Study Notes

I.      It’s the plan of the enemy to keep you troubled and upset about something all the time

A.    Satan is the oppressor-Psalm 72:4 (To press upon); Psalm 43:2-The oppression (pressure, distress) of the enemy

1.      This war is a war of attrition and his plan is to wear you down until you give in and give up

a.    Judges 14:12-20-17-She cried before him for 7 days He gave in because she lay sore upon him; He’s feeling pressure and he gave in

b.    Judges 16:16-She pressed him daily with her words and his soul was vexed to death

2.      The enemy pushes and pressures and keeps on and – Your patience is the enemy’s greatest frustration

B.     He wants us to walk around in a constant state of being troubled (upset, agitated, bothered, frustrated, distressed, worried, mad) – It’s like a cloud of heaviness hovering over you all the time

1.      Ex: You are constantly occupied with the care (pressure, weight) of your ministry, your finances, your family, your future

2.      He wants to keep you unaware that you are walking around like this and unaware of the truth that you don’t have to live like this and unaware of the truth that you shouldn’t be living like this – Many are living like this and don’t recognize it

a.    Stop pretending – Be honest with yourself and with the Lord about your faith – Mark 9:23

3.      Most Christians spend entirely too much time being upset about something and according to the Lord we are not supposed to be spending any time being upset about anything; We are not to be living our lives day in and day out troubled, bothered, upset, frustrated, heavy and sorrowful

C.    A fool is upset about something all the time-Ecclesiastes 7:9

1.      If you don’t watch it you’ll walk around troubled about something all the time – You have to make a considered effort to cast your burdens on the Lord, trust Him and not live a troubled life – You do this on purpose and develop in this on purpose-Psalm 131:1-3

2.      It’s the behavior of a fool because it’s a continued commitment to an action that yields no profit

a.    Matthew 6:27-Worry (Troubled) is a waste; It’s a waste of our energies, of our time; Nobody has ever fixed anything by worrying about it and being anxious about it; You’re never going to reach a level of worry intensity where all of the sudden problems start getting solved; Worry is a waste of my life and my energy and my strength; When everybody is done heaving and crying and worrying where are you – No closer to your answer, in fact you’re further away

b.    Psalm 39:6-They are disquieted in vain – The vanity of being troubled

c.     When everybody is done heaving and crying and worrying where are you – No closer to your answer, in fact you’re further away

1)       1 Samuel 30:6-He was greatly distressed; Great, but nothing positive happened until he stopped being troubled

2)       1 Samuel 1-She was sorrowful and in heaviness; Great, but nothing positive happened until she stopped being troubled

3)       Ezra 9:3-5-Great he was heavy, plucked his hair and beard out, tore his clothes, but nothing positive happened

d.    Hebrews 11:11, Psalm 55:22-Faith in God would actually help and make a difference and add something to your life

D.    The enemy is pushing you to the spirit of Heaviness, the spirit of fear-2 Timothy 1:7, Isaiah 61:3

1.      He wants this to become the thing on the inside of you that influences what you see, how you think; He wants this to become your temperament, your frame of mind, the way you live; You take the care, your troubled, upset and heavy and don’t even recognize it and worse yet you think your in faith; You pray, but you’re still bothered, you confess the word, but you’re still troubled – “What are we going to do?” runs on a loop in your mind

2.      Psalm 69:20–He let this heaviness get in him and he got full of it – Reproach has broken my heart and I am full of heaviness

II.     Satan’s plan is to keep you troubled, because that’s the breach he needs to have access into your life

A.    Isaiah 7-This is a war situation and the key issue is will they or won’t they be troubled?

1.      3,4-When Ahaz, king of Judah heard that Aram & Israel joined forces he and his peoples’ hearts were moved (Tremble, quiver, disturb, unstable); God sends the prophet Isaiah to Ahaz for the sole purpose of addressing the fear

