Check out the article behind this podcast:
https://conwaychristianresources.com/2018/10/blog/demonstrate-love-god/
Do you love God, if so how can you prove it? Jesus laid out for us a simple yet profound formula on how to demonstrate our love for God. But what is it and how can that truth reshape our hearts and lives?
As we’ve seen over the past few weeks the life of David so far has been a roller-coaster ride of highs and lows. From his anointing by Samuel, to defeating Goliath all the way to having Saul hurl spears at him. The picture we are seeing through David’s life is one where someone who is anointed and faithful overcomes obstacles and challenges. How we face these challenges and trials ends up proving not just to God but ourselves that we can actually accomplish the great things God has planned for us in our lives.
We need to get one thing straight right off of the bat, being anointed or having God’s favor is not a free-pass to a trouble free life where you just float around and everything falls into your lap. We need to understand and accept the idea that “anointing equals work,” we see this play out in the lives of not just David but also Joseph, Abraham, Moses and Paul. These were all people who were called and commissioned by God but they had to put in the effort to see the benefits of God’s promises become a reality.
Being anointed or having God’s favor is not a free-pass to a trouble free life where you just float around and everything falls into your lap.
Moses didn’t deliver Israel while he was shepherding in Midian, Abraham didn’t become the father of the covenant because he decided to stay in Ur, Joseph wasn’t promoted because he grumbled and complained while doing as little work as possible, and Paul didn’t become the great apostle by remaining in Damascus to meditate on his encounter with Jesus. All of these people had to not just put in the work but they had to struggle through the difficult times.
Don’t you think Moses would of preferred to not lead a people that complained the way the exilic Israelites did, or do you think Abraham would of preferred to stay in the metropolitan hub of Ur. Or what about Joseph I’m sure he would have been happier not being in the prison for those years, and I bet Paul didn’t want to postpone the launch of his evangelistic association by an entire decade so he can go back to Tarsus.
This concept of anointing equals work is not the exclusive property of those during the Biblical era it is something we deal with also right here and right now under the New Covenant. No matter how much faith or grace we have there will still be struggles to face and walls of impossibility which will pop up on our path towards God’s purpose for our lives.
So we shouldn’t be surprised when we encounter difficulties, slow-downs, detours, challenges or the like because it is in these frustrations that God is trying to refine us so we can become someone better. Not because we have the natural means to do so, no rather we become better and more refined because in these times we learn to walk even closer to God, and the closer we are to him the better we will recognize the answers to our prayers and understand the miracles he is doing all around us.
This concept of anointing equals work is not the exclusive property of those during the Biblical era it is something we deal with also right here and right now under the New Covenant. No matter how much faith or grace we have there will still be struggles to face and walls of impossibility which will pop up on our path towards God’s purpose for our lives.
We shouldn’t be surprised when we encounter difficulties, slow-downs, detours, challenges or the like because it is in these frustrations that God is trying to refine us so we can become someone better. Not because we have the natural means to do so, no rather we become better and more refined because in these times we learn to walk even closer to God, and the closer we are to him the better we will recognize the answers to our prayers and understand the miracles he is doing all around us.
David faced many of these seasons of challenges and trials but each one was allowed by God to advance and refine David into a person who could be a true King over the people. So that brings us to 1 Samuel 18 where David has defeated Goliath and has become a key part of the Israelite army while remaining Saul’s royal minstrel.
As time went on the people began praised David in the streets saying how he had killed tens of thousands of their enemies while Saul had only killed thousands. This isn’t a literal number but rather it shows how the people saw David as the greater warrior and protector of Israel. They no longer saw Saul who was head and shoulders taller than the rest as their mighty warrior and this also lead them to believe that God was showing more favor to David than to Saul.
Last week we saw how a deep jealousy started to take hold of Saul’s heart and now we witness how that jealousy transformed into hatred and culminated in a murderous desire. In Saul’s eyes David was no longer the poor shepherd boy that played the harp but rather his competition for the love and support of the people. Everything Saul had built and the lives of his children hung in the balance, David was seen as the usurper of the throne so Saul in one of his fits tried to deal with his problem.
