If David committed the sins mentioned above, then how could God make such a statement about David. Well, obviously it was not because David was the perfect believer or because he never blew it as grossly as is possible to blow it. God said this about David because no matter how bad he blew it, or how far at times he got away from God, he never stopped trying to live for God. David never allowed the sins of yesterday to keep him from doing the will of God today.

Some of you think your sins of the past are so bad that God can never forgive you or use your life again. But what does the Bible tell us about what became of David because of the grossness of his sin of committing adultery with Bathsheba and killing her husband Uriah?⁷³ First, David repented of his sin. After God pointed out to David through the prophet Nathan that his sins did not go unnoticed, David said, I have sinned against the Lord. Nathan then said to David after he acknowledged his sin to God and man, The Lord also has taken away your sin.⁷⁴

God forgave David for his sins. God’s plan for David did not change. He was still called to be King over Israel. God did, however, still have to discipline David for his sin. Why? Because David had gotten lacks in his relationship with God. He started making decisions without seeking the counsel of God first.

Israel was at war at the time, but instead of David being with his men on the front, he was instead day-dreaming on the roof of his palace where he was open to Satan’s temptations. He had stopped seeking God about how he should be using his time and life. So, yes, God had to re-discipline David so he would only act out of God’s initiative and not his own. Only a man who only acts out of God’s initiative in obedience to God’s Word can rule God’s people justly. David had to learn to only use his time as God was leading him and be diligent in his service to God, but God’s plan for his life had not changed. God’s plan for David was still to be King over Israel.

Several years ago, 1975, God told me to do something with my life and I did not obey Him. I was a good Christian from appearance sake. I went to church, I read my Bible daily, I shared my faith with others whether they wanted to hear it or not, I wasn’t doing anything immoral, but I did not do at the time with my life what God wanted me to do. I disobeyed Him. The Prophet Samuel said as God’s spokesman that rebellion is as the sin of divination, and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry.⁷⁵ The Bible puts rebellion right up there with adultery, fornication and murder. Many Christians today try to convince themselves they are okay, I go to church and Sunday School. I pay my tithes regularly. The only thing they do not do is do with their lives what God wants them to do.

That was the condition I was in. I was religious, but not doing with my life at the time what God was calling me to do. This is what Jesus was talking about when he said, Not everyone who says to Me, "Lord, Lord," will enter the Kingdom of Heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.⁷⁶ During this time God asked me to do something in relation to where he wanted me to live at the time. He was asking me to move into an unpleasant situation. It wasn’t that I did not want to obey God, I just couldn’t get over some of the fears about it I was having at the time.

When I did not obey what God wanted me to do in this matter, everything in my life came to a stand still. I could not succeed in school no matter how hard I tried. I finally dropped out of school, borrowed some money and went into a gardening business.

I had had a gardening business before and had made good money at it, but what normally took me forty-five minutes to do was now taking me three hours and there was no logical reason for it. This went on for four months until I was deeper in the hole than when I started.

One day I was sitting in a restaurant eating lunch and reading the Bible when I read the following verse: "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us" (Psalm 103:12).  I prayed to myself, Jesus, what does this passage really mean? He answered back to me through the Holy Spirit,

Dale, when you confess your sin, not only do I forgive you for your sin, but I remove it infinitely before me so that the way I relate to you is just as if you had never committed the sin in the first place.

In other words, even though I had not obeyed him and temporarily this brought his will and plan for my life to a stand still, His will for my life did not change. What I needed to do was confess my disobedience and go back and do what he had called me to do. The Apostle Paul writes about love in 1 Corinthians 13:5 that love does not take into account a wrong suffered. In other words, God’s relating to us and His plan for our lives is not effected by offenses of the past when once confessed and repented of. God’s plan for our lives remains the same.

I came to realize that God loved me, that he forgave me and that He was just waiting for me to repent and do with my life what he was calling me to do. I did obey Him and go back and do what He had told me to do. Jesus, talking through the Apostle John, said,

"Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God. Remember therefore what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent."  (Revelation 3:2-3)

Some of you think that you have so blown it in the past that God can no longer use you or wants to use your life. God’s love for you never changes. It is a matter of you turning back to him. Because His plan for your life never changes, he is waiting for you to not only return to him, but to fulfill what he has called you to do in the first place. He is not interested in your failures of the past. I’ve got news for you. It won’t be the last time. He wants you to accept His forgiveness and to forgive yourself and to stop letting the sins of yesterday keep you from doing His will today. He loves you. Jesus was already punished for your sins. Every time you use your past failures as an excuse to not do God’s will today, you rob Jesus of what he suffered for you on the cross. Jesus loves you. He forgives you. He is waiting for you to return to Him so he can continue His plan and purpose for your life.

