Glorious Way Church
Glorious Way Church equips believers for the work of the ministry and stands for God’s truth in our culture. We serve as a regional center, where people from all backgrounds find refreshing worship and true communion of the saints.
Glorious Way Church
Overcoming The Ziklags Of Life
When life burns everything to the ground, do you have the spiritual tools to rise from the ashes? Pastor Joseph draws powerful insights from David's experience at Ziklag in 1 Samuel 30, revealing a divine blueprint for reaching your God-ordained milestones even through devastating setbacks.
before the Lord in prayer and then we're going to dive into the Word of God. So let's pray. Father, thank you for your goodness, your kindness, your grace, your mercy. Thank you, lord, for who we are in you, and Lord, for everything that you're doing in this time and for everything that we get to be a part of Father, to advance your kingdom. Father, for your glory, father, bless this time here together, tonight, as we dive into the word. Father, thank you for our revelation and understanding. Father, we just declare we have eyes to see and ears to hear. Father, which you would have us to receive tonight in Jesus' name, amen, amen. Well, I don't know about you, but I'm just excited to be alive in God's kingdom and to be a part of what God is doing in this season and he's doing in the earth, and just everything that God is doing, and I mean it's just happening so quickly, everything's just moving so fast and it's just exciting just to see what God is doing. And I just want to talk to you a little bit tonight about some things that I believe the Lord has given me to share with you.
Speaker 1:Earlier in this year, pastor Griner gave a word to this church, the word from the Lord about 2025. And the word was that 2025 was going to be a year of milestones. And it was going to be a year of milestones not only corporately for Glorious Way Church, but it was also going to be a year of milestones for us individually, and I can tell you that my wife, laura, and I just received that word. We've been holding on to that word. We are daily declaring and speaking that word over our lives and just in full agreement with God and I can tell you I'm so excited We've already seen some milestones in our lives personally, and so we know that God has so much more for us this year. I believe God has so much more for you this year, and so what we just? I just want to encourage you with with something from the word of the Lord here tonight, and so tonight I want to give you some things that you can put in your spiritual toolbox, give you some nuggets that will help you to reach every God ordained milestone for your life.
Speaker 1:We know that God has some great things planned for again as I said earlier for this church, but he also has some great things planned for your life. But we also know we have an enemy. In John 10.10, the scripture says For the thief does not come except to steal, to kill and to destroy. But Jesus said Don't get me mixed up with him. He may be a thief, but I've come that you might have life and have it more abundantly. And so thank God that we serve a God who is a God of abundance and he wants to have you reach every milestone and do it in abundance. And so we want to. I want you to turn with me, if you will, abundance, and so we want to. I want you to turn with me, if you will, in your Bibles, to 1 Samuel, chapter 30.
Speaker 1:And we're going to look at the life of David, who was ordained as king at a very early, at a very young age, by the prophet Samuel, over in 1 Samuel, chapter 16. If you go back and read that and I want to encourage you to go back and read that but David was ordained, he was, he was picked out of all of his brothers. God just looked over all of them and chose David to ordain him as king. He was probably the least likely one to be ordained king, but God ordained him as king and then over. And the reason God ordained him as king is because in first Samuel, chapter 15, god had rejected Saul as king because of disobedience. And so there's something you can learn there about being obedient and reaping the rewards and the benefit of obedience. But but what we see there is that there was a milestone in David's life that had been spoken over him, a milestone even though it was we see later that it was far off it was a nonetheless a milestone in David's life. So go with me to first Samuel, chapter 30, and we're going to pick up there and we're going to look at David's life and how David reached that milestone, even though he had to deal with the ordeal of the Amalekites and at Ziklag.
Speaker 1:And so in first Samuel, chapter 30, starting in verse one, it says now it happened when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day that the Amalekites had invaded the south in Ziklag, attacked Ziklag and burned it with fire Verse two it had taken captive the women and those who were there, from small to great. They did not kill anyone, but carried them away and went their way. In verse three so David and his men came to the city and there it was burned with fire and their wives, their sons, their daughters, had been taken captive. Then David and all the people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept until they had no more power to weep and David's two wives? David had two wives his wife, anahim the Jerusalem I just totally butchered that name and Abigail, the widow of Nabal the Carmelite, had been taken captive.