1 Samuel 18:9-10 “9 Now the distressing spirit from the Lord came upon Saul as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. And David was playing music with his hand. 10 Then Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he slipped away from Saul’s presence; and he drove the spear into the wall. So David fled and escaped that night.
Saul’s fear was taking over his mind, Saul remembered the words of Samuel and knew that God had rejected him and it was only a matter of time before his replacement came looking for the throne. Seeing the prowess of David and the way the people praised and loved him it was not a surprise that Saul began to fear David (1 Samuel 18:12, 15, and 29). Saul also realized that “the Lord was with David” (1 Samuel 18:12, 14, 28) which meant that David was a strong contender to be the next king, since Saul’s only real qualification to be king was God’s anointing and Samuel’s recognition.
1 Samuel 18:14-15 “14 And David behaved wisely in all his ways, and the Lord was with him. 15 Therefore, when Saul saw that he behaved very wisely, he was afraid of him. 16 But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he went out and came in before them.
Now we come to 1 Samuel 18:17-27, here after seeing David advance so quickly in the eyes of the people and among the army, Saul came up with a plan to get David killed. Since the people would be in an uproar if Saul did it himself he had the idea to use his daughter as bait so David could be lured into a place where Saul’s actual enemies could kill his perceived enemy David (1 Samuel 18:17).
Unlike the promises that were given to the one that killed Goliath, Saul didn’t allow his daughter to marry David, and we have no evidence that any of the other promises of riches and tax exemption were ever given to David. Saul then decided to use this broken promise to his advantage. At first Saul offered his oldest daughter Merab as a wife for David but at the last minute gave her to Adriel the Meholathite (this would have dire consequences years later in 2 Samuel 21:8).
However Saul then offered his second daughter Michal to David, an offer which was financially impossible for David to accept. David was honest about his poverty (1 Samuel 18:23) and recognized that Michal did have feelings for him so David was in a difficult position, a position which Saul was about to exploit. Instead of a traditional dowry Saul asked for (how can I put this nicely) “trophies” from 100 Philistines. This wasn’t uncommon as there are recorded instances of battle trophies or victories being used as a form of dowry in the region at the time. Saul asked specifically for the foreskins because they were the only tribe of people in the region which didn’t practice circumcision, guaranteeing that David would fight only the Philistines.
Upon hearing the price to be paid and what was involved David didn’t huff and puff or file a grievance about already being promised a princess for killing Goliath. Rather David reacted in humility and didn’t back down from the challenge. This is a far cry from how many Christians would respond to similar situations where a bit of extra work is required to received what was already promised to you. David didn’t grumble and complain but recognized the prize that was available and went our happily to earn that prize.
Upon hearing the price to be paid and what was involved David didn’t huff and puff or file a grievance about already being promised a princess for killing Goliath. Rather David reacted in humility and didn’t back down from the challenge.
With the agreement set David and some of his forces went out and took not 100 “trophies” but 200 of them (1 Samuel 18:27). This wasn’t just about Michal but it was also about protecting the nation from this invading force. Then to Saul’s surprise David returned with double of what was asked for him, so he was forced to allow David and Michal to marry. David went above and beyond what was asked of him, not because he was commanded it but he saw not just the short-term blessing but the long-term results from faithfully doing what he was called to do.
1 Samuel 18:28-30 “28 Thus Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David, and that Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved him; 29 and Saul was still more afraid of David. So Saul became David’s enemy continually. 30 Then the princes of the Philistines went out to war. And so it was, whenever they went out, that David behaved more wisely than all the servants of Saul, so that his name became highly esteemed.”
