Practical helps for ruling over your spirit
Category: Peace & Assurance
Key Passage: Proverbs 25
Speaker: Paul Chisgar
Date: August 27, 2023
Turn your Bibles, if you would, to Proverbs chapter 25, please. Proverbs chapter 25. We’re going to continue on, I believe. This is our last Sunday on how to have a healthy spirit, just a touch different. This will be very different, a typical Sunday morning message for me, very much different than the typical. But your spirit is so very, very important.
And I’ve been thankful, praising the Lord, to hear some have said, “I’m working at my spirit, and it’s not right. I notice it, and I pray about it and ask the Lord to help,” and so on and so on. And I’m thrilled about that because that’s key.
The first week we preached on this subject, we talked about you have the trump card. That’s talking about you have the Holy Ghost. He’s greater than He that is in the world living inside of you. And then the next Sunday, whose spirits you’re going to get? Remember Elijah and Elisha and Elijah going up in the whirlwind, the chariot, all that. And then last Sunday, how to get your bad spirit right? And we talked about getting in the cab, driving out of there, amen. Help me out. What does C stand for?
Wow, some of you stayed awake. Now, I got to say something. Did you hear the prayer for the offering, Brother Garrett? He did a wonderful job. I’m picking on him. But, Lord, give us rest, emotionally, physically. And I said, don’t pray for people to sleep during church time now, you know. I’m teasing with me, you know.
C, A, B. We got a bad attitude. Confess. A is for ask, and B is for believe. Believe He can take out of that spirit—bad spirit. Good.
Then today it’s just going to be a little random today: practical helps for you to rule over your spirit. Practical helps for you to rule over your spirit. All right. It’ll be a little bit like a… Anybody ever go to a buffet and, you know, you want to get a little bit of everything? Ask me, man, I want to taste it all. Just if it’s only a spoonful, I want to taste it all, you know, and just go and you get everything. It’s going to be a little bit like that this morning. I’m praying for God to God. Typically, we’ll go just one text or one passage and hit that, you know, but we’re going to be all over the place this morning.
Get your Bibles ready to go. We’ll turn what we can. We’ll see how much time we got. But would you do this? I do ask for this: Would you ask the Lord, because we’re going to cover different subjects, which subject is really the one that’s for me? The Lord knew you would be here. And I’ve prayed, tried to seek the Lord over this. One of these sayings, I believe God has for you. And when you pray, “Lord, use this thing to help me rule over my spirit. What’s the help for me in ruling over my spirit?” Would you do that?
We’re going to start in Proverbs 25, Proverbs 25, and one verse, verse number 28. Would you please stand for just a moment to show the word of God respect, if you’re able to? We like to do that just to try to show God’s word respect. They did that in the book of Nehemiah. And so if you’re able to, we ask for that. Proverbs 25. Would you look at verse number 28? Proverbs 25, that last verse right there. God there says, “He that hath…” What’s the next two words? “…no rule.” Not at all. This may be a two-year-old that has no control over the spirit at all. This may be a five-year-old. It may be someone that’s a little bit emotionally two-year-old. I’m not trying to be mean. There may be reasons for that. I’m not. It just, someone has no rule.
“He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that hath broken down without walls.” The enemy can march in there any time he wants. They just have no rule over their own spirit.
Now look in chapter number 16, chapter number 16 of Proverbs. You’re right there in that chapter. There’s a couple chapters before. You’re in that book, excuse me, chapter four, chapter 16. And would you look in verse number 32, chapter 16 and verse number 32 of God’s word, Proverbs 16:32? If you’re there, would you say, “Amen”? Good deal. “He that is slow to anger…” He’s, by the way, it’s not a sin to be angry. Be angry and sin not. Now, if you lose it, that’s a sin. But this guy’s slow. It takes a lot to get him there. Now, he can get there. Nothing wrong with that. You keep yourself in control, be angry and sin not. But he’s slow. He’s got some control here. Okay? Verse number 32: “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.”
Now, so 25:28, no rule. I mean, they pitch a temper tantrum. They just got—no, they get mad, boom, like that. That change, the old demeanor changes, boom. Just, it’s got no control, no rule over his spirit. Over here, he that ruleth. He ruleth over his—he’s got control over his spirit. He doesn’t mean he doesn’t get angry, but he’s slow to that. He’s got control. He rules over his spirit.
Now, every person in here this morning is somewhere between those two. I don’t know. You’re somewhere in between those two. Can I say this? Nobody here this morning does a 100% perfect job of ruling over your spirit. The only one that did that was Jesus Christ. So we all—I for sure—we all got room for growth on this ruling over our spirit. I’m just going to just going to—I’ve prayed about it as the Lord has led, and I still want to be sensitive. The Lord wants to change it. But just try to give some practical helps on wherever you’re at here: no rule to getting closer over here. And would you pray and ask the Lord that He’d help you get a little bit closer to this where you ruleth over your spirit? Would you ask the Lord to help you get there?
