David

P 2574 That time factor, again.

/ DVH

I have been reading in 2 Samuel, and while I was reading it, I was reminded again that there was a time factor involved in establishing David as a King over Israel. There were many battles, many hardships and great losses between God’s choice and David being crowned king. That victory didn’t happen overnight. My point today is this: before David actually became king, in God’s eyes He was already His appointed man for the job! Samuel anointed David to be king as a YOUTH … even before he fought Goliath.

BUT, there was a very long period of time between those two events —- between the anointing and the actual appointing. 14 years, some people say. Yet this man was always God’s chosen man for the job. In this illustration we can see that time is not always the biggest factor in God’s Ways! The time between what God says and does, and it happening, can be longer than men are happy to talk about. We must not take things into our own hands, even when we know we heard what He was telling us.

My next question was why? Why was that time factor allowed? A whole lot of good men died during that time. I came to the conclusion that time can often clarify our motives – good or bad. Yet in that large passage of time, David grew more and more loyal to the king, despite Saul’s persecution of him. This illustrates that David’s best qualities were enhanced through that longer amount of time. If we think this life is about enforcing the kingdom, we are in error. David was tested about his beliefs and true motivation, and he had an incredibly honourable attitude – even to his own hurt. As the king in a powerful role, David was going to need some of the things that obedience, pressure and time bring out in a life – in order to fulfil that role, well. 

The other thing I thought about relates to us. Today we like to have an idea and bring it to fruition almost instantly. Yet it is apparent in the book that the Lord likes to take His own time! He has an appointed time for things to happen. Read Ecclesiastes 3! Even when we look at Calvary, there was a time period between the Lord Jesus’ death, and His resurrection. Then there was more time between Him revealing Himself to His disciples and His ascension into heaven. After that there was even more time between the ascension and Pentecost! Forty years to make an 11 day journey – those Israelites could not go in … they were not ready! When I notice stuff like that, I like to ask why.

My thought was that the Lord God seems to regard time in a different way to the way we see it. That made me wonder if we could give up on the things He tells us He is doing, too soon. Simply because it appears that the Lord is not meeting our timetable. Instead of pressing on in to learn perseverance, maybe we lose heart? What could we miss out on, when we push things along for the sake of convenience etc. instead of waiting on Him? Are we drawing the wrong conclusions, based on our needs, ideas and agendas? Time sometimes passes and then – we see a suddenly.

We all know that the Lord is never late, and the bible says, His timing is always perfect. Maybe we would manage things better if we stopped putting our own expiry dates on our ideas and hopes, and start asking Him what HE thinks. Then we need to take the time to wait for His answer. He’s never in a hurry so that  ‘hurry hurry rush rush’ thing that often happens is most likely not HIM! The devil pushes us — but Jesus leads us. He’s the Shepherd and He goes out in front!

It is not good to let our circumstances dictate our responses. Despair destroys faith. Holding things loosely allows Him to be in charge. Even if things seem pressing, it is better to continue to hand them over to the Lord and wait for His response. There is a little story about a persistent woman in Luke 18:1-8 …  “And will not God bring about justice for His chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will He keep putting them off?”I think this story beautifully illustrates our Father’s character, it is not just about getting our prayers answered by bothering God until He answers us! By all means ask and keep on asking, but I recommend handing things back over to Him after you do it.

Ephesians 6:18: “Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.” James 5:16: “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17: “Never stop praying.”‘Never stop praying’ could also mean don’t give up too soon!

The lack of an immediate answer does not mean that the Lord has not heard us. Our confidence, our faith is in the fact that He ALWAYS hears us and His timing is perfect, so now we are waiting for Him to guide us through things. The time factor is not the criteria, David could have legally seized the kingdom, everyone knew he was the chosen one. Instead, he chose to endure persecution and hardship as well as honouring the Lord’s principles over a very long time. Time can be an important factor, even in difficult situations. We will need eyes to see His answers even more than we need the answers. Bye. 👋

P 2560 We are in a war and we must learn to fight.

/ DVH

2 Samuel 2: 1-7, 8-9. 12-17 plus 3:1. “So “David went up there with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel.David also took the men who were with him, each with his family, and they settled in Hebron and its towns Then the men of Judah came to Hebron, and there they anointed David king over the tribe of Judah. … … …

Abner son of Ner, together with the men of Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, left Mahanaim and went to Gibeon. Joab son of Zeruiah and David’s men went out and met them at the pool of Gibeon. One group sat down on one side of the pool and one group on the other side.Then Abner said to Joab, “Let’s have some of the young men get up and fight hand to hand in front of us. “All right, let them do it,” Joab said… …

So they stood up and were counted off—twelve men for Benjamin and Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, and twelve for David. Then each man grabbed his opponent by the head and thrust his dagger into his opponent’s side, and they fell down together…The battle that day was very fierce, and Abner and the Israelites were defeated by David’s men. … …

3:1 The war between the house of Saul and the house of David lasted a long time. David grew stronger and stronger, while the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker.”

