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                         You Are Precious to Him!

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By David Wilkerson
October 24, 1996
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          "He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many
          waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from
          them which hated me: for they were too strong for me.
          They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the
          LORD was my stay. He brought me forth also into a large
          place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me"
          (Psalms 18:16-19).

          In this Psalm, David was looking back after a great
          deliverance. He was rejoicing because the Lord had
          rescued him from his enemies: "I will call upon the
          LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved
          from mine enemies" (Psalms 18:3).

          Indeed, David had just been through a terrible time of
          testing. Saul had put a bounty on his head and had
          chased him relentlessly, so that he was forced to sleep
          in caves, dens and open fields. David said of that dark
          time, "The sorrows of hell surrounded me, and I lived
          in distress. Ungodly men made me afraid My enemies were
          too strong for me. They all hated me!"

          But God came roaring out of the heavens to deliver
          David: "He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and
          darkness was under his feet." "The LORD also thundered
          in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail
          stones and coals of fire." "He sent from above, he took
          me, he drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from
          my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they
          were too strong for me." (Psalms 18:9,13,16-17).

          Demon powers had surrounded David. The enemy had come
          in like a flood. Yet David was able to say, "God came
          roaring forth to pull me out of those swirling waters.
          He rescued me from all my troubles!" "He brought me
          forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because
          he delighted in me." (Psalms 18:19).

                      -------------------------------

                         The Holy Spirit Gave David
                        a Revelation That is the Key
                            to All Deliverance

                      -------------------------------

          David could say, "The reason God delivered me from all
          my enemies - from all my sorrows and the powers of hell
          - is because I am precious to him. My God delights in
          me!"

          Beloved, if you need deliverance - whether from lust,
          temptation or trial; whether your problem is mental,
          spiritual, emotional or physical - this verse is the
          key to your victory. And the key is simply this: God
          delights in you! You are precious to Him!

          In Song of Solomon, the Lord says of his bride: "How
          fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights!"
          (Song of Solomon 7:6). Three of the Hebrew words in
          this verse are synonymous: fair (meaning, "precious"),
          pleasant (indicating "pleasure"), and delights.

          These words describe Jesus' thoughts toward his bride
          as he beholds her. He looks at her and says, "How
          beautiful, sweet and delightful you are. You are
          precious to me, O love!" And in turn, the bride boasts,
          "I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me" (Song
          of Solomon 7:10). The meaning here is, "He runs after
          me with delight. He chases me because I am so precious
          to him!"

          These same thoughts are found throughout the Psalm: )
          "The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in
          those that hope in his mercy." (Psalms 147:11). "For
          the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will
          beautify the meek with salvation." (Psalms 149:4).

          Now, I can try to convince you of God's delight in you
          by telling you, "You are precious to the Lord!" Yet you
          may only think, "Well, that's a lovely thought. How
          sweet."

          But this truth is much more than a lovely thought. It
          is the very key to your deliverance from every battle
          that rages in your soul. It is the secret to entering
          into the rest God has promised you. And until you lay
          hold of it - until it becomes a foundation of truth in
          your heart - you will not be able to withstand what is
          ahead in this wicked time!

          Isaiah had a revelation of God's great delight in us.
          He prophesied to Israel this word from the Lord:

          "But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O
          Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for
          I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name;
          thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I
          will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall
          not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire,
          thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame
          kindle upon thee" (Isaiah 43:1-2).

          Isaiah wasn't talking about a literal flood or fire. He
          was talking about what the people were going through
          spiritually and mentally. They were in captivity at the
          time - and their floods were trials, their fires were
          temptations, their rivers were testings. It was all the
          devil's attempt to destroy and overwhelm God's people.

          Isaiah's words were a message of pure mercy to Israel
          They were in captivity because of their own stupidity
          and foolishness. They deserved nothing. But God sent
          them a weeping, brokenhearted prophet who said, "God
          wants me to tell you that you belong to him!"

          Right now, you may be "passing through" your own
          swirling waters. You may feel overwhelmed by a
          temptation that threatens to ignite and consume you.
          And you fear you may be destroyed by it.

          You've got to understand from these biblical examples:
          God does not always calm the waters. He doesn't always
          keep the floods from coming. He doesn't always put out
          the fires, Yet what He does promise is this: "I will
          walk with you through it all! This trial or
          circumstance is not going to destroy you. It will not
          burn or drown you. So, walk on. You will come out on
          the other side with me beside you!"

          That was all the three Hebrew children needed to hear.
          When they were thrown into the fiery furnace, a fourth
          man was there with them - Jesus! They didn't get
          burned. In fact, their clothes and hair didn't even
          smell of smoke. Beloved, that is the very kind of
          deliverance God wants to bring to you!

