Only you get to decide?
1st Sam 30:3,4,6,8 NKJ
3. So David and his men came to the city, and there it was, burned with fire; and their wives, their sons, and their daughters had been taken captive.
4. Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept, until they had no more power to weep.
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.
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.”
We all know what it means to have your feet kicked out from under us, to have the wind knocked out of our sail, to be down to nothing and facing everything.
If you haven’t, you ain’t lived much, that’s when your faith is stretched the most.
Its in those trust moments, the Lord really gets a chance to shine meet your need at just the right time in just the right way?
But did you know, that there are people who never have had that happen for them,
Oh they have been down alright, i remember the lyrics from a song i heard one time, they've been to ledge so many times, they know the pigeons by name,
they are continually discouraged and in depression over issues the devil has thrown at them
They are disarmed and disengaged from Gods presence, with no idea or solution as to what they are facing,
Christians and non believers alike who over certain circumstances,
have been beat down by the devil and the world, to the point of exhaustion.
and just like David and his men, spiritually they have been disarmed as well,
They have been discouraged almost to the point of no return.
The cure for this kind of ill, cannot be found at the doctors office,
doctors dispense medicine that only treats the symptom and only masks what’s going on,
the treatment and real cure can only be found in the presence and strength of the Lord God Almighty…
You see, the devil never cares, how or what it takes to get to you,
Discouragement and depression and condemnation are some of the best tools, the devil has in his bag of tricks.
Statistics show, that everyone will at some time in their life be affected by depression, either their own or someone else’s
Ill. I was reading, that Pre-schoolers are the fastest-growing market for antidepressants.
Statistics show that at least four percent of preschoolers -- over a million children -- are said to be clinically depressed
Can you imagine, a parent telling someone, we can’t come over tonight because our 4 yr old is depressed
The devil has no respect for age or innocence, only one objective, to take all he can with him to his demise!
Ill. I read a story about a man who tried to sell soap to a certain customer.
He started going to the customer in the morning and continued until the customer got fed up and said,
“Ah! This is the tenth soap seller that has come here. What is it with you people?
Okay how much is the soap? I will buy the soap so that you will stop bothering me.”
And he bought the soap. The man then said, proudly “Point of correction sir, I am the only one that has been coming.
In the morning, I wore a suit and you turned me away, in the afternoon I wore a sweater, I went and changed each time and came back. I have been here ten times. Thank you for buying.”
The devil doesn’t care how many times it takes to get you were he wants you, he has the time or so he thinks
and if there is one thing he’s consistent at, is doing what he does best, repeatedly knocking, on your door.
But let me tell you now and for future reference, you don’t have to answer the door, Ignore it!
Put out a no vacancy sign up and leave it there!
Discouraged people will always snatch defeat from certain victory.
They see victory coming down the road, with their name on it in neon lights
and somehow get turned around and walk away, in the other direction and it never does find them.
They don't know it, but they have been walking two steps away from success their whole entire life!
You know their the ones that claim “If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all.”
Did you know, that Luck is the root word, for the word lucifer
Discouragement and the depression that goes with it, makes it hard and almost impossible to hear God, it consumes you!
So, before David could hear God, he had to encourage himself.
TBS. He shook off discouragement, picked himself up by the bootstraps and believed that God would turn his troubles into goodness.
That’s what we all have to do, at some point, you have to make a stand, a lemonade stand!
Because, life can throw you some lemons every now and then, its in those times you need to remember how to make lemonade!
At some point, you’ve got to shake off the dust from yourself and stand up and say:
Enough is enough, I don’t care what happens, I’m not living here anymore, I'm moving out and I ain't coming back!
You have to make a choice, to lay it down, leave it there, walk away and keep on walking! Amen?
Eph. 6:10-12 MSG
10-12. “And that about wraps it up. God is strong, and he wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is no afternoon athletic contest that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.”
And it is for keeps, in this day and age you have to be ready,
Or at least you should want to be ready, for anything and everything the devil throws your way,
Because sooner or later, that’s what he will do, its not a matter of if, but when!
David and his men were dealt a devastating blow that day, they were down and out, running on empty, the devil thought he had scored a knockout punch that day
The word said “they wept until they had no more power to weep”,
Many people have done the same thing, but tears won’t move the hand of God,
Even though it seems like they should, especially when your the one shedding them, faith will and does!
When David encouraged himself in the Lord he began to pray with confidence and the wonderful promise came from the Lord:
“You shall surely pursue, and overtake and by all means recover.”
David would not have heard anything if he had chosen to remain discouraged.
Its a bitter pill to swallow, but discouragement is and always has been a personal decision...
Only you can keep you there, only you get to decide if you go there in the first place,
only you get to decide how long you allow yourself to stay there.
Only You! No one else, only you!
David and his men, They could have stayed there in that state of mind,
He didn’t wait long and we shouldn’t either,
if you are going to wait for somebody to come around and encourage you, you might be waiting for a while.
The good news is, we don’t have to wait around anyway, Jesus already rescued us, from every situation at the cross
Whatever your need is, lay it at the Saviors feet, and leave it there.
proclaim it as already done in Jesus Name and find rest in His ability,
let Him do the worrying, oh and by the way, He‘s not worried about it.
And if He’s not worried about it, why should you be, if He’s not!
All we have to do is trust Him with what we have and He will do the rest!
Vs.17. Then David attacked them from twilight until the evening of the next day. Not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men who rode on camels and fled.
18. So David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away, and David rescued his two wives.
19. And nothing of theirs was lacking, either small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything which they had taken from them; David recovered all.
God was faithful to David and his men and gave them back what the devil had stolen from them and many times over.
God is not a respecter of persons, He will do the same for each one of us, Why? because He loves His Children!
He is our vindicator, He is our Liberator and He is,
ready and waiting to make right all the wrongs, ready and waiting to do whatever we have need of!
Aren’t you glad you know Him?
Lets pray!