Saul and David had a ‘history’ which consisted of King Saul trying at every opportunity to kill David. At one stage this king even took David’s wife, Michal, Saul’s own daughter! … and gave her to someone else to marry! satan does not fight fair either! I personally see these battles between Saul and David as a parallel to the battle we fight every single day, between the flesh and the spirit. David only ever did this jealous King good, because His ultimate loyalty was to the Ways of God and Saul was the anointed king..That’s also the way the Spirit of God works for us – He only does us good. No matter how things look – He wants to bless us.

In this life, thanks to everything Jesus did for us — just like David, we’ve already won. Our Hero, our mighty Warrior Jesus Christ, fought for us and won. And one day He will fight the last battle and dispose of that enemy forever. But even though we know that Jesus has already won on mankind’s behalf, yet we are still destined to have to fight for what is ours while we are here, because our enemy refuses to let go of this battle. Just like Saul – he will cheat and fight ’til the end.

However we can daily defeat our enemy by the way we choose to live!  We are the peace bringers and peace-keepers. We are called to rout out the enemy’s damage in people’s lives and usher in God’s kingdom – by the way we treat others. Our weapons aren’t ordinary – they operate in the Holy Spirit’s power. They are the Word of God plus our humility, yieldedness to the Lord, and Love is our greatest weapon of all! Even when our enemy tries to take us out – the key to winning is being prepared to die for Jesus’ sake. However, if or when we do not choose to enter the battlefield, we will still be battered and bashed by this life’s sorrows and suffering, and our flesh will lose every battle by default!

Sometimes the enemy’s strongholds are inside us – which means we must choose to fight our natural inclinations to be snarky and nasty and grab at things by force or manipulation. We do this by asking the Holy Spirit to help us. The devil will also twist our perceptions and our emotions to trick us into fighting over the things that don’t matter eternally. That means we will waste our energy and get weary in the battle. Our flesh will always be at war with the Spirit, because the Spirit has a much higher aim … to glorify God … Dying daily is the only way to learn to fight and WIN.

It is interesting to note that David had been selected as King, by God Himself – but not everyone in the kingdom accepted God’s edict. A whole lot of people still followed Saul! Which is why popularity is never our aim! This story shows me that there are many people who are not discerning. Spiritual discernment is one of the treasures I talked about yesterday, it keeps us from falling into sin’s snares. However, at the same time, any difficulties in our day-to-day lives need to be used as opportunities to be transformed in our POV, attitudes and actions with the Lord’s guidance and help. We should never ever forget that we are in a war, and let the stuff that rushes at us, take us by surprise, and change our aims. Our aim is not comfort – it is Christ proclaimed – we are to bring His kingdom here, now.

Sometimes I think that the Body of Christ is like a bunch of small children at a Bazaar. They run from this shiny new thing, to another tasty thing …without any thought at all. They chase after easy answers that will give them what they think they want. Immediate gratification. We are in a war, we MUST learn to fight. Even our own flesh only wants what it can see. However, the Spirit wants what only God can see, so we can see it too! Now that’s a good place to praise God! 🙌 

P 2546 We will sometimes suffer wrong.

/ DVH

I Samuel 24:1-12 “After Saul returned … …set out to look for David and his men near the Crags of the Wild Goats.He came to the sheep pens along the way; a cave was there, and Saul went in to relieve himself. David and his men were far back in the cave. The men said, “This is the day the Lord spoke of when He said to you, ‘I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.’” Then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. Afterward, David was conscience-stricken for having cut off a corner of his robe. He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, or lay my hand on him; for he is the anointed of the Lord.” With these words David sharply rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack Saul. And Saul left the cave and went his way.

Then David went out of the cave and called out to Saul, “My lord the king!” When Saul looked behind him, David bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground. He said to Saul, “Why do you listen when men say, ‘David is bent on harming you’? This day you have seen with your own eyes how the Lord delivered you into my hands in the cave. Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you; I said, ‘I will not lay my hand on my lord, because he is the Lord’s anointed.’ 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.  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.”

Every time I read this scripture I am extremely impressed by David’s integrity. He had totally committed himself to living His life Almighty God’s way. But at the same time, King Saul was constantly attempting to kill him. Saul was the legitimate king, appointed by God, but he was threatened by David and he had been chasing this young man here there and everywhere for years. Jealousy and spite drove that older man along. But David’s conscience was so soft before God, it smacked him upside-of-his-head when he cut off a piece of Saul’s robe.

We may not like it but submission is in the book. We are not submitted to God if we are not prepared to submit to the person who is the leader. In our homes, at our office, in the government or our churches. Just because it is not cultural to submit, that does not make it wrong. Submission is not meant to be fashionable, fun or enjoyable! It’s hard work and sometimes even dangerous – as David found out! Particularly if you happen to disagree with the person you are submitted to or they have a bone to pick with you! 

However, real submission is a tool to facilitate transformation in us, not make us comfortable. After all the Lord Jesus was utterly submitted to His Heavenly Father, but He also submitted to all the religious leaders of the day. The King of all glory was standing right in front of these experts, and they didn’t know Who He was! But Jesus chose to submit to them, anyway. God’s way is not always about us enjoying the process, it is about obedience. ‘Rebellion is as witchcraft in the eyes of the Lord.’ 1 Samuel 15:23.

