God with you

David made good his escape and went to Samuel at Ramah and told him everything Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel withdrew to the privacy of Naioth.
^19-20 Saul was told, “David’s at Naioth in Ramah.” He immediately sent his men to capture him. They saw a band of prophets prophesying with Samuel presiding over them. Before they knew it, the Spirit of God was on them, too, and they were ranting and raving right along with the prophets!
²¹ That was reported back to Saul, and he dispatched more men. They, too, were soon prophesying. So Saul tried a third time—a third set of men—and they ended up mindlessly raving as well!
²² Fed up, Saul went to Ramah himself. He came to the big cistern at Secu and inquired, “Where are Samuel and David?”
A bystander said, “Over at Naioth in Ramah.”
^23-24 As he headed out for Naioth in Ramah, the Spirit of God was on him, too. All the way to Naioth he was caught up in a babbling trance! He ripped off his clothes and lay there rambling gibberish before Samuel for a day and a night, stretched out naked. People are still talking about it: “Saul among the prophets! Who would have guessed?”

Who would have guessed? God's power with you, no one and nothing can defeat you. Saul sent men and the men was so soaked up in the presence of God. He ordered strong men to kill David, but in the end they were all in the presence of God, prophesying. This is really how amazing God works. God don't just kill them, but soak them up in a presence, God knew that any man ,ANY MAN who comes to His presence they would all end up prophesying and praising God. There is no difference. Men are God's creation. Regardless of how much the man want to run away, he cannot, CANNOT run away from His saviour. Regardless of the man and His heart condition, when in the presence of God, he would break down. Just like the strong army men who came to capture David, they were all in God's presence and did not carry out their original duty, instead they prophesied and praised God. Then Saul came to capture David himself, but he became soaked in the spirit too. No matter how many barriers we try to set up before God, God who is our creator, would eventually tear them down. Why do we even build those walls? Tear down the walls and let God come in now. All these is God extent of protection for David against Saul. When God is with you, who can be against you?

How much should we desire for His presence and His reign over our lives?

Finding rest in Him

^28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

In the modern world, we are often busy. Busy to the point that we do not have enough rest. Even if we have rest, the rest is not sufficient for us. Then, do we seek His rest? The rest that God wants to give us? God's rest is beyond what the world can give us. His rest is eternal and not only physical but spiritual. Humans are spiritual beings and having to rest in spirit is far more effective than just resting in the physical. Rest is a very important part of our lives, without good rest, we would find it difficult to go through life. we would then be tired and we would not be able to perform at our best. Only in God that we are able to find true rest, lasting and good. 

Evil spirits

⁹ But an evil^[a] 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, but David eluded him as Saul drove the spear into the wall. That night David made good his escape.
¹¹ Saul sent men to David’s house to watch it and to kill him in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, warned him, “If you don’t run for your life tonight, tomorrow you’ll be killed.” ¹² So Michal let David down through a window, and he fled and escaped. ¹³ Then Michal took an idol and laid it on the bed, covering it with a garment and putting some goats’ hair at the head.

 An evil spirit from God, caught my attention. God sends evil spirits? God is the same yesterday, today and forever and He is good. If He is good, why did He sent evil spirits? God is good and everything He does is good. if he is good, why the evil spirits? Saul did wrong against God, so he deserved God's righteous judgement. God created everything good, not evil. So the evil spirits came from somewhere else. God then allowed the evil spirits to torture Saul, as His punishment for walking away from God. God is righteous and His punishment is just. Saul was punished by God by withdrawing His holy presence from him. The consequence of that is that evil spirits come upon Saul, causing him to suffer. Another point to note is that Saul did not complain, he just accepted the punishment as a fact. He did not cry out for mercy nor blame that punishment on someone.Today we do not experience this because Jesus had died on the cross for all our sins, so He paid the ultimate price. Then we became blameless. But, we still need to account for all our deeds on judgement day!

Execute order 66

19 Saul told his son Jonathan and all the attendants to kill David. But Jonathan had taken a great liking to David ² and warned him, “My father Saul is looking for a chance to kill you. Be on your guard tomorrow morning; go into hiding and stay there. 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.”

