Month: August 2021

It takes real courage (and great faith in God) not to harm someone who’s hunting you down with 3,000 chosen men, to take your life. 1 Samuel 24

Saul had dealt with the Philistine threat and had once again come after David, this time in the Desert of En Gedi. Saul went into a cave where David and his men were hiding, he was very much at their mercy. But David didn’t harm him, nor would he allow his men to do so. Just because we may get an unexpected opportunity to pay someone back/get even doesn’t mean God has sanctioned it. David could have slain Saul, but he’d never have known for sure that God had made him king. TAKING SOMETHING IN OUR OWN STRENGTH AND AHEAD OF GOD’S PERFECT TIME, MAY WELL THWART THE PURPOSE OF GOD FOR OUR LIVES!

David did cut off the corner of Saul’s garment, but didn’t feel good having done that. He prostrated himself/on his face and then held up the piece of Saul’s robe to show him how close he’d been to death.

¹¹ See, my father, look at this piece of your robe in my hand! I cut off the corner of your robe but did not kill you. See that there is nothing in my hand to indicate that I am guilty of ‘wrongdoing or rebellion’. I have not wronged you, but you are hunting me down to take my life. ¹² May the Lord judge between you and me. And may the Lord avenge the wrongs you have done to me, but MY HAND WILL NOT TOUCH YOU. ¹³ As the old saying goes, “From evildoers come evil deeds,” so MY HAND WILL NOT TOUCH YOU. (David refused to take things into his own hands)

Paul’s writing to the New Testament Church is very similar, Romans 12

⁹ Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.

¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.

¹⁷ DO NOT REPAY not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone.

¹⁹ DO NOT TAKE REVENGE, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath,

²¹ DO NOT BE OVERCOME BY EVIL, but overcome evil with good.

This all follows on from a discussion on using the gifts, the Spirit of God has put them together for us. We need the right attitude to stand in them and David refused to take revenge, even though those around him urged him to do it. He submitted himself to God’s dealings in his life.

Saul acknowledged he was in the wrong and even that David was his rightful successor. He further said that the Kingdom of Israel would be established through David.

However, after giving his oath not to harm Saul’s family it says Saul returned home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold. There was now a distance between David and Saul, that would never be closed.

God bless and keep you today.

 

Do we really believe that God will keep us in all our troubles, as He did David?

From the day David met Saul, he became a fighter/warrior.

David was called under God to secure the nation of Israel from its enemies and make provision for the building of the Temple, though he himself never worshipped there.

David’s life must have seemed very difficult at times, continually hunted by superior forces, he and his men constantly fleeing for their lives. Yet God never allowed them to catch him – God kept David and delivered him in all his troubles!

One episode involved the citizens of a city called Keilah. The Philistines had attacked Keilah to loot their harvest, they didn’t just come at any time but waited until there was something to steal. The enemy may attack us to steal from us, at a strategic time, but God used David and his men to conquer the Philistines. David’s men were actually afraid to leave Judah, but David sought the Lord twice and set off to rescue the city and its people.

⁴ Once again David enquired of the Lord, and the Lord answered him, ‘Go down to Keilah, for I am going to give the Philistines into your hand.’ ⁵ So David and his men went to Keilah, fought the Philistines and carried off their livestock. He inflicted heavy losses on the Philistines and saved the people of Keilah. ⁶ (Now Abiathar son of Ahimelek had brought the ephod down with him when he fled to David at Keilah.) 1 Samuel 23

David’s men were afraid of going out from their hiding place to fight the Philistines, but David led them into battle on the Lord’s command. It was profitable as they carried off the enemy’s livestock and put an end to their raiding. David’s men followed him as he followed the Lord and won a great victory.

Saul heard were David was and mustered his forces to go out and attack him, even after the victory over the Philistines, he still wanted to take David’s life. Saul’s comment was interesting, how he hoped to trap David in Keilah;

⁷ Saul was told that David had gone to Keilah, and he said, ‘God has delivered him into my hands, for David has imprisoned himself by entering a town with gates and bars.’

Saul hoped that David would depend on the ‘gates and bars’, False Security. THE THINGS THAT THE WORLD LOOKS TO FOR SECURITY MAY WELL CAUSE IT’S DOWNFALL! Saul hoped David would put his confidence in the defences of the city, but he chose to follow the Lord and leave instead. Their first victory would not have been repeated, David was wise to withdraw.