David understood this truth and he respected God’s order. He understood the Lord lifts up one, and pulls down another. So David left Saul to God, so the Lord could deal with him … for twenty-five years. Did you get that? Twenty five YEARS!  This young man had been anointed by Samuel and he knew he was to be the next king, yet he let the Lord God build His own house. He did not try to wrestle the kingdom from Saul. Instead he lived honourably, and learnt from God how to respect His enemy. And at the same time he honoured God by his diligent obedience.

You know in my denomination, sometimes there are things that happen that I don’t understand. People move around between churches like ice cubes in a water pitcher. These people are often here one week, and gone the next. It seems to be that they think the preacher is not spiritual enough, or they don’t like what he says, or he doesn’t come to visit them, or they already know all that stuff they want something different. Why this world doesn’t already know all there is to know about the Lord Jesus because of these gifted people, who apparently know everything there is to know … escapes me! 🙄

Human beings disagree, mainly because we prefer to hold onto our own rights. But it is not a matter of compatibility. It is a matter of learning how to love those who cruelly use us. Meanwhile, some days, nobody can annoy us better than a spouse! LOVE CONQUERS ALL … not war of the words! None of us are nice – that’s a rumour started by people who want their own way. Without the Holy Spirit in charge, we can all be mean. Look at Adam and Eve. God came to be with them in their garden every evening and yet they still disobeyed … then they blamed each other. Before we make important decisions we should try looking in the mirror, strangely enough, the person at fault is often in the mirror!

King David knew all about facing his weaknesses, and through God’s processes he was transformed by them – but he  still suffered. Suffering wrong is one of the greatest keys in our spiritual keyring. It hurts like mad, but carries with it the incredible honour of sharing in the fellowship of Christ’s suffering. 👋

P 2541 God’s sovereignty.

/ DVH

1 Samuel 23:14,16-17… David relied upon God…. .“Day after day Saul searched for him, but God did not give David into his hands.” Saul’s Son Jonathan searched for him and went out to the desert to encourage David. And Saul’s son Jonathan went to David at Horesh and helped him find strength in God. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “My father Saul will not lay a hand on you. You will be king over Israel, and I will be second to you. Even my father Saul knows this.”

1 Samuel 23:21-23. “Saul replied, “The Lord bless you for your concern for me. Go and get more information. Find out where David usually goes and who has seen him there. They tell me he is very crafty. Find out about all the hiding places he uses and come back to me with definite information. Then I will go with you; …” And God helped David to escape from King Saul.”

Here’s my first thought: what if SAUL was praying that God would help him catch David??  The Old Testament is filled  with conflicting stories about ordinary people who relied upon God and sometimes it was a happy ending and sometimes it wasn’t. Think about Able, he did nothing! Or Tamar. These people were victims of someone else’s sin and God allowed those stories to play out. If we look at those first verses from Samuel 23 we can see that Saul searched for David …and, he couldn’t find him! But Jonathan searched for David and found him immediately! 

Now, there’s a lesson right there. Being found or “heard” by other people can depend on whether or not we intend to do them harm. Maybe God is hiding your enemy from you! Maybe He doesn’t take sides!! Saul wanted to kill David, but Jonathan wanted to encourage him and help him live to be King. God sees our hearts, and He has no qualms about protecting us from each other, when it is necessary. To me these verses are about God’s ability to protect us from trouble. He promised to be with us, and He is. Look, you may not like what I say next – but I truly believe in God’s sovereignty! 

I believe the Lord can speak to us through other people. If somebody keeps on pricking our conscience for one thing or another and they don’t stop – we’d better listen – whether we like that person or not!  It is way too easy to dismiss other people as having an agenda of their own, outside of God’s will for you, simply by telling yourself, ‘that’s just what they think!’ However, if we hear something over and over again, even if we don’t like it… and even if we don’t know how to fix whatever it is – we had better pay attention. If that other person can see something in me that I can’t see, then I need to listen and, at the very least, pray about it. That’s called humility.

The story of Balaam’s ass comes to mind. That dear little talking donkey was God’s gift to Balaam! (Numbers 22-24.) And the beast clearly illustrates that our God knows what comes next.  He is the God Who can take Gideon into his enemy’s camp to listen to their conversations, and allow him to escape undiscovered and unharmed. He’s the God who knew that Jezebel was going to threaten to kill Elijah, and that Elijah would run away in fear … even though 10 minutes before Elijah called down fire from heaven! Almighty God used the time afterward to teach Elijah about His sovereignty.

He’s the God Who let satan test poor old Job within an inch of his life and He used that to reveal Himself to Job in a deeper way. God is good. But …HIS DEFINITION OF GOODNESS AND OURS ARE TWO DIFFERENT THINGS. Listen to this: “Yet it PLEASED the LORD to bruise Him;He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed…” Isaiah 53:10. Jesus had done nothing to deserve the treatment He got, but God was pleased about it because what happened to Him was for our benefit.

