“BUT HE PUT HIS ARMOUR IN HIS TENT”

MEMORY VERSE: And David took the head of the Philistine, and brought it to Jerusalem; but he put his armour in his tent. 1 Samuel 17:54

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Acts 17-18

God fights for His children in three basic ways. Way one: He fights their enemies alone. His children don’t have to do anything except sit and watch Him destroy their enemies. There are several examples of this in the bible but one that comes to mind is in the book of 2 Kings 18&19. Sennacherib, king of Assyria, besieged Jerusalem. He sent a nasty letter to the Hezekiah, king of Judah, and that one began to shake. Hezekiah was a child of God; He simply laid the letter before the Lord. Many don’t know God can read letters. He is the Teacher of teachers. The Lord read the letter and took action that evening. 2 Kings 19:35 says: “And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, theywere all dead corpses.” The next morning, Sennacherib, quietly, withdrew his men and went back home. Hezekiah did nothing except watch. He didn’t even lift a sword. Way two: He fights alongside His children. Five great kings - king of Jerusalem, king of Hebron, king of Jarmuth, king of Lachish, and king of Eglon- came together to fight the children of Israel ( Joshua). The Lord fought alongside Joshua. His men were fighting with swords, the Lord opened heaven and great stones began to drop on the head of the enemies of His children. Joshua 10:11 says: “And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, and were in the going down to Bethhoron, that the LORD cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died: they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword.”

Way three – probably the most common way: He empowers His children to fight their enemies. Psalm 144:1 says: “A Psalm of David. Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight.” Three thousand men of Judah (enemy within)
bound Samson with a rope and handed him over to the Philistines (enemy withal). The enemy saw Samson bound and began to dance for joy. As they were rejoicing, the Lord sent down fire and it consumed the rope that was used to tie Samson. He found a jawbone of an ass - strategically positioned there – and began to fight the Philistines with it. Judges 15:15 says: “And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith.” The rest ran away. Sadly, Samson threw away the jawbone after he defeated the enemy. He threw away what God gave him to fight the enemy with and then began to thirst. He threw away what he secured victory with. He threw away what brought him peace. Just like Samson, many have thrown away the “jawbone of an ass” they secured victory with. For some, they have misplaced it. Where is your “jawbone of an ass”? What God gave David to finish off Goliath was Goliath’s own sword. Thank God, David kept it. 1 Samuel 17:54 says: “And David took the head of the Philistine, and brought it to Jerusalem; but he put his armour in his tent.” Don’t throw things away because you never know when you might need them. Don’t destroy relationships you have built because you never know when you might need them again. There was a man in my team who behaved badly to everyone because he was moving over to Spain to start a fruit business. He was a difficult person to manage and work with; as his supervisor, i had to draw strength from heaven to manage him. He moved to Spain –thinking he will never need the organisation again. Unfortunately, the fruit business didn’t do well so he had to return to UK. When he couldn’t get a job, he came back to us. At the interview, the interviewer remembered him and decided to give the job to a less qualified candidate. I was told after the interview that he literally went on his two knees to ask for a second chance –which he didn’t receive. Be careful how you treat people. Be careful how you behave in your current role. When i heard the story i shook my head. You don’t know tomorrow so behave well. Samson cried to God and God pointed him to the jawbone he threw away; from it water began to flow and he drank.

NOTE: David never thought he would need Goliath’s sword until Saul began to chase to him to kill him.

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Bro Samuel | Reaching the world

ARMOUR OF GOD PT 3 – HELMET OF SALVATION

MEMORY VERSE: and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, Ephesians 6:17

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Ruth 2, Acts 27, Jer 37, Luke 6

A helmet is a form of protective gear worn to protect the head from injuries. We all know that the head is the most important part of the body. The head contains organs that control and decide the fate of the whole body. In the head you have the mouth, eyes, ears, brain –which is chiefly responsible for making decisions for the whole body. An injury to the head will cause the whole body problems hence the need for a protective gear in battle. Helmets are not worn to show off or because one plans to fall. They are worn not because something will happen but in case something happens. Imagine what will happen if a hammer drops by mistakes on a fellow who is not wearing a helmet in a construction site or something not well secured may falls on him or he trips and falls. If any of these happens without a helmet on, it will be disaster. That is why is it is advisable to wear helmets at all times in construction sites or on motorcycles.