Let’s pray together. Father, again, I yield to you. Help me to say everything you want me to say. Lord, help me not to go where you don’t want me to go. Lord, help me to go as far as you want me to go on subjects. And, Lord, I pray that you would use this morning to help, Lord, every person here. Would you help us to get a little closer, Lord, to ruling over our spirit? Father, even now, yielding your spirit. And Holy Spirit, would you prevail in our midst this morning? And, Father, we’ll thank you for what you do. And, Father, we’re asking for this in the name of Jesus. We pray. Amen.
Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated. Would you look over in Ezekiel chapter 28? I told you we’re going to be turning a little bit this morning. Different type message this morning. But Ezekiel chapter 28, the Bible gives us some knowledge, some description of the devil, Satan himself, Lucifer.
Let’s look at some Bible about the devil, all right? Now, pastor’s jokes about the devil. Look in Ezekiel 28. Look at verse number 13, would you please. Verse number 13. He says, “Thou hast been in Eden.” Remember he tempted Adam and Eve through that serpent. “Thou hast been in Eden in the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering.” Mother, he’s beautiful. God created him that way. Later on, he talks about how the pride—he got so, he looked so good, he was proud about it. But as I’ve been in the garden of God, “Every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, the topaz, the diamond, the pearl, the onyx, the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, the carbuncle, and gold.”
Here’s what I want you to notice: the workmanship of thy tablets. Some will compare that to timbrels in our day and time. I don’t know if that’s a fair comparison, but it’s for sure talking about music. The workmanship of thy tablets and of thy pipes, whether that has to do with his voice or he had built in like, you know, organ pipes, I used to—probably won’t be able to describe it perfectly. But when he was created, he was created very musically talented. Brother Ted, brother Bradley, brother Glenn, Miss Myra, Sarah, you know, all these different ones—they’re very talented. They’re very talented, but they have to have a musical instrument. Satan has the musical instruments built into him. He’s very good at music. I would tend to think, besides God Almighty, he’s the best musician talent-wise in all the world. I believe he was this song leader in heaven praising the Lord before he fell. That’s what I was talking about there. He says, “The workmanship of thy tablets and of thy pipes was prepared in the day that thou was created.”
Here’s one I want you to notice how talented Satan is in music. Now for just a minute here, let’s just kind of put that, you know, back of our head. Let’s just talk about music for a moment. Isn’t it amazing how music can change your spirit? Somebody—if we were to have our PA men start to play taps, if taps were to come through these speakers, you know, and funeral services and whatnot from military, they’ll play taps. And just that… I remember one of my first funerals where it was really cold—I’m talking about like 30 degrees cold—and we had a graveside service, and they had a—I don’t remember which branch of the military it was—but a man was over there and they had that horn, that bugle, you know, and he began to play taps. And I would try to do it, but I can’t do it, you know. And he began to play that taps. You know, I ain’t going to go there. I’ll get all my stuff. But, and I thought, man, how on the world can that guy play taps when 30—how was his lips doing that, you know? And how can you play taps that perfectly in this cold of weather? Then I walked over there a little bit after I preached that graveside, and I realized it’s a recording inside his horn right there. I said, “That’s cheating right there,” you know. And he said, “Yeah, 19—whatever it was—they’ve changed from just playing. It’s something plays it, you know, otherwise it’s cheek,” you know. Anyway, how’d I get on that? Oh, man, it just put you in a somber mood. It just changes your spirit.
Friday night we were going to go to—we went to the Wilson County Fair, my wife, my daughter, and I. And I was trying to get in the good mood, you know, we have a good time. And so, how many has our—this is an old—I’m talking about, I don’t know how old this song is—we gotta sink the Bismarck, an old fellow named Johnny Horton. Anybody know? How many of you know that song? Raise your hand. You can look it up on YouTube wherever, you know. You funk, young folk, I’ve got a culture of you, you know. I’m teasing about that. It’s an old, old song. “Sink the Bismarck,” you know. And I put that on. I listen to it. Why? You’re just getting to fun, upbeat, kind of, you know, ready to have fun, you know, tight and mood, you know. I mean, “Sink the Bismarck,” you know. And he was talking about World War II and all that stuff, you know. And I’m…
Yesterday I was trying to get right with the Lord. Every preacher in the world tries to get right with the Lord on Saturday night, you know. And I have some songs saved in my library of YouTube that speak to my heart spiritually. And honestly, sometimes I’ll go to those. I did it last night, and I pulled one of those songs up, “Been in the Center of God’s Will,” talks about that song. And but just, it speaks to me. And it’s amazing how songs… I preached a funeral last Saturday, and there was a little bit of crying, but when that music started, boy, that music, it can bring those tears out. Boy, some people started crying, you know. And music, it really affects your spirit greatly. It’s amazing in the Bible how the spirit realm and music are associated together very often.
Now, wait a second. So we got—we got music that affects your spirit. We’re talking about helps to have a good spirit. And then we got the devil that is very musically talented. You got a bad combination. And Satan uses the music of this world to affect your spirit in a great, great way.