Speaker 1:Now here's a classic example of what Jesus was talking about in John 10, 10, when he talked about the thief coming to steal, to kill and to destroy. If you go back to first Samuel, chapter 29, you will see that David had been out. He was a warrior. He'd been out doing battle, doing ministry, working, serving. You could even use that as an example of David was out serving the kingdom of God, fulfilling God's plan for his life. He comes home only to find out that the Amalekites had raided the camp, burned everything down and took captive not only the children but his wives.
Speaker 1:Now some of you may say well, that may not be such a bad thing, don't get in trouble with your wife. But David realized that everything that he had, everything that mattered to him, had been gone, and so he and the men that who had been fighting with him were so overcome by grief that they began to weep, they begin to cry, and so I want to share with you tonight some things that you must do when dealing with the zik lags of life. You know, Jesus said in this life we will have tests and trials. He said it. He didn't say in this life, once you receive salvation, everything's going to be peachy, keen, hunky dory. He said in this life you will have tests and trials. But he could have stopped right there and said you're going to be peachy, keen, hunky dory. He said in this life you will have tests and trials. But he could have stopped right there and said you're going to have trouble, deal with it, we'll see how you do it on judgment day. But he said but be of good cheer, for I've overcome the world.
Speaker 1:There's also a scripture in the Bible that says that he will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear. For with every temptation he's provided a way of escape. In other words, he's provided a plan to help you get through, whatever it is. He's provided a plan, and we're going to see God's plan at work in David's life at Ziklag. Why? Because David has a milestone to reach. You have a milestone to reach. And so let's look at that, let's look at that Ziklag.
Speaker 1:And so in verse six of first Samuel, chapter 30, we see in the previous verses that everyone was just overcome with grief. And they, and you know, usually when something happens and you get, you get hit with it. The first thing you want to do is you want to go, you just want to go, just just break down. Some people do that. And so we see in verse six it said that David was greatly distressed for the people, people who spoke of stoning him, because the soul of the people was so grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. You know now, those people's desire to stone David was typically what we can say we encounter when we're dealing with their own zigzags. You know, the first thing we want to do sometimes people want to do is to is to get discouraged. And typically when you get discouraged, what happens, the first thing that happens when you get discouraged, is your mouth wants to start talking things that are contrary to God's promises. In other words, your mouth wants to take you away from your, your, your destiny, your mouth wants to take you away from your milestone. And so we see they're saying things like let's kill him and we'll feel better. Let's quit the ministry.
Speaker 1:How many times have you been in a ziklag and you've had something that you were challenged with and the first thing you want to do is stop whatever it is you're doing that's important to the kingdom of God. How many times have you been in a ziklag and, all of a sudden, you want to stop giving? That's the first thing the enemy wants you to do is to stop doing what you're doing. The first thing the enemy wants you to do is to stop doing what you're doing. Why? Because he does not want to see you reach that milestone. It's David's fault that they lost everything. You know that's typically the devil, the way he operates. He's going to blame you or he's going to get you to blame everybody. Oh, it's God's fault If you hadn't been doing this then.
Speaker 1:But no, but there's something that happens in first Samuel chapter 30, in verse six it says the second part of that. It Samuel chapter 30 and verse six. It says the second part of that. It says but David strengthened himself in the Lord, his God. And so the first thing that you're going to have to do is there are times that you're going to have to encourage yourself. You're going to have to strengthen yourself in the Lord. You're going to have to strengthen yourself on the promises of God. You're going to have to hold on to what God has promised you.
Speaker 1:You know, I know in my own life with my wife, laura and I. Some of you know our testimony, some of you don't, but I'll share. I'll share parts of it as I talk about David's life and our own personal sick lack. My wife and I endured six miscarriages in nine years and we were in ministry. I was in ministry full time, busy doing ministry, doing the things of God, serving the kingdom of God, and that last miscarriage just about did us in. And so I can relate to these men, I can relate to David, I can relate to the feeling of wanting to quit, wanting to give up. But you know what there's just something about when you have the promise of God in you and you have the promise of God in your heart, it doesn't matter what you're going through, it doesn't matter what the circumstances present, it doesn't change God's word. And so I remember in our own life we had to encourage ourselves.
