GAINNING STRENGTH
1 Samuel 30

In this life of challenges, there is nothing that happens to a man that has ever happened before neither is there any challenging situation that cannot be found in the Scripture. Indeed, the Bible is true to the fact that it is written for our learning. As a believer in the Word of God, what you are going through does have its diagnosis and prescription in the pages of Scripture if you will take some time out and take a faith pill for your challenges. 1 Samuel 30:6, “Now David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.” David was facing an insurmountable challenge because the ones who were following him in the time of his running away from King Saul were captured and were taken away as prisoners of war. As a result, David, the leader, was held responsible. The Bible records that David was not just distressed but was greatly distressed. As a believer in the Word of God, is there any way that you have become greatly distressed? If you will learn from David then you will know how to deal with your challenge. The prescription is, “Strengthen yourself in the Lord your God.” David strengthened himself in the Lord his God and he had victory on his side. What does it take to strengthen oneself in the Lord? 1 Samuel 30:7-8, “Then David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech’s son, ‘Please bring the ephod here to me.’ And Abiathar brought the ephod to David. 8 So David inquired of the LORD, saying, ‘Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them?’ And He answered him, ‘Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all.’ ” To be strengthened in the Lord is to wait on the Lord just like David waited on the Lord. The Bible confirmed it in Isaiah 40:31, “But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.” Waiting on the Lord is gaining strength over confronting challenges. It cannot be found any where in the pages of Scripture where a man prevails by his own strength. If you will turn around unto waiting on the Lord, you would eventually prevail and regain your strength. It cannot be better said than the way Apostle Paul said it in the book of Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” David turned to the Lord and came out of great distress and was able to do beyond and above expectation for his supporters who were taken prisoner.
Prayer for today: My God and my Father let Your Word that is like fire burn off all that is denying the entrance of Your Word into my life.    

MOVE TO BE REMOVED
Genesis 12:1-9

To get to your Canaan Land, your Promised Land, there can be no avoidance of not getting out of your country. Your country is your familiar ground, your place of comfort, the ground where you think all that will make the difference in your life exists. In getting out or when the getting out time is up before the Lord, the Lord himself will move you even if you choose not to move. God will ordain a situation that will send you packing and moving. Abraham, when it was time for him to engage the journey of faith, “The LORD said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you.” (Genesis 12:1) There was no choice or suggestion for Abraham but there was a calling to move and put all behind him. Abraham received God’s command and he responded. To move Moses out of the palace, the greatest place to live in the land, there was no call that would have been meaningful to him but the condition he found himself moved him. Moses, in his attempt to fight for his Hebrew brother, ended up killing an Egyptian. Moses, an adopted prince, in his attempt to settle another feud between his Hebrew brothers received a response, “…Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” So Moses feared and said, ‘Surely this thing is known!’ 15 When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well.” (Exodus 2:14-15) By virtue of uncontrollable, unforeseen circumstances are you in flight to your Promised Land but not know that you are? As a believer in the Word of God, understand and know this today, God is in every step that you take and He will correct and redirect when you refuse to move as He moves you. Most of the giants in the Bible moved and removed at a certain point in the calling of God. David, the man after God’s own heart, ordain by God to be the king, moved from plain to valley; valley to cave. David, during one of his moves, took a flight to the land of his people’s prime enemy and spent time there. “Now the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was one full year and four months.” (1 Samuel 27:7) Getting out to get going can be the most challenging but there is no joy, blessing and transformation that is better than getting to where He is moving you. Be encouraged today; God is aware of every move. Until you are removed, you will not move to where He is taking you. 
 
Prayer for today: I ask for Your help today my Lord and my God. Teach me Your Word and guide me in Your Word.  

