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Threats to Take You Out

I’m not sure who said, “The more things change the more they stay the same.” But that couldn’t be more true when it comes to the enemy’s strategy to take you out.

The setting in 2 Kings 18 is the reign of King Hezekiah on the throne of David in Jerusalem.

A good king.

A righteous king.

In fact, verse 5 says he “trusted in the Lord, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him…”

Now, you might think that Hezekiah’s righteous reign would give him some sort of immunity from the enemies of Israel, but you’d be wrong. “Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah” (2 Kings 18:13).

But what I would like to look at with you are the lies the enemy used to demoralize Hezekiah and weaken his faith in God. They are the same lies he is still using in 2018 against you and me.

It is so important for you to identify these lies in the battle you are facing:

  1. Don’t expect anyone to come help you. You are all alone, cut off and isolated in this battle (18:21).
  2. You have actually offended the Lord while thinking all along you were doing His will (18:22).
  3. You have totally inadequate defenses to face the enemy in battle (18:23-24).
  4. Look at the terrible things that have happened to people you know in a similar situation (19:13).
  5. Don’t think that it isn’t the Lord Himself who sent me to take you out (18:25).
  6. Just accept your situation and give up now (19:10).

How did Hezekiah defend himself against this strategy of intimidation? The same way you and I can, by the Spirit:

  1. Hezekiah humbled himself in the presence of the Lord and went directly into the house of the Lord (19:1).
  2. Hezekiah sent his leaders, also covered in sackcloth, to get the Lord’s perspective on the situation through a trusted servant of the Lord, Isaiah (19:2).
  3. Hezekiah, on receiving additional threats from the enemy in a letter, carried that letter into the presence of the Lord in the Temple and cried out to the Lord in intercession (19:15-19).

And the Lord heard Hezekiah’s prayer (19:20), sent Hezekiah a sign to strengthen the King’s faith (19:29), and struck down 185,000 Assyrian soldiers who were camped around the City of God (19:35).

Child of God, don’t be intimidated by the enemy’s tactics against you. He has been doing the same thing to the people of God for thousands of years.

I pray the Lord rebuke him and his attack on your faith, right now (Jude 9).

You resist him in Jesus’ name and he must flee from you (James 4:7).

And may the Lord grant you to see the enemy defeated and the name of the Lord glorified in your life.

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