God's Definition of Conquering

3 So Samuel said to all the Israelites, “If you are returning to the LORD with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the LORD and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” 4 So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths, and served the LORD only.

5 Then Samuel said, “Assemble all Israel at Mizpah, and I will intercede with the LORD for you.” 6 When they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the LORD. On that day they fasted and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the LORD.” Now Samuel was serving as leader[a] of Israel at Mizpah.

7 When the Philistines heard that Israel had assembled at Mizpah, the rulers of the Philistines came up to attack them. When the Israelites heard of it, they were afraid because of the Philistines. 8 They said to Samuel, “Do not stop crying out to the LORD our God for us, that he may rescue us from the hand of the Philistines.” 9 Then Samuel took a suckling lamb and sacrificed it as a whole burnt offering to the LORD. He cried out to the LORD on Israel’s behalf, and the LORD answered him.

10 While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle. But that day the LORD thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites. 11 The men of Israel rushed out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, slaughtering them along the way to a point below Beth Kar.

1 Samuel 7:3-11

This is a great read. There are so many principles we can get out of the Old Testament in correlation to the New. Samuel says to them, that if you are indeed turning to the Lord with your whole heart, get rid of the stuff that displeases Him; in essence - REPENT! Then Samuel goes onto say that if they serve God only, they would be delivered out of the hand of the Philistines.

That day, everyone gathered at a place called Mizpah to have Samuel pray over them. They confessed their sins to the Lord and then Samuel made petition for them and the LORD answered him. God that day struck the Philistines with confusion and then Israel went after them and defeated them - reclaiming the cities that the Philistines had taken from them.

I wanted to point out a few things that stood out to me. It is kind of a step-by-step process towards freedom from things that may be holding you back. First of all came repentence, second came confession, third came petition, and fourth came victory.

God encourages and enables us to repent - it is He who grants repentance. Our job is to respond by turning away and admitting to Him that we were indeed wrong. Through that, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous One, that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Who does Samuel represent in this story? Our advocate Jesus! The perfect high priest. See, God is doing the same things He has always done, just through what Hebrews calls, "A new and better way." Meaning, a better way of doing the same thing in my opinion.

So after we do all of this, we get rid of what we know displeases God in our lives and we admit we were wrong; then our God thunders against our enemy who hammers into us. "Draw nigh to Me (through repentance) and I will draw nigh unto you." "but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin." 1 John 1:7

I also want to note, that the battle truly begins when you come to God in repentance. Notice the Philistines began to fall upon Israel after they got rid of their "Baals and Ashteroths" and when they chose to meet at Mizpah and have Samuel petition for them. But after they overcame this situation through God's plan of deliverance for them, they were not only in proper standing with God but God allowed them to conquer their enemies and even reclaim their cities that they had lost to them.

Sometimes it seems like the battle really begins when we set our hearts to truly understand God and come to Him. Take heart from this story, and do not allow fear to dictate your follow through with God! We have seen how it correlates to the New Testament and our current covenant. If we walk in the light as Jesus is in the light...then His blood cleanses usfrom all unrighteousness. This doesn't mean there will not be a fight, because "Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour." 1 Peter 5:8.

Thanks everyone, and let's encourage one another to keep fighting!

Sincerely,
Chris Goff

Feeling Condemned?

I went through a lot of condemnation during a time in my life. For some of the things I did, God would have been totally just in saying forget this wicked servant. God in His longsuffering and patience forgave me and established me to the glory of His name and not mine, hallelujah.

Let me share with you a story. I had a man tell me after I was ministering the Word to him that he had been sinning and he wasn't sure if God would forgive him (he believed in Jesus already I might add). I told him that it was indeed God who granted repentance, and that if he had a broken heart and sincere desire to walk with the Lord, that meant God was granting him repentance, he just had to grab onto it because "faith without action is dead". He said that the scariest part about his sin - what bothered him the most- was that he didn't feel bad about what he had been doing. After he shared this with me, I recalled a time in my life when I said the exact same thing to a brother in Christ, but the answer to this flooded my mind in that very moment. The Holy Spirit was convicting him. Think about it. I looked at him and said, "so you feel bad because you don't feel bad?" he said, yeah! I said then that tells me something external is CONVICTING you that you need to change while there is time. Because that makes no earthly sense, to feel bad about not feeling bad. Praise God how committed He is to us when we aren't to Him.

Remember, Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy, "If perhaps God would grant them repentance, leading to a knowledge of the truth."

What I want to point out is that the way you know that you have been granted repentance, is by "being led to a knowledge of the truth." Once you realize, "You love me Father, and I have hurt you, and you alone (psalm 51)" and you respond in active obedience to Him by "if we confess our sins, He is faihful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness". "If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another then the blood of Jesus cleanses us from our unrighteousness".

Action. Sit out time is over, the only way to battle condemnation is by fellowshipping with his bride and that takes an immense committment to Jesus.

Now I am not saying that what has been committed doesn't require an earthly penalty, as we do reap what we sow. But remember when Nathan the prophet came to King David and told him essentially that he had been forgiven eternally, just not consequentially here on earth. The sword never left David's home, but it did not mean there was no eternal forgivness for King David.
I have done things in the past, and I know I have reaped things. I have also been disciplined heavily by my loving Father. I prayed to God that He would allow me to repair the brokeness I have caused to certain people, and amazingly as time goes on, I have been able to be a light to the ones I was once a complete hypocrite to. Be eager to make right what has been wronged - and for the stuff out of your control - give it to God and let Him help you.

Let's not forget the contrite publican in Jesus' parable. He beat his chest and couldn't even look up and said, "Forgive me God, a sinner." Oh my, may the passion of what Jesus did for you flood your Spirit, and may you be changed by these things.