LESSONS TO LEARN
2 Samuel 5:6-16

The beginning of every man’s fall is inhabited in the beginning of every man’s rise. God is set to bring up any of His children and not to keep him down while the enemy is also set to bring him or keep him down. Despite all the wicked devises that is in possession of the devil, the children of God will always prevail. David, having become the king for the whole land, began to build up for his own destruction. The Bible says, “So David knew that the LORD had established him as king over Israel, and that He had exalted His kingdom for the sake of His people Israel.13 And David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, after he had come from Hebron. Also more sons and daughters were born to David.” (2 Samuel 5:12-13) The later end of King David’s challenges started when he began to assemble concubines and wives. In the days of his running away from King Saul, David did not engage himself in taking up concubines but was engaged in ways and means to have his life protected. However, when he realized that the Lord had established him as king over Israel he re-established himself with concubines and wives. Often times, whenever there is a sigh of relief from challenges and adversities, the tendency to shift focus presents itself in the life of believers. Shifting focus will not present itself directly but rather indirectly. It is a way by adding up extra responsibilities that are often uncalled for or the ones that are not necessary. As David began to add concubines and wives, he made himself vulnerable to traps of sin and sinning that eventually affected and disrupted him later in life. God had earlier warned the children of Israel against multiple wives when he laid down the principles governing kings. Deuteronomy 17:7, “Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself.” In life it is easy to destroy than to build. All that David went through was a building process that was needed to maintain self at the top. God is building you up and what you see in your building process is for learning that will keep you and maintain you for His divine plans. Paying attention and avoiding the forces of distraction will keep a believer in line of God’s plan. The life of David was full of all kinds of lessons that are enough to keep a believer in line from repeated failure.
Prayer for today: Father, in all that I am learning and seeing in Your Word, let it add up in me that I may not become a victim of self destruction.  

GOD THAT PERFORMS
2 Samuel 5:1-5

God alone is God; He is the Great I Am that I Am. The Most gracious, Most blessed, the Ancient of Days. God alone has solutions in His hands. Lord my God and my Father I ask that You resolve all unsolvable situations in my life, in the Name of Jesus. The mountain that was before David, the one that King Saul created for him in attempt to deny him where the Lord was taking him, fell after Saul had died. David eventually became the king just as the Lord had planned for him to be. 2 Samuel 5:1-3, “Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and spoke, saying, ‘Indeed we are your bone and your flesh. 2 Also, in time past, when Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel out and brought them in; and the LORD said to you, ‘You shall shepherd My people Israel, and be ruler over Israel.’’ 3 Therefore all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the LORD. And they anointed David king over Israel.” King David was anointed the third time. The first time was when Samuel anointed David, the second time was his rule over Judah and the third was his rule over the whole nation. The Word of God came to pass in the life of David because God has never fail. All that the Lord has spoken into your life for your breakthrough will not fail but will come to pass to the glory of God. In spite of his challenges when the appointed time was there, nothing could possible relocate David to where God had not located him to be. The mountain that has refused to resolve itself and give way to your breakthrough will fall down at the Lord’s timing. 2 Samuel 5:4-5, “David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. 5 In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.” The time David spent in running and hiding for his life by the hand of Saul was nothing to compare with the years that he spent reigning and ruling as God ordained. The mountain that refuses to fall will fall, the pain will go and the gain will come. God is true to His Word. King David prayed, “Be pleased O LORD, to deliver me; O LORD, make haste to help me! Let them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion who seek to destroy my life; Let them be driven backward and brought to dishonor who wish me evil.” (Psalm 40:13-14) The Lord God answered and delivered King David.

Prayer for today: As I set my eyes on David’s prayer, O Lord, let the prayer of David answer on my behalf that Your Name be glorified in my life.

FAITH NOT FEAR
1 Samuel 28

The invasion of fear into the life of a believer will grant faith its own vacation. Also, when faith is granted entrance by a simple heart through the Word of God, fear will have no choice but to vacate itself. During any time or inside of anyone who allows fear to gain access over faith, failure is set to reign and rule. Whenever fear invades, confusion and making wrong, destructive decisions prevails. Fear is one of the major enemy’s weapons to kill, steal and destroy. King Saul entertained fear that eventually terminated his life. 1 Samuel 28:4-5, “Then the Philistines gathered together, and came and encamped at Shunem. So Saul gathered all Israel together, and they encamped at Gilboa. 5 When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly.” Fear occupied Saul and he lost the key to open heaven. “…Saul inquired of the LORD, and the LORD did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by the prophets.” (1 Samuel 28:6) Loosing the key to your open heaven will allow hell to open up on you. King Saul began to make wrong decisions and wrong moves by turning to sources that were not of God in attempt to turn his situation around for good. In life, it does not matter the level of faith in the life of a believer, when fear is allowed to invade, faith will always fail to prevail. Peter, a disciple of Jesus, walked with Jesus, ate with Jesus and witnessed great miracles. Despite all, Peter allowed faith to sink when fear rose in him in the middle of storm. Matthew 14:29-32, “So He said, ‘Come.’ And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, ‘Lord, save me!’ 31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?’”Have you given a place to fear inside of you? Is there any sign that you are sinking in the face of your challenges? Give yourself a candid examination and determine if you have allowed fear instead of faith. Turn to God and your faith will be turned on. Fear is of the enemy while faith is of God. Faith comes by hearing of the Word and fear comes by denying the Word of God. Pay attention to the Word and your world will turn around for His glory.

Prayer for today: I ask Lord, let every generating forces of fear be permanently denied in my life for Your Name to be glorified.  

KEEP ON THANKING HIM
2 Samuel 9

Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”The Word of God went further concerning the issue of thanks giving when it stated in Ephesians 5:20, “Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear o God.” Clearly and evidently, these two scriptural verses pointed out that, those that give thanks for all things, will have all things work together for good on their behalf. As difficult or as challenging situations can be, there is never a reason not to give thanks for all things and in all things. Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, grandson of King Saul, was not born lame but became lame in an attempt to run away from getting killed when the news of his father, Jonathan, and his grandfather, King Saul’s, death came to his nurse(2 Samuel 4:4). During his attempt to escape, with the help of his nurse, he fell down and became lame. In that situation, the reason for thanking God could have been very painful or almost impossible. In every situation where the end result of situations, or challenges, is not clear, thanking God could be difficult, and almost impossible. Can you put aside what ever pain you are going through at this present time and every other time ahead of you? It is worth of it. Realize that God alone reverses the irreversible, and your situation, or challenge, could end up like that of Mephibosheth, or become better than that of Mephibosheth. In the case of Mephibosheth, the accident that made him become lame actually preserved his life from dying an untimely death. His life was also preserved for a better and glorious ending. Among all the sons and grandsons of Saul, Mephibosheth with his lameness, was located with kindness, unlike all the other sons of Saul. King David declared, “…Is there still anyone who is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” (2 Samuel 9:1)The accident that resulted to Mephibosheth’s lameness became a blessing in disguise when he began to live life like one of the King’s son. “…As for Mephibosheth,” said the king, “he shall eat at “my table like one of the king’s sons” (2 Samuel 9:11) Who could have thought about the later days of Mephibosheth? There is never a reason not to give Him thanks for all things at all times.

Prayer for today: David stated in Psalm 34:1, “I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” I ask O Lord, my God and my father, enable me that praising Your holy name, and thanking You will continually be in my mouth, my heart, and all of my being.