The next scene was in the Desert of Maon, where Saul and his army hunted David and his men, each on either side of a mountain. As I’ve said before, ‘The Rock’ stood between them and Saul couldn’t get his hands on David. Then God had him called away to fight the Philistines and David escaped.

So long as David listened to the Lord he was safe, putting his trust in men’s defences would have been disastrous. We need to learn this for our own lives.

God bless and keep you today.

Will we yield to the Spirit of God or the spirit of the world? 1 Samuel 19

The account of David and Saul’s tempestuous relationship continues to unfold, it was very much an On/Off affair. Saul’s inner life appears to have been a battleground, being contested by opposing spiritual influences.

The account unfolds with a new threat from Saul to take David’s life, but Jonathan warned David of his father’s intentions and told him to go into hiding. Then follows a beautiful picture of Jonathan as an intercessor, standing in the gap on David’s behalf, before his own father, King Saul.

³ I will go out and stand with my father in the field where you are. I’ll speak to him about you and will tell you what I find out.’ 1 Samuel 19

True intercession can only take place when we have ‘ground to stand on or the right to stand before, in this case the King’. Jonathan was the King’s son and had the right to address his father. We must be sure we have the right to plead our case before we can begin, either on our own standing or by invitation of someone who does. My mentor, Kjell from Sweden, who led prophetic prayer teams around the world, always wanted a valid invitation before accepting any call to come and pray.

Two Biblical examples of intercessors were Abraham pleading for Sodom and Gomorrah, were Lot lived. He got better terms, but towns were still destroyed because of their wickedness. The second example was Moses, the leader of God’s people, when they worshipped the golden calf idol. Moses was already standing on Mount Sinai before God. Exodus 32:11

‘But Moses sought the Favour of the Lord his God’.

An intercessor is seeking Favour on behalf of another!

Saul relented before Jonathan, who reminded him that David had risked his life to kill Goliath and that Saul had been glad of the victory that followed.

⁷ So Jonathan called David and told him the whole conversation. He brought him to Saul, and DAVID WAS WITH SAUL AS BEFORE.

For a time Saul accepted David back into his company. David went out and slew the Philistines as before, but…

⁹ But an evil spirit from the Lord came on Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand. While David was playing the lyre, ¹⁰ Saul tried to pin him to the wall with his spear, 

Saul fell under the influence of a demonic spirit and once again tried to kill David, evil had the upper hand.

David escaped and went to Samuel to tell his predicament. They both left and went to Naioth, a place where prophets lived. Saul sent three groups of soldiers to capture David, but they all began to prophesy when they got there.

²³ So Saul went to Naioth at Ramah. But the Spirit of God came even on him, and he walked along prophesying until he came to Naioth. ²⁴ He stripped off his garments, and he too prophesied in Samuel’s presence. He lay naked all that day and all that night.

Saul came under the influence of God’s Spirit and lay prophesying all day and all night. Unfortunately Saul didn’t hold on to the Spirit of God, he yielded to other spirits.

There is a battle going on today for the hearts and souls of men and we must hold fast to God.

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God bless and keep you today.

God was with David, resulted in success and public praise. God had left Saul, resulted in jealousy, fits of murderous  rage and fear. 1 Samuel 18

1 Samuel 18 begins with the founding of a deep friendship between Jonathan, son of Saul and David. This eventually helped save David’s life, so pay attention to close friends God may bring into our lives.

After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself. ² From that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return home to his family. ³ And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself.

Saul kept David with him, David no longer lived with his family in Bethlehem. The call on his life was to be king and God brought him beside King Saul and into the public arena. God may have to ‘shift us’ from all we know and are comfortable with, at any time, in order to fulfill His call for us and that’s not always easy.

⁵ Whatever mission Saul sent him on, David was so SUCCESSFUL that Saul gave him a high rank in the army. This pleased all the troops, and Saul’s officers as well.

SUCCESS IS THE WORD that describes David, V 14,15,30. We should expect God’s blessing and anointing on our lives when we’re walking in His Calling! The anointing on David’s life was recognised by the wider public, but also by those closer to him, fellow officers. He was quickly raised to a position of greater influence than many around him, who may have served longer – God’s anointing made the difference.