Speaker 1:I remember one day in particular we were I was so grief stricken behind this loss and I was just having a pity party. Let me encourage you about pity parties. Don't have those, because the wrong people always show up and they have a good time at your expense. Can I say that again with a smile in my face Don't waste any time on pity parties. Sure, the pain is real. Sure, the grief is real, sure, the loss is real. But you know what God's grace will get you through it if you focus, not on the loss, but focus on the God who's able to restore it. And so I'll share a little bit more about our testimony.
Speaker 1:And so David had to encourage himself. And you know there was a time when, in the middle of that, that, I had to encourage myself in the Lord. I remember asking the Lord. Lord, you know, I'm so busy encouraging everybody else, I'm so busy strengthening everyone else. You know, as a minister, as a pastor, I'm helping us. Who's going to encourage me? And, minister, as a pastor, I'm helping us who's going to encourage me. And you know what I heard? I heard what David encouraged himself. Now, I can tell you right off the bat, that was not what I wanted to hear. That was not what I expected, as a matter of fact, when I heard this, like what, what'd you say? He said David encouraged himself.
Speaker 1:And sometimes you're waiting for somebody to come encourage you, and it ain't coming unless you do it. And so encourage yourself. So the first thing you'll have to do to overcome the ziklags of life is encourage yourself, praise God, don't blame God, encourage yourself with the promise of God while you're facing a trouble. In all things, give thanks. Now, that scripture doesn't say in all things. It doesn't say give thanks for all things. It says in all things there's a difference. In other words, you're going to thank God even while you're going through it. You're going to thank him not for the trouble, but that he's bringing you out of the trouble. You're going to thank him that there's peace in the midst of the storm. You're going to thank him that he's providing even when there seems like there's no, no opportunity for provision. So, in all things, give thanks that the situation is temporary.
Speaker 1:And so I had to make a decision to encourage myself in the Lord, to determine, because everything in me wanted to quit ministry. Everything in me said Lord, we didn't talk about this, we need to talk about hazard pay. And everything in me wanted to walk away. But I had to encourage myself to the place where I said, Lord, I'm going to trust you, no matter what. I'm going to stay put, no matter what. I'm going to keep walking down the road that you would have us to do, no matter what. And so, personal encouragement, you have to do that Now.
Speaker 1:Let's go back to 1 Samuel, chapter 30, and let's pick up at verse 7. And so David had enough wisdom that he was going to have to get some wise counsel. It was one thing to encourage himself, but he needed to know what to do next. So verse 7 says Then David said to Amathar, the priest to know what to do next. So verse seven says then David said to Amathar the priest and him elect son, please bring the ephod to me, here to me. And Amathar brought the ephod to David. So verse eight says so David inquired of the Lord, saying shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake him?
Speaker 1:So the next thing that you're going to have to do to overcome like Ziklag is you're going to have to pray. You're going to have to run to God and not from him. You're going to have to go to the throne and not to the phone. You know we live in a day and time where it's so easy. The minute we find ourselves dealing with something, the first thing we want to do is pick up our phone and go to social media. I'm telling you, don't go to the phone. Go to the throne, pick up your pick. Listen instead of picking up the phone. Pick up the word of God, begin to talk to the Lord about your situation and your problem. And so you're going to have to pray.
Speaker 1:Proverbs, chapter three, verse five, says trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding. Well, if you're not trusting in the Lord, if you're not communicating with the Lord in the midst of this ziklag, then how are you going to understand what to do next? Psalm, chapter 50, verse 15, says call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver you and you shall glorify me. Psalm 91, 15 is one of my favorites. It says and he, who is? He? Me, because of my relationship with the Lord, and he shall call upon me. God is saying that you will call upon me and I will answer you, and I will be with him in trouble and I will deliver and honor him. And so we know that in order to get what the word promises you. You're going to have to do what the word says you have to do, and that's pray.
Speaker 1:In verse eight it goes on to say and he answered him. In other words, after David prayed, he got an answer. Now here's something that's really important to note here If you don't pray, there's not going to be an answer, or you're going to end up with man's opinion. You're going to end up with somebody's opinion. That may not be what the Lord has for you to do. And so verse eight says and he prayed and he answered him. And here's what the Lord said to him pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and, without fail, recover all.
