“Now the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him” - 1 Sam 16:14 (NIV)
God allowed an evil spirit to torment Saul because he had been rejected for his disobedience (I Sam 15). Sometimes in our Christian walk we too can experience a certain heavy spirit that comes to oppress us. It weighs us down with anxiety and often depression.
Such a tormenting spirit is not necessarily from the Lord as in the case of Saul whose transgressions were so clear and usually it is the enemy only harassing us. The enemy is in that business of moving to and from to harass believers. His intention is one: to draw believers away from the Lord!
For a believer one of the weapon clearly at our disposal is to go down on our knees or rather, rise up and call upon God for deliverance. Of course it is quite impossible for one to do so if his walk with the Lord is distant. In such instance the evil spirit roams and reigns freely. So let’s always be close to the Lord and give the enemy not a single opportunity to weigh us down.
Another is to be a witness. That as believers we too, in spite of our faith, can be weighed down, with the hopeless pain of anxiety is not an embarrassment. We are but in a spiritual battle. In such moments let us be steadfast to rise above all because of the hope we have in him.
And when we are victorious we serve as an encouragement to those who do not know him or those who are struggling and need empathy from only those who have been down.
Prayer for today: Lord Father in heaven today I pray that through faith in you I overcome any tormenting spirit that seeks to draw me away from you!
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24/04/2024 - 25/04/2024 All day“May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed” (Psalm 20:4)
Premier Joseph and King David have a particular common characteristics: two individuals who were blessed with success, in their work. When Joseph was taken into the household of Potiphar, “The LORD was with Joseph so that he prospered...When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant” ( Gen 39:2-4).
Even when he was imprisoned later, on false accusations, “The LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there” (vv 21-22). Later in his life he is made second in command of Egypt by Pharaoh. “You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you” (Genesis 41:40).
For David, after he disposed off Goliath, “Whatever mission Saul sent him on, David was so successful that Saul gave him a high rank in the army” (1 Samuel 18:5). His success on the battle field would soon cause trouble for him when the troops started singing, “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands” (vv 7).
In spite of Saul’s anger at the comparison and even trying to kill him, for David “in everything he did he had great success, because the LORD was with him. When Saul saw how successful he was, he was afraid of him. But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he led them in their campaigns” (vv 14-16). Eventually, the throne would pass on to David.
Success in life is one of the blessings the Lord has marked out for believers. These individuals were successful because the Lord was with them. The only one who does not wish to see success of us, is the enemy Satan, who comes to kill, steal and destroy (John 10:10). May we pray that our lives are characterized with the anointing of success, because the Lord is with us!
Prayer for today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, today I pray that I bask in your success, in all that I do, because as was with your servants Joseph, David, Daniel and others, you are with me, and this I pray in Jesus’ name.