However that victory alone didn’t guarantee that David and Michal lived happily ever after. Years later David took a second wife named Abigail (1 Samuel 25:39-42) because Saul took Michal away for a time and gave her to another man (1 Samuel 25:44), and then there was the affair with Bathsheba. Michal herself later became the wife who criticized David for dancing unashamedly before the ark (2 Samuel 6:18-23).
It is also ironic that the plot Saul used to try and kill David is essentially the same thing David did to Uriah years later as well, as he was also sent into an unwinnable battle, but unlike David he did not survive (2 Samuel 11:15).
What do we do with this story? I know most of you don’t have a king offering a princess in exchange for fighting an army of Philistines. However what is playing out here is how God is able to take the plan of an enemy and turn it into either a blessing or to propel you further into your calling. Marrying Michal as we see didn’t transform David into a king, but the challenge before him was used to test his heart to see if he would be faithful and to see if he was willing to do what was necessary to receive the prize.
At different points of our lives we too will face a similar situation where something impossible for us to attain is placed within reach but we need to take action to receive it. At times its an opportunity at your job, or it’s a natural blessing either way we need to be ready to walk hand in hand with God to do our part to receive it. We do this through action combined with prayer and we need to be honest with ourselves that it’s never one or the other.
We need to have a lifestyle of prayer and then take what God has shown us and put our feet to the floor and run towards it. It’s not always easy, just look at the lives of those I mentioned earlier the likes of Abraham, Moses, Joseph and Paul. It took work and effort in combination to their relationship with God for mighty things to take place in their lives.
Action combined with prayer is just one part of this process we also need faith and its ultimate expression which is faithfulness. Faithfulness is the key in God’s eyes because God knows the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10) just because things don’t look so great today doesn’t mean that God isn’t leading you to a place which is.
Faithfulness is the key in God’s eyes because God knows the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10) just because things don’t look so great today doesn’t mean that God isn’t leading you to a place which is.
Trials and spiritual battles such as these encourages us to have faith for greater things and it shows us that God leads us through trials at times because there is a blessing or promotion waiting for us on the other side of the battlefield. A blessing or promotion which would have been otherwise unattainable if we just continued to coast by and avoided the challenges God was brining (or allowing to come) to our lives.
The Christian life is one of movement where God is constantly leading us to different places (emotionally, spiritually or physically) just as a shepherd leads his flock from pasture to pasture. There is no wormhole which takes you from one part of God’s map to the farthest edges of it in an instant. This path is there for a reason so that your life has a direction which was prepared by someone else in anticipation of you walking along it later on.
We are not just wandering the virgin forests of the world with no paths or direction to follow. We have the Holy Spirit living inside of us as a grand compass for our lives to carry us to greater things so the kingdom can be expanded and our lives and better reflect Jesus to the world.
But we can’t do this alone, did you notice in this story that David didn’t go alone to fight those Philistines, he brought others with him. It would have been impossible for David to accomplish this task and his entire life’s calling for that matter alone and without any help. While some may see David’s life at this point as a series of broken promises and unnecessary victories I rather see this as David’s season of recruitment. During this time the likes of Jonathan and Michal sided with David and protected him from their father. David also made relationships with his fellow soldiers who would follow him into the wilderness and later the royal court years later.
We must understand this point above all others, God created us in and for community so that we can help each other accomplish the great things God has planned for us. People may come and go from your life but at different seasons God will bring about the perfect people to help you in your life, and conversely, he will bring you to other people so they can be helped in their battles against the challenges of life and the enemy. There will be days where you are playing the role of David and there are days where you will play the role of the unnamed soldier who helped David achieve a victory. In both cases you must remain humble, full of faith, devoted to prayer/relationship with God and ready to take action.
There will be days where you are playing the role of David and there are days where you will play the role of the unnamed soldier who helped David achieve a victory.
This story recounts just one victory for David and it didn’t cancel out what was going to happen next, actually it made things worse. However, God was involved here and He was preparing David to grow into the next phase of his calling the season of wilderness and activation. At the same time we can’t forget that David wouldn’t of survived chapter 19 and entered that next phase of his calling if he didn’t faithfully face challenges set before him in chapter 18.
Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” (NKJV)
Are you looking to develop your relationship with God and better understand the Bible? Pick up a copy of one of my books today.
Understanding Who You Are: A Survey of 21st Century Christian Beliefs
Amazon.com paperback, eBook | Amazon.ca paperback, eBook
Indigo, iBook, Nook and more HERE
Six Minutes of Grace: The Key To Finding Happiness and Purpose
Amazon.com paperback, eBook | Amazon.ca paperback, eBook
Indigo, iBook, Nook and more HERE
Six Minutes of Grace Journal
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How The Faithful Overcome Challenges Cameron Conway is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Jesus said the the gates of hell will not prevail, but what does that mean and how are we able to no just withstand the attacks of the enemy but fight back?
Check out the article behind this podcast here:
https://conwaychristianresources.com/2018/10/blog/understanding-glory-god/
Glory to God! This is something that most Christians have heard at one point, maybe in a song, or while someone was preaching or even while reading the Bible. But what does it mean, what is the glory of God, and how to we give glory to Him?
No matter what God has called you to be it in ministry, business, government, education etc., you will notice that jealousy inevitably follows after favor. It doesn’t just follow but it hunts and runs after it because others see something in you they either want, need or used to have. Many people who have been called and anointed by God have faced this challenge and those who successfully pass this test are allowed to take the next step in their callings. While those who fail typically become the next generation of the jealous who go about hunting those called by God to achieve something in this world.
When God begins to move in your life people start paying attention to you wherever you go. At times this can be good attention like the kind which helps you find those that can aid you in your journey, or you find others needed help as well. This is the place of favor where God begins to connect you with others so that your callings and dreams can manifest in this world. Even David had these people in his life with the likes of Samuel, Jonathan, this mighty men, Joab and others.
However, there’s a second category of attention that you will receive. People who are anointed typically encounter where those who either hate, resent or covet what God has placed upon their life. As you progress in you calling and relationship with God these people will emerge and try to either silence you, cripple you or convert you into one of them.
People who are anointed typically encounter where those who either hate, resent or covet what God has placed upon their life.
How you deal with these people will determine how you progress along the path of the 4 A’s of Anointing, Apprenticeship, Activation and Announcement. No matter what you’re called to become you’ll encounter this resistance in some way, shape or form. This resistance can come in the form of a person, group, organization, friend, family member or online stranger. It feels as if there is a natural attraction that the darkness has when it sees the light of God in someone. Not that they want to encounter the light of God but rather they are attracted to it because they want to snuff it out, so their darkness isn’t disturbed.
Once God began to bring close supporters into David’s life then it was only a matter of time that the crowds at large began to recognize what was happening in his life. Between the defeat of Goliath and David’ blossoming military career he was being moved closer into the national spotlight right next to Saul. With each task placed before him David was found to be faithful and wise and victories against Israel’s primary enemy the Philistines were happening at a pace not seen since Joshua’s invasion.
What happened here is that God provided David an opportunity to enter into his season of apprenticeship in his anointing and David took that opportunity and did something with it. He didn’t talk about it, or dream of what he could do with those opportunities, no he went to work, and out worked those around him. We don’t just get David boasting about himself about all of this, rather we witness the praises of the people who were beginning to see David as the new great warrior of Israel. A title that used to be Saul’s up until he was abandoned by God and he no longer fought as he used to, we see with his unwillingness to answer Goliath’s challenge and by him remaining often in his capital of Gibeah while David went out and fought.
1 Samuel 18:6-7 “6 Now it had happened as they were coming home, when David was returning from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women had come out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with joy, and with musical instruments. 7 So the women sang as they danced, and said: “Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands.”
While this was good news for David it was interpreted in a completely different way by Saul, who took these words as being the manifestation of his greatest fear. Since he was rejected as king by God (1 Samuel 15:26-28) Saul has been on the lookout for the “neighbor of yours, who is better than you” who would take the kingdom away from him. God had already taken the kingdom away from Saul spiritually but the day was not yet for it to be taken away in the natural realm.