Speaker 1:The third thing you must do to overcome the zik lags of life is you have to act upon what God is telling you to do. In other words, god said go get your stuff. God told David to pursue. And so David had to go get his stuff. He had to go after it In verse 8, and he answered him and pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and, without fail, recover all. And so that brings the next point up. The second part of that was he said pursue, go get your stuff. But he also promised him something he said you shall, without fail, recover all. Surely means that's an absolute. Without fail, you will recover all. So the next thing that you need to know to do when you are dealing with a ziklag in life is that you have to be confident in what God has told you. God said today. But without fail, you shall recover all. God's word never fails. God is not a man that he should lie, nor is he the son of man that he should repent. Has he not said it, shall he not do it. Has he not spoken it, shall he not bring it to pass. So you have to gird up your faith. You have to stand strong, not waver in it, but be confident in what God's word said.
Speaker 1:Now, I was talking a little bit ago about when Flora and I had that miscarriage, and there was a time when I just had to really just press into God and say God, I don't understand what's going on. This hurts, this is difficult, this is hard. What do you want me to do? And this was after I even tried to talk God out of another child. I'm an only son. I wanted a son because I didn't want to not have someone to continue my legacy. And so I began to talk to the Lord. I said well, god, if, if, uh, if you don't want me to have a son, I'll be content with what I have.
Speaker 1:You know, oftentimes, when we're dealing with things in life, when we're dealing with Ziklag, it's really easy to want to talk God out of what he wants to bless you. Let me encourage you and tell you not to do that. Instead of allowing the enemy to talk you, to cause you to talk yourself out of it, allow that situation to press you in even more and become even more determined to trust God and receive what God has for you. And so I had to press in. And finally, after pressing in and praying and just walking through that, we received a prophetic word. I'll never forget it.
Speaker 1:One Sunday, we were in service and right in the middle of the service, the word of the Lord came directly to us. The pastor walked over to where we were standing and he said the word of the Lord, I have a word for you. And he said God has seen your tears, he's heard your pain, he's heard your cry, he knows your pain and never again will the devil steal that seed from you. Well, would we have received that word if we had not been confident in what God had promised us? Probably not. And so we were able to take that word and act and move. In verse nine of first Samuel, chapter 30, it says so. David went, he and the 600 men who were with him, and came to the brook Bashur, where they stayed, who were left behind.
Speaker 1:The fifth thing that, or the next thing that you must do to overcome the legs in life is when you, when you begin to act and to move and to take action, and what the instructions that you've received to do, what God has told you to do, it is extremely important that you take what you need when you go on the pursuit. Well, what do I mean by that? Well, look at this. David took 600 men with him. He didn't go alone. Who or what are you gonna take? That may be a support system, it may be finding some additional promises in God's word concerning the situation. Whatever it is that you need to take with you, make sure you take it with you. Maybe it's engaging your home study group or engaging some close prayer friends or prayer partners. For us at that time, we engaged our home group team, we engaged our pastoral team, and we took those people with us. They continually prayed for us and encouraged us In verse 10, but David pursued. He and 400 men for 200 stayed behind, who were so weary that they could not cross the brook. Now that's real interesting.
Speaker 1:The next thing that you have to understand when you are trying to overcome life's sick legs is recognizing not everyone can make the trip. Well, what do I mean by that? Not everyone can be part of the recovery expedition. When God has given you a word and he's given you specific instructions, not everybody's going to understand those instructions. Some people may look at you and say you've got to be kidding. 200 of the men were so weary, they were so tired that they couldn't cross the brook. In other words, don't let anyone or anything slow you down or hold you back. That includes all those well-meaning ain'ts, I mean saints. You know those people that that have. They mean well, they say they're with you but they're not, or those that are with you who you wish were not with you. And so make sure you take the right people with you.
Speaker 1:For Flora and I, during our time of walking through our zigzag, we had to make sure that we allowed the people that were going to speak the right way around us. In other words, we surrounded us with people, we surrounded ourselves with people that were never speaking anything. That was contrary to God's promise. That's so important, verse 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, and they gave him a piece of cake, of figs and two clusters of raisins. In other words, he ate good. So when he had eaten, his strength came back to him, for he had eaten no bread nor drunk water for three days and three nights. Then David said to him to whom do you belong and where are you from? And he said I am a young man from Egypt, a servant of an Amalekite, and my master left me behind because three days ago I fell sick. We made an invasion of the southern area of the Charites, in the territory which belongs to Judah, and of the southern area of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire. In other words, he was there when Ziklag was attacked and David said to him in verse 15, can you take me down to this troop? And he said swear to me by God that you will neither kill me nor deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will take you to this troop Now.