Remember over there, Saul? Remember King Saul? He backslid and got out of the will of God and just turned from God. And God would send this evil spirit on him, right? Remember that? Kings over there? What would happen? Saul had some wise servants. Servants said, “You need to find a man that plays music.” And they got David. He was a shepherd boy at that time. Now, he had already been anointed king, and the Spirit of the Lord had already come upon him. So you had a spirit-filled musician come in. Actually, as far as we know, he did not sing any words. He just played a musical instrument, and the evil spirit would depart. And, friend, you understand how I’m trying to say, “Hey, listen, your spirit and what you listen to—that go together, friend.”
And it’s interesting over there in Ephesians 5:18. Y’all still meet with me out there? Trying to be a little platform on this point here. But Ephesians 5:18, He says, “Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess.” By the way, amen for that right there. Get off the bottle, amen. That Bible or not? I’m just preaching what about Ephesians 5:18? We don’t know where it’s found out, by the way. But He said, “Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit.” That’s Ephesians 5:18. Now help me out. What’s the next verse? “Speaking to yourselves in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart unto the Lord.” So the spirit being filled in music. A bad spirit gets some good music. You see how they’re associated together in the Bible?
Here’s what I’m getting at. Listen up. You’re not going to have a right kind of a spirit listening to the devil’s music. And the devil has his music all over the place. He is promoting it. It’s amazing. Nowadays, they don’t even try to—some of them do, but some of them don’t even hide it. You can actually search on the internet, “demonic music,” and a lot of music comes up. Of course, there are the Taylor Swifts who put the devil’s mask on, got our little demons to try to hide you a little bit. Amen? Friend, you’re not going to be filled with the Spirit of God listening to the world’s—the devil’s—music. And if you’re going to have a good spirit, you’ve got to work at getting good music in your life. Satan’s good at that stuff, by the way. That’s why the sinful music is the popular music. Getting a little quiet. Y’all getting nervous in here or what now, you know? You say, “Man, the tent revival’s not until next Sunday.” Well, we got to get ready for it, amen, you know. Come on now.
Good music is vital, friends. Rolling Stone magazine said this: they said the three major topics of rock and roll music is drugs, sex, and rebellion. Amen.
We were at the Wilson County Fair Friday night, about to leave, and there was some music. They were out there on this stage playing it, and I said, “Oh, let’s stop by and see what’s going over there.” We stopped by there, and, man, I almost started crying. It was so sad. “I’ll never get her back. She broke my heart forever. My bleeding heart for you,” you know, that kind of stuff. You got to get good music. Friend, it’s not real popular preaching today, but it’s true preaching today. Somebody got to let the truth be known. Get rid of that devil’s thinking, sorry, good-for-nothing music. Say, “I don’t want that anymore.” Put it in the trash can. Get you some good, godly, spirit-filled music, amen.
We have speakers that go through our house. There’s a reason for that because we need—I need, I need to be able to play some good spirit-filled music. Sometimes it puts me in a good mood. I need help. I battle it. And if you’re a human being and you’ve got blood flowing through your veins, you’re going to battle it too. And music will be such a great help for you. Get good music. Nowadays with everything out there, you know, with Spotify and the online radio station, you’re just—you can find good music out there. Find it.
There’s a CD, I mentioned this while back, but there’s a CD that—a children’s home, Shannon on Children’s Home, they came through years ago. Steve Grubbs was there. He is a distant relative—a brother Joel Power, somewhere in there, Ashbo, Joel. He’s like the second, third, fourth, fifth, out of tenth cousin or something like that, Brother Joel. You know, you know how the country people are, amen, you know? But he’s just a spirit to him—awesome, man. He’s pastoring up north somewhere now. And but it was over the children’s home at the time, and they gave me a CD. Now, I’ll be honest with me, it wasn’t the best quality in the world. There’s some that have a lot more talent than those at that children’s home, but man alive, that CD has spoke to my heart and lifted my spirit more times than I can mention. You say, “Why is that?” Because greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world, and I believe they were spirit-filled when they made that CD, and that CD has spoke to me a hundred times. I lifted my spirit. And if you’re going to have a good spirit, you’re working that, you got to get some good music. Trash the devil’s music.
You say, “Well, I got an appetite for it.” I understand. When I was growing up, my mom—now y’all go get your handkerchiefs out. This is a sad story right here. You won’t believe what my mom—she made me eat liver. Praise the Lord for ketchup, amen. Mom says I’m going to different churches. These years later, you know what? The stuff… restaurants and order liver and onions nowadays, you know. And I grew an appetite for liver. And he said, “I got an appetite for the wrong kind of music.” Of course, you can do. You’ve got a flash inside of you, and the world pops it all the time, you know? You ride down and the guy beside me making his windows vibrate and mine too, that heartbeat in the car: bum, bum, bum, bum, blah, bum. And where you go, man. Let’s say, “Hey, I do not what I necessarily want to do, but I’m going to do the right thing because I want to have a spirit-filled spirit, and I want to shine in this world with His spirit flowing through me.” So get rid of that music. Get the good music. It’s just going to help you in having the right kind of spirit.