2.      6-If the enemy can get you troubled he can get access into your life – The opposite of that God being a shield to those who trust Him-Proverbs 30:5

a.    Vex-Distressed, feel sickening dread, be grieved; Breach-Break through, break into, break down

3.      4-God wants them to stop being troubled and the enemy wants to get them vex/troubled – This shines light into what the key issue is and that is whether or not they’re going to be troubled

a.    Be quiet-Be at peace, undisturbed, lie still, rest, display quietness; Fear Not-Be afraid, be dreadful; Fainthearted-Soft, weak, timid, fearful

4.      9-If you WILL NOT believe (trust, stand firm), surely you will not be established (Supported, carried)

a.    ERV-Believe this, or you will not survive; CEV-If Ahaz and his officials don’t trust me, they will be defeated; TLB-If you want me to protect you, you must learn to believe what I say

B.     Ephesians 4:26-27, Job 3:25, Ecclesiastes 10:8-When you’re troubled the enemy has access

1.      Angry-Agitation of the soul, any violent emotion; Agitate-Disturbed, shaken, tossed from side to side, disturbance of peace in the mind; Wrath-Indignation, wrath, exasperation; Place-Opportunity, power, occasion for acting

C.    Philippians 1:28-What the enemy sees when you’re not troubled – If he can’t get me troubled, he has no chance to defeat me

1.      In NOTHING be terrified-frighten, affright

2.      When you are refusing to be troubled it’s a sign to the enemy that he will gain no victory in your life

3.      The evidence that you’re going to win is that no matter what comes you won’t be troubled

D.    1 Peter 5:5-9-The enemy is seeking who he may devour; What would keep him from being able to devour you?  If God kept you and sustained you then the enemy wouldn’t be able to devour you; What is going to determine whether or not God can sustain you? If you’re troubled and carrying the care God can’t sustain you, care for you

1.      Be sober and vigilant about casting your care on the Lord because the enemy is looking for a person not trusting to gain access into their life

E.     He wants to press upon you and have you troubled, carrying the burden and not in faith; He’s trying to press you out of faith, out of trust – To him this is all about your faith and if he can get you troubled he can get access into your life;

III.   There’s only one way to make it through this life unscathed by the enemy and it is to be sustained by God and there is only way to be sustained by God and that is to cast your burden upon and trust Him and refused to be troubled

A.    Psalm 91:1-The devil has to get you out of there – Trust put you there and being troubled will get you out of there

1.      2-Trust-Confidence, careless – 3-Surely he will; 4-He WILL cover thee with his feathers-7It will not come nigh thee; That’s confident trust

2.      5-Why would you not be troubled by the terror, arrow, pestilence and destruction around you?  Because you trust God to keep you and sustain you 

3.      Is he being sustained and kept? The arrow didn’t hit him, the pestilence didn’t come on him, the destruction missed him, 1,000 on his left side got hit, 10,000 on his right got hit, but it didn’t come near him and he was seeing come on others with his eyes, but he never saw it come on him

4.      His confident trust and refusal to be troubled has everything to do with why he is being sustained and kept (IT WON’T COME ON ME)

5.      9-You make the Lord your refuge (shelter, protection), the one who sustains you? By trusting him and not being troubled-Proverbs 30:5

B.     What’s going to keep what’s coming on them from coming on us? God sustaining us – And who does God sustain and keep? Those who trust– 1 Peter 1:5-9

IV.   There’s great emphasis placed on you not allowing your heart to be troubled; God is strong on this in His Word

A.    Matthew 6:25-Jesus said, “Take no thought for your life.” – Thought-Troubled with cares, anxious

B.     Philippians 4:6-Paul by the Spirit said, “Be careful for nothing.” – Careful-Troubled with cares, anxious, take thought, have care

C.    1 Peter 5:7-Peter by the Spirit said, “Cast all your care upon him.” – Care-Anxiety

D.    John 14:1,27-Jesus said, “Don’t let your heart be troubled.”