Speaker 1:I like the New Living Translation of verse 11. Verse 11 in the New Living Translation says this it says, along the way, they found an Egyptian man in a field and brought him to David, and it goes on to talk about how they fed him. The next thing that you need to expect when you are overcoming the zigzag is this Expect God's help. In other words, expect God to provide those along the way, things that you need, just as they provided, just as God provided to David, this man who had been given up for dead, who had been left behind by the Amalekites. He was along the way. In other words, he was somebody that was going to help David get to what God had said go get. And so David's helped the man and his men along, and so this man helped David and and and and helped him and showed them. And you know what we have a helper. Now. We have something that God has given us through the power, through the power and the help of the Holy Spirit and the wisdom of the Holy Spirit. So we have something that's built into us now called the Holy Ghost, and the Holy Ghost will give you those along the way points that you need when you are walking through the zigzags of life.
Speaker 1:The promise that we received along the way came, our along the way came, during our time, was this First of all, Flora received a promise. The promise was Psalm 113.9, 9, and it was the king jane version, and it says this he make it the barren woman to keep house and to be a joyful mother of children now, I emphasize children, because he didn't say a barren, a mother of a joyful mother of a child. He said children. Now she grabbed hold of that real quick, meaning I'm going to have more than one child. And so that was a promise. And you know what she's hung on to that. She spoke that, she declared that she, she agreed with that and that was, that was her promise, that was her along the way.
Speaker 1:Along the way for me came a little different. I had, I was, just faith depleted. You know there are times when, when, when you can lose hope in a situation, and after our sixth time I had just about lost hope. And you know, without hope it's hard to have faith, and so I was. I was just really struggling.
Speaker 1:And I remember one morning I was sitting quietly, had been reading my Bible, and I heard this question. The question was this what is your name? Now, for those that know me, when I was a little boy, my name was Joey. When I was older, my name was Joe, and so I answered the question my name is Joe. And this voice came back and said no, that's not your name. What is your name?
Speaker 1:And I immediately knew what he was asking and I said my name is Joseph.
Speaker 1:And he immediately said what does it mean? Well, I knew enough to know that what he was trying to get me to do was to go look in the Hebrew of what my name meant. And I immediately went to where he led me, over, over and over in the book of Genesis, over and over and over there, where it was a story of Rachel who was barren, who had believed God for a son, and she had been believing God for a long time for a child. And finally the Lord answered her, answered her prayer, and she said for the Lord has given, has added unto me a son. In Hebrew, joseph means and God shall add. And so I immediately knew what he was saying to me.
Speaker 1:Why is that so important? Because faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. And not only did he ask me that question, he said to me what's in a name, boy? I had to think about that for a minute, but before I could answer he said I'll tell you what's in a name. My promise is in your name.
Speaker 1:Well, why was that so important? Because, again, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Now you may hear every time you heard my name, joseph, hey, joseph. But what I heard was hey in God's your lad. You would call me hey in God's your lad. And I was so convinced, and I was so fully persuaded that I had heard from the Lord. I threw everyone that knew me into a tailspin. I literally would not answer unless you called me by the name of Joseph. There were people that knew me by Joe and they would say hey, joe, sup. And it was only then that I would respond. Why? Because I heard I had received my along the way, and by hearing my name every time I spoke, my name, I was speaking, and God shall add, and God shall add, and God shall add. And guess what? Faith began to build in my heart to believe, to trust God. So God will give you those along the ways. Expect him, be confident in him, trust that he will give those to you. God's not going to tell you to go get your stuff and not give you what you need to go get your stuff. Let's continue.
Speaker 1:In verse 16, we see that excuse me, that when he brought them down there, they were spread out. In other words, the Amalekites were spread out all over the land, eating, drinking and partying and having a good time. Then David attacked him verse 17, attacked him from twilight until the evening of the day. Not a man of them escaped, except 400 young men who rode on camels and fled Verse 18,. So David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away and David rescued his wife Verse 19,. And nothing of theirs was lacking, either small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything which they had taken from them. David recovered all.