Let’s go to number two. We’ve got to hurry along, amen. Number one, get the right kind of music. Look over in Ecclesiastes chapter number three. I told you it’s random this morning. We’re just—we’re going down the line of the buffet. We just—point number one was some black-eyed peas, amen. That’s some good stuff right there, you know. And Brother Kevin’s on board. There you go. Amen, you know. And we’re about to—the next stop is liver and onions. No, I’m joking. Here’s the next step. Please, Ecclesiastes chapter number three. We’re just practical helps: how to have a good spirit. Chapter 3, Ecclesiastes is right after Proverbs. Ecclesiastes chapter 3. Look at verse number one. Verse number one, Ecclesiastes 3:1: “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”
Now, we’re not going to read all these verses, but we’ll read a couple of them. And I want you to notice the vast—it’s like from one extreme to the other. Watch as we read it. You’ll see it. Here we go. Verse number two: “A time to be born,” let’s start, “a time to die.” The two extremes. “A time to plant,” “a time to pluck up that which was planted.” I have a garden this year, and I was all excited about when I planted that garden. Praise the Lord. Time to plant. Time to pluck up. I’m sick of that garden right now, you know. Two extremes. That’s the honest truth right there. Verse number three: “A time to kill,” “a time to heal,” “a time to break down,” “a time to build up,” “a time to weep,” “a time to laugh,” “a time to mourn,” “a time to dance.” I want you just notice extremes. We’re saying there’s time to this. Now, can I just—we’re going to run out of time, so can I just get to the point? He’s saying there’s time to everything. Can I put it this way without going great depths? There’s a schedule to life.
And if I’m going to have a good spirit, I must accept, I must realize that, and I must work at that. Your schedule and your spirit are very, very important. If I’m going to have a good spirit, I must realize there’s a time to everything, and I’ve got to understand that. Can I just start off under this point, just say this: Have somewhat of a schedule. Now, if you’re retired and you’ve got all the time, I understand it doesn’t have to be as rigid as maybe somebody that’s got, you know, six kids under the age of six, you know, they’re going to have to have a pretty strict schedule. Somebody says, “Oh, they just groan hearing about that,” you know, right there. Poor, poor lady, you know. But it’s going to vary for everybody, but everybody ought to have somewhat of a schedule. A time to do things. A time for every purpose. Just a schedule.
Can I say this? Be careful if you have too much free time. This is an interesting verse. He was talking about Sodom and Gomorrah, remember those sinful places, and really Sodom here. He’s speaking up. And let me just read it for you. Ezekiel 16:49: “Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister, Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her.” Someone said, you know, I don’t mind—the devil’s workshop. They went on them and they said, “An idle mind tempts the devil.” And if I just have all the time in the world, I have no schedule at all, that is very susceptible to building up a bad spirit.
Now, I understand. I’m not saying everybody’s got to be rigid in their straight. Just coming to church every time the doors are open is the schedule. Amen? Let me try that again. Just coming to church every time the doors are open is the schedule. Yeah. I’m not saying it’s got to be. Now, someone else is very busy. Oh, you got to work at that thing, because if you’re too busy, too long, it’ll get your spirit—inhale it for a bit. But after a while, it’s going to get you.
Your schedule and your spirit are so very, very important. By the way, Diomudi used to say, “If you’re too busy for God, you’re just too busy.” Make sure you have time in your schedule if you’re on the busy side of it that you have to make time to read your Bible and pray. Get along with God. Make that part of your schedule.
Can I say this about just schedule? Some needs to be more rigid than others. But most of us here need a job. I’m not saying every person in the world—then that’s not true. But most people, if we’re honest about it, we need a job where we’ve got to be there at a certain time. He said, “I don’t want that.” I didn’t always want that liver back of the day either, but it was good to me. And I’m saying most people need somewhat of a schedule. He said, “Man, I’m leaving. I’m going to another church. This ain’t no good.” The schedules can help your spirit, what I’m saying. And it’s not going to look the same for everybody. But a purpose to it.
Can I say this? If at the start of this year, and a preacher actually gave me the suggestion, but I don’t—and it’s a little different with all those online paying bills and all that stuff—but especially back in the day, I don’t—I don’t just pay bills, boom. You know, let’s open this up and see what’s there. Typically, bills come in, I’ll put it in a place, and I have a time I’m going to deal with those. Many of you just as busy as me, and I’m not trying to act like I’m more busy than you. But if I get everything on my mind at one time, I can’t handle it all. And so I put them there, and in a certain time, I take care of that because there’s just too many things coming and going, and I can’t handle it all. And so I have a schedule, and that helps with my spirit. And I’m saying, and by the way, if you’re financially, you know, very tough, it might not be you deal with that all the time. I mean by you put it there, and I’m not saying you avoid it. Don’t do that. It’s going to get worse if you avoid it. But at the proper time, the proper way, deal with it.
