Welcome!
Today: You can get them back!
Passage: 1 Samuel 30
When David and his men came to Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. 4 So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep. (1 Sam 30, NIV 84)
God was just inspiring me to write this today, for somebody. The other day, Rev. Dennis McGuire was preaching from this passage as well
David was forced by king Achish to go back to Zilklag. David was taking asylum with Achish, away from king Saul. But devil was working from all sides, against David. Achish forced David to go to Ziklag
David and his army of 600 went back to Ziklag. Little did David know that it was the Lord’s hand behind it. When David reached there, his family as well as that of others had been taken away by the Amalekites. David might have now thanked God, for the pressure from Achish, to go back to Ziklag
David, already tired of his three day’s journey to Ziklag, had to now go for another war to get the families back. Now the people also turned against David because their families were also lost. I don’t know if David was getting any salary, but he got paid in blames, instead of blessings!
Ministers of God often face this kind of situations and it makes many of them discouraged. They get the blames and someone else gets the blessings!
Discouragement comes from the devil. When the enemy tried to discourage David with all his weapons, David did not give in. Instead, he encouraged himself in the Lord. He had no one to do that for him
Discouragement, fear, doubt, laziness, lack of interest in the good things, all come from the devil. Parents sometimes struggle to make children understand the seriousness of life, but they get it much later or slower. Telling them a hundred times may not seem to work, because the enemy tries to take their attention away from the good things and make them focus on less important things
The Lord has to work in their hearts and create that interest for good things, whether it is children/spouse/brother/sister or anybody else
Prayer (and fasting) does a lot of good. When God works, the devil keeps away
David took the next step as per God’s counsel. When we pray, God will tell us what to do, with each situation. He will also strengthen us to do that
We can be far away from our family, but can “cover” them in our prayers. If children are away from you in college, you need to “cover” them in prayer
Thank God for the privilege of prayer. It works from just anywhere!
If devil has taken any of your blessings or family away from God, we can get them back. God is a God of blessing. Every good and perfect gift comes from God
Let our words be words of encouragement, if we belong to the Lord
17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. (James 1, NIV)
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. (John 10, NIV)
Have a blessed day!
BG
Prayer: Father God, I know that you want to bless me and make me and my family a blessing to many. I pray that you will help me identify all that comes from the devil against us, and to handle them right, not to loose any. In Jesus’ name, Amen
God speaks life and encouragement; devil speaks death and discouragement. What are you speaking?