IS HE IN YOU?
1 Samuel 26

It is certain that when the presence of God departs a man, the presence of the Devil will impact. A man must be filled or impacted by either the presence of God or the presence of the evil one. The departure of God’s presence in man is bound to be filled with all kinds of evil devices or evil agenda. King Saul, by virtue of his disobedience, lost the presence of God and the evil that was active in him was moving him in his attempt to kill David. The Bible records a number of times when King Saul was being moved to go after David by those who were surrounding him. 1 Samuel 24:1-3, “Now it happened, when Saul had returned from following the Philistines that it was told him, saying, ‘Take note! David is in the Wilderness of En Gedi.’ 2 Then Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel, and went to seek David and his men on the Rocks of the Wild Goats. 3 So he came to the sheepfolds by the road, where there was a cave; and Saul went in to attend to his needs. (David and his men were staying in the recesses of the cave.)” King Saul, because of the absence of God in him, was listening to the ones who were surrounding him. If you do not carry His presence, what is not and who does not suppose to move you will be the one moving you. Saul’s response to those who were moving against David did not stop but it continued in 1 Samuel 26:1-2, “Now the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah, saying, ‘Is David not hiding in the hill of Hachilah, opposite Jeshimon?’ 2 Then Saul arose and went down to the Wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the Wilderness of Ziph.” The world today is a dangerous place when God’s presence is missing in the life of man. Quoting the Word of God or going to fellowship is not evidence of God’s presence in a believer’s life. Are you carrying His presence or are you being carried by the presence of the evil one? The time and the days we live demand a constant and consistent presence of God. David was right in his assumption when he responded to King Saul, “…If the Lord has stirred you up against me, let Him accept an offering. But if it is the children of men, may they be cursed before the LORD, for they have driven me out this day…” (1 Samuel 26:19). Today, David’s curse is on every man or woman under heaven who is being used to drive you out from the ground where the Lord has planted you.
Prayer for today: O Lord my God and my Father, have mercy and let me not be a vessel of dishonor in all the days of my life.

A DWELLING PLACE
1 Samuel 24:1-15

King David’s entire walk as recorded demonstrated that he did not only know about God but he knew God and God also testified of him as the man after His own heart. The life of David demonstrated that he was not just an unbelieving believer but a believing believer of the God that he served. It is written in Psalm 91:1, “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” If there was anyone that all his life demonstrated a dwelling under the shadow of the Almighty, David was absolutely the one. It only takes dwelling under the shadow of the Almighty to pass through all that David passed through in the hand of King Saul and came out victorious. Indeed and in true, David dwelt under the secret place of the Most High. Psalm 91 declares that those that dwell in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Psalm 15 a psalm of David was written for our learning and understanding and to know about what it is to dwell in the secret place of the Most High. “LORD, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill? 2 He who walks uprightly, And works righteousness, And speaks the truth in his heart; 3 He who does not backbite with his tongue, Nor does evil to his neighbor, Nor does he take up a reproach against his friend” (Psalm 15:1-3) David clearly summarized what it takes to dwell in the secret place of the Most High when he responded to King Saul’s failed attempt to kill him. When David had the chance to kill King Saul but only cut a part of his garment cut off and later showed up to King Saul. It was clear in David’s word to King Saul the reason why he has been an over comer over King Saul’s evil. David stated “…That there is neither evil nor rebellion in my hand, and I have not sinned against you…” (1 Samuel 24:11) David’s response can be concluded as the summary of Psalm 15, which is also the summarization of what it means to dwell under the shadow of the Almighty. It is one thing to quote the word it is another to actually be living a life that the word calls for. David lived the word and the word answered for Him. To live outside of the word will not make the word work for any believer. Are you a believing believer or an unbelieving –believer?
Prayer for today: O Lord my God, I ask that you disallow any operation of evil or rebellion in my hand so I can have a place to dwell under your shadow.

WHAT WILL GOD DO?
1 Samuel 22:1-5

Who could have thought that David, a man after God’s own heart, a man that delivered the whole nation from the embarrassment of Goliath would run from his country like a fugitive? David, after having been anointed by Samuel as the King, went further and killed Goliath. David became a national celebrity that the whole nation embraced. Despite David status as a celebrity, when King Saul turned against him and went after his life there was none among the well and able among the population that could back him up or rendered support. It is written in 1 Samuel 22:2, “And everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him. So he became captain over them. And there were about four hundred men with him.” David the celebrated champion of the whole nation only had the relegated ones among his people backing him up. It does not take forever for the enemy to present it self any where God is present. However, it will only take the hand of God, by virtue of His presence to make His own prevail and be victorious. Whatever has become of you that which is of great pain, that has moved you from your ground of celebration and that is contradictory to the promise of God for your life will not prevail over your life. David, ordained by God had no other choice to run for his life. David ran from plain to plain and from valley to valley. In the course of his running for his life there was no documentation of him complaining to God. Despite the fact that he had been ordained by God, he always went back to God to find out what the Lord will do. Once during his flight the Bible pointed out his character of waiting. 1 Samuel 22:3-4, “Then David went from there to Mizpah of Moab; and he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and mother come here with you, till I know what God will do for me.”The point here is David’s character of waiting on God for what the Lord God will do. As a king in the hand of God, he refused to assume what the Lord will do or what the Lord could do. Today, be rest assured that the Lord God that you serve is mindful of how you situation have turned out to be. He that has brought you this far, unto where you are is not asleep and neither has He went to slumber. Keep your focus, take every day at a time and remain in the walk of His word. God will see you through, and He will get you to where He has promised you just like David.
Prayer for today: My God and my Father I ask for the grace of enablement that will keep me from every form of distractions that terminates man’s journey.