By: Sis. Vesta Mangun
OUTLINE
I. How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?
A. All of us have our own harps
1. We’re not out of Babylon yet
2. Hang up all of your hang ups and take down your harps and sing
B. God’s people were slaves in Babylon
1. Slavery had cut their hearts into a thousand pieces
2. Babylonians began to needle them
3. Babylonians required much of God’s people
a) Babylonians wanted them to them to sing in a strange land
II. They shouldn’t have hung up their harps
A. They were gonna need their harps again
1. Don’t hang up your harps, you’re gonna need them
B. They should have harped on
1. But they were tired
2. They had lash marks on their backs
3. They got impatient
C. They had the chance to go back and get their harps
1. They had become foreignized
2. They had confirmed to the heathen customs of Babylon
3. They never came out of Babylon
4. They were buried in Babylon
D. Salvation puts us on the frontline of battle
1. We’re not locked away in a monastery snug and safe
2. We live in a world of conflict
a) Many have been wounded
b) Many have not survived
E. We only need to hear from God once
1. Noah heard from God one time in 120 years
F. How do we play our harps?
1. With strings of prayer, fasting, praise, worship, thanksgiving, testifying, preaching and witnessing
G. Satan will come around and needle us
1. Remember what God has said is already established
2. God will not break his covenant
H. There is power in God’s word
1. For it to be effective we must speak it
2. God never prayed the problem, he prayed the answer
I. There is power in the blood
1. It cleanses from sin
2. Sing the blood, plead the blood
J. All of us are hurting
1. The happy-go-lucky crowd tries to hide their hurting by drinking, drugs and partying
a) God has tied himself to us with 7,000 promises
b) Kneel beside your promise today
K. And it came to pass
1. Elijah, Moses and Daniel found this to be true in their lives
2. God helped them through and all their situations came to pass
L. Don’t discredit anyone and quit being judgmental
1. God can forgive anybody or anything
M. In the midnight hours you are gonna meet with all kinds of problems
1. Rejoice in the Lord always
a) No sickness is greater than God
b) No situation is more baffling to God
N. Hang up all of your hang ups
1. Take down your harps and sing
2. Give praise to the Lord
In Psalms 137:1-4, the Bible says, “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For they that carried us away captive required of us a song: And they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?
Slavery in Babylon had cut hearts into a thousand pieces. There they carried them away captive, and required of them a song and used them. Remember, we are not out of Babylon ourselves. Babylon is a type of the world that we live in today. We need to take down our harps out of the in their harps in the willows, they wept. History reveals that they should have never hung them up. They ought to have strummed on even though they had the lash marks upon their backs. But they were tired, weary, jostled with fighting and most of all, they were getting impatient waiting for their promised deliverance. They had prayed, fasted and worshiped, but as of yet nothing had happened.
Sometime later when the time can for them to go back to Jerusalem, they didn’t take advantage of the opportunity. They had become foreignized and they became acclimated. They should have rejoiced on through the thick and the thin, but they had become conformed to the heathen customs of Babylon. As a matter of fact they never came out of Babylon. They died and were buried there. SALVATION PUTS US ON THE FRONTLINE!
Salvation has not locked us away in a monastery somewhere snug and safe. It puts us on the frontline fighting an enemy that has had 6,000 years of experience.
We live in a world where there is conflict, pain, sickness, and death, resulting in sorrows and tears. Many have been wounded, many are hurting and many have not even survived these circumstances that have come their way. By these circumstances, we have the first-hand experience with disappointments, frustrations and it is absolutely disturbing to our minds. That’s why Paul said, “Be strong in the Lord…put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Ephesians 6:10-11).
This world system and this subtle flesh has intimidated and robbed us of our promised victory. It has many of us enslaved with timidity and guilt. The end time forces are out to destroy everyone of us. They have even gone as far as tempting some of us to end it all, give it up and throw in the towel. But we need to hang up all of that negative talk. I have seen God answer the unanswerable.