How do you return to him? First, confess your sin or sins to Jesus and accept his forgiveness as an automatic fact according to 1 John 1:9 which states, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Second, you then need to resurrender to Jesus as Lord, remake Him Lord of your life. Just pray, Jesus, I resurrender my life to you and ask you to retake control of my life and continue to make me the person you created me to be. Accept that He has by faith, not by feelings, because He promises to answer any prayer that is according to His will, and according to Ephesians 5:18 and 1 John 5:14-15 it is His will that you allow Him to be Lord of your life.

Third, you need to repent of your sins and cry to Jesus for his deliverance from the power of these sins over your soul and flesh. You need to either stop doing what he doesn’t want you to do or go back and do what he has called you to do. You need to stop letting the sins of yesterday keep you from doing the will of God today. You need to stop using the sins of yesterday as an excuse to not do God’s will today. In light of God’s forgiveness, it is not an excuse according to His Word.

Secondly, You need to get down on Your knees and cry to Jesus for his deliverance from the power of these sins over your soul and flesh. Until the resurrection, our soul and flesh are still corrupted by sin and under the power of sin. You cannot overcome sins power through will power. This is because your will, your volition is your soul and your soul is under the power of sin. For this reason Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:10, "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might." The writer of 1 Chronicles and Psalms wrote, "Seek Yahweh and His strength, seek His face continually" (1 Chron 16:11, Ps 105:4). When you are having a repetitious problem with sin, you need to do more than just confess your sin and thank Jesus for his forgiveness, you need to also get down on your knees and cry to Him for His deliverance from the power of that sin over your soul and flesh. Jesus promises us in 2 Thessalonians 3:3, "But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one."

Depending on what your propensity to sin is, you will find that no matter how long you are a Christian, you will need to do this regularly. I have sin problems I have struggled with for as long as I have been a Christian: 30 years. I find that I need to at least once a week get down on my knees and cry out to Jesus for His deliverance from the power of these sins.

"But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up."

This is because the works of godless men made in the earth encourage and stimulate man’s soul and flesh to draw away from God and to sin. Therefore, when Jesus returns, His first priority of importance is to remove these objects of stumbling from man and heaven’s presence. In light of this, Peter concludes,

"Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, on account of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!" (2 Peter 3:11-12)

Fifth, bind and command to leave any unclean spirits related to your sins confessed and repented of. Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 10:8, "He that digs a pit will fall into it, and whoever breaks a hedge, a serpent will bite him." Satan has no power over us other than the power we give him through sin. Paul writes in Ephesians 6:12, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." We have problems with sin in certain areas because this is the propensity of our soul and flesh. Satan knows this and so he assigns demonic forces to hound, harass and tempt us in these areas of our soul and flesh. When we finally give into these demonic temptations and then surrender our soul and flesh to sin, it then results in the attachment of these unclean spirits who make sure we stay in bondage to these sins.

This is why, first, we need to cry to Jesus for his deliverance from the power of sin over our soul and flesh. But then, second, we need to also exercise our authority as believers to bind the unclean spirits which have attached themselves to us as a result of our sin and command them in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth to leave and never come back. When you do this they have to leave because Jesus gave us complete authority over unclean spirits. Jesus said in Luke 10:19, "Behold, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy and to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and nothing shall injure you." However, this authority is only available to you if you have taken the first four steps of confessing your sins, resurrendering to Jesus as Lord, and repenting of your sins with the help of Jesus Strength and power which includes cleansing your life of any objects through which Satan has tempted you to sin in the first place. James, the brother of Jesus, writes in the book of James 4:7-8,

"Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-souled."

Therefore, after you have confessed your sins, resurrendered to Jesus as Lord, repented and gained victory over your sins through Jesus’ power, maintain that victory by next exercising your authority over any related unclean spirits by praying the following:

I bind you Satan, I bind you hindering forces, I bind you spirits of the prince of the air, I bind you evil forces; I bind you (name the unclean spirits related). I command you all to take your hands off of my life, off of my home, off of my family and everyone else who lives here, off of my place of employment and fellow employees. I command you to be gone in the name and in the blood of Jesus Christ of Nazareth! I send you to Jesus to do with you as He wills. You shall not come back in Jesus Christ of Nazareth’s name, amen.

Sixth, anoint your home and place of work with oil, Jesus’ blood and His angels and declare them holy unto the Lord. Once you anoint your home and place of work, these unclean spirits will not be able to come on your property or place of employment. It will be off limits to them. You will be amazed at the difference in your home and place of work. You will be at peace, your mind will be quiet. I have found it best to do this at least once a day.

