#53 - Kyle Thompson // Sixth Day Morning - The Gospel

Summary

The Daily Blade: Joby Martin & Kyle Thompson
Episode #53 - Kyle Thompson // Sixth Day Morning - The Gospel
Release Date: March 14, 2025

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Introduction

In Episode #53 of The Daily Blade, hosts Pastor Joby Martin of the Church of Eleven22 and Kyle Thompson of Undaunted.Life delve into profound spiritual themes aimed at equipping Christians to apply God's Word to their daily lives. This episode features Kyle Thompson as the primary speaker, focusing on a powerful Puritan prayer from The Valley of Vision titled "Dark Guest."

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Exploring the "Dark Guest" Prayer

Kyle Thompson opens the episode with palpable enthusiasm, stating, “this might be my favorite the Daily Blade episode that I've written because I just really, really enjoy the content” (00:20). He introduces the "Dark Guest" prayer, a raw and introspective plea grappling with internal sinfulness and the constant battle between human frailty and divine grace.

Thompson reads the prayer aloud, capturing its intense emotion and spiritual conflict:

“Oh, Lord, bend my hands and cut them off. For I have often struck thee with a wayward will with these fingers should embrace thee...”
(Transcript excerpt at 00:20)

The prayer vividly portrays the penitential desire to overcome sin and the yearning for God's transformative power. Thompson expresses his deep connection to the material, emphasizing the importance of confronting the "dark side" to effectively push back spiritual darkness.

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The Internal Battle: Light vs. Dark

Thompson elaborates on the duality presented in the prayer, highlighting the internal tug-of-war between light and darkness within a believer's heart. He notes, “Throughout this prayer, you can just feel the soul-level tug of war going on inside of this guy. So it's a fight between the light and the dark” (02:45). This struggle underscores the perpetual challenge Christians face in aligning their actions with their faith amidst inherent human weaknesses.

He underscores the significance of acknowledging these internal battles as essential for spiritual growth and resilience. By recognizing and experiencing the depths of one's sins, believers can better combat them with God's grace.

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Biblical Parallels: David and Goliath

To illustrate the themes of the prayer, Thompson draws a parallel to the biblical story of David and Goliath from 1 Samuel 17. He recounts David's confrontation with Goliath, emphasizing the strategic and symbolic elements of the narrative:

“This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand and I will strike you down and cut off your head.”
(1 Samuel 17:46, as quoted 04:15)

Thompson meticulously analyzes the events following David's victory. He explains how David's act of beheading Goliath and bringing his head to Jerusalem served as a powerful symbol of triumph over adversity. This act, he suggests, foreshadows Christ's ultimate victory over sin and death.

Connecting further, Thompson references biblical passages where Jesus is crucified at Golgotha, the "place of a skull," drawing a direct line between David's triumph and Christ's sacrifice:

“David's victory over Goliath foreshadows Christ's victory over sin and death at Calvary.”
(06:10)

By doing so, he emphasizes the continuity of God's redemptive plan throughout scripture, illustrating how personal struggles mirror the greater spiritual battles depicted in the Bible.

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Theological Insights

Thompson delves into the theological implications of the "Dark Guest" prayer, interpreting it as a declaration of dependence on God's grace. He points out the recurring theme of remembrance in the prayer:

“The cross still stands and meets my needs in the deepest straits of the soul. I thank thee for my remembrance of... the remembrance of thy great help, of thy support from heaven, of the great grace that saves such a wretch as I am.”
(05:30)

This emphasis on remembering God's grace serves as a foundation for overcoming sin. Thompson encourages listeners to internalize this remembrance as a source of strength and deliverance, much like David relied on God's promise to defeat Goliath.

He further calls listeners to action, urging those who have not yet embraced this divine deliverance to do so:

“If you have never accepted that reality before, today is the day. And if you've already accepted it, walk in that power today.”
(06:50)

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Conclusion

In wrapping up the episode, Pastor Joby Martin invites listeners to support and share the podcast, reinforcing the communal aspect of spiritual growth. He encourages the audience to leave reviews and ratings, fostering a broader reach for the show's mission to equip men for spiritual battles.

Joby Martin concludes with a resonant call to action:

“Share this podcast around and leave us a five-star rating and review. Stay sharp.”
(07:16)

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Key Takeaways:

1. Acknowledgment of Internal Struggles: Recognizing and confronting personal sinfulness is crucial for spiritual resilience.

2. Biblical Parallels Enhance Understanding: Relating personal struggles to biblical stories like David and Goliath provides deeper insights into overcoming adversity.

3. Dependence on Divine Grace: Continuous remembrance of God's grace is essential in combating the persistent rise of sin within.

4. Call to Action: Embracing God's deliverance and walking in His power are imperative steps for believers.

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Notable Quotes:

• Kyle Thompson: “Throughout this prayer, you can just feel the soul-level tug of war going on inside of this guy. So it's a fight between the light and the dark.” (02:45)

• Kyle Thompson: “David's victory over Goliath foreshadows Christ's victory over sin and death at Calvary.” (06:10)

• Kyle Thompson: “If you have never accepted that reality before, today is the day. And if you've already accepted it, walk in that power today.” (06:50)

• Joby Martin: “Share this podcast around and leave us a five-star rating and review. Stay sharp.” (07:16)

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Final Thoughts

Episode #53 of The Daily Blade masterfully intertwines personal introspection with biblical exegesis, offering listeners both emotional resonance and theological depth. Through Kyle Thompson's passionate exploration of the "Dark Guest" prayer, the episode underscores the importance of recognizing internal battles and relying on divine grace to achieve spiritual victory. This comprehensive discussion not only aids believers in understanding their struggles but also reinforces the timeless truths of scripture in the journey toward spiritual maturity.