I don’t know that you can do this. I don’t know if this lady did it, but I think it’s a pretty good illustration of it. But she lost her son. And she just—she just—she couldn’t be the wife she needed to be, the mom for the other children she needed to be. And it was well—years, I don’t know how long—but it was well after the passing of her son. And she just—she needed to function for the rest of her family. Understand that. And a wise counselor said, “Look, I want you to do this, ma’am. I want you to go to your son’s bedroom. I want you to get his pictures, everything that. I want you to go in there and just mourn. Cry a bucket. And think about it. Remember him every day for something about a time.” And then after that, the best you can, I want you to leave that room, leave all this stuff there, and go serve your children and your husband. And something of that helped her. She had a time where she could bless her—they that mourn. By the way, it says, “Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.” It doesn’t say, “Blessed are they mournful where it dominates your life.” Blessed are they that mourn. There’s a time. It’s seasoned everything, and just working at—working at the schedule.
This is a good illustration. You’ll like it. Brother Kevin and Miss Teresa. Brother Kevin says, “Oh, no.” They—uh—I don’t know. Let Brother Kevin be the judge of this whether they did the right thing or not, but anyway, kids are grown. They just got a grand—maybe congratulations—another one, second one, boy got a girl, two boys now, amen. And so they’re empty nesters, and they lost one of their dogs years ago, and they got a puppy. Oh, they’re starting all over. Brother Kevin, tell you later on if you have to tell us well that’s good or not, I don’t know. And so here’s the thing: Miss Teresa, she—she’s got a schedule for that puppy: time for him to go into the crate, time for him to get out, time for him to go outside, you know, all the—I don’t know. Ask Brother Kevin a lot. Just she—she’s got a schedule. And Brother Kevin says, “Well, Miss Teresa’s out of time for that.” Forget that schedule, amen. Hopefully, Miss Teresa’s not watching online, right? We need to delete that part out there, you know. And we were kind of joking about it the other day, and he was kind of like, “Let’s get for the public to have a schedule.” He helps him get on to, you know, peeing outside and all the rest of that stuff, you know, and get him potty training and all that, you know. But, man, this 3 a.m., 4 a.m. stuff—this is rough stuff. And we were joking about it. But here’s my point: If a schedule helps a puppy, it’ll probably help me and you too. And it doesn’t have to be perfect, and it’s not going to be original and so-and-so. But work at your—if you’re going to have a good spirit, get some kind of—some kind of a schedule in your life. Good, good music. Work at your schedule. Just practical helps. This is random. I know.
Let’s go to another place. Look over in Lamentations, just a little bit past where you’re at. Lamentations, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Lamentations. Lamentations chapter number three. Lamentations chapter number three. The book of Lamentations is a lamenting; it’s a mourning. It’s like a funeral dirge song. It’s very poetic in Hebrew. And the enemies of God had come into the city of God, and they just wiped it out. There was like ashes all over, and you imagine smoke coming up all over. And this Jeremiah, this prophet, this preacher, he’s just lamenting. They didn’t do right. God allowed judgment to come in. That’s the book of Lamentation, all right? And we’re in chapter number three, Lamentations chapter number three. It’s a very amazing truth here tucked in the middle of this saying. Lamentations 3. We’re going to look at verse number 18. Lamentations 3:18.
“And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord.” I would call that a down spirit at least. I ain’t just—man, I got no hope. It’s perished from the Lord. Got no strength. Pretty close to depression. Some may say, he’s just—he’s battling in the spirit for sure. Verse number 19: “Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.” He said, “That’s what I’m thinking about.” I’m remembering when the enemies of God walked in and just killed people all over and slaughtered them, and they burned this place. He’s just—and he says—he said a sad deal. He’s having a major pity party, amen. And rightfully so, it’s a sad time. Now look at verse number 20: “My soul hath them still in remembrance, it is humbled in me.” Now remember, he’s got no strength and got no hope.
Verse number 21: Here’s the change. It’s amazing. “This I recall to my…” What’s the next word? “…mind.” It did not even change, or the circumstances did not change. What changed was his mind, what he was thinking about. “This I recall to my mind, therefore have I…” What? How did the hope come from what he was thinking about?
Verse number 22, very famous verse: “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we’re not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They knew every morning, great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.”
Now listen to me. Listen to me. Here’s this other point: If you’re going to have a good spirit, you’re going to have to battle what you think about. Now, here’s the tough thing about this: Satan can put faults in your mind. Acts chapter 5, verse 3: “Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost?” So Satan can put these thoughts in here, go over to the core of your heart. And so you’re going to have to battle your thoughts. If you just let your thoughts go wherever they want to go, they’re going to go the bad—the worst. And the more you do that, the worse your spirit is going to get down. He’s lamenting, he’s mourning. “I got no hope. I got no strength. I can’t get out of bed in the morning time. I can’t do anything.” What changed? What he was thinking about changed. And it is very, very important what you think about. Don’t just—don’t just say, “Devil, where my mind goes, that’s where I’m going to go.” I’m going to fight you, devil. I want to think on good thoughts.