Whenever I am visiting a friend and staying in their home, without them knowing about it, I will go around the home once a day and anoint it and pray the way I am going to show you below. After a few days, they will come home from work and do their normal activities. Finally, they will sit down to drink their coffee or whatever the case may be. Then they will look around and say, Dale, it has been so peaceful here the past few days. I have never felt this relaxed in my home before. I then go on to tell them that I have been daily anointing their home and cleansing it of unclean spirits. They are sold. They want to know how to do it themselves and do it from that point on.

To anoint your house or place of work, do the following: take a drop of oil and walk around the outside of your house and anoint every door, window and opening with the oil. If it is your place of work or an upper story apartment, anoint the doors, windows and openings from the inside. As you do, pray the following:

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit: I declare this (home, office, apartment) holy unto You and ask that you would cleanse it of every unclean spirit and human spirits (satanist astroprojecting) that do not belong here.

When the Lord first taught me the importance of this, I immediately experience relief from harassments I had taken for granted because I had not known such peace in my home before. But some harassments still followed. After much prayer about it, the Lord showed me I also needed to pray for the covering and protection of his blood. John writes in Revelation 12:11, "And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even to death." From that point on I also anointed these places by faith with His blood also. That stopped any of the rest of the harassment that was taking place.

David writes in Psalm 34:7, "The angel of Yahweh encamps around those who fear Him and rescues them." The importance of praying for the surrounded covering of the angels has to do with protecting ourselves from Satanists, living humans who worship and serve Satan, who Satan commands to astroproject and attack in spirit whoever he wishes. We have authority over demonic spirits, but we have no authority over human spirits. Years ago when I learned about the importance of exercising authority over unclean demonic spirits, I experienced some relief for a time, but then found myself later being attacked again and that no amount of exercising spiritual authority seemed to help.

It was not until I read Rebecca Brown’s book, He Came to Set the Captives Free,⁷⁹ that I came to learn that these were not demonic spirits attacking me, but human spirits who had astroprojected. Rebecca in her book described this same frustration. After she had sought the Lord and prayed diligently about the matter, the Lord showed her that this is what was happening and that what she needed to do to protect herself from them was anoint her house and also especially pray for the surrounded covering of His mighty holy angels. Since I learned this from her book, I have been doing this also and any further harassment has stopped. The only time now when I am harassed is when I or someone I am living with has given Satan ground to come in through sin. The solution then is to go through the above six steps all over again. As I have already mentioned, because, whether we want to or not, we all sin daily (1 John 1:8), it is best to pray these prayers once a day.

Seventh, reclaim the full armor of God. The Apostle Paul in Ephesians 6:13-18, after telling us that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against satanic forces, then tells us to put on the full armor of God. He writes,

"Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the Gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints."

Paul tells us in this passage to:

1. To gird our loins with truth

2. To put on the breastplate of righteousness

3. To shod our feet with the preparation of the Gospel of peace (Evangelism training)

4. To take up the shield of faith

5. To put on the helmet of Salvation (Gained through a knowledge of the Word of God)

6. And the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God (Daily Read the word)

7. Finally, to pray at all times in the spirit (in tongues).

The armor of God is real. It is part of the spiritual realm. It is for the protection of our human spirits against Satan’s, a spiritual being, attack against our spirits. When we pray and ask God to put on our spiritual armor, He does and our spirit is protected from Satan’s attacks against our spirit. This is also something we need to do once a day. I daily pray the following:

Heavenly Father I pray for the full armor of God: the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith by which I will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one, the belt of truth, that you would shod my feet with the preparation of the Gospel of peace, the sword of the spirit which is Your Word and for Your grace to pray in the spirit continually.

I then add:

I ask God to use my spirit in spiritual warfare meaning to do warfare for others in the spiritual realm. This is what happens when you pray for someone’s needs. God then takes your spirit and does battle with the demonic forces that are hindering this person from getting their needs met or releasing their faith in Jesus. This is why you find your self drained and tired after pouring out your heart to God for someone. It is because Your spirit has been involved in heavy battle against spiritual forces in the heavenly places. This is why it is so important to daily put on the full armor of God. In the Book of Daniel 7:12-13 Daniel tells us that after praying over a matter for twenty-one days that an angel appeared to him and explained the following to him:

"Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia."

These princes and kings of Persia were demons assigned by Satan over this part of the earth to control this territory. God heard Daniel’s prayer from the start, but the answer God was sending was being opposed by these demonic forces in the spiritual realm. Daniel’s continued prayer was what gave these angels the strength to overcome the opposition and be able to deliver the answer he prayed for. The obvious lesson in this story is to keep praying until you get the answers you need. It is also a reinforcement of why you need to daily put on the full armor of God.

