3 LESSONS

It's my pleasure to share with you the 3 lessons I gleaned from the Bible today. Enjoy and be blessed by them.

1 Samuel 4:1-11

Now Israel went out to battle against the Philistines, and encamped beside Ebenezer; and the Philistines encamped in Aphek. 2 Then the Philistines put themselves in battle array against Israel. And when they joined battle, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men of the army in the field. 3 And when the people had come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the LORD defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD from Shiloh to us, that when it comes among us it may save us from the hand of our enemies.” 4 So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from there the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, who dwells between the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. 5 And when the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all Israel shouted so loudly that the earth shook. 6 Now when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, “What does the sound of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews mean?” Then they understood that the ark of the LORD had come into the camp. 7 So the Philistines were afraid, for they said, “God has come into the camp!” And they said, “Woe to us! For such a thing has never happened before. 8 Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness. 9 Be strong and conduct yourselves like men, you Philistines, that you do not become servants of the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Conduct yourselves like men, and fight!” 10 So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and every man fled to his tent. There was a very great slaughter, and there fell of Israel thirty thousand foot soldiers. 11 Also the ark of God was captured; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

Lesson 1:

DEMONSTRATING THE POWER OF GOD

Everyone living has the breath of God in him or her, otherwise they won’t be alive. But that does not mean that everyone can operate in the power and anointing of God. The ability to operate in the power and anointing of God is, to a large extent, determined by the individual. Is he/she a worthy vessel to manifest the divine power and abilities or not? In the passage above, the Israelites jubilated when the Ark of Testimony was brought into their camp. With the Ark in their camp, they expected an easy run over their enemies. It had made them prevailed over challenges before, it would definitely aid them again. But the Ark was carried there by and was also in care of two unworthy vessels, Hophni and Phinehas, the sons of Eli. Therefore it did not perform the purpose which they brought it for.

Lesson 2:

THE PRESENCE OF GOD AND SUCCESS OR FAILURE

The fact that the presence of God, symbolised by the Ark, is in a venture does not guarantee the success of that endeavour if the people are not right. A project can have God’s approval and still fail if the people involved are not the right breed or are not aright with God. God was seated between the cherubim in the Ark that was brought to the camp of the Israelites but they were still routed in the battle by the Philistines and 30,000 of them were killed in the process.

Lesson 3:

WHAT REALLY MATTERS

It takes self motivation to succeed and prevail in the battles of life. If the Philistines had given up and withdrawn when they heard about the Ark of God that was brought into the Israelites camp – especially in view of the many terrible things they had heard that God had done to the Egyptians and anyone who dared to cross the path of the Israelites – they would not have known that they could in fact win that war. But they encouraged themselves to go ahead and fight all the same. And they won the battle.

Therefore, IT IS NOT WHAT IS HAPPENING AT THE OTHER SIDE THAT DETERMINES THE OUTCOME OF A MATTER. IT IS WHAT IS HAPPENING AT YOUR SIDE THAT DOES; WHAT YOU ARE TELLING YOURSELF? WHAT YOU ARE DOING? HOW YOU ARE PREPARING? etc etc, these are what really matter and determine the result you get in most cases.

Thanks for reading.

Shalom!