Now, here’s the key in this saying. Here’s the key. If you try to say, “I’m not going to think about such and such,” the more you think about it. So the way over that, Philippians 4:8: “Think on these things.” It’s six categories. It gives us good things over there. The key is you on purpose think about the good thoughts. If you need to make a list on your phone or somewhere: “Hey, I’m going to heaven by the blood of Jesus. I’m saved. I live in America. I got two good eyes, two good hands, two good feet. I can breathe. I can walk. I can talk. I got a good family. I can eat good pizza.” Somebody say, “Amen,” right there, you know. Whatever it is. But list out some good things to think about. Because you’re not going to have a spirit and rule and control your spirit if you let your mind go wherever it wants to go. So work at that. By the way, you get going there a lot in your mind, pretty soon it comes out your tongue. The more comes out your tongue, the more you hear with your ears and going to your ears. I can’t help but speak to the things I’ve seen and heard. And it’s a bad cycle. So work at what you think about. Work at that thing.
We got to hurry along. Man, I feel like I’m preaching about four or five messages in one message. What about that? You know? We’ll be here at 4 o’clock this evening, you know, trying to get all that in there. Number one, we talked about our music. We’re going to help stop a ruling over your spirit: get the right kind of music. Work at your schedule. I don’t know exactly what that looks like for you, but get some kind of a schedule. You get some kind of… You just always, always, always flying by the seat of your pants. You’re setting yourself up for the devil. Get some kind of a schedule, right? Different for everybody. Get some kind of a schedule. Number three: battle to control your thoughts. Battle that. Work at it. If nothing else, just say, “You know, my mind’s going negative. I’m just going to start thanking God for everything I see.” I mean, thank you for the grass. Thank you for the buzzards eating that dead, you know, thing on the road—that skunk over there. I mean, if they didn’t, it’d be all over. There’s God’s trash cleaning service, you know. But it’s amazing. You just start thanking for everything you see, and it’ll change you. Change what you think about.
Number four, we won’t look at the passage, but y’all just—just we’re just very briefly—remember Elijah and the Mount Carmel, Mount Carmel, the battle, you know, all together. 850 false prophets, the great victory. But then right after that, Jezebel said, “I’m going to get you.” What happened? Oh, Elijah went out, and then he left his servant there and went farther into the woods. He got away from everybody, everything. You know what he did? He did what your neighbor’s doing beside you. He slept. He fell asleep in church. No, he fell asleep. And what happens? An angel—God said an angel came down. You know what the angel did? Did he preach? Oh, read the Bible? Pray more? No, you know what the angel did? First of all, he fed him a cake. Now, I don’t know exactly what that cake was. Maybe it was cornbread. Somebody say, “Amen.” Maybe it was a cake with that icing that has cream cheese in it. Somebody say, “Amen,” right there. But he found him literally, the Bible says, it’s a cake. That’s probably something healthy. But anyway, that’s what he says, you know. And then he beat him over the head, “Get your better spirit. You’re so depressed. You’re asking God to take you home.” That’s how depressed he was.
And he slept. God, through the angel, fed him, and he slept again. And this time the angel, when he woke up, the angel fed him again. This time he had meat. That means medium-rare steak right there. Amen, that’s what it means. You study out in the Hebrew. I mean, that’s what it is, you know. And it had a lot of juice coming, maybe. As long as it doesn’t move back at you when you’re eating it, it’s all right now, you know. And but… But he did. He ate meat. Now, here’s the thing, just very briefly. And you say, “Oh, my goodness, you’ve gone from preaching the belly right here.” But sometimes you need to get good rest and a good, healthy meal. And I don’t know for you—some people can eat whatever they want; it doesn’t affect them at all. I want to be like that. I want to say that I’m like that. But we’re all different, but some, honestly, some, if they’re not eating a healthy meal, it affects their spirit so much. And at least would you monitor that? Do I need to cut back on this, that other? You say, “Oh, my goodness, preacher, man.” If you’re going to have a rule over your spirit, watch that. Study that for you. It’s going to be different for you than for me. If I could stay healthy and it wouldn’t affect my health all the, you know, I’d be drinking Dr. Peppers and Mountain Dews all the time. But it does affect me in a bad way, and I have to watch that. Do I have some sometimes? Yes. But I’ve got to watch those things. And so monitor that. If I’m going to have a good spirit, I’ve got to get some good rest and some good food, like the angel gave to Elijah when he was depressed. And then within that 40 days, God gave me extra strength, extra miraculous power.
Last saying, we’re just trying to cover some helps for your spirit. And I’m just going to be brief on this. But if you go ahead, it just helps: Get you a good verse. Get a promise. Now listen to me: Get a promise to hang your emotions on. Wednesday night we’re studying the life of Moses. Our memory verse here lately on Wednesday night—help me out—what’s it been? Said with me if you know Exodus 14:14: “The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.” Amen. A man came to church Wednesday night, it was, and he told him about this incident, very sad incident that happened in his life, and he said, “I’m claiming Exodus 14:14.” I praise the Lord.