⁴ Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, “Let not the king do wrong to his servant David; he has not wronged you, and what he has done has benefited you greatly. ⁵ He took his life in his hands when he killed the Philistine. The Lord won a great victory for all Israel, and you saw it and were glad. Why then would you do wrong to an innocent man like David by killing him for no reason?”
⁶ Saul listened to Jonathan and took this oath: “As surely as the Lord lives, David will not be put to death.”

This reminds me of execute order 66 in star wars. Order 66 is an order to clone troopers to kill their Jedi generals, who has supposedly gone rouge. God knew that Saul would go all out to kill David, because he thinks David is powerful and is a threat to his rule. Jonathan did not follow through that order because he built a relationship with David and did not understand why is his father trying to kill David. David has been a blessing to the kingdom. He killed countless Philistines and most important of all Goliath. This is not the king's first attempt at killing him. Saul tried all ways and means to kill him; sending him to the toughest battles, hoping that he would come back dead, distracting him and even trying to drive a spear through David. God sent Jonathan to come and negotiate and protect David, which he had done very well. Without Jonathan, David could be already dead. Now Jonathan is saving David's skin again! This really tells me that God wants us t be connected to a community of Christians. Jonathan and David not only had fellowship with each other, they fellowship and build a relationship with God. Everyone needs a friend and we need friends who speak life into us.

Saul the king?

²⁸ When Saul realized 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 the rest of his days.
³⁰ The Philistine commanders continued to go out to battle, and as often as they did, David met with more success than the rest of Saul’s officers, and his name became well known.

Kings have the final say. when we see stories that involve kings,  we see that kings have the final say, when they say person A is to be killed, he will be killed. But Saul here is different, King Saul declared that David is enemy, and tried numerous ways to kill David, but it did not work! How is a king a king if what he intends to do is not done? That is because God is not with Him.

Proverbs 16:3 says that People make plans but the Lord has the final say. 

It is even true for a king who is anointed by God. Saul was anointed by God but now he turned away because of pride. That pride that separates him and God now affects him and causes him to want to kill David. The funny thing is that every singe time Saul tried to kill David, God used the situation and turn it against Saul himself. When Saul tried to marry off his daughter to be a distraction to David, the Lord did not yield his underlying intentions. When Saul sent David to the toughest battles expecting him to die but David won. We can plan and plan so many things, but we must remember to humble ourselves and come before God, and align our plans to God's will. without that, then it would be our will be done, not His will be done. The Lord's presence and approval is important, because without them, what success would we have? And that success would be unto ourselves, not God.

Saul's heart

²⁴ When Saul’s servants told him what David had said, ²⁵ Saul replied, “Say to David, ‘The king wants no other price for the bride than a hundred Philistine foreskins, to take revenge on his enemies.’” Saul’s plan was to have David fall by the hands of the Philistines.
²⁶ When the attendants told David these things, he was pleased to become the king’s son-in-law. So before the allotted time elapsed, ²⁷ David took his men with him and went out and killed two hundred Philistines and brought back their foreskins. They counted out the full number to the king so that David might become the king’s son-in-law. Then Saul gave him his daughter Michal in marriage.

How blinded can King Saul be? He should understand that His position is because of God. God entrusted him with His power, he did not gain that power, but inherited because God chose him. But Saul took that power for granted and instead of always looking back at God and thanking Him for all he has done, he went other way. He became paranoid of his position and power. Then he started to be afraid of David, whom God have chosen to succeed him, Instead of running towards Him, he ran away. He turned away from God because he was blinded by power. God was with David but not with him. so we all know that whatever Saul do, chances are that it will eventually fail. He continuously plotted against David. Planning to kill him in many different ways, he tried everything. But because God was with David, David won. He won every single challenge that Saul gave him. All these would displease Saul that He would send his army hunting for David. So, we have to remember to always run back to Him, because if He is with you, no one can be against you.