This reaction from Saul is common in those who have lost their anointing, calling, hope or living relationship with God. They can’t stand seeing someone else enjoying the benefits they used to have but lost for some reason or another. Some lost them through sin, others from a lack of faith, greed, the pressures of the world and still others because they were “re-educated” into thinking what they had or had been called to was wrong, evil, undesirable or “not God’s will.”
This reaction from Saul is common in those who have lost their anointing, calling, hope or living relationship with God. They can’t stand seeing someone else enjoying the benefits they used to have but lost for some reason or another.
Saul failed because of his sin, but there are others such as Samson who gave into his wife’s pressure or Jeroboam’s descent into idolatry following the division of the kingdom and Gideon who later built a false ephod (a counterfeit to the true tabernacle) in his home town (Judges 8:27-29). Everyone in these examples began strong and accomplished great things for God but life, circumstances and even their own hearts broke them down and they ended up in darkness, despite the great things God had done for them.
Jeroboam went from heeding a prophets words to trying to kill them, Gideon fought against God’s enemies but later created his own priesthood and lead Israel away from God and the ark, Sampson despite his great power squandered his giftings and only acted out his calling when he was mad or inconvenienced. The same pattern exists today as being called and anointed by God is not a guarantee that you’ll never encounter troubles or that you’ll never fly off of the rails and end up in a ditch or in a disaster.
With Saul his paranoia drove him over the edge as he continually heard the people’s praises about David, and he began to fear that a coup could be soon underway. Often those with a call on their lives will encounter their own version of a Saul in their life, be it a person, group or so on. These are the people who see everyone else that has a touch of God’s favor and presence upon their lives as a threat to their position, purpose and livelihood.
1 Samuel 18:8 “And Saul was very angry, for the saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed to David ten thousands, but to me they have ascribed only thousands. What more can he have but the kingdom?” (AMPC)
1 Samuel 18:15 “When Saul saw how capable and successful David was, he stood in awe of him.” (AMPC)
For those who are like Saul in this situation they are not interested int building up the next generation of the church (or in what ever arena you are called to) but are only focused on keeping their backsides in their own chairs and not allowing anything to change. They resist anything that causes growth that wasn’t their own idea and often they are more focused on managing everything than on causing it to grow and develop. Because growth requires more hands to help in administrating and each one of those new hands is a threat to their coveted seat.
Saul feared that this nobody shepherd from the backwoods of Judah who had killed the giant he should’ve fought was now garnering the praised of the people who used to adore him. Saul stood head and shoulders above everyone’s else (1 Samuel 9:2) but that wasn’t enough any longer to inspire the people. Deep down within Saul the idea that there was no one was bigger, better or more anointed than him in Israel began to crumble, and in his already fractured state that realization drove him over the edge.
David had what he used to possess, even if he didn’t know about David and Samuel’s encounter, Saul must have recognized the moving of God’s spirit on David. Saul recognized what David had because it’s what he used to possess and he knew what was possible when that power and anointing was upon a person. Saul knew this and that’s why he was jealous of David and that is why he began to fear him. He wanted back what he had lost and since he could never get it back he decided that no one else should be able to have God’s anointing upon them either.
Proverbs 28:16 A ruler who lacks understanding is a great oppressor, But he who hates covetousness will prolong his days. (NKJV0
Job 5:2 For wrath kills a foolish man, And envy slays a simple one. (NKJV)
At its core jealousy is just a pathway that leads to a crossroads, inevitably you’ll have to make a decision when you reach this juncture. You can either repent and turn around or you have one of two choices you can either turn one way down the path of lust and covetousness or you can turn down the other path which leads to destruction. One path will make you devote your life to acquiring something you don’t have (or used to have) no matter the cost. The other path will make you devote your life to destroying what another person has because if you can’t have it then no one can.
