TAKING BACK WHAT SATAN STOLE
(First part)
Memory verse (1Samuel 30: 18-19): “ So David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away, and David rescued his two wives. And nothing of theirs was lacking, either small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that they had taken from them; David recovered all ”.
Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy, (Jn10: 10). That’s his manifesto. He is a thief. In the story above, the Amalekites attacked the camp of David and destroyed the whole city with fire, they stole their cattle, and they took all their children and wives including David’s two wives. I have a message for all those who have fallen victims to Satan’s vices: you are there and Satan has stolen your peace, he has stolen your children, your husband, wife, they are now his captives. They are in wrong places as captives, slaves of alcohol, slaves of drugs, slaves of immorality, slaves of any sin in the enemy’s camp. Has the devil stolen your job, your finances, your business, your wisdom, etc what is that Satan has stolen from you? You will recover them all in Jesus name. Satan has stolen many believers’ prayer life, fasting life, ministries, visions, passion, and faith. He deceived Adam and stole away from him all that God had given to him. He tried to deceive Jesus, he told him: if you worship me I’ll give your all these things of the world… no way, he wanted to steal what Jesus had received in the forty days of fasting.
I have a message for you all dear ones in the Lord Jesus, we can recover all what Satan had stolen from us. Its true Satan came to steal but Jesus came to give us everything Satan had stolen from us. David came to Ziklag and found the whole city burnt down and their children, wives and wealth taken away by the enemy. David and his mighty men of war cried until they had no more strength to cry. But David strengthened himself in the Lord and sought the face of God and God told him pursue them. God promised to give them into his hands. David rose up, stopped crying, went with his army and attacked the enemy’s camp, defeated the enemy and took back everything that he had stolen. May be you are there, you have cried for years, you have despaired, you have given up, you’re disappointed, my brother and sister get up whip away the tears and get on your knees and begin to seek God. God has a plan to restore to you all that Satan had stolen from, your children, wife, husband, prayer life etc.
Tomorrow’s subject: “ Stop weeping, start praying ”
(Second part)
Memory verse (Psalms30: 5): ” For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning ”.
Weeping may last for a night but not forever. There is no situation that is permanent. Solomon said: there’s a time for everything under the sun (Eccl3: 1-11). There is a time for weeping and a time for laughter. Weeping is okay when it is in its right time. The scripture says: weep with those who weep. But it’s not okay to weep forever. David and his men wept until there was no more strength to weep. When a season for change comes and you don’t discern it, then you‘ll become a victim of change instead of a victor. We are not called to be victims of circumstances but victors.
David’s team did not realize when the time of change had come. That is, the time to stop crying and start praying. Instead of getting strengthened they got crushed and began to make wrong decision because of the bad situation. They decided to stone to death their leader. This was not going to solve their problem but to compound it. Many of you have caused your problem to become bigger and multiplied by the way you have behaved yourself in that situation. The problem is not the problem you’re going through but your attitude in that situation. David made the right decision to solve the problem. He strengthened himself. He stopped crying. He told the priest to bring him the Ephod that he may call upon God. He wiped his tears away and decided to find out the right thing to do. You should learn to do the right things in bad situations. He began to pray and sought the Lord for what to do. God answered him and gave direction of what to do. Now my dear ones, I know you might have been crying, going around telling everyone what things the enemy has done.
You watch all that Satan has stolen from you. Don’t make a mistake to go to wrong sources. Maybe every one is blaming you for what has happened. Maybe every one including your close friends and relatives have turned against you. The good news is God understand you and he does not condemn but he is calling all you who weary and broken hearted to come to him (Matt11: 28). Begin to seek God instead of men. Get in your secret place and seek the face of God. God has a plan of how to get back all that the devil has stolen from you. He is the God of Restoration. Take heart with God all things shall be recovered.
Tomorrow’s subject: “ You need to be in a right camp ”
(Third part)
Memory verse (Psalms 30: 9) “ So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and came to the Brook Besor, where those stayed who were left behind ”.
David and his team of six hundred men had lost everything, their wives, children, wealth etc and they recovered all they had lost (1Sam30: 8). They recovered all that the enemy had stolen because they were in the right camp. God was with this camp. They were under a man God had anointed.
Divine recovery is a product of divine location. The Bible is full of men and women who changed their location by the leading of God and their status changed. When Abraham went where God commanded him to go, blessings began to flow. All the men that walked with God saw blessing flooding their lives without measure. The key to divine restoration is walking with God. Moses told God: unless you go with us, we are not going anywhere. Going where God is not, is heading calamities and fruitless pursuits. But when God is with you all things will be possible.
All these men that followed David were under the leadership of king Saul before but somehow they felt the leading of God to move away from Saul’s camp and follow David the man God had anointed. Many people and believers keep losing and losing because of being in the wrong place where God is not. God opened the eyes of Jonathan and he knew which leader he was to follow. He knew that he was not to be the next king but David. He knew he was supposed to work in David’s government, but failed to move away from his father’s camp. He did not make the right decision to move away in time and he died in the wrong camp and lost his life and promotion (1Sam18: 1-4), (1Sam23: 16-18).
There is a place God wants you to be. It’s not enough to know the right things like Jonathan, you have to take the right steps and do the right things to see recovery in your life, family and ministry. Some believers fear what others would think about them, to some it’s their tradition, to others it’s their religion, others their position and pride. Naaman almost missed his deliverance because of pride. Don’t miss your divine intervention; there is a place God wants you to be. There’s a church God wants you to be in. Be in a camp where God’s presence is and you’ll experience the restoration of all things.
Tomorrow’s subject: “ Follow a right leader ”
(Fourth part)
Memory verse (1Sam30: 17-18) “ 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. So David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away, and David rescued his two wives ”.