What David had

²² Then Saul ordered his attendants: “Speak to David privately and say, ‘Look, the king likes you, and his attendants all love you; now become his son-in-law.’”
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 killed thousands of Philisines, yet he is humble. While king Saul was busy plotting against David, David has a humble heart and that humility has help him through all the time with God, because when one is humble, God exhalts him. When one is proud, God convicts him.


God said in James 4:6
But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble."

David was very humble, despite all his achievements. He could have said, "yes i am deserving, she is my bride now. But he did not! Instead he said he was unworthy to become king's son in law. King Saul on the other hand sees himself as larger than life; through his numerous acts. We all should learn from David, humble oneself, so God can exalt and use us. When God has blessed us with achievements, look back to Him, and be humble. 

God's original plan

³¹ God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

This is a very good verse. God saw everything that He created and it was not good but very good. That would mean that God did not create evil and did not intend for evil to exist in the first place. God created everything on earth to be good. we chose to be evil. we chose it. God gave us the free will to do what we desire to do, so that we can choose to love. But we chose to hate, we chose to be evil and do evil acts. God gave us the potential to love, but at the same time to hate. freewill is the key to all these pain and suffering along with peace and joy. God always intended for good to happen only, but people, tempted by evil by their sinful nature, chose to go the wrong way. free will is the harbinger of evil but it is also the prognosticator of love. we have a choice, make a choice today!

Hand in marriage

¹⁷ Saul said to David, “Here is my older daughter Merab. I will give her to you in marriage; only serve me bravely and fight the battles of the Lord.” For Saul said to himself, “I will not raise a hand against him. Let the Philistines do that!”
¹⁸ But David said to Saul, “Who am I, and what is my family or my clan in Israel, that I should become the king’s son-in-law?” ¹⁹ So^[b] when the time came for Merab, Saul’s daughter, to be given to David, she was given in marriage to Adriel of Meholah.
²⁰ Now Saul’s daughter Michal was in love with David, and when they told Saul about it, he was pleased. ²¹ “I will give her to him,” he thought, “so that she may be a snare to him and so that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” So Saul said to David, “Now you have a second opportunity to become my son-in-law.”

He said: "I will not raise a hand against him. Let the Philistines do that!"
 Even though he did not do it; commit the act, he had the intention to do it. The phrase above shows that he was planning to send David into a battle that he cannot fight and get killed by the Philistines! Even though no act was commited by him, he still commited sin because he had the intention. While Saul was busy plotting against David, David was questioning himself if he was worthy to be the king's son-in-law. At that time, David fell in love with Michal and eventually the king gave her to David, the reason behind all these was not good but evil intentions. How many evil intentions do we have? Even if we do not act it out, that is still wrong. and it is sinning against God. Saul was a Godly man, but pride had blinded him to do all these to harm David. Pride of life. Are we like David? our Stronghold is pride? Pride can destroy a person, just like David, Beware!

Power of God

¹⁰ The next day an evil^[a] spirit from God came forcefully on Saul. He was prophesying in his house, while David was playing the lyre, as he usually did. Saul had a spear in his hand ¹¹ and he hurled it, saying to himself, “I’ll pin David to the wall.” But David eluded him twice.
¹² Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with David but had departed from Saul. ¹³ So he sent David away from him and gave him command over a thousand men, and David led the troops in their campaigns. ¹⁴ In everything he did he had great success, because the Lord was with him. ¹⁵ When Saul saw how successful he was, he was afraid of him. ¹⁶ But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he led them in their campaigns.