I find that when I am troubled in spirit, fearful for some reason that praying in the spirit, in tongues, settles my spirit and puts me at peace. Praying in the spirit is the Holy Spirit praying through our spirit for exactly what we need. See Chapter 2 in this Section which explains this in detail.

Eighth, you need to realize that Jesus does forgive you and has forgotten the past. You have to accept this by faith based on His Word not your feelings. Remember that part of your armor is the helmet of salvation which is God’s Word. God’s word states that the moment you confess your sin Jesus forgives you. When Satan attacks you with false condemnation and guilt, your only weapon against his accusations is the truth of God’s Word. You need to quote the word of God to Satan and command him to leave.

Satan, God’s Word declares, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." God also says in his word, "as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed my transgression from me." Finally, God says in his Word, "Do not bring to mind the former things or ponder things of the past." According to His word and His commands I bind you and your mouth. You shall not bring my past sins to my memory anymore. I command you to leave in Jesus Christ of Nazareth’s name, amen.

As you stand on God’s Word and resist Satan’s attacks, God’s Word promises that Satan will leave you. The book of Job, talking about God’s discipline in our lives, tells us that as we resist the attack of these demonic forces that they will leave us and be at peace with us. Basically they will go find someone they can successfully harass. The Book of Job states,

"Behold, how happy is the man whom God reproves, So do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. For He inflicts pain, and gives relief; He wounds, and His hands also heal. From six troubles He will deliver you, even in seven evil will not touch you. In famine He will redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword. You will be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, neither will you be afraid of violence when it comes. You will laugh at violence and famine, neither will you be afraid of wild beasts. For you will be in league with the stones of the field; and the beasts of the field will be at peace with you. And you will know that your tent is secure, for you will visit your abode and fear no loss." (Job 5:17, 21-24)

Ninth, love and forgive yourself. Many times even though Jesus has forgiven us it is hard for us to forgive ourselves. Love is not an emotion. It is a decision of the will. You just have to ignore your feelings and make a decision of your will to love yourself and stand on God’s Word and tell yourself that you are going to love yourself as Jesus loves you.⁶⁴

Jesus did not feel like going to the cross. The Bible tells us that He was in so much agony about his coming trial that he sweat blood (Lk 22:44). He said to God the Father, "Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Your will be done" (Lk 22:42). Jesus made a decision of his will, a decision of love, to go against his feelings and die on the cross for our sins. You must make a decision of your will, a decision of love, to go against your feelings and love and forgive yourself. As you do, in time your feelings will surrender and complement what is true in God’s Word.

When you do not forgive yourself, you place yourself above God. If God forgives you, who are you to hold a grudge against yourself, or is it just an excuse to not let God do in and with your life what he wants to in the first place. In fact God’s Word commands you to not even bring to your mind the things of the past. You are to block them out of your mind and not recall them. He does. He says as far as the east is from the west so far has He removed our transgressions from us. He commands you in Isaiah 43:18, "Do not call to mind the former things, or ponder things of the past." In essence God says to you, I have removed it from my memory and so I command you to do the same.

You need to do the same for others who have wronged you. You need to forgive them, block out of your mind what they did to you, not call it to mind, and then relate to them just as if they never sinned in the first place. Peter asked Jesus,

"'Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?' Jesus said to him, 'I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.'" (Matt 18:21-22)

Jesus wasn’t limiting it to seventy times seven, He was saying, forgiven him as many times as it takes. Jesus does you.

In review, when you get out of Jesus’ will and plan for Your life, the way to get back into His will and plan for Your life is by doing the following nine steps:

1. First, confess your sin or sins to Jesus and accept his forgiveness as an automatic fact according to 1 John 1:9

2. Second, you then need to resurrender to Jesus as Lord

3. Third, you need to repent of your sins and cry to Jesus for his deliverance from the power of these sins over your soul and flesh.

4. Fourth, remove any objects or things which tempted you and led you to sin in the first place.

5. Fifth, bind and command to leave any unclean spirits related to your sins confessed and repented of.

6. Sixth, anoint your home and place of work with oil, Jesus’ blood and His angels and declare them holy unto the Lord.

7. Seventh, reclaim the full armor of God.

8. Eighth, you need to realize that Jesus does forgive you and has forgotten the past.

9. Ninth, love and forgive yourself. Forget the past and stop letting the sins of yesterday keep you from doing God’s will today.

Jesus really loves you and really has forgotten your past and removed it from Him. His will for your life has not changed. His plan for you is the same yesterday, today, and forever.⁷⁸ Now go do it!