Speaker 1:Now, when God says recover all, he means recover all. What does all mean? It means all? It means nothing lacking, nothing missing, nothing short. There aren't any shortages when God says you're going to get it all back. Actually, what we find out here, as we look at this, is not only did David recover what he lost, but he also recovered that which had been lost by others. See, that's how God is, that's how he is. He's going to make sure that you get back what you lost with interest. And so David verse 20, took the flocks and the herds that they'd driven before those other livestock and said this is David's spoil. And so here's something else that you need to understand and that you need to do when you're dealing with. The zig-lag is when you get to the enemy's camp, get your stuff, take it all, don't leave anything, don't let anything get away, don't miss out on anything, but get it all.
Speaker 1:For us, when we found out about our pregnancy, after we received that word that God had heard our prayer it was almost a year to the date that we heard that word, that we received that word, that we found out we were expecting and for us to recover at all. It was a process we had to resolve and we had to decide. First of all, we had to refuse to be fearful, and I remember when we found out we were expecting, flora said I don't, I don't think I want to tell anybody. Just let, let's, let's just kind of wait a little bit until we get a little bit further along and then we'll tell it. I said, no, we're going to shout it from the mountaintop, the rooftop. We're going to tell everybody. That'll hear why. Because we refused to be afraid. We were going to get it all. We were going to receive our promise. We were going to receive what God had. We would not receive any negative reports.
Speaker 1:I remember on one particular trip to the doctor and they were doing an ultrasound and I couldn't go to that appointment with her. She called me in a panic. She said I'm here at the doctor and they can't get a heartbeat. And I had to choose in that split second whether or not I was going to allow fear to grip my heart and whether I was going to allow the enemy, who was already starting to say here we go again, here we go. And I said nope, nope, nope, nope. And I said to her put the phone on your stomach. Now that may sound a little crazy, but I said put the phone on your stomach. And she put the phone on her stomach and I began to speak to my son and I said this is your father speaking. I need you to wake up and turn over so they can, so they can check your heartbeat and, and and I said it's going to be okay. Why? Because we had a promise and we were going to recover all. We had the promise of pursuit for without fail, you shall recover all. So she goes back in. They check her out, everything's fine.
Speaker 1:And so you have to decide that when you receive his promise, that you're not going to let anything keep you from receiving everything that God has for you, don't let up on God confessing God's word. Don't let up on standing on his promise, don't let up on speaking it. It's so important. Most of the time when people are going through things, they want to just stop talking. I'm telling you that is the devil's MO to shut you up. Why? Because he knows there's power in the word of God, just like he knows there's power in the blood of Jesus and the name of Jesus. And so, instead of being quiet, instead of using your inside voice, sometimes you got to get loud Amen. So verse 21,.
Speaker 1:Now David came to the 200 men who had been so weary you remember the 200 that didn't make the trip that they could not follow David because they were so grief-stricken, they were so tired, they were so wore out. So here he is, back at the men at the brook, and they all went out to meet David. They regained their strength. They all went out. Oh look how. Look at what David did. They went out to meet David and the people who were with them, and when David came near the people, he greeted them and all the wicked, worthless men of those who went with David answered and said because they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoil that we have recovered, except for every man's wife and children that they may lead them away and depart.
Speaker 1:Now you have to understand what was what had just happened. These men had gone to battle, they'd gone to fight, and some would probably say, well, they had every right to be that way. Well, no, they didn't have every right to be that way. Look at verse 23. But David said my brethren, you shall not do so with what the Lord has given us, who has preserved us and delivering into our hand the truth that came against us. For who will heed you in this matter? But as his part is who goes down to the battle, so shall his part also, who stays by the supplies they shall share alike.
Speaker 1:You know David had a different attitude about that situation. David wasn't well, since you didn't go, or since you were too weak and too weak, too tired to go, you don't get anything. No, david said. You had a loss, we're going to make sure that you're made whole. And you know that was the right attitude. And so, and then you go on to read verse, verse 25, and it talks about how he shared and dispersed the spoil to the elders. And boy he, everybody got a piece of that, everybody got a piece to restore. And so here's.
Speaker 1:So, here's another point, and this point is this you must, you must make sure that you allow God, once you have recovered all, in other words, once you've gotten back what's been lost, once you've obtained the victory of the Ziklag, you must allow God to use you to share the wealth. Well, what do I mean by that? Realize that your miracle, your recovered possession, is not just for you. Well, wait a minute. What do you mean? It's not just for me. Hold up a minute, brother Joseph. What do you mean? It's not just for me, it's not.