God removed His spirit from Saul and put it into David. The difference is so evident. The spirit was with David, he can do anything under the sun with God's strength. While Saul was being tortured by evil spirits who came when God's Spirit left Saul. Earlier in the paragraph, Saul did not allow David to return to his own place in the fear that David would turn against him.  Even by keeping David in his palace, David grew stronger with God's spirit. He killed even more of Israel's enemies and shown Godliness. So, now Saul wants to try sending David away from the palace. It is shown that when God is with you no one can be against you. No one no matter his size, would be able to have control over your destiny. Only God is in control. We must build that close relationship with God so we can use His strength and glory for the good of Christ. Saul had pride in His life, he did not humble himself before God and before His people. That is one reason that cause him to be in this state today. Saul did not humble Himself, but tried to defend his pride by trying to destroy David. What is surprising is that Saul actually tried to kill David himself. Either he is blinded by his power or he is deeply affected by his insecurity of having pride. We ought to solve all insecurities, else they would come back to haunt us one day. Then we can allow ourselves to be used by the devil through this stronghold. Fix it and we would be completely safe from the devil. We can be tolerant and go about our everyday life, but if our hearts are not fixed, one day everything would come back to haunt us and then, we would and can be used by the devil.

David and the King

⁶ When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with timbrels and lyres. ⁷ As they danced, they sang:

“Saul has slain his thousands,
    and David his tens of thousands.”

⁸ Saul was very angry; this refrain displeased him greatly. “They have credited David with tens of thousands,” he thought, “but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?” ⁹ And from that time on Saul kept a close eye on David.

 I think sometimes i am like this, when people say that i am not as good as someone else, i will get affected. But i would get over it quickly. I have come to realize that the things i do i do not do unto people, but unto God. As long as we do unto God, we would not be affected by the circumstance and the result. Saul was very angry, he was not only angry, but very angry. Imagine you are the king and some one actually said that! It would be good for you to do nothing and feel nothing. But it is even better to humble oneself and come before God and recognize that we are instruments of God, the glory is not unto oneself. It must be really insulting to the king that when people come out dancing for him they praised David. One thing that we really have to remember, what we do is unto God not man. The results are owned by God, not us. We give the glory unto God not us. and people are just people, we should not be affected by what they say!

Building a King

The Lord's will is to be done!!

18 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. ⁴ Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt.

When the Lord is with you, NO ONE is against you. NO ONE. From the moment that David was anointed by  Samuel, everything has been going well, even when the then king, Saul, was against him. Nothing can stand in his way, not goliath, not the philistines, not anyone. Even when Saul was plotting against him, David still triumphed and grew in power instead of falling. One peculiar part of the verse: David became one in spirit with Jonathan and Jonathan became one in spirit with David. Became one in spirit? They must have been very close for the bible to mention them as one in spirit and to be mentioned as he loved him as himself. They were just like brothers. Brothers. Brothers that cannot be separated from each other. They were so close! This describes earthly relations, are we one with God? God wants us to be in one spirit with Him too! David was in one spirit with his brother Jonathan and with God. Both. He is a godly for us to follow! We need to build godly relationships here on earth and with our heavenly Father.

With a stone

⁴⁸ As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. ⁴⁹ Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.

⁵⁰ So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.
⁵¹ David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the sheath. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword.

This scene really reminds me of a gun. A gun, but we all know that a gun did not exist then. David's sling was the gun and the stone his bullet. The power of God was with him, and that is the reason why and how he won! Can you imagine someone killed a 2 meter person who was heavily armed, with just a stone and sling?! How is that even possible? By faith David went, by faith David killed Goliath. There is absolutely no doubt that this was by God. Only by faith that God can work through our lives.

11 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. ² This is what the ancients were commended for.

³ By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

⁴ By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.

⁵ By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.”^[a] For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. ⁶ And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

⁷ By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.

⁸ By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. ⁹ By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. ¹⁰ For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. ¹¹ And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she^[b] considered him faithful who had made the promise. ¹² And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

¹³ All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. ¹⁴ People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. ¹⁵ If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶ Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

¹⁷ By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, ¹⁸ even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”^{[c] 19} Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.

²⁰ By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.

²¹ By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.

²² By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.

²³ By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.

²⁴ By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. ²⁵ He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. ²⁶ He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. ²⁷ By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. ²⁸ By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.

²⁹ By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.

³⁰ By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days.
³¹ By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.<sup>[d]


By faith David killed goliath. By faith that God was with him. By faith. Do we have that faith to believe that we can do all things in Christ who gives us strength?  Through our obstacles do we, should we run away like the Isralites? Or do we by faith come out and conquer, because God says we are more than conquerors? We know so much about God and His promises, but do we conquer by faith like David did?</sup>

I come in the name of the LORD.