Helmets are to protect against unforeseen calamities. This is why it is good to have a good one or original not a damaged one or fake one. Bible scholars in a bid to explain how David’s stone killed Goliath came up with a lot of stories. Some have said that David aimed at the unprotected skull of Goliath. Others said Goliath took off his helmet to see David because he was so tiny. Immediately Goliath took off his helmet David aimed at his dead. Whatever the school of thought, maybe if the helmet of Goliath had protected the skull securely that stone would not have brought him down. An unsecured helmet or damaged helmet is as good as no helmet.

Helmets are very important because they protect the head. One of the armour of God is the helmet of salvation. We are talking of genuine salvation here, I mean real salvation where old things passes away and all things become new (2 Corinthians 5:17). We are talking of salvation whereby you can tell people that this and this is what Jesus saved me from. I used to do this and I do it no more, I used to fight but I fight no more ; I used to fornicate but I fornicate no more; I used to sit with several bottles of beers and finished It but I do it no more e.t.c. I am talking of salvation preceded by repentance not remorse. If the head is not protected, any attack from the enemy could lead to death just like we saw in the case of Goliath. If a fellow is not saved, any attack in battle could bring the person down. If a sister is not genuinely saved, I am talking of that salvation whereby your heart is filled with the joy of salvation, an emotional attack to that sister could cause nervous breakdown. If a brother is not genuinely saved, I am talking of that salvation whereby you begin say for me to live is Christ, and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21), any form of attack to the brother could hinder his progress.  A fake salvation is as good as no salvation.

PRAYER POINT:  Father please save me completely today

ARMOUR OF GOD PT 1

MEMORY VERSE: Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, Ephesians 6:11

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Judg 20, Acts 24, Jer 34, Luke 3

An armour is a protective covering worn to prevent injury to the body in battle. Battles could be financial, legal, spiritual, physical, emotional (battle of the mind) e.t.c. An armour is mainly for defense. Anyone who has fought battles or any war veteran will tell you that the best form of defense is attack so an armour would include items to defend oneself, items to attack the enemy, items to disarm the enemy e.t.c. The reason for battle could be for freedom, to recover back what the enemy has stolen, to claim back lost grounds or to kill the enemy at infancy thereby preventing it from growing and causing problem in later life e.t.c. Some of the enemies that needs to be destroyed at infancy are anger, jealousy and all. 

The type of battle you are fighting will determine the type of armour you need. If you are fighting a legal battle in court, you need a good lawyer. It will be absurd to turn up at court with an AK17 and missile launcher to defend yourself in court. The type of enemy you are fighting will also determine the type of armour you require. If you are fighting spiritual enemies, you need prayers not a lawyer or statutes or technical know-how.

You may be wondering i am not fighting with any one; I am a peaceful person, why do I need an armour? I have not offended anyone, why should anyone want to attack me? I am honest and I have never taken what does not belong to me so why should anyone be after me? Matthew 11:12 says from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. The violence referred to here is not physical but spiritual. Ephesians 6:12 says for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. We are talking of the devil and his hosts of fallen angels. The bible calls them spiritual wickedness which means they do not need a reason to attack you. This is why you cannot adopt a soft nature when dealing with spiritual forces. When dealing with humans the bible admonishes us to be gentle, slow to speak, quick to hear e.t.c but when you are dealing with spiritual forces take the most aggressive stance. Because we are at spiritual war we need spiritual armour. Because we are fighting forces invisible to physical eyes, we need an armour that is invisible to physical eyes. To cater for such enemies, the Lord gave us His own personal armour called the armour of God.This armour is guaranteed to give you victory over bitterness, addiction, masturbation, failure, anger, hatred, unforgiveness and all. Because it is God’s own armour it is guaranteed never to fail. Because it is God’s own armour it is guaranteed to work 24 hours, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The armour of God has never failed and will never fail.

KEY WORD: The armour of God is God’s own armour.