May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble!

Psalm 20 (NASB) from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Prayer for Victory over Enemies.

For the choir director. A Psalm of David.

20 May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble!
May the name of the God of Jacob set you securely on high!
² May He send you help from the sanctuary
And support you from Zion!
³ May He remember all your meal offerings
And find your burnt offering acceptable! Selah.

⁴ May He grant you your heart’s desire
And fulfill all your counsel!
⁵ We will sing for joy over your victory,
And in the name of our God we will set up our banners.
May the Lord fulfill all your petitions.

⁶ Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed;
He will answer him from His holy heaven
With the saving strength of His right hand.
⁷ Some boast in chariots and some in horses,
But we will boast in the name of the Lord, our God.
⁸ They have bowed down and fallen,
But we have risen and stood upright.
⁹ Save, O Lord;
May the King answer us in the day we call.

May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble! Whatever your trouble whether you are battling physical enemies, having struggles with people, finances, health, any number of things or your struggle is against spiritual or emotional enemies, know that the Lord will hear you in your trouble.  In Psalm18:2-3 the psalmist says:

The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. 3I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, And I am saved from my enemies.  

In Matthew 14:29-31, when Peter had stepped out of the boat in faith, to walk on the water toward Jesus scripture says:

And He said, "Come!" And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!" 31Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him,

Just as He did for Peter, if you cry out to the Lord He will stretch out His hand and take hold of you. He may as He did for Peter lift you out of that place of difficulty and trouble, or He may simple walk with you in the storm or battle you are facing.

Verse 4 says:  May He grant you your heart’s desire And fulfill all your counsel!  In Psalm 37:4, the psalmist shares the secret to having your heart’s desire.      Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.          To delight in the Lord is to honor Him above all else, to worship and commune with Him, to be so in tune with God that you know His heart and so the desires of your heart become the desires of His heart.

In John 5:19-20, Jesus says: “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. ²⁰ For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing

That is the unity we can have with Jesus and the Father also. That’s the unity that brings us the desire of our heart. The same is true of the second part of that verse, And fulfill all your counsel. If we will receive our counsel from God, if we will walk in His way, He will fulfill our counsel. How do we know and receive the counsel of God?   James 1:5-6 says:

 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. ⁶ But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.

If we ask He will give us the answer. But if we ask in faith, then in faith we must respond and do what God tells us. Far too often when we hear God’s plan, His counsel for our situation we seek another way or we try to help God, adding our own plan to His plan. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. The shortest way out of our problem is to follow the straight path that God has for us.

Verse 7 says: ⁷ Some boast in chariots and some in horses, But we will boast in the name of the Lord, our God. Chariots and horses were a symbol of military power and authority, a symbol of human power. Paul reminds us where our strength lies. In 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, he says:

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, 4for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,…

Our battles are fought first and foremost in the spiritual realm. When we take the fight into the physical realm we must rely on physical strength. In the spiritual realm our weapons are divinely powerful. In 2 Corinthians 12:9 Paul says God assured him: "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness."  This brings us full circle. When we rely on God, allowing Him to fight for us, trusting in His strength rather than our own weakness, when we, boast in the name of the Lord, our God, He will deliver us and save us.

 They (our enemies) have bowed down and fallen, But we have risen and stood upright.
 Save, O Lord; May the King answer us in the day we call.

Thank You Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus my King and Holy Spirit. You never fail or forsake, You are always faithful.     Amen.