

The Bible is full of God's good promises for us to focus on.

Nathan gave David

a promise from God

that his kingly dynasty would be a forever one.

We probably have a more complete understanding

of this promise than

David did.

We understand that David's family line

would come to include Messiah Jesus.

And that

during the millennium,

Jesus

will sit on the throne

in Jerusalem

and rule the world.

And David will also rule in an honorable position with Jesus.

Overcoming Offense

The point I want to highlight is that

David rejoiced in the good gifts of God.

And

when

we feel

tempted

to hold offense against God,

we can choose to go through an exhaustive checklist

of the good things God has done for us

AND

the good inheritance

that he has promised to us in heaven.

Also,

David did not take offense

at the idea that

his son would one day build the temple.

*

In fact,

David joyfully

and tirelessly

spent the rest of his life

accumulating things for the temple

and

making plans for the temple

to help his son Solomon to later build the temple.

David let go of his plans and picked up God's plans.

~

David was walking supernaturally in this area of his life.

~

Below is a picture that reminds us of

David's enthusiasm as he praised God in words and with dance.

Do you

help those who get what you want?

?

Do you help or encourage them

with a happy attitude?

?

That can be tough.

Anyone

can respond naturally.

It is natural and human to get offended.

Yet -

God wants to teach us to

live

a SUPERNATURAL life

where

we transcend offense and live for the glory of God.

John the Baptist

appears to have had

struggles with

offense.

Luke 7:18-23

tells us that while

John the Baptist

was sitting in prison,

he began to have doubts

and

wondered if Jesus really WAS the Messiah.

*

John found it hard to believe that

Jesus would leave him in prison to suffer so greatly.

*

So John sent messengers to ask Jesus.

Jesus replied that,

Yes, he was the Messiah. And Jesus told John

to be careful

not to take

offense

against God and his plan.

Offense is a tough monster.

John had to fight it. We have to fight it.

*

We need to be keenly

aware

that

the devil and his demonic cohorts

will be setting us up

to become offended toward God,

offended toward others,

tempted toward all kinds of sin choices,

tempted to embrace emotions such as

anger or self-pity,

and

tempted to grow weary in well doing, etc.

We need to intentionally walk with God daily.

We must

daily

put God on the throne of our heart,

- - or - -

we will one day find that

we have many things such as

earthly treasures -

earthly emotions -

and any number of things -

that are

ruling our heart and directing our life.

I urge you

to consider,

sharing

this Bible lesson

with your beloved children and teens.

They need to hear about

the dangers of offense and ways to fight against it.

-

If you feel comfortable,

pray about perhaps sharing an example

of how you have struggled in this area.

And note that we have pages on this site about

The devil

Angels

The Trinity

Etc.

On our Bible devotion page.

I plan on doing a

Part 2

that deals with offense toward people.

And note:

When thinking about walking supernaturally, 

consider our forgiveness pages

Note:

Putting on the Full Armor of God

afresh and anew

helps give us strength for the day.

*

Consider our

Powerful Full Armor of God pages

Use this link - Here

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Walking supernaturally is posted in June 2024.