¹⁶ But all Israel and Judah LOVED David, because he led them in their campaigns. 1 Samuel 18

All the people loved David, it wasn’t just that he did the job well and slew their enemies. Something in his life and character touched the peoples’ hearts.

The Word that’s used to describe Saul is ‘Afraid’, V 12,15,29 of David. Saul now viewed David as a rival and was afraid of him because of the same Anointing and Favour of God on his life.

²⁸ When Saul realised that the Lord was with David and that his daughter Michal loved David, ²⁹ Saul became still more afraid of him, and he remained his enemy for the rest of his days.

The chapter begins with the deep friendship between Jonathan and David; such relationships are a great blessing during our lives here. But the anointing on David also made him a ‘lifetime enemy’, Saul hated and feared David ‘for the rest of his days’. We may have to acknowledge that some people, even our own brothers and sisters (natural and spiritual) may never want God’s best for us.

God determined to make David a national figure in Israel.

²³ They repeated these words to David. But David said, ‘Do you think it is a small matter to become the king’s son-in-law? I’m only a poor man and little known.’

David saw himself as unworthy of being King Saul’s son-in-law, a little known man, but God exalted him before men. God’s calling should make us known to those around us, those we’re being called to work with. We should set aside our own opinions and let God place us with those whom He’s called us to.

God bless and keep you today.

 

Is David’s victory over Goliath about to be repeated today? 1 Samuel 17

There’s an inspiring scripture spoken by Jonathan before he and his young armour bearer fought the Philistines;

6 ‘NOTHING can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few.’ 1 Samuel 14

Goliath, the Philistine giant, had taunted the army of Israel continuously for forty days, but no one would go up to fight him. They were afraid of the size of Goliath and the weapons he carried, they saw it purely through human eyes and knew they couldn’t defeat him. The attitude of this giant soldier was one of ‘Defiance’, he defied the army of Israel. V10, 23, 26 and 45.

David was sent with supplies by his father to the three oldest brothers serving in Saul’s army.

²³ As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and SHOUTED HIS USUAL DEFIANCE, AND DAVID HEARD IT. ²⁴ Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear. 1 Samuel 17

There’s been a lot Defiance shouted at God and His people today, but this time someone different ‘Heard it’, someone who was anointed of God to bring it to an end.

David asked for the chance to go and fight Goliath, the total opposite of the other soldiers who had fled in fear.

³² David said to Saul, ‘Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.’

Saul thought the young David would be killed, but David told him he’d killed the lion and the bear when they attacked the sheep. He only knew VICTORY WITH GOD.

³⁶ Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies OF THE ‘LIVING’ GOD.

Never forget we serve THE LIVING GOD. David totally discounted Goliath because he was only a pagan worshipper.

Saul then tried to dress David in his own armour but it only hindered him. ‘I cannot go in these’. V39 Many of God’s people today are hampered by all the things we’ve seen and been taught, which tell us why we can’t accomplish what God wants done. David took off Saul’s armour and ignored Saul’s suggestions. The armour that many are trusting in today is only a hindrance, stopping us from stepping out in obedience to God.

David took what he knew and went to face Goliath.

⁴⁵ David said to the Philistine, ‘You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have Defied. ⁴⁶ This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and CUT OFF YOUR HEAD (David did exactly that). This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and THE WHOLE WORLD WILL KNOW THAT THERE IS A GOD (God Himself has sworn that whole earth will be filled with His Glory) in Israel.

David told Goliath his end had come, that the God of the army of Israel was on the battlefield. He slew Goliath with one stone and cut off his head. The Philistines fled and were slaughtered. Israel then plundered their camp and I believe those who are alive in these days will see God on the battlefield for His people and the enemy camp plundered!

May it be soon Lord. Amen

There was a time for mourning (God’s rejection of Saul) and a time to move on.

The Lord said to Samuel, ‘How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.’ 1 Samuel 16

God told Samuel to get up and anoint Saul’s successor, in other words  to move on. If something has failed or fallen in our lives, and we are grieved (as God and Samuel were), there may well be a time of sorrowing, but don’t get stuck there. We cannot hold what God is telling us to move on from!

Remember God sent Jeremiah to the potter’s house;

³ So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. ⁴ But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands (something had gone wrong); so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

⁵ Then the word of the Lord came to me. ⁶ He said, ‘Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?’ declares the Lord. ‘Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. Jeremiah 18

God is working, like the potter, to bring His purpose to fulfilment in our lives and in this world. The moulding process may not be pleasant but in the long term it’s best to accept and submit to it.