          What is God's motivation for wanting to deliver you? Is
          it because you have done something to appease him? Have
          you increased your prayer time? Do you spend more hours
          reading scripture? Have you promised never to fail him
          again? Isaiah had the true revelation: "Since thou wast
          precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable, and I
          have loved thee... Fear not: for I am with thee... "
          (Isaiah 43:4-5).

          God was saying to Israel, "You are about to go through
          fires and floods - but I'm going to walk with you
          through them all. And I'm going to deliver you in the
          end, simply because you are mine! I know you by name.
          And you are a delight to my heart!"

          "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not
          of yourselves: it is the gift of God. Not of works,
          lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:9). "But we are
          all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses
          are as filthy rags..." (Isaiah 64:6).

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                          Even if You Lived to Be
                          Five Hundred Years Old,
                           You Wouldn't Live Long
                            Enough to Please God
                            by Your Own Doings!

                      -------------------------------

          It doesn't matter what you do to try to clean yourself
          up. If you don't trust Jesus to save you through his
          grace, all your righteousness is as filthy rags in
          God's sight. Your flesh isn't accepted before God; it
          can't even be reformed. All flesh was done away with at
          the cross. Now a new man has come forth - the Christ
          man. And true faith is having confidence in what He did
          for you!

          You may say, "I can believe that God delights in holy
          pastors. They pray and spend so much time in the word.
          And I can believe that elders and intercessors are
          precious to him. They've endured sufferings, testings
          and trials, and they have come out victorious.

          "But I find it hard to believe that a troubled, failing
          Christian like me could be precious to God. He has to
          be disgusted with me, because my life is so
          up-and-down. I've got problems I can't seem to get
          through. I feel like I'm in his doghouse. Oh, I believe
          he still loves me. But surely he is disappointed in me,
          because I've failed him so often!"

          Please understand: Isaiah's wonderful prophecy of grace
          was spoken to a people who had been robbed, spoiled,
          snared in holes and cast into prison - all because of
          their own foolishness and unbelief! It was at such a
          point that God said to them, "Now - after all your
          failures - I come to you with this message of hope. And
          it is all because you are mine!"

          I will never forget the pain I endured when one of my
          teenage children came to me and confessed, "Dad, I've
          never once felt as if I have pleased you. I've never
          felt worthy of your love, I feel like I've let you down
          my whole life. You must be really disappointed in me.
          I've failed you so many times!"

          Those words hurt. I embraced that tearful child,
          hurting deeply inside myself. And I thought, "How
          wrong! I have shown this child my love. I have spoken
          it and demonstrated it time after time. All my other
          children have felt secure in my love. How could this
          child carry such a misconception for so long, and bear
          such unnecessary misery and guilt?"

          I cried as I told this child, "But you have always been
          special to me. You have been the apple of my eye! When
          I'm on the road conducting crusades, I think of you and
          my whole being lights up. Sure, you've done foolish,
          wrong things at times, just like your brothers and
          sister. But you were forgiven! You were truly sorry,
          and I never once thought less of you. You are nothing
          but a joy to me. You've made me happy all your
          lifetime. You have been a delight to me!"

          So It is with many Christians in their relationship
          with the Heavenly Father! The devil has convinced them
          they've only disappointed God and will never be able to
          please him. So they don't accept his love. Instead,
          they live as if his wrath is always breathing down on
          them. What a horrible way to go through life! And how
          pained God must be when he sees his children living
          that way.

          Perhaps you were raised in an unloving, uncaring
          family. Maybe your mother or father or siblings made
          you feel as if you weren't worth anything. You never
          felt special or precious to anybody in particular.
          Nobody ever put his arms around you and said, "I love
          you! You're special to me. I'm so proud of you!" How
          many children have grown up wanting to be special to
          their father or mother? And how many adults today
          struggle with perfectionism because they never felt
          precious or delightful to a parent?

          Over the years I have been moved to tears at the sad
          childhood memories of drug addicted men and women. Many
          have told me that their mother or father taunted them,
          yelling, "You're good for nothing. You can't do
          anything right. You'll never amount to anything the
          rest of your life!" They grew up feeling absolutely
          worthless, as if they meant nothing to anyone.

          Today, our streets are filled with run-away children
          who have been robbed of all sense of worthiness. They
          feel special to no one. So they give themselves to the
          first person on the street who makes them feel a little
          special. They offer their bodies to pimps, lust-driven
          men and women, other teenagers - anyone who makes them
          think they are worth something.

          Oh, thank God for Jesus! To him, you have always been
          precious. It doesn't matter what kind of home life you
          had, or what your earthly parents were like. None of
          that can ever compare to the love of your heavenly
          father. From the day you were born, you have been
          special to him!

                      -------------------------------

                     "... The Adulteress Will Hunt for
                    the Precious Life" (Proverbs 6:26).