Father God’s definition of good is wa-ay different than ours. Read the book!  Instead of trying to wrangle His actions into our definition of good, we need to wrangle with the idea that God’s Ways are not our ways! When HE says good … He means ultimate good … as He defines it. This can be a place where Christians fall into a hole, often. Just because it doesn’t look good, that does not mean it is not good! It simply means our little peanut brains are limited. That is the time to ask for wisdom, or patience, or even faith that won’t quit.

Paul asked God three times to take …whatever his infirmity was away … and it didn’t happen. Why not? I dunno! This man was brilliant. Spiritually he was so empowered by God that he wrote 13 or 14 books in the New Testament. Yet he spent five years of his ministry in JAIL. But, if he hadn’t done that we may not have had all those 13 or 14 books to read today! Peter only wrote two Epistles in his lifetime. 

The sovereignty of God is an essential part of our belief system. It says: “He’s God, I’m not, I don’t get it but I will trust Him anyway.” There are many times we can allow our disappointment in God’s revealed plans to weaken our faith – instead of letting those scenarios strengthen our faith in His ultimate goodness. It’s a choice. Our God is sovereign, He will do what He will do. He is open to negotiation. BUT! Almighty God does not answer to us, we answer to Him. 👋

P 2539 Fear must never stop me.

/ DVH

1 Samuel 23:1-3,4-5,9-13. “When David was told, “Look, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and are looting the threshing floors,” he inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?” The Lord answered him, “Go, attack the Philistines and save Keilah.” But David’s men said to him, “Here in Judah we are afraid. How much more, then, if we go to Keilah against the Philistine forces!…  “

First of all I want to point out today, that before David did anything, he went and asked the Lord …  It is essential that we learn to live by this game plan, because it is incredibly important to seek His kingdom first. Talking with the King ushers in His kingdom!

The next thing that popped up when I was reading this story, was the fact that David’s men were afraid to go when this battle opportunity occurred. They definitely did not want to go to Keilah, because they thought they would be even more afraid there!  These men were men of renown, they were known as ‘David’s mighty men’ … this was no rag-tag army filled with misfits and left-overs! Yet they were afraid before they obeyed, right where they were staying!

Fear is never a sign to quit. Fear is a sign we should press in to God! One of my favourite sayings is “do it anyway!!” I usually end up in a wrestling match with myself but, in the end, I’ve been doing it anyway for the past 50 years. Fear is not a good outcome indicator. But faith defeats fear and … … does it anyway.

Verses 4&5“…Once again David inquired of the Lord, and the Lord answered him, “Go down to Keilah, for I am going to give the Philistines into your hand.”  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.”

As you can see, these guys went and WON —by God’s Grace!  They put their feelings to one side and obeyed. This is an essential thing to do when He tells you to do something you are downright scared about. Fear has kept so many of God’s precious kids from His blessings. There are blessings galore that are waiting to be heaped on us, they will fall on us because of our simple obedience. To start with we will be more free than we were before! So:  we need to go and speak to that person…. or go and do what He keeps telling us to do. If we need it in writing then read the book…!!

Verses 9-13 “When David learned that Saul was plotting against him, he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod.”  David said, “Lord, God of Israel, your servant has heard definitely that Saul plans to come to Keilah and destroy the town on account of me. Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me to him? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? Lord, God of Israel, tell your servant.” And the Lord said, “He will.” Again David asked, “Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me and my men to Saul?” And the Lord said, “They will.” So David and his men, about six hundred in number, left Keilah and kept moving from place to place.”

David’s mighty men experienced fear, but they were not afraid without a good reason. We, too, often have plenty of good reasons! These guys had already tangled with King Saul and his wicked ways, plus his deceit, so they definitely had good reasons to be afraid. That man was a slippery customer! But they followed their leader as he was following God — and God saved them and the town of Keilah as well. They accomplished their objective despite their fear and the circumstances. Our God is like that. He loves to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat! Remember the cross.

He is the same God Who says in: Isaiah 61:3 TPT “… to strengthen those crushed by despair who mourn in Zion– to give them a beautiful bouquet in the place of ashes, the oil of bliss instead of tears, and the mantle of joyous praise instead of the spirit of heaviness. Because of this they will be known as Mighty Oaks of Righteousness, planted by YAHWEH as a living display of His glory.”  We are His righteous oaks … … whether we feel like it or not!

Jesus died to give us these things, but we dare not just cherry-pick the bits we like. We all want the flowers, the joy, and the new garment, but to get them we need to go through the crushing, and ashes, and heaviness!  Meanwhile our feelings have nothing whatsoever to do with WHO HE IS. How can we learn to trust Him if we let fear rule our lives? He loves to snatch victory from defeat. The guys who look the least like the winners, the ones who start out fearful, and those who dare to believe Him  – WIN!

The following verse is also worth thinking about because it points to the fact that He is MIGHTY:  “You build Your balconies with light beams and ride as King in a chariot You made from clouds. You fly upon the wings of the wind.”  Psalm 104:3. TPT. Our God is not weak and wobbly, There is nothing too difficult for Him to handle – including our fear. Bless you. 🥰

P 2533 Hold fast to what is good and right.