Next week I’ll talk about how Saul’s jealousy transformed into fear and hatred but for now I want you to be aware that these types of situations still happened not just in the world but also in the church. It can happen between pastors and staff, between members and volunteers, between strangers and the pastor and so on. So it should be no surprise that behaviors and risks like this happen but what should you do to model your life after what David did?
What we need to first realize is that our own lives are not about proving those jealous people wrong it’s about witnessing God being right about what he has cultivated in your heart and life while witnessing the fruits of that manifest in the world around you. The first and best thing you can do is to remain faithful and committed to what God is leading you to/through. As we’ll see in the coming weeks David had literal spears thrown at him but he still refused to murder Saul, or to take a shortcut in this journey to becoming king.
What we need to first realize is that our own lives are not about proving those jealous people wrong it’s about witnessing God being right about what he has cultivated in your heart and life.
Before I continue I feel that I must make this statement: David’s example with Saul doesn’t mean that you cannot “turn over” a fallen leader who has engaged in criminal or unethical activities. Saul received his judgment before David was anointed and David didn’t invent stories to try and take down Saul. However, you must not feel obligated to insulate or protect a fallen leader when they have committed a crime, had a breach of ethics or have engaged in improper sexual activities.
You are not in the wrong to turn that leader over to the authorities, just as long as the accusations are more than just gossip and hearsay that weren’t fabricated. I feel many people take this interchange between David and Saul and use it as justification to allow a leader to continue in their sins and issues, or this story is used to intimidate victims or witnesses from coming forward. That is not the situation that happened here with David and Saul and I feel it this needs to be mentioned here.
If you want a biblical example of how this should take place look at the example of Nathan confronting David about Bathsheba, or Paul confronting Peter about his treatment of the Gentile believers. Those examples provide a healthy biblical example of how to deal with a person in leadership who has failed in their duties and ethics.
Back on track now. Really your best course of action when you encounter these people is to let them “yell at the clouds” so to say and for you to continue being faithful in what God is leading you through. That’s what David did, he was found more wise and successful than the other military commanders (1 Samuel 18:30). It’s also how someone like Paul was able to go from the great persecutor to the great Apostle, he was humble, faithful and determined to do all he could for God that picked him up from his mess and made him a herald of the great King.
If God sees it necessary he may even will remove those people eventually from your life or he could also will use them to drive you into the next phase of your calling. Either way those proverbial Saul’s aren’t always to be seen as mighty adversaries but rather as either speedbumps or detour signs along the road between where God called you from and where God is calling you to.
First understanding that there are people out there that won’t appreciate God’s calling and purpose on your life is the first step in learning how to best navigate those situations. Yet at the same time you need to be open and humble enough to recognize when a person is jealous or envious of you and when they are actually hearing from God and are trying to correct and refine you. You can’t respond to every word or person that doesn’t tickle your ear by calling them a Saul, you need to be sensitive to the spirit so that you can also recognize those who come to you like Nathan to keep you on the path God has placed you on.
You’re job is to serve, love and follow God and to do it in a Christlike manner so that the majority of people recognize what God is doing, just like the crowds did with David. So don’t fear the Saul’s of your life, don’t allow those who are broken and jealous to convert you into one of them. Just seek God and continue to be faithful with what God has given to you so that you can discover your true purpose, so you can build the kingdom and then support the next generation of anointed sons and daughters.
Are you looking to develop your relationship with God and better understand the Bible? Pick up a copy of one of my books today.
Understanding Who You Are: A Survey of 21st Century Christian Beliefs
Amazon.com paperback, eBook | Amazon.ca paperback, eBook
Indigo, iBook, Nook and more HERE
Six Minutes of Grace: The Key To Finding Happiness and Purpose
Amazon.com paperback, eBook | Amazon.ca paperback, eBook
Indigo, iBook, Nook and more HERE
Six Minutes of Grace Journal
Amazon.com paperback | Amazon.ca paperback