                      -------------------------------

          The adulteress spoken of in this verse is Satan. He
          hunts down those who are precious to God!

          There are certain children who show a hunger for God at
          an early age. The Lord has put his hand on them, and
          they yearn for him from the time they're very young. I
          believe Satan is determined to hunt down every such
          child who is touched with childlike trust in the Lord.
          The devil understands the power that is behind such
          preciousness in God's eyes He saw what happened to
          little Samuel He watched as that young boy's heart
          reached out to God. And he saw Samuel grow up to be a
          mighty prophet who rocked his kingdom!

          Now the devil tries to seduce everyone who hungers
          after the Lord, Why do you think you are being so
          tested? Why do you think you have suffered so many
          attacks? You may have had a lifetime of trials, but it
          hasn't been because you are evil. No - it is because
          Satan knows how precious you are in God's sight. It is
          the precious life he is after!

          Several years ago, during an evangelistic crusade on
          the west coast, I met a young man who was a witch. In
          fact, he was the leader of a coven of witches. Even
          though this young man was deeply involved in the
          occult, he didn't believe Satan or his demons would
          ever possess him.

          One night as he tried to go to sleep, he saw horrible,
          demonic faces swirling on the ceiling of his bedroom,
          leering down at him, They began to gather like a cloud,
          and soon they formed a funnel, The young man realized
          they were about to come into his heart!

          He was petrified. Then he remembered something from his
          childhood. So he cried out, "In Jesus' name, go!" And
          all the demons vanished.

          The next night, however, those forces rallied even
          greater legions. As the young man lay down to sleep, he
          heard a roaring sound. When he looked up, the whole
          room was filled with ugly, horrible creatures. They had
          formed a funnel again. This time the young man stood up
          on his bed and shouted, "I claim the blood of Jesus!"
          Again the demons fled in disarray.

          The young man thought, "The next time they come, I
          won't be able to handle it." So he called a Christian
          he knew and asked him to accompany him to one of my
          crusade meetings.

          During the service, the young coven leader was
          convicted by the Holy Ghost, and he gave his heart to
          the Lord. The next night, he brought a suitcase full of
          his demon paraphernalia to the meeting. He testified
          that his family had had a background in the occult.
          But, he said, "I remember something else. When I was
          about six or seven years old, I had a heart for Jesus.
          I don't know how or why. But I clearly recall going
          into the woods behind our house and preaching my heart
          out!"

          I have seen this same heart for God in my own children
          and grandchildren. And I had that kind of heart when I
          was a child. So I knew exactly what this young man was
          talking about.

          Suddenly, a light went on in me - and I knew why the
          devil had tried to possess this young man and destroy
          him. It was because of how precious he was to God. The
          adulteress had hunted him down!

                      -------------------------------

                 The Bible Gives Us a Vivid Illustration of
                How Satan Tries to Deceive and Destroy Us -
                All Because We Are Precious in God's Sight!

                      -------------------------------

          This illustration appears in Numbers 13-14. Israel had
          sent twelve spies to search out the promised land. When
          these spies returned after forty days, they planted
          three lies in the hearts of God's

            1. "There are too many people in the land. And
               they're too strong for us!"

            2. "The cities are walled too high. The strongholds
               are too impregnable!"

            3. "There are giants in the land, and we're no match
               for them. We are helpless, finished!"

          These lies took the heart right out of Israel - and the
          people endured a night of despair: "And all the
          congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the
          people wept that night" (Numbers 14:1). Can you imagine
          this scene? Think of what it must have sounded like.
          More than 2 million people were weeping, wailing,
          moaning - focusing completely on their weaknesses and
          inabilities. Those wailing sounds of unbelief bombarded
          heaven.

          Take a good, hard look at that scene, beloved. You may
          see yourself in the midst of it! Have you ever spent a
          night like that one - wailing and moaning because of
          demonic lies that were planted in your spirit? Have you
          ever cried out to God, "I've had it - I can't take any
          more! This trial is too much. There are strongholds in
          me that will never come down. it's all over for me now
          - I'll never make it. I've lost the battle!"

          The devil throws these same three lies at all of God's
          people: "Your temptations are too numerous. Your lusts
          are too overwhelming. You are too weak to resist the
          power coming against you!"

          The word that God spoke to Israel is for us today also:
          "... ye shall be a special treasure unto me above all
          people; for all the earth is mine..." (Exodus 19:5).
          "For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God, and
          the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar [precious,
          special] people unto himself, above all the nations
          that are upon the earth" (Deuteronomy 14:2).

          I'm sure Israel felt precious and special to the Lord
          when He first saved them. After He delivered them from
          bondage in Egypt, opened the Red Sea and rescued them
          from Pharaoh's army, they must have said, "Look at the
          great miracles God performed on our behalf. He really
          loves us!"