/ DVH

1 Samuel 22:6-8 “Now Saul heard that David and his men had been discovered. And Saul was seated, spear in hand, under the tamarisk tree on the hill at Gibeah, with all his officials standing at his side. He said to them, “Listen, men of Benjamin! Will the son of Jesse give all of you fields and vineyards? Will he make all of you commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds? Is that why you have all conspired against me? No one tells me when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse. None of you is concerned about me or tells me that my son has incited my servant to lie in wait for me, as he does today.”

It is a good thing to listen to the way that these guys in the Old Testament, talk. Did you notice that King Saul has gone right around God Himself being in charge, and is acting like this is a competition between him and David? The Lord is left right out of this picture. Saul is exhibiting one of satan’s nastiest prods: ‘Troops, you’ve let me down! Remember, I have all the power to make or break your lives and David doesn’t!.’  Guilt is a terrible evil motivator  — a poor freedom fighter – it isn’t from GOD.

Do you know the saying… there is nothing new under the sun? Right there in 1st Samuel, satan is using his power to persuade Saul that power, results and might are right. In other words it’s OK to manipulate men for a good cause. But the actual good cause is really Saul’s cause!  That’s a great clue to help us figure out just who is talking to us when we are desperate for answers... who will ultimately benefit? What this king is saying is a twisted highly manipulative truth – Saul’s power was limited by God’s WILL.  Almighty God was WITH David, He WAS NOT with Saul!

Manipulation, judgment or the ‘end justifies the means’ – those thoughts should not exist in the Lord’s church. Have you ever heard someone say this – ‘that church has 4,000 people and this one only has 30?’ The implication is the second church is doing something wrong! Like numbers or popularity are a sign of success in the Lord! God’s ways are not our ways. He used 300 men to defeat without number when He chose Gideon as a leader. And the Lord’s fruit does not always show up with numbers! Jesus Christ was everlastingly fruitful with 11 men!

At the same time, any kind of spiritual gift manifesting itself does not mean we have immediately toddle off and start using it. This is why an anointing or a gift need to be submitted to the pastor. Proverbs 4:5-7 teaches us – “Get wisdom, get understanding: Forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: Love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: And with all thy getting get understanding. Exalt her, and she shall promote thee:” There is a good way, and a right way of doing things. Let other people you trust supervise you. 

The bible is a WHOLE BOOK – we dare not cherry-pick our motivation or our answers. We should not even think about prophesying all over people’s lives without wisdom. Recognising a gift is not activating it. No matter how well intentioned we are, quite often we do not even know the state of our own hearts and that will affect what we say and do towards others.The body of Christ needs spiritually gifted people, but we need WISDOM just as much. The Holy Spirit is the source of our wisdom.

He likes to lead us through difficult circumstances to the other side, because as we follow Him we gain wisdom along the way! So many people have stumbled over the temptation to rush rush, hurry hurry ahead of God. He lives in eternity – He doesn’t have to hurry! He doesn’t care about popularity either!! Gifted people can go into ministry because it has been recognised that they have a wonderful gift from God, and that gift blesses others and has great results! But only God Himself knows what’s inside us that can shoot us in the foot down the road. Ask yourself regularly in any form of ministry – where is the fruit? What does the fruit of this tree look like?

Also, having a gift does not mean you are ready to use it, or the world around you is ready to receive it! Our God is way more interested in our character than we’ve understood so far. He wants to repair and inhabit our lives. Just because other people have responded to His gift in your life don’t be fooled… always, always remember that gift you have is still His! It is a GIFT— not a REWARD FOR GOOD BEHAVIOUR! He gave it to you to build up His church, not just build your own ministry. 

God’s power can be so awe-inspiring, when others see it operating through a person they start to elevate the person. Plus spiritually gifted people sometimes do the right things for the wrong reasons! They are deceived by satan into believing acting like this is for the greater good… “People are getting saved Lord!” Hallelujah! – but we always want Jesus to shine like the SUN — not just some here again, gone again shooting star! King Saul had no love for God or his men – he was too busy trying to get David out of the picture. Our  Lord is a master-craftsman – He forms His swords … His servants — in the fire of adversity or the heat of His personal gaze. As His servants we need to learn to be resilient and tough.

A really good blacksmith can take three strands of metal and twist, weave, beat and forge those three strands into ONE SWORD. This kind of sword can take knocks, and rebound without shattering. Our precious Heavenly Father doesn’t want any of us to break in the battles of this life, He wants us to defeat our foe. Father God wants us to have and live under, the three-fold, tightly woven cord of Himself, His Son and the Holy Spirit. Otherwise like King Saul, we could easily mistake having POWER, for BEING RIGHT and the Lord’s badge of approval.

The Trinity long to become so woven into our thinking, doing and being, that people like King Saul will taste bad to us. However, in order to resist temptation, we must first be able to identify it. Only by God’s Grace and wisdom, we’ll be able to avoid deception, because what the Trinity wants is everything  we want!  The Lord’s army won’t have any ambition, good or bad. Their only aim will be to please Him, and hold fast to what is good and right. Fame and power can spoil people. It goes to their head. Look what it did to Saul, it made him into a megalomaniac and liar – among other things!  Gaining wisdom is incredibly important – it means we have learnt to walk with the Spirit of God. 🙌

P 2531 Our place in God’s plans.