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. 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 in Israel. ⁴⁷ All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”

I really like this verse a lot. David said: I come in the name of the Lord Almighty. However, it is not confined to just David, all of us come in the name of the Lord Almighty. We all. We share the same power that David used to defeat goliath. We only need to cry out to God and we have His power. We need to know our identity, young David understood that. He understood that he held the power of God. And that


Exodus 14:14
The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still."

 He must have read the verse a lot of times and really believed in the spirit. The strength that David has is admirable, but the strength that he has we all have. That strength is in Christ.

David and Goliath

³⁹ David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them.“I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off.

This verse spoke to me as it is, people always tell us to be prepared, learn that, know this, wear this to protect yourself. More often than not, people would ask us to wear armour before the war, study before the exam and preparation before a competition. 

The question is not doing it, the question is are you overdoing it? Different people are different and need different level of preparation. Like David, he do not require that kind of preparation. So, he did not take it. How many of us would have the kia-siu mentality and see people giving us armour, and we just take it. Take, regardless whether you need it or not! 

David did prepare, he took out his Y-Sling and some stones. He did prepare just enough. This really tells us to prepare in necessity, not in excess. because the more we prepare, the more distance we have with God, because we think that we can handle it. We don't need God any more; with my armour, i can win Goliath... Only with an optimum level of preparation can God's glory and strength shine in a person. That excess can become baggage to you. Just like with David, the armour and sword becomes a baggage to him instead of helping Him.

Besides winning the battle with God, we are able to easily give thanks and praise God because God had done the miracle, not you. People also can easily identify with it. IE. If David went up to Goliath with Chariots and a body full of armour would people easily identify that that victory was because of God? In this case it is very clear, David has only a sling without any armour, he defeated the 2.++ meter tall Goliath.

Prepare just enough and don't be kia-su, remove baggages!
Praise the Lord.

SFB

This sermon impacted me on the topic regarding willpower. Willpower is what normal people think we can use to overcome things. But little did we realise that willpower does the opposite of what we think it does! We can try with our own strength so much to get something done, but without God, it would never be totally and truly solved. Pastor mentioned that willpower is not the only thing that would run out, enthusiasm is also something that can wear out. I would like to add a third to that list. that would be passion. Passion is something that we would have for different fields and things. Some has passion for Computing, Sports or other fields. All that passion is not eternal. IE. Not Lasting forever. Eventually one would get weary as that strength that fuel the willpower, that passion is finite, from self not from God. What good would it do if one has great action at the start with his willpower and ends even worse than what he started? what good does it make if one's passion is fuelled by his own desires, not God's?  There is 2 good reasons why the problem exist: one, our limited strength, two our in-grained nature to sin. Our desire to sin is so great, that nothing worldly can stop it, only God! God sent Jesus to die for all our sins, ALL. he paid by blood. That was the expense that God went to. I am also greatly Impacted by the problem about cheap grace. Grace is for free, but it is not cheap! That phrase that Pastor mentioned ricocheted in my head. People love free things, because it does not cost them. Little did that realize that what they receive cost someone something. A person who receives a 10 bucks from a passerby who is giving it away freely would not feel that that act of him receiving cost the giver something. There is nothing really free in this world. We need to be conscious of that cost. Grace is given by The Lord in spite of judgement. Mercy is given by The Lord who died on the cross for all our sins. Both grace and mercy is for free, it does not cost anyone anything to receive it. But for God, it cost Him His Son. How much are we taking His grace and mercy for granted? How much do we value it and recognize that God paid for it at a high price for humanity? 

WHY DOES SOME OF US ACT AS IF HIS GRACE AND HIS MERCY IS CHEAP? When it is not! 

Then why are we receiving

Salvation without confession,

Blamelessness without confession,

Forgiveness without repentance?

Action! Faith without action on our part is dead! 

