Judges 14:5-6 Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and came to the vineyards of Timnath: and, behold, a young lion roared against him. And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done.
Judges 16:20 And she (Delilah)said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him.
Samson is a powerful example of a man of God who won his battles over and over again because the Spirit of the Lord came upon him. Yet when he was finally defeated by Delilah's temptations he didn’t realize that the Lord had left him, so effective was the woman's spell.
The enemy is subtle and the temptations of the flesh can so quickly quench the presence and power of God's spirit that we may not even realize it has happened. But this anointing of the Holy Spirit is our Life....and our victory. Opposition can be destroyed and burdens can be lifted when His wonderful Presence fills and rests upon us. Our greatest battle is maintaining that internal communion with Him by His Spirit. Temptations, bad habits, our sinful nature, demonic attacks, all these collaborate to rob us of this holy anointing, our communion with God, and our only real power over every enemy!
Samson's victories vividly demonstrate the tremendous power of the anointing. His power over the Philistines was legendary and truly heroic. But when he lost his anointing, they nearly destroyed him. How critical it is in these days to keep our lamps burning with the holy "oil" of Yeshua's (Jesus') anointing. His goodness will defeat the evils around us...His light will banish darkness...His joy will annihilate our depression...His forgiveness will root out all bitterness...His love will overcome our natural hatred...and every subtle deception will be exposed by His excellent TRUTH! Seek HIS ANOINTING, the fullness of the Holy Spirit -- He will equip you to break every yoke of bondage and defeat every internal and external enemy.
And, please don’t find yourself in the condition of Samson, in the arms of his lust, not even realizing that the anointing had left him. The cost was enormous, even though he was restored. Instead, guard yourself against the subtle temptations of this world seeking more and more of His indwelling Presence. That anointing will produce one victory after another. Amen.
Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy Devotions. This devotional was originally published on Worthy Devotions and was reproduced with permission.
How to display the above article within the Worthy Suite WordPress Plugin.
[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]The church at Laodicea received a stern warning in chapter 3 of John’s Revelation. We would do well to reflect on it.
The word “Laodicea” is a compound in the Greek; “Laos” which principally means “people”, and “dike”, defined as “principle or decision”. One rendering might read, “rule of the people”, or, in modern terms, “Democracy”. In the western world, we have an affection and even a deep commitment to Democracy. Yet this form of government, “rule of the people” is fatally flawed… because we are fatally flawed by our sin nature…
As we continue to probe the lessons from the salt covenant, we now inquire into our part in the covenant.
Yeshua (Jesus) said He is the “bread of life”. It was His body that was broken on our behalf as the substitutionary sacrifice for our sins. Notice that He never once called us to be the “bread of life”! He is the ONLY “Bread of Life” – the true bread who came down from Heaven which anyone may eat and not die. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is His flesh, given for the life of the world.
For years, when I visited my father-in-law’s home in Jerusalem on the Sabbath, we would break bread and bless the bread with the traditional blessing – “Baruch Ata Adonai Eleheynu Melech HaOlam Ha-Motzi Lechem Min Ha’aretz” – which translated means,”Blessed are You Lord our God, King of the Universe, Who has given us bread from the earth”. After the blessing, my father-in-law would take salt and sprinkle the challah bread as he broke and passed it to everyone at the table.
One day a passerby saw a homeless man on the roadside. He stopped for a moment to hand him some loose change and casually said “God bless you, my friend”.
“I thank God,” said the homeless man, “I am never unhappy.”
Here in Israel we have an interesting geographical phenomenon – there are two landlocked seas. One is alive and one is dead. The sea full of life is the Kinneret, better known as the Sea of Galilee. The dead sea is…….you guessed it, the Dead Sea. Now the Kinneret is constantly emptying as it flows through the Jordan River valley…. into the Dead Sea. But the Dead Sea does not empty its water at all. Instead, the Dead Sea is continually shrinking, because the intense heat at this lowest place on Earth actually evaporates more water than is flowing in. Do you see a parable here?
One of my passions is studying history, especially the American Civil War. Here is an amusing story about General Stonewall Jackson’s famous Valley Campaign. During the war, Jackson’s army found itself on one side of a river when it needed to be on the other.