"Time For Battle"

"And David enquired at the Lord, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all." 1 Samuel 30:8

When David and his men returned to Ziklag, they discovered that the enemy had come and destroyed their homes and taken their families captive. There were two things that David did in his time of trial that I want to address this morning.

When the enemy is attacking, when you are being tormented in soul, when sin is waging war against you, when you feel as if you can't keep going on and all hope is gone, it is not a time to sit down, give up or do nothing. There comes a time when you have to do the same two things that David when he was under attack.

The first thing he did was encourage himself in the Lord. "And David was greatly distressed... but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God." (1 Samuel 30:6) It may seem as though God is no where around. You may feel as if He has abandoned you. You may feel as if He is angry with you and has stopped listening to your cries. You may even feel that this is His fault and that He has not been faithful to His promise to you. If you are feeling that way- stop! Instead, encourage yourself in Him- in who He is, in His character, in His promises. Seek Him as did David. He has not abandoned nor forsaken you. He has not shut His ears to your cries, His eyes are still upon you, His hand is still outstretched to save you.

The second thing David did was to pursue. You must do the same- pursue! Get up, stop feeling sorry for yourself, stop sitting there with a defeated attitude, don't give up! There comes a time when we must do battle against the enemy that is warring against our soul. The kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force. We have been equipped for battle with full armor. We have the Spirit of God to lead us into battle strategies. We have already been promised victory because Jesus already won the victory.

When David faced his greatest trial, he could have given up and given in, but he went before God and then he went after the enemy. It was not a time to do nothing, but a time to do battle. Too often we give up too easily against the enemy. We have laid down our battle array. We have allowed those fiery darts to defeat us and have not even raised a finger to do anything about it. If this is you this morning, get up. Put on your battle attire and pursue. Go to the enemy's camp and take back what he has stolen from you.

Have a great day. There comes a time when you have to get violent with the enemy of your soul and take back what he has stolen.

For further reading:
Ephesians 6:10-17
1 Samuel 30
Matthew 11:12
1 John 5:4
2 Corinthians 4:10

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Coffee Break is a morning devotional written by Lorraine Ezell
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