Thank God for the expensive Grace and Mercy that we have received, for God paid for them in full with His Son so that we can have a relationship with Him. 

fleeing from obstacles

¹⁶ For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand.
¹⁷ Now Jesse said to his son David, “Take this ephah^[d] of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp. ¹⁸ Take along these ten cheeses to the commander of their unit. See how your brothers are and bring back some assurance^[e] from them. ¹⁹ They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.”
²⁰ Early in the morning David left the flock in the care of a shepherd, loaded up and set out, as Jesse had directed. He reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle positions, shouting the war cry. ²¹ Israel and the Philistines were drawing up their lines facing each other. ²² David left his things with the keeper of supplies, ran to the battle lines and asked his brothers how they were. 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.


Every morning the Philistines would come out and take up battle positions. Then, as usual, Goliath would come out from his position and shouted to challenge the Israelites to a battle. This shout caused the Israelites to run away in fear.  You may question, why are these people running away? These people are people of God! They have the power to defeat goliath! Why did they run? Do they not know their identity in Christ? That God had already won the victory that they are Children of Christ? God had taught them through Moses that they are special, God's people! Do they not know that? 

Similarly to us, God created us, He made us and won the victory for us already, we have to just CLAIM it, claim it in Jesus' name. We should not run away from our problems but run towards God. ever closer to Him.

Great problem

⁴ A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span.^{[a] 5} He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels^[b]; ⁶ on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. ⁷ His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels.^[c] His shield bearer went ahead of him.
⁸ Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. ⁹ If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.” ¹⁰ Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.” ¹¹ On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.
¹² Now David was the son of an Ephrathite named Jesse, who was from Bethlehem in Judah. Jesse had eight sons, and in Saul’s time he was very old. ¹³ Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul to the war: The firstborn was Eliab; the second, Abinadab; and the third, Shammah. ¹⁴ David was the youngest. The three oldest followed Saul, ¹⁵ but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.

Here described a very huge obstacle that Israel was facing. The obstacle was so great that no one dared to apprach him. He was strong and powerful, so strong and powerful that everyone was terrified of him. 

Ask: How powerful is our God? Is He not more powerful than this guy? This guy is just a person while God is in heaven and is all powerful? Can we not believe that God can slay our enemies? God is the King of all Kings, Lord of all Lords. This guy here is NO match for God and His unending strength and power. All we need to do is to harness His strength, recognize that we are His and use His strength to overcome this obstacle. 

It is actually difficult for us to comprehend that something unseen can be so powerful. But it is by faith that God created the earth, it is by faith that He is Lord. Then He reigns. We should not be like the Israelites, fear of obstacles, but harness God's strength because of our Godly identity.

Exodus 16:4

16 ^1-3 On the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left Egypt, the whole company of Israel moved on from Elim to the Wilderness of Sin which is between Elim and Sinai. The whole company of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron there in the wilderness. The Israelites said, “Why didn’t God let us die in comfort in Egypt where we had lamb stew and all the bread we could eat? You’ve brought us out into this wilderness to starve us to death, the whole company of Israel!”

^4-5 God said to Moses, “I’m going to rain bread down from the skies for you. The people will go out and gather each day’s ration. I’m going to test them to see if they’ll live according to my Teaching or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they have gathered, it will turn out to be twice as much as their daily ration.”
^6-7 Moses and Aaron told the People of Israel, “This evening you will know that it is God who brought you out of Egypt; and in the morning you will see the Glory of God. Yes, he’s listened to your complaints against him. You haven’t been complaining against us, you know, but against God.”

The verse 16:4 refers to - God providing unfailingly for the Israelites. He promised that He will rain manna down from heaven. Manna is a bread like coriander seed like food from heaven. Basically, God rain down bread(manna) from heaven. God also mentioned the He will test us. The test God is referring to is the test of faith. God promised that He will rain down manna every single day. That means that no one needed to gather more than necessary. It is to test them to see if they have the faith to believe that God will rain down manna tml and that He is a faithful God. He gave specific instructions to the people through Moses regarding the collection and storage of Manna. Everyone was to collect 1 omer of manna per person per day. For weekends, God will allow them to collect twice the amount for the 6th day, because God rests on the 7th day. Those were the tests that God gave Israel. There were still some who failed to obey His commandments. Even though His instructions were clear. If Israelites then can doubt God even though they have a living testimony, how much would we doubt God?