When I was a young person, when I was a young person, my verse for years and years was this: Psalm 37. Y’all got time for our young people to look up a verse? Good. The rest of you didn’t say anything, we’ll ignore you, amen. A couple people said yes. Would you look up—all our young people, look up at Psalm 37. Psalm 37. We’re going to be done with this, but we’ll get salvation in here for sure, and we’ll be done after this one here. But Psalm 37. Would you look in verse number four? Young ladies, this has been a great verse for you to claim, is to hang your emotions on this verse here. But it may be, you ask the Holy Spirit to give you a verse. It may be Romans 8:28. But get you a verse to hang your emotions on, a promise from God. He’s got millions of promises in the Bible.
Look up Psalm 37. Would you look in verse number four? Psalm 37, verse number four, right there. Young people would look at it. This is my verse when I was a young person. He says right there, He says, “Delight thyself also in the Lord.” There it is right there. “Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” I don’t think I fully understood that as a young person, but I claimed it. And maybe when things didn’t go my way, Lord, I’m going to do my best. You said, “Delight in you,” and you’ll give me the desires of my heart. There’s a lot to that. That’s a great verse for me. And everybody claim you a good verse. Mom’s raising your children, there’s a lot of promises in the Bible. He says, “He’ll pour out his spirit on your seed if you’re hungry for Him.” That was a verse for me for years, I claimed. But find, in whatever stage of life you’re in, you’re battling relationships, problems, and say, “Lord, give me a verse.” He’ll give you a promise. And you can hang your emotions. See, here’s what we do: We hang everything else on our emotions, and our emotions are up and down. I mean, they’re just fickle. I mean, you’re on a roller coaster ride. So you need something stable—never changes—the Word of God, the promises of God, and you hang your emotions on that. So when your emotions are here and there and yonder, you hang in on that promise. It never, never changes.
Now, let me say this, and we’re done. You said, “I thought you were done a while ago.” I was done with that part, you know. Hey, for the most important thing in all the world: Where are you going to go forever? Where are you going to go forever? Only two places you can go. Do you go to hell or you go to heaven? No purgatory in the Bible, friend. And where are you going to go forever and ever? Find you a promise. As a boy, I was in the backseat of the car, and I knew this verse—praise the Lord, Mom and Dad taught me this verse. It says, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” I knew that verse as a boy. And I knew that verse, and I said, “Lord, you said over there, if I call, you’ll save me. And, Lord, I’m calling right now. If you don’t save me, it’s your fault.” Pretty much the words I used, honestly. And that was my simple way of putting my faith on Jesus, trusting in Him alone to save me. And I was hanging my salvation on that promise of God. You said, “If I call you, you’ll save me.” I’m calling right now. You save me.
Friend, if you’ve never been saved, you’ve never put your faith in Jesus alone to pay for your sins, to be your personal Savior. I understand the message is a little different. Friend, the most important thing in all the world: I can have a good spirit because I know where I’m going one day. I’m going to heaven forever. There’s going to be problems and troubles and tribulation down here in this world. You live God, and you’re going to suffer persecution. But, friend, if you’re going to heaven one day, I can have a pretty good attitude because I’m going to heaven forever. You hang that on the promises of Jesus that give you eternal life. He’s not done that today. A big day to do that.
Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? Our heads are bowed and eyes are closed. I’m going to ask a series of questions. I’m going to ask you several questions this morning, so hang with me. Don’t lose me, please, don’t lose me. Number one: You say, “Preacher, I need to work at my music. I need to work at my—I want to have a good spirit, and I realize spirit and music go together. I need to get some good music, more good music. Need to get rid of some more. Need to work at my music.” If that’s you this morning, you slip behind the preacher, that’s me. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. Thank you. Thank you for letting the Lord. Thank you for not rebelling, but thank you for letting… That’s good. That’s important. Thank you. God bless you. Many, many hands on that. That’s so key. That’s so key. Thank you so very much. You put your hands down.
Maybe you’re here this morning and you say, “I need to work at my schedule. I don’t know for you what it might be. Maybe too busy. Maybe too lazy. Not enough schedule.” Excuse me. But, preacher, I need to work at my schedule. And by the way, if you don’t have a schedule, doesn’t mean you’re lazy. I’m sorry for saying that. But I need to work on my schedule. Preacher, God spoke to my heart. I need to work at my schedule. If that’s you this morning, you slip up the preacher, I need to work at that. God bless you. Oh, my goodness, many of us. I have to work at it so much. It’s very important in my life. I think it’s very important in your life, too. I’m sure. God bless you. That’s wonderful. Thank you so very much. You can put your hands down.
Maybe you’re here this morning, you say, “Preacher, I’m going to battle my thoughts. Not going to be perfect, but I’m going to battle. I’m not going to give in. I’m going to battle it. I’m going to try to keep good thoughts in my mind. I’m going to work at that. I’m going to battle my thoughts of that.” You just move your head and preach, “I’m going to work at that.” God bless you. God bless you. Oh, me too. Me too. That’s very key. Very important. God bless you. I’m going to thank you. I’m so pleased you’re letting the Lord work in your heart and your life. Thank you very much. You put your hands down.