/ DVH

1 Samuel 22:20-23: “But one son of Ahimelek son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped and fled to join David. He told David that Saul had killed the priests of the Lord. Then David said to Abiathar, “That day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, I knew he would be sure to tell Saul. I am responsible for the death of your whole family. Stay with me; don’t be afraid. The man who wants to kill you is trying to kill me too. You will be safe with me.”

To put you in the picture – King Saul is on one of his “let’s kill David … … plus anyone else who helps him!”… moods. Saul had heaps of ‘destroy that guy’ sprees. Below is my condensed version of one of those stories.. David goes to Nob and asks the high priest Ahimelek to help him, he and his men need food. Ahimelek gives David and his men yesterdays’ shew bread plus Goliath’s sword to help him. It is good to remember, King Saul hates David without any Godly cause. Some people do that you know – it isn’t always your fault.

Meanwhile, I think King Saul is deeply envious, and jealous of David and his popularity and his good heart. To start with Saul’s own son Jonathan loves him and this young man is constantly helping his friend. Back to the story — Saul hears about Ahimelek helping David out and he becomes furious — which actually seems to be the king’s emotional default position (!!)  And he sends for Ahimelek, and all the other priests. There were 85 of these men, and King Saul tells his men to kill all of them. 

But the king’s men are unwilling to strike down priests, so Saul gets Doeg the Edomite to kill them, as well as everyone else who lived in the town of Nob. Apparently Saul also believes in guilt by association. This is where the verses above pick up the narrative. We find out that through the text, that David did not trust Doeg at all. It seems that David’s internal spiritual radar was spot on! 

The reason I want to feature this story today is to highlight David’s attitude. Attitudes are easy to miss when you are just reading things as a story! One of Ahimelek’s sons escapes and runs to David, telling him what Saul has done and David picks up responsibility for what has happened … even though he was not the perpetrator! He literally becomes this man’s city of refuge, taking the man and his whole family in under his protection. I love that! When I read it recently, I started praying the Lord would make me a place of refuge like that for others, so they can come to know Him and His love, better.

It is good to look hard at what happened to Ahimelek. We need to note that none of the people who were assassinated did anything wrong – but they were all destroyed to satisfy the king’s desire for revenge. It can be way too easy to start hunting around for the ‘Sauls’ in our own lives … those people who hate us … when we read stuff like this… Nobody loves everybody all the time! By the way, if you find some people like that in your life – remember to forgive them! 

However, today my aim is to talk about having a heart just like David had toward others. He became the protector of the weak and vulnerable – despite the fact that he was being actively pursued by a jealous, vengeful king. He is innocent of any wrong doing. Under pressure, David is still a righteous man! As Christians, we need to be the sort of people that care enough about other people to protect them prayerfully etc., as well as practically and we need to learn, from the Lord, how to prevail under pressure. You get it that the pressure comes first – eh? Then we get to do the prevailing stuff!

This world has so much injustice today it is easy to be swept up in anger and frustration, and then get overwrought, and start acting, and reacting from our pain. Because of that pain, we can easily switch our focus over toward getting rid of the problem. In this story, and in most of ours, the problem is a person. Yet David had enough wisdom to leave Saul and his machinations to GOD – he just kept actively evading him. This was WHO David was!

IF we take matters like this into our own hands we will miss our calling. We are called to be ministers of reconciliation – not God’s revenge on two feet! Our enemy can successfully distract us from the main thing and … the main thing is to find OUR PLACE in His ANSWER. One of our biggest temptations is to rush in where angels fear to tread and act without wisdom. My advice is wait for our King, Jesus. Our place in God’s plan is to be a minister of reconciliation. There is no greater calling.👋

P 2517 The Lord does not think the way WE DO.

/ DVH

1 Samuel Chapter 16 shows us some very interesting things about the way our God, Maker of heaven and earth – thinks. I really enjoy this story, it gives us great insight into the way the Lord deals with human beings. 

But first, please note! … The story goes like this, God did not want His people to have a king – HE wanted to be their King. Meanwhile,Saul is a dud as a king … He’s a king in the natural. following his own understanding.  Well, he kind of would be really because the people chose Saul – based on his height and his good looks. He was pop-star material. Yet he started out his reign out by hiding! Previously, Almighty God had said ‘yes’ to this man and now he’s hiding in the luggage!! We’ve just learnt something about Saul’s character and whether he respected God or not …!!

Moving into verses 2&3 of Chapter 16: 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.’  Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for Me the one I indicate.”

People knew enough about Saul to know what he would do if he was crossed. Samuel is the Lord’s prophet and even he’s scared of what this king will do! So the Lord gives him a sneaky Pete way to go around Saul’s murderous ways, and sends Samuel off to Jesse. Meanwhile, Jesse has 7 sons and one of them is going to be king.

Verses 6&7.“When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord. But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

See, the Israelites already picked a king last time based on the way he looked — but God had someone else on his mind — David.  And even the prophet got it wrong!  God picked a shepherd boy, the least in his earthly father’s household. In the meanwhile the Lord has removed his hand from Saul and he is being tormented all the time. The king is a difficult man already, you don’t want to be around him when he is tormented!! Yet God sends David in. Draw your own conclusion on that point.