Wednesday 3rd April 2013

Exodus 16:4

New International Version (NIV)

⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.



Spent the day meditating on this but somehow I still don't get it.Shall see how it goes tomorrow.

David and Goliath

17 ^1-3 The Philistines drew up their troops for battle. They deployed them at Socoh in Judah, and set up camp between Socoh and Azekah at Ephes Dammim. Saul and the Israelites came together, camped at Oak Valley, and spread out their troops in battle readiness for the Philistines. The Philistines were on one hill, the Israelites on the opposing hill, with the valley between them.

^4-7 A giant nearly ten feet tall stepped out from the Philistine line into the open, Goliath from Gath. He had a bronze helmet on his head and was dressed in armor—126 pounds of it! He wore bronze shin guards and carried a bronze sword. His spear was like a fence rail—the spear tip alone weighed over fifteen pounds. His shield bearer walked ahead of him.
^8-10 Goliath stood there and called out to the Israelite troops, “Why bother using your whole army? Am I not Philistine enough for you? And you’re all committed to Saul, aren’t you? So pick your best fighter and pit him against me. If he gets the upper hand and kills me, the Philistines will all become your slaves. But if I get the upper hand and kill him, you’ll all become our slaves and serve us. I challenge the troops of Israel this day. Give me a man. Let us fight it out together!”
¹¹ When Saul and his troops heard the Philistine’s challenge, they were terrified and lost all hope.

 This story is so simple, and from there we all learnt that the whole Israel was terrified by just one man-Goliath. Just that one man terrified the whole nation. How can that be, is the first thing we thought. Is Goliath so scary, so large that he cannot be defeated? We know that regardless how he looked, God is always bigger. He can conquer everything using anyone who put Christ before anything else. Are we like the Israelites? When we are faced with problems we complain, saying that we cannot conquer? We are like the Israelites! Israelites complained about Goliath. We complain about our first world problems. When we see in 3rd person perspective, it would be easy. however, when we are doing it, it would be hard and difficult. That is key, we should not look at the problems at all but look at God. Because God can help us through all these issues. In every facet of life surrender it to God and He can guide you and you would only need to claim His victory for Christ. Amen!

Amazing how God works

¹⁹ So Saul sent messengers to Jesse requesting, “Send your son David to me, the one who tends the sheep.”
^20-21 Jesse took a donkey, loaded it with a couple of loaves of bread, a flask of wine, and a young goat, and sent his son David with it to Saul. David came to Saul and stood before him. Saul liked him immediately and made him his right-hand man.
²² Saul sent word back to Jesse: “Thank you. David will stay here. He’s just the one I was looking for. I’m very impressed by him.”
²³ After that, whenever the bad depression from God tormented Saul, David got out his harp and played. That would calm Saul down, and he would feel better as the moodiness lifted.

David was a shepherd, he was not some famous musician or something. God has chosen favour upon him. And i had see that God's plan is perfect. God is in the process of removing Saul as the king and installing David. And this is the time where anointing is upon him. God took away His spirit from Saul and Saul felt terrible, so terrible. Then his servants recommended that he get someone who can play the harp to play the harp, so that Saul would feel better. And David was chosen. All things work for the good of Christ is so true, although God allowing evil spirits to torture Saul, it was for good because if that did not happen, David would not be chosen and He would not become king eventually. This marks the beginning of the epic story of David.

Note that God did not send evil spirits, but took away his glory, allowing evil spirits to torture Saul. The Lord is all good and nothing bad can come out form him.

How firm are you?