This is just a quick one, but you say, “I need to work at my rest and my food. I’m at least going to monitor it. I’m at least going to look at it.” I don’t know what it might look like for you. I’m at least look at that and see what I need to do to have a good spirit. God spoke to my heart about that. You, just slip it up. God bless you. God bless you. Oh, I have to look at it too. I do. I do. I don’t like it, but I’ve got to do it. God to do it. God bless you. Thank you very, very much.
Two more questions. We’re done. You say, “I’m going to ask for a promise. I’m going to ask the Lord, ‘You give me a promise from your Word.’” He’ll give it to you. You here this morning, “I need a promise. I’m going to ask God for a promise to hang my emotions on.” Would you lift your head? That’s me right there. God bless you. Oh, that’s good. That’s good. Before you even ask something, you had your hand up, that’s good. He’ll do it. He’s amazing being the Word, and He’ll point him out to you. He’ll bring him up to your memory. Be in the Word. God bless you. Thank you so very much.
Last question: You’re here this morning, “Preacher, I need to get saved. I’ve never put my hat—hang my hat as far as where I’m going to go forever and ever—on Jesus. And I need to hang a promise that Jesus will save me. I need to hang everything on that. Jesus, would you—I need to get saved. I need to get saved. My sins washed away so I can go to heaven one day. I need to get saved.” God loves you. We love you. We love you. We’d love to help and get you to a promise where you can go to heaven through Jesus Christ, settle that thing where you know for sure you’re going to heaven. If that’s you this morning, “I need to get saved.” If that’s you, would you just lift your hand up? Anybody like to slip it up? I’m not going to embarrass. I would not do that. I’m not going to call your name. I’d love to pray for you. Anybody like that? “I need to get saved.” Just slip it up. Just slip it up.
In just a moment, we’re going to all stand. I’m going to have a word of prayer. Just a brief prayer. If you raised your hand, God spoke to your heart, would you come to an old-fashioned altar? And would you come spend some time with the Lord? You’d be obedient. You say, “Well, I very clearly, the Lord told me to stay here.” I understand. You stay there. But would you come if the Lord leads you to do that? Come spend some time with the Lord. If you’re not saved, you say, “I need to get saved.” There’ll be a man down front standing up, facing the crowd. Two of them, actually. There’ll be a man in the back. “I don’t want to go in front of everybody.” There’ll be a man in the back. Go back and shake his hand. Come up and shake their hand. They’ll take the Bible in front of the Bible, show you how you could know for sure I’m going to heaven because of Jesus Christ. You can have a good spirit because of that right there. Would you please stand? Would you please stand? We’re going to have a word of prayer. Would you come and spend some time with the Lord? Would you do that?
Father, we’ve tried to pull some truths that I think you’ve led us to. Lord, help us to just to seek your leadership very clearly in these few minutes over these things. Lord, if someone’s not saved here, let them know we love them. And, Lord, assure them how much you love them. Let them come get this settled so they know for sure heaven is our home. Bless these few minutes in a great, great way, Lord, please. Help us to be obedient to you. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
As our instruments play, would you come? You raised your hand. God spoke to your heart. Would you come spend some time with the Lord? Music—oh, bring that to the Lord. Bring that to the Lord. Schedule—seek His leadership. He knows best. Your thoughts—oh, Lord, I need your help with my thoughts. True, honest, pure, just lovely, good report. Think on these things. Schedule, your rest, your food—all that, it can affect you greatly. Get a promise. Lord, I need a promise. I need a promise, Lord. He’ll give it to you. He’s got a book full of them.
You say, “Preacher, preacher, I’m way on this side of here. I don’t have much control, no rule over my spirit, not much at all. How can I get over there? I’m so far in the negative.” The Spirit of God is an amazing guide. He will show you every step, every step of the way. Oh, He’s amazing how He can take some of us so we’re way over here, no rule, and the Spirit of God grows us and guides us and leads us. You know, wow, boy, they’ve got a strong spirit for the Lord. God can do that. He’s just a master at that.
I remember as a young person, I was traveling from Florida to Michigan to see my sister and brother-in-law, then to go to Bible College around Chicago. And I was listening to some music. How many of you know cassette tapes? Amen, you know? No, not eight tracks. No, no, no. I’m not that old now, you know. Cassette tapes. And I was listening to some questionable music. It wasn’t the worst, but it wasn’t the best. And I was battling it. And I’ll never forget I stopped, maybe for gas—I’m not sure—but I got off the exit. And I said, “It’s not worth the battle.” I took that old cassette tape out, and I put it in the trash. Praise the Lord, I was going all in Michigan because of—I was weak. I might have drove back, but I was too far away, you know. And I’m so glad I did that. Gave up the wrong kind of music. It’ll help your spirit.
One more question. One more comment, and we’re done, all right? Parents, don’t play that wicked music for your kids to listen to it. Sad when I see a mom or a dad playing just—just the devil’s music, and little junior, one, two years old, listening to it. Don’t do that. Give something better to listen to. Spirit-filled music. We got to pray because a preacher ain’t going to quit. Amen. I tell you what. I had a good spirit to you. We didn’t quit, preacher, you know? Amen.
Original File: Practical helps for you to rule over your spirit - Pastor Paul Chisgar - Sunday AM 08272023