Speaker 1:You know, god never wastes an opportunity. He doesn't send the storms, but he sure won't waste the opportunity of using that storm for his glory and even David's ziklag. God saw an opportunity to get glory, and just like David allowed the Lord to use him to share the wealth, so must we allow the Lord to use us to share the wealth of the victory, of the ziklag that we've just gotten victory in. In other words, you want to share with others what God has done. Testify, testify, testify. How do you do that? Tell somebody, tell somebody.
Speaker 1:I never get tired of telling the story about our son and how God gave us the victory. I never get tired of that. Not only can you allow God to use you in that way, god will use you, and I'll never forget and it still happens today that people that we don't know we don't always know their situation, but we find ourselves with those people and they're going through a similar situation or they're struggling with something similar. And you know what. When you've been through something, you know how to pray, you know how to encourage people, and so allow the Lord to use you to share the wealth. Recognize that the miracle that you recovered recovered your possessions. It's not just for you. And then, lastly, you want to encourage others. You want to encourage others by telling them God is no respecter of persons. What he did for me, he'll do for you. And then, finally, the last thing that I want to encourage you, encourage you on or give you as a tool of putting your tool belt is this Don't miss the big picture.
Speaker 1:I know, when you look at David in this situation it seems horrific, it seems hard, it seems devastating. Yes, he got a huge praise, the Lord, because God caused him to recover all. And not only did he recover all that he'd lost, but he recovered. He got it plus interest. But there was an even bigger picture. You know, earlier in the service I talked, earlier in the message, I talked about how in first Samuel, chapter 16, david was anointed King. Well, just three days after David had returned from Ziklag, over in over in second Samuel the first chapter it talks about over in just three days after had returned from Ziklag, over in 2 Samuel the first chapter it talks about over in just three days after David returned from recovering all, he received news that Saul had been killed and he was crowned king. God had a milestone for David. God has a milestone for you. And had not David pursued and recovered all, I don't believe he would have reached the milestone of being crowned king.
Speaker 1:And so if we're going to receive every God-ordained milestone for our lives this year, we've got to allow the Lord to help us and walk victorious. We've got to allow ourselves to, first of all, to encourage ourselves when it's difficult victorious. We've got to allow ourselves to first of all, to encourage ourselves when it's difficult. We've got to allow ourselves to pray when we don't want to pray, you know it's easy to go to somebody else, but no, we got to go to God. Don't run from him, but run to him. We've got to allow ourselves to be active, in other words, to quickly obey.
Speaker 1:When the Lord said to David pursue, for without fail you shall recover all Now, david could have stopped and he could have negotiated that, he could have debated that, but he got busy doing what God had called him to do. You've got to learn to, you've got to be confident in what God is, what God has given you, what he's promised you, what he's spoken to you Sometimes that's all you've got is a promise we had in the very beginning of our time. We had a word God has seen your tears, he knows your pain, he's heard your cry. Never again will any man be able to steal your seed. So we had to be confident in the promise that God had given us.
Speaker 1:Then we had to take. We had to make sure that as we proceeded down the road to pursue and to receive what was what we received back, we had to make sure that we took who we needed in the in the act of the pursuit. Then we had to recognize that not everyone could go on the trip and we had people that were well-meaning, but we quickly realized that nope, nope, nope, you're not saying the right things, you're not talking the right way, so you can't go on a trip. Then we had to come to the place of expecting God's help, along the way you know God did gave us an, along the way God gave David, and along the way God will give you an, along the way as you pursue and walk in obedience to receive what he to receive a restoration, maybe it's healing, maybe it's deliverance, maybe it's a family situation, maybe it's finances, maybe it's deliverance, maybe it's a family situation, maybe it's finances. Whatever it is, whatever your Ziklag is, god is able to restore.
Speaker 1:And then you need to also make sure that, when you get to the place where the enemy is, that you get all of your stuff. Don't let anything get away, don't even the small things. Make sure you get them, make sure you take them, and then you need to allow God to use you to share the wealth Once you've recovered. All realize that it's not just for you, but it's to be shared, it's to be given away. And then, finally, make sure you keep your eye on the big picture. Well, I pray that that has helped you this evening.