Verses 15-18:”Saul’s attendants said to him, “See, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you.  Let our lord command his servants here to search for someone who can play the lyre. He will play when the evil spirit from God comes on you, and you will feel better.” So Saul said to his attendants, “Find someone who plays well and bring him to me.” One of the servants answered, “I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the lyre. He is a brave man and a warrior. He speaks well and is a fine-looking man. And the Lord is with him.”  Did you notice that even the servants knew what was going on? They were on the pointy end of that stick!

Verse 21-23: “David came to Saul and entered his service. Saul liked him very much, and David became one of his armour-bearers. Then Saul sent word to Jesse, saying, “Allow David to remain in my service, for I am pleased with him.” Whenever the spirit from God came on Saul, David would take up his lyre and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.”That’s because God liked David’s anointed worship!

Now, here’s the interesting part… the guy with the anointing and a good heart could soothe the guy everybody else picked. King Saul went nutso regularly. Everything that happened in the kingdom depended on Who or what was in charge of that man!! Hang on I’m nearly there …

We can learn so much about how the Lord thinks from reading this chapter. He allowed all that stuff to happen. David is snagged into the court every time Saul’s tormentor comes upon him. Later on we find that that demonic spirit tries to kill David over and over and over again! This goes on for 20 years, and God does not rescue David! He leaves the man there in that ugly spot, running away from a demonic force. And David has the anointing – so he can deal with it!  I bet that shook someone’s theology! “There’s a time for every purpose under heaven!” (It says that in Ecclesiastes 3) And in the meantime … Almighty God is growing a KING. He took that young man from a teenager, into being an adult under pressure! He took a shepherd boy who loved to worship and made him a WARRIOR.

Sometimes we try to pray ourselves OUT of the very situations God puts us in to shape our character. He doesn’t think like we do. All those years in between tending sheep and eventually becoming a king, are nothing to the Lord. He is growing integrity in that man!! We need to purpose in our hearts to remember that God’s ways are not our ways. There must have been many many times David doubted every single thing that had happened to him when Samuel anointed him – but he kept his integrity in tact and served God’s purposes well.

Almighty God does not think like we do, that’s why we need to follow the Holy Spirit. God is looking for Davids not Sauls He doesn’t believe in popularity contests – He’s looking for the people who will serve Him no matter what! Bye ⚔️ 👋🏻. 

P 2499 Our yes works in every circumstance.

/ DVH

Fear is one of those ghastly things that tries to batter many of us daily into submission. It starts out for me, by painting pictures of disaster in my mind, and hammers at me from every corner that God does not care. Then it tells me that He is not going to help me because I don’t deserve His help. All of that is a lie! 

God is love! We all need to have complete confidence, no matter how things look, that our GOD IS also GOOD. Plus – it also goes without saying that He is not the author of fear. However, any one of us would be foolish if we underestimated our enemy. satan knows our weaknesses and he plays on them. The safest place to fight that battle is to live this life yielded to Jesus … no matter what else is going on. When we yield to Him we are saying ‘yes.’

The Lord wants to turn those weaknesses of ours into strengths, so this is how we fight our battles … we refuse to entertain the things our enemy insists will be an outcome of some situation or other, and start to concentrate on what the Lord Himself says about Who He is, and what He says about us – IN THE BOOK. The bible is the most fantastic sword ever, it has His wisdom in it, and on it, and this book adapts and becomes appropriate in any kind of situation. 

The thing is – at the same time the Holy Spirit will also use that sword to change our mindset. Using His sword and holding fast to Him to deliver us, actually transforms our minds. It is like this: something happens and we are tempted by those circumstances to think that God does not care about us. So we ask the Holy Spirit for scripture/s, then we aim that scripture at satan – just like Jesus did in Matthew. Lastly, we insist that His word is truer than how we feel, or the things that are coming against us. 

Our King will put a sword in our hands and then that word comforts us, and it tears UP/down the enemy’s lies! We will gain trust as individuals as we see our glorious King acting on our behalf. Our minds need to be infused with the reality that nothing beats King Jesus. Our aim is not about getting some specific outcome – the real answer is no matter what happens – He’s got this. We know that He will WIN whatever happens!! He already won 2,000+ years ago! The wisest course is to surrender every bit of the trouble, and hold onto WHO HE IS.

At the same time, the Holy Spirit is using that sword to separate us away from the thinking patterns we’ve formed in our lives – the things that have convinced us that things are never ever going to change. Our Father is always waiting for our cry of help, no matter how feeble that cry might seem to us. He is always with us to deliver us. If we are not delivered on the spot, then that means one of two things. The first is He knows that by stretching your faith, it will grow.

“Be assured that the testing of your faith [through experience] produces endurance [leading to spiritual maturity, and inner peace]. And let endurance have its perfect result and do a thorough work, so that you may be perfect and completely developed [in your faith], lacking in nothing.” James 1:3-4. This stretching of our faith produces the kind of endurance that will stand in any circumstances. No athlete can run a successful race if he does not build up his stamina. We need to learn from the Holy Spirit to use the difficult things as opportunities to build up our spiritual stamina. Meanwhile, inner peace is not too shabby, thank you Lord!