Someone said everything rises and falls on leadership. Leaders cause good things to happen and it’s leaders who break all good things that have been built. King Saul was also a leader but he disobeyed God and God took away his anointing from him. When the Spirit of God left him, he lost the leadership capacity and the nation began to disintegrate. In God’s kingdom, spiritual leadership is about whom God has chosen and anointed. We have to be led by leaders who are led by the Holy Spirit if we are going see recovery in our lives (Rom8: 14).
David was a Man God had chosen and anointed (1Sam16: 11-13). From the time God anointed David he received the divine mandate and authority to lead God’s people. People began following him. Those who were in problems could see their answers in David (1Sam22: 1-2). Through the years, soldiers kept leaving Saul and joining David. Even when David was not yet a king, people could see a leader in him (2Sam5: 1-4). Who you follow will determine how your life will be. Those who followed David recovered everything they had lost. Leaders affect our lives so much. Without leadership our lives end in chaos, with bad leadership our lives end in misery and with right leadership our lives rise beyond the skies. You will rise or you will fall because of the leader you follow (Pro13: 20).
One of the greatest choices you can ever make in life is to choose your spiritual leader. King Saul began by following Samuel as his spiritual leader but ended miserably by following a witch in En Dor (1Sam28: 3-19). Some people‘s spiritual leaders are Satanists, while others are following blind spiritual leaders like the Pharisees of Jesus’ days. Who are you following? You can never go beyond the leader you follow (Lk6: 40). Peter became a great man by following Jesus, Timothy became a mighty leader by following Paul, Joshua became a great man by following Moses, Elisha became a great prophet by following Elijah, who are you following? Think about your destiny and eternity and make the right choice of your leader.
Tomorrow’s subject: “ Be a fighter ”
(Fifth part)
Memory verse (1Sam30:8): “ So David inquired of the LORD, saying, Shall pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them?” And He answered him, Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all ”
Life is warfare not welfare. Life will never give you something because you deserve it but because you demand for it. Jesus said that since the days of John the Baptist, the kingdom of God suffers violence and the violent take it by force, (Matt11: 12). Life is for men and women who are violent in the spirit, who are not ready to yes to all what Satan throws at them. The Bible teaches that we have warfare and we have also weapons of this warfare! (Ephe6: 12), (2cor10: 3-6). The question is not whether you are in warfare or not, all believers are warriors. The question is are you fighting or quitting? There is no neutral ground in this kingdom life. You either fight or you become a captive. You are either a victim or a victor. The enemy of our souls is very violent and diplomacy doesn’t work in this warfare. There is not supposed to be any ceasefire but continuous fire. There are no peace talks. Those who engage in peace talks with Satan discover later that what they had was not talks but jokes. God is telling you soldier of Christ, put on God’s Armour, rise up and declare war on the devil’s war and fight.
We have to attack the enemy’s camp, destroy it and rescue all that Satan had stolen from us. It’s not enough to keep preaching about what Satan is doing in the world. It’s not enough to go telling everyone what Satan has done to your children, wife and husband. It’s time for war. Pursue the enemy until you recover all he had stolen from you. We have to behave as obedient children as we relate to our heavenly Father, as sheep as we follow our shepherd Jesus Christ, gentle as doves as we relate to our brethren, but as violent as lions as we fight the devil. The scripture teaches that we should submit to God but not to the devil. When the devil comes we don’t submit to him, but we resist him. We stand our ground in faith and don’t give him even a foothold. The scripture teaches that we should not give him any place. We are fighting principalities, powers of darkness, sin, temptations, traditions of this world, wicked thoughts and everything that exalt itself against the knowledge of God (Jam4: 7-8), (Eph6: 12), (2Cor10: 3-6). The Lord is with you. The Spirit of God is in you. Greater is he that is in you than the devil in this world. Stand on your ground and take back all what the enemy had stolen from you.
Tomorrow’s subject: “ Use what the enemy has thrown away ”
(Sixth part)
Memory verse (1Sam30: 11): “ Then they found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David; and they gave him bread and he ate, and they let him drink water ”.
Spiritual sensitivity is needed if you are going to recover what Satan has stolen from you. The strength of any army depends on a number of factors, one of them is their ability to detect the enemy’s weaponry strength and skills. Jesus taught: what king intending to fight another if he doesn’t first find out the strength of his enemy before he declares war. Spiritual sensitivity helps us to discern the right patterns, strategies and ways to fight every battle before us. Spiritual sensitivity helps us to know the right people to integrate into our army. The Amalekites dropped a man just because he was sick. They thought he was useless and good for nothing. They thought he was delaying their success. They did not waste their efforts to treat him but threw him away. They gave up on him.
There are people that God place in this earth that are key to your success in life and ministry. There are people who have the information in this world that you need to recover all that the devil ever stole from you. Without information we perish (Hos4: 6), wrong information leads to devastation and failure in life. Only right information can give good success in life (Josh1: 8). Joshua needed the right information Rahab had to attack Jericho. God had to send Gideon to the camp of the midianites to hear the right information he needed before he attacked them. David picked up the Egyptian that had been dropped. He fed him properly until he recovered his strength. This dying man had the information David needed to overcome the enemy. David asked him the right questions and downloaded all the information he needed and after that he attacked the Amalekites, defeated them and took back everything that they had stolen from them (1Sam30; 11-17).
Never despise people. Be sensitive to know why God has brought certain kinds of people before you. God will bring us into contact with the people that matter to our destiny; it’s up to us how we treat them. It’s amazing; one man’s dustbin is another man’s gold mine! One man’s junk is another man’s jewel! Be careful the way you handle people, how you handle problems, situations. Look around you; see the things with the eyes of your spirit. What are the things in your life that God has brought to change you future?
Have a great weekend and see you Monday morning!!!