² But Samuel said, ‘How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.’

The Lord said, ‘Take a heifer with you and say, “I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.” ³ Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.’ 1 Samuel 16

The first thing Samuel said was, Saul will kill him, if he hears he’s going to anoint a successor. Many times, even in the Church, the old regime or leadership will not accept anything new, so like Samuel we must be wise in how we go forward. The things God reveals to us should be guarded and not ‘noised abroad’ to others.

Samuel was God’s prophet, set apart from Hannah’s womb and yet at first he didn’t recognise God’s choice of David. David who would be Israel’s greatest leader and from whose family line the Messiah would be born, didn’t look like the next leader. God chose David, the youngest of Jesse’s eight sons and worked deeply in his early life (moulded him). Samuel, Israel’s national prophet, didn’t immediately recognise God’s choice, he had to anoint David in obedience to God. We may not know God’s choice for our next step, it may not always look as we expected but we must follow His leading. As we said yesterday, God’s ways and man’s ways don’t mix, so listen for His direction. ‘Look before we leap’.

May God bless and keep you today.

 

 

A relationship soured and lost through partial obedience and compromise. 1 Samuel 15

We cannot mix the things of God with the cravings of men, they’re not compatible. Partial obedience, trying to walk in the things of God and the ways of men didn’t work for King Saul and it won’t work for us either. We have to choose which side we’re on. There’s an old saying, ‘you can’t run with the hare and hunt with the hounds’.

1 Samuel 15 begins with the prophet Samuel reminding Saul that he’d anointed him king over Israel and now God was instructing him to go and destroy the Amalekites, ‘everyone and everything’, nothing was to be left of them. God had not forgotten how they attacked and cut off the weakest of His people when they came up from Egypt. God’s Justice may seem slow in coming at times, but eventually it does come if there isn’t repentance. Humbling ourselves before God is the one way to avoid judgement!

Saul gathered his army of 210,000 men to go out and destroy Amalek. He told the Kenites to move away and separate from Amalek so that they wouldn’t be destroyed, because they had showed kindness to Israel. God remembers the kindnesses that we show to others as well.

Kindness to the poor is a LOAN TO THE LORD AND HE WILL REPAY THE LENDER. Proverbs 19:17

The Kenites were given the chance to separate from Amalek and save themselves. Sometimes we too may have to leave people we’ve been associated with, because it’s no longer beneficial to be around them.

⁷ Then Saul attacked the Amalekites … ⁸ He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword. ⁹ But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs – EVERYTHING THAT WAS GOOD. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, 1 Samuel 15

God had sent Israel on a mission to completely destroy their enemies, but they compromised. They kept the best of the plunder for themselves. We may often not fully understand God’s instruction but we cannot allow our soulish (selfish) thinking to overrule God’s Word to us.

Samuel confronted Saul over his disobedience. At first he denied it, but eventually admitted that he’d been afraid of his own army. David faced similar situations but always turned to the Lord.

The outcome was that Saul tried to hold on to Samuel’s robe, but it tore. Samuel told him that God had torn his kingdom from him and given it to another.

Samuel did go with Saul and Agag king of the Amalekites to death, (the only prophet in the Bible to wield the sword, Robin Bullock).

The account of the battle began with Samuel telling Saul God’s instructions regarding Amalek. The end of the chapter was the end of a relationship on two levels;

³⁴ Then Samuel left for Ramah, but Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul. ³⁵ UNTIL THE DAY HE DIED SAMUEL DID NOT SEE SAUL AGAIN, though Samuel mourned for him. AND THE LORD REGRETTED that he had made Saul king over Israel. 

THROUGH PARTIAL OBEDIENCE AND COMPROMISE Saul lost his kingdom and his relationship with the prophet. He was on his own now, God no longer spoke to him.

May God give us hearts to obey Him in all things.

God has been very gracious to us this morning, a Kindness has been shown by someone who may not yet know the Lord!

