It seems as if there is no escaping
the fiery darts of the enemy. Wherever we go whatever we do, scores of demonic
influences determine to degrade us to the lowest of levels. It is Satan’s
business to degrade the children of God. Daily we are bombarded by the arrows
that fly by day and the terrors that come with the darkness. Still we shall not
fear for when the enemy comes against us like a flood our God will raise up a
standard against him.
Beside the fact that Satan is seeking
to destroy us, his major objective is to distract us from the deeper things of
God. As we war among ourselves and those that claim to be enemies of the church,
we drift farther and farther away from the truth. As we wander away from the
mark we acquire many yokes that come from Satan. As soon as we step out of Gods
will and protection we make ourselves open to the attacks of the enemy. Some
may argue that God’s presence is everywhere therefore we cannot be out of His
protection, this is simply not true. The one true God will never compel one to
serve him. The Bible specifically instructs us that we should not dwell in the
council of the ungodly. It is not that we are out of his reach but out of his
will. When we walk away from God we basically say to him that we are no longer
in need of His hand to guide and keep us.
Samson made his dwelling place in the
midst of the wicked. What we observe in the details of Samson’s ordeal is
because he was constantly in the enemy’s territory he was always at war. He
eventually wed a daughter of the Philistines, not recognizing that the enemy or
the blood thereof was now becoming a part of him. For this purpose the bible
tells us clearly that we should shun the very appearance of evil and to not
allow any place to the devil.
Things we see as harmless today stand
in undeniable contradiction to the word of God. Many preachers are afraid to
indicate their intention to preach to convert a sinner because we are afraid to
scare people away. One Youth pastor said at the beginning of his sermon, “If
you think I’m trying to convert you and make you into something you’re not, a
bible carrying believer, you’re absolutely right”
Many people say that God abhors the
sin and loves the sinner but in reality it is the sinner who has to taste of
hell’s flames. Our intention in not to create a church of mediocre Christians
who proclaim a banner that contain no significant differentiation from the
world. It is inevitable that the church and the anointed are going to be
different from the world. The transformation that occurs when an ordinary man
comes into contact with a divine God is not skin deep but right down to the
bone.
Still today the church has awakened
to find herself in the slums of mediocrity. We know where God could bring us
to, we even have an idea of what he requires of us but still we are all bark
and no bite. Indeed it is difficult to come out of the rut we are steadfastly
poised in.
Samson’s wife was murdered by her own
Philistine nation for her countrymen sort to take revenge upon the Hebrew.
Samson slew the Philistines for this and ascended to a mountain top called Etam,
which means cleft. The true anointed of God will always find refuge in the
cleft of the Rock of Ages. The Rock of Ages, the Christ, was broken for us that
we may have life in Him.
Samson is safe in the cleft (Etam)
but his own people decide to deliver him to the Philistines. They asked Samson,
“Don’t you know that the Philistines are rulers over us”
Once we see ourselves as broken and
oppressed then the enemy will always claim superiority. As mentioned before, we
always serve to pull our brother down. The time has quickly dawned upon us
when, in its entirety, the theological declarations of some so called biblical
scholars and the doctrines fabricated of men must be incinerated with all the
other religious jargon.
Some anointed person, whom the Spirit
of God has led into all truths, is going to finally arise out of the
downtrodden dust of woefulness the church has been sitting in. Samson was taken
down the mountain to a place called Lehi meaning the Jaw. When the Philistines
attacked him in that low place where no water was the Spirit of the Lord came
upon him. Notice Samson did not have to depend upon the writing of the latest
television evangelists or the strategic ordinances of a sorry excuse of a decrepit
ancient Pastoral committee; he depended upon the Spirit of God. Do not get me
wrong, I am not against a good pastor, preacher, teacher, evangelist or prophet
for how can we hear unless we have a preacher. Still let it be known that
Christ is the head of the church.
Samson is attacked in Lehi and there
he finds the jawbone of a donkey. In Lehi, meaning the jaw, Samson used the
Jawbone of an ass to destroy the host of the philistines. Samson declared after
the great slaughter that the new name for Lehi would be Ramath-lehi meaning
elevation of the Jaw. When the anointed of goes into a place God will elevate
it to a new level. We need for Jesus to elevate us above the storms and the
situations that we are dwelling in. Even though the church often times finds
herself in a low state God desires to elevate her place.
The world itself is sinking deeper
into a mire of sin and blood lust. We have to remember that while we, the
anointed of God are in the world God will transform this place into an elevated
place. Let God raise us up.