Transcript

[A]

Welcome to the Daily Blade. The word of God is described as the sword of the spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christian's armor against the forces of evil. Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson, and they stand ready to equip men for the fight. Let's sharpen up.

[B]

All right, guys, I'm just going to tell you right from the beginning, this might be my favorite the Daily Blade episode that I've written because I just really, really enjoy the content. And, guys, if you're just finding us. This week, we've been digging into some puritan prayers from the book the Valley of Vision. So we've hit themes of God seeing us through our valley, what man's purpose ultimately is, and how to be patient as God is patient. Well, today we're going to take a bit of a turn to the dark side, so let's look at a prayer called the Dark Guest. I'll read it here. Oh, Lord, bend my hands and cut them off. For I have often struck thee with a wayward will with these fingers should embrace thee. By faith I am not yet weaned from all created glory, honor, wisdom, and esteem of others. For I have a secret motive to eye my name in all I do. Let me not only speak the word sin, but see the thing itself. Give me to view a discovered sinfulness, to know that though my sins are crucified, they are never wholly mortified. Hatred, malice, ill will, vain glory that hungers for and hunts for man's approval and applause. All are crucified. Forgiveness. But they rise again in my sinful heart. O my crucified, but never holy mortified sinfulness. O my lifelong damage and daily shame. O my indwelling and besetting sins. O the tormenting slavery of a sinful heart. Destroy, O God, the dark guest within, whose hidden presence makes my life a hell. Yet thou hast not left me here without grace. The cross still stands and meets my needs in the deepest straits of the soul. I thank thee for my remembrance of. It is like David's sight of Goliath's sword which preached for thy deliverance the memory of my great sins, my many temptations, my falls bring afresh into my mind the remembrance of thy great help, of thy support from heaven, of the great grace that saves such a wretch as I am. There is no treasure so wonderful as the continuous experience of thy grace toward me, which alone can subdue the risings of sin within. Give me more of it. I mean. I mean. Guys, let's go. I'm Telling you, I love this stuff. I love this. So, so very much. So here we go. Yes, I realize that it's weird to get so jacked, you know, jacked up and excited by the darker side of things. But it just does something to me. So I was put on this planet to equipment to push back darkness. And that's why we do day in and day out what we do on undaunted life. And we can't push back darkness if we refuse to see it or experience it or recogn it, whether that's outside of us or inside of us. So let's dig into this prayer a little bit further. Throughout this prayer, you can just feel the soul level tug of war going on inside of this guy. So it's a fight between the light and the dark. And implicit in these words is the guy's recognition that his sins have been crucified with Christ, but that his fleshly desires are still alive and well. And you can feel his torment. I mean, here's a line. Destroy, O God, the dark guest within. But inside this prayer there is also a refrain. I'll read it here. The cross still stands and meets my needs in the deepest straits of the soul. I thank thee for my remembrance of. It is like David's sight of Goliath's sword, which preached for thy deliverance. So if we go back to 1st Samuel 17, we see the battle of David and Goliath. And guys, even if you've never read the Bible or anything like that, you know about this story. But there are some nuggets in this story that you only get from a closer reading of scripture and then you can get into a little bit conjecture. So in 1st Samuel 17:46, I'll read it here. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand and I will strike you down and cut off your head. Okay, so that's little boy David talking to the mighty Goliath. Then in verses 50 and 51, we see this. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone and struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David. Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. Now that's awesome. Like, that's cool. It makes a great tattoo. But people generally lose the thread of the story from there. But we need to go ahead and pick back up here in verse 54. And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem. Okay? So this was common in that day. So the leader of the winning side would behead the leader of the losing side and then take that head and put it on display somewhere as a sign of their own power and just as a reminder or a threat to, you know, to other people that, you know, if you run up, you might get done up. Right? But the text doesn't tell us what David did with Goliath's head after he took it to Jerusalem. So I'm going to be doing my best Matt Chandler impression here to say, okay, the Bible's over here, so I'm going to go over there. Right? So essentially, let me try to read between the lines a little bit and get into the world of conjecture. So at this time in history, Jerusalem was not the city of David yet. Okay? It was a Jebusite fortress. So David would not have gone inside of the city walls with the head of Goliath. But again, remember, he killed Goliath. He was the victor. And in this time period, the victor would need to do something important and meaningful with the head of the conquered. So some Jewish and Christian traditions maintain that Jesus buried Goliath's head on a high place just outside the city walls of Jerusalem. That high place, Mount Moriah. Now, if that sounds familiar, it's because that is where Abraham was tested to sacrifice his son Isaac. In Genesis 22, this place would go on to be colloquially known as Golgotha, which means the place of a skull. Now, if that sounds familiar, it's because we see in Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23, and John 19 that Jesus would go on to be crucified outside of the walls of Jerusalem on Mount Moriah at a place called Golgotha, the place of a skull. So you see, David's victory over Goliath foreshadows Christ's victory over sin and death at Calvary. So when the puritan prayer says this, the cross still stands and meets my needs in the deepest straits of the soul. I thank thee for my remembrance of. It is like David's side of Goliath's sword, which preached for thy deliverance. The deliverance spoken of is Jesus, the Lamb of God, taking our place on the cross at Golgotha, shouldering our sins on his back so that we can be delivered from those sins in the same way that God delivered Goliath into the hands of young David. And if you have never accepted that reality before, today is the day. And if you've already accepted it walk in that power today.

[A]

Thank you for listening to today's episode. Before you go, if you want to help, equip other men for the fight, share this podcast around and leave us a five star rating and review. Stay sharp.