Whatever your circumstances, disappointments, problems, griefs, hurts and pains are, you need to hang them up. We need to rediscover what our mighty weapons are. Our harps are those weapons. We need to take them down and sing. We’ve been raised up together and have sat together in heavenly places. So, together the gates of hell cannot prevail against the church. Never give in, never give up, never step aside and do not run and hide. Don’t forget that what God has said is already established and God will not break His covenant with you.
We should never be intimidated, because we have been touched by a mysterious force from another world. We can do nothing alone but, with God we can do all things. The Bible tells us that God will give us power to overcome the enemy and nothing shall hurt us (Luke 10:19) All of the forces that’s being thrown against us in this end time, God can and will help us to withstand. Because we know a name that’s above every other name. And in that name there is victory over sin, disease and sickness. “Whatsoever we do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Colossians 3:17).
When Satan comes around telling you that he has you now that you are be yourself, put a smile on your face. Because you know there is power in the name of Jesus. The name is just one of our mighty weapons, another one is the Word of God.
THERE IS POWER IN THE WORD
God’s word is creative power, but for it to be effective we must speak it. To speak it we must know it and read it. God never prayed the problem, He always prayed the answer.
Kneel beside your problem and stay there until you get your answer. It’ll come to pass, we read this phrase in the Word of God many times. Moses, Elijah and Daniel are a few of the people that found this statement to be true. You’d think Daniel had prayed enough, that he could of kept quiet for thirty days. He thought, to himself, that to quit harping would be to lose his life and not harp would be to lose his soul. So an angel came and locked the jaws of the hungry lions and Daniel walked away from the den unharmed.
Stand on the promises of God and He will take you through. Don’t hang up the promises, hang up your hang-ups and take down your harps and play. God has promised us that He would be with us, even unto the end of the earth (Matthew 28:20).
THERE IS POWER IN THE BLOOD
The blood cleanses us from sin. Don’t be tormented with something from yesterday, the day before or any other time. Plead the blood and get whatever it is that’s bothering you under the blood as fast as you can.
EVERYONE IS HURTING
There’s no reason for anyone to be hurting. Even the happy-go-lucky crowd is hurting. They try to hide it with drinking, with drugs and partying, but deep down inside the hurting is still there.
God has tied himself to us with 7,000 promises so there is no reason why anyone should be hurting. God’s power begins where our limitations leave off. A miracle is in the making for everyone of us. We have not because we ask not. A miracle is an impossibility made possible.
DON’T DISCREDIT ANYONE
It is not right to discredit people and we have to quit being judgmental. Leave them alone, God can forgive anybody or anything. It doesn’t matter what the sin is.
IN THE MIDNIGHT HOUR
At sometime in our walk with God we are gonna meet up with all kinds of problems. Remember to rejoice in the Lord. There’s no sickness too great and no situation too baffling for our God to work out. When no one else can help you, God can. He is able.
When we get to where we can’t do anything is when God gets His chance to prove His power to us. The devil tells us that God doesn’t love us anymore and that all the prayer and praise business no longer works. Don’t listen to that. Hang it up. That’s devil talk. The devil is a liar and an accuser of the brethren. God said He would not forget any of us. What He has started in us He is able to finish.
We are gonna pick up speed n the end time. The devil has great wrath and we’re gonna get great wrath to go against him. He does not know what or who he has come up against when he starts telling his lies and accusing us.
HANG UP ALL OF YOUR HANG UPS
We all have hang ups. They differ from person to person. It doesn’t matter that they differ from each individual, all we need to do is turn all of them over to God. He will take care of them and this is the only way we can live a victorious life. Give praise unto the Lord, He is the greatest! Take down your harps out of the willows today, play them and sing praise to the Lord.
(The above message was preached at the Women’s Conference in Alexandria, Louisiana, April 1987.)
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