¹⁰ But may you have mercy on me, Lord;
    raise me up, that I may repay them.
¹¹ I KNOW THAT YOU ARE PLEASED WITH ME,
   FOR MY ENEMY DOES NOT TRIUMPH OVER ME. 
¹² Because of my integrity you uphold me
    and set me in your presence for ever. Psalm 41 (of David)

David was constantly chased and harassed by his many enemies, including Saul, leader of his own people. Yet in this psalm he thanks God in his troubles for something which uplifts and encourages him. Even in all his troubles he sees GOD IS WORKING ON HIS BEHALF, ‘the enemy hasn’t got the victory, try as hard as they may’.

None of us want to be in vulnerable situations where we can’t just resolve things and be done with them, especially in this age of the ‘quick fix’. David’s problem’s were still very real but he saw God’s protecting hand was with him. The term, ‘breathing space’ comes to mind, David’s enemy could only press him to the level that God permitted. Many of us need to take hold of that in our own lives today! God is still on the throne no matter how threatened we feel by our circumstances. He hasn’t allowed us to be overcome, but like David, we may have to trust Him a bit longer before Final Deliverance comes – don’t give up.

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground OUTSIDE YOUR FATHER’S CARE. Matthew 10:29

God cares for the tiniest of birds and He also cares for us.

God does expect us to extend the same forgiveness to others as seen in the parable of the unmerciful servant;

³² ‘Then the master called the servant in. “You wicked servant,” he said, “I cancelled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. ³³ Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?” Matthew 18

Don’t forget to show mercy to others so that God may show His great Favour to us.

So today has been a day of rejoicing for us and may it be for all of us who love the Lord, Amen/Yes.

I will call upon the Lord
Who is worthy to be praised
So shall I be saved from my enemies
The Lord liveth and blessed be the Rock
And let the God of my salvation be exalted.

Petra Praise, available on YouTube

Fathersloveministry is a faith based ministry, please Donate on our webpage today to help support this work;

fathersloveministry.co.uk

Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, FOR GOD LOVES A CHEERFUL GIVER. 2 Corinthians 9:7

Your giving is pleasing to God.

We are available to seek the Lord for personal words of encouragement and direction for those who require them. Please contact us on our webpage.

May God bless and keep you in these days.

 

Thank God that we serve a Merciful and Loving Father.

What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! ¹⁵ For he says to Moses,

… YOUR GOD, WHO SAVES YOU out of all your DISASTERS AND CALAMITIES. 1 Samuel 10:19

I was impressed by the wording of this verse, God is the God who saves us ‘out of’ not always ‘from’, our disasters and calamities! He told Israel this when they’d rejected Him and sought a king to rule them.

The reason Israel gave Samuel for seeking a king to rule them were twofold.

When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as Israel’s leaders. … ³ But his sons did not follow his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice. 1 Samuel 8

Samuel’s sons, the next generation, didn’t follow their father nor the Lord. A truly Godly father but corrupt sons – something to bear in mind in our lives today.

⁴ So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. ⁵ They said to him, ‘You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.’ 

Israel wanted to be the SAME AS THOSE AROUND THEM, ‘PEER PRESSURE’. The world system today is pushing people to CONFORM to its viewpoint as never before. We should be very careful about following the crowds, the majority rarely have the Will of God in view.

God called Israel ‘His Inheritance’ and wasn’t pleased that they wanted to be led by a man/king like the people around them. Samuel’s sons were too corrupt to lead Israel and the nation knew that and rejected them. God had removed Eli and his family from the priesthood, because of corruption and now it had resurfaced in only one generation. Despite the failures of the priests, God still held Israel accountable for rejecting Him. We cannot and should not try to blame others if we decide to reject God in our hearts and lives.

The opening scripture from 1 Samuel 10:17-19 has an interesting wording in the Message Bible.

^17-18 Samuel called the people to assemble before God at Mizpah. He addressed the children of Israel, “This is God’s personal message to you:

^18-19 “I brought Israel up out of Egypt. I delivered you from Egyptian oppression—yes, from all the BULLYING GOVERNMENTS that made your life miserable. And now you want nothing to do with your God, the very God who has a history of getting you out of troubles of all sorts. 1 Samuel 10

In contrast to the rejection of God as their ruler, the earlier generation that fought for and took the land God had promised, held a very different position.

¹⁵ But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. BUT AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSEHOLD, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD. Joshua 24

Israel stood with the Lord at that time and in that generation, despite enemies around them. Who will we stand with in our day?

God bless and keep you today.