          And most Christians today would say the same thing
          about their Savior and Lord: "Oh, yes - God saved me
          from sin. Look at everything he delivered me from. I
          must be special to him!"

          My question is: What happened? In just a few years,
          many Christians become like Israel All the problems and
          trials of life come upon them, and they think, "We once
          were precious in God's eyes - enough to be saved, that
          is. But now, after serving Him these years, we're only
          grasshoppers. We're meat for our enemies!"

          Such defeated believers no longer sense God's delight
          in them. In fact, many believe God has forsaken them!
          When Israel said, "We are grasshoppers in the eyes of
          the giants," they actually were saying, "God has
          treated us like helpless insects that are about to be
          stomped to death. Our enemy is going to smash us into
          the ground. We're no better off than grasshoppers!"

                      -------------------------------

               Joshua and Caleb Were of a Different Spirit!

                      -------------------------------

          Joshua and Caleb were among the twelve spies who were
          sent out. But they came back full of hope. They didn't
          shed tears, bemoaning their condition. Rather, they
          rejoiced after searching out the land. They were full
          of faith and vision!

          Do you know Christians who are like this? They are
          always rejoicing. You know they are enduring awful
          trials. Yet they seem to know how to get hold of God in
          the midst of their situation.

          Yet, what about you? Are you always down, always
          complaining? Perhaps your personal or family problems
          have possessed you and eaten up your soul. Dear saint,
          it doesn't matter what you are going through; you are
          precious to God. And if you come to Him with a
          repentant heart and a hungry soul, He will give you His
          vision and hope!

          Joshua and Caleb had a revelation of their preciousness
          in God's eyes. And they knew Israel was special to the
          Lord. That was the key to their hopeful, victorious
          spirit. Joshua said "If the LORD delight in us, then he
          will bring us into this land, and give it us...
          (Numbers 14:8). In other words, "Because he delights in
          us, we are as good as in the land already!"

          This is the same revelation David had: "He brought me
          out and delivered me - because He delighted in me!"
          Likewise, every victorious Christian today has this
          same revelation of the loving heavenly Father: "We
          can't fail! All our enemies are meat for us, because we
          are precious to the Lord, He delights in us!"

          Let me reveal to you the great mercy of God in the
          preaching of Joshua and Caleb. Israel had spent the
          night in rebellion - wallowing in unbelief, weeping as
          though God had forsaken them, and finally appointing a
          captain to lead them back to Egypt. Yet the Lord sent
          Joshua and Caleb to them. And they told the people, "In
          spite of your night of confusion - in spite of all your
          misery and complaining - God delights in you. He will
          lead you forward. Fear not - for you are precious to
          him!"

          Yet there is a warning here also. You see, Israel
          refused to believe God's message about how precious
          they were in his eyes. Instead, they preferred to focus
          on their condition - their problems, weaknesses and
          inabilities. And they gave in to their fears. Finally,
          God ran out of patience with them. He said to Israel:
          "And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this
          people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they
          believe me, for all the signs which I have showed among
          them? I will smite them with the pestilence, and
          disinherit them... " (Numbers 14:11-12).

          The Lord forgave Israel for Moses' sake. But they were
          not permitted to enter into the land. Instead, they
          were assigned a wilderness existence - a life given
          over to constant fear and destructive doubts. They were
          forgiven, but miserable! They had lost the hope, rest
          and peace that come from accepting and believing how
          special God's children are to him.

          Beloved, the only time God's patience runs out with us
          is when we refuse again and again to accept how much He
          loves us and that He wants to see us through our
          battles. Indeed, many Christians today have been turned
          back into a wilderness of their own making. They have
          no joy, no victory. To look at them, you'd think God
          had forsaken them years ago. No! It is that He has
          turned them over to their own complaining and
          murmuring!

          Thank God, Joshua and Caleb entered into the promised
          land. And what joy they had! God blessed them
          incredibly. They stood as green trees in his house
          until their dying days. They were men of power and
          vision - because they knew they were precious to God!

          You also are precious to the Lord, in spite of all your
          problems and failures. And no matter what your trials
          or struggles, you can be a green tree in God's house,
          just as Joshua and Caleb were. Simply stand on what his
          word promises: "He brought me forth also into a large
          place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me."
          (Psalms 18:19). That is the foundation of true faith.
          Amen!

          ---
          Used with permission granted by World Challenge, P. O.
          Box 260, Lindale, TX 75771, USA.

          This material is solely for personal use and is not to
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          County Free-Net Chapel holds exclusive rights from
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          on its web page. You are free to download, copy, print
          and distribute this material, so long as you do not
          post it on a different Internet site. You may, however,
          link this site to reference these messages.

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