MATTHEW 5:33-37

So yup the emphasis of verse 37 .I was discussing it with Alvin earlier in the day bout april fools.Because many of us would not trust each other or find things hard to believe today.It is really dangerous becausetoday satan may be able to manipulate our minds since we have so much distrust on this day."Let your yes be a yes,your no,no.Anything beyond it comes from the evil one" Also,some maybe telling the truth but if the other people does not believe ,do we start swearing?

-JAKE

God annoits a new king

16  God addressed Samuel: “So, how long are you going to mope over Saul? You know I’ve rejected him as king over Israel. Fill your flask with anointing oil and get going. I’m sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I’ve spotted the very king I want among his sons.”

^2-3 “I can’t do that,” said Samuel. “Saul will hear about it and kill me.”
God said, “Take a heifer with you and announce, ‘I’ve come to lead you in worship of God, with this heifer as a sacrifice.’ Make sure Jesse gets invited. I’ll let you know what to do next. I’ll point out the one you are to anoint.”
⁴ Samuel did what God told him. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the town fathers greeted him, but apprehensively. “Is there something wrong?”
⁵ “Nothing’s wrong. I’ve come to sacrifice this heifer and lead you in the worship of God. Prepare yourselves, be consecrated, and join me in worship.” He made sure Jesse and his sons were also consecrated and called to worship.
⁶ When they arrived, Samuel took one look at Eliab and thought, “Here he is! God’s anointed!”
⁷ But God told Samuel, “Looks aren’t everything. Don’t be impressed with his looks and stature. I’ve already eliminated him. God judges persons differently than humans do. Men and women look at the face; God looks into the heart.”
⁸ Jesse then called up Abinadab and presented him to Samuel. Samuel said, “This man isn’t God’s choice either.”

We see that God has rejected Saul as king in the previous chapter, now, we see that God wants Samuel to annoint a new king and the king shall be David. God always works in mysterious manners. This one well said. Samuel wanted to annoint a man who had stature and looks, but God said, NO. I look at the heart, not at appearances. God spoke to me about today's world. Today's world is a world where outward appearance is the final judge. Looks is important, first impressions are important. Fashion industry is thriving because of that. But God, looks at the heart. We need to clean up ourselves, are we focusing on the outward or the inward? Are we just for show? Just to show that we did our QT or SFB, but in fact, you do not want to do it? Do we want to do it? We know, we know we know, that God is good and His word is perfect, but do we yearn for it? Do we? Or do we only concentrate on what looks best. What is the most efficient? 

Besides cleaning up our heart, we need to clean up our perspectives. When we look at others... Should we look at one's heart? Heart is more important than ever. What good would it be if we see a person looking very bad, but in his heart, is full of holiness? what good would it bring if we consider his outward before his inward? That would be just too shallow. I feel that God is telling me, the next time i see a person, look not at him but ask holy spirit for His assessment! :)

SFB 30 Mar

God's will for us is to rejoice in the Lord always in all circumstances because it unlocks Godly power. I am impacted about the truth that Happiness and joy are distinct and different. I always believed that happiness is not God's will for us. I know Happiness is temporal. This is always a good analogy; people always say that if a couple is happy that is what that matters. No, that is absolutely wrong. What if for one of them, happiness is to cheat on the other partner behind his/her back? You know that, but u allowed that to happen because you said that as long as they ARE happy. The key word is ARE. They may be happy now because of their state now, but eventually, are they happy? Eventually, they may not. So, happiness is overrated. I believe that God's blessing is what we need to look towards. Now i know that God's happiness is being joyful. Joy is in the Lord. Verses after verses mentioned joy so many times. Happy and it derivatives are mentioned 33 times, while for joy and its derivatives, it is mentioned nearly 300 times. It would be interesting and important to note that most of the word with happy is used with parables. while joy is mostly in songs, praises and in commands.That is key, God want us to be joyous not happy. Happy is good but is not the goal for us. we got to recognize that because the devil can use that to distort our goal. Our goal should be fulfillment and joy, not happiness. Devil can change our perspective secretly and cause us to think that being happy is our goal, that may be the end of us. And we don't have to choose a time to give thanks, give thanks in all our days and all the time. when we give thanks, we harness His power and strength. AMEN!