To get a test-i-mony sometimes you have to go through a test! None of us can avoid growing! That is why we need to seize every single opportunity to push through how we feel, then finish off the fight with the circumstances, and our feelings, by quietly waiting to see what He will do in our behalf.  Waiting is part of the Lord’s process. It renews our strength and helps us get a different view of what is going on. 

The second thing is that these places are where we get to be like David who knew, from experience, that God was going to back Him up. We must ‘taste and see that the Lord is good’ – for ourselves! … and stop just taking someone else’s word for it. Our biggest problem right now is this – in the past, this life has loomed larger than our experiences with our God’s Grace and Mercy. We’ve been babies expecting someone to pick us up and soothe us … but right here, right now we are learning to reverse this error. NOTHING IS BIGGER THAN GOD and as we yield to Him, we leave Him room to move. We want His will His way!

Sometimes we pray for deliverance from evil, but Father God is giving us an opportunity to grow, to go deeper. We need to be able to discern the times, even in our own lives. Even if we feel weak and helpless, you and I are on our way to victory!! God promises to renew our strength and … I am sooooo never going to get sick of saying this … “His strength is made PERFECT in our weakness.” WIN-WIN! 

As Christians if we stand still – we stop to fight the good fight in our head… We don’t have to run away… because our side already won. The greatest gift we can give the Lord is our availability, and satan wants to scare us out of standing in our God-given place. Let your yes to Him be continuous. 👋🏻

P 2498 Transformation is an ongoing process.

/ DVH

1 Samuel 10:6&7 “The Spirit of the Lord will come powerfully upon you, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person. Once these signs are fulfilled, do whatever your hand finds to do, for God is with you.”

We can choose to walk away from our birthright. King Saul did. These two verses from 1 Samuel are a great example of how someone who was anointed by God and totally transformed, could still go on to be corrupted by the very power he was given. King Saul shows us that sin is a choice – and this man made very bad ones. Almighty God gave this king many chances to repent. But eventually, the Lord withdrew His hand on the man’s life and the demonic took over. You can read the whole story in the bible. King Saul is the perfect example of a man who was transformed and continued on with his life – in the flesh.

Today, I just want to highlight the fact that our God does not give up on people, but His patience with man’s careless sinfulness does have a limit. Saul illustrates that. He was made King by God’s grace only. Meanwhile, presumption is not faith, surrender to the Lord’s will is faith. See Genesis 6:3. It is up to us to choose how we live after we are saved – but God’s greatest desire is to walk with us. I know I rattle on about this, but our ongoing transformation is essential for whatever comes next! King Saul valued the power he was given, over the opportunity to be continually transformed.

Yes, I know – we are blessed to be alive on the other side of the cross, because Jesus paid our debt for us. But Christ did not go through that tremendous ordeal simply to allow us to remain the same. He came and died for our sins, and we now have the power to overcome them. We need to live in love, and for love, not for ourselves. Transformation is now our aim. Voluntary transformation provides immediate humility. “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” Mark 8:36. King Saul is an example of someone who did not take the opportunity to be continually transformed – instead he used the power he was given for his own purposes.

We have been given the power to choose to turn away from this careless attitude that says we can do whatever we want, because He will forgive us. Nor are we supposed to assess how we are doing with the Lord by His answers to our prayers! We have been born again to inherit an attitude of humility, love and service. We inherit this from Christ our big Brother. Almighty God didn’t save us to allow us to go our own way with a handy get-out-of-jail-free button. Let’s not get puffed up by our own self-importance. “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ Who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20.

King Saul forgot that he was chosen by God, to be king, it was not his birthright! His lack of humility, together with his jealousy, arrogance and rage, pulled him away from the very One Who could have helped him with his new role. Our God wants us to trust Him, daily. We use our faith, every single day, to allow Him to remove those things that will destroy us. We already have evidence He is incredibly trustworthy, by the written fact that when we didn’t deserve it, He came and saved us. We must not betray the Lord’s trust by mis-using His good nature and grace to fulfil our own agendas. This was Saul’s mistake. 

Our God is not a back-up to our imaginings or ambitions – He is the main event. His will, will always be the main event! He saved each one of us so we can voluntarily walk with Him into a totally new life. This means that transformation is meant to be part of our focus. The new birth is an invitation into knowing Almighty God, here and now in our daily lives. He will help each one of us leave the past behind, so we can step into a future where we are a loving blessing, from Him, to everyone around us.  

Overcoming our own old sinful nature, is part of the great adventure we have in front of us. We daily move forward with the Holy Spirit’s help. Transformation is an ongoing process, it is the outworking of the new birth in all our lives. 👋🏻

“May my only boast be found in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Him I have been crucified to this natural realm; and the natural realm is dead to me and no longer dominates my life. Whether a man is circumcised or uncircumcised is meaningless to me. What really matters is the transforming power of this new creation life.” Galatians 6:14-15 TPT