New Levels, New Devils

1 Samuel 12:7-15

Can't use old weapons to fight new devils.

Context: David had to move fast and left his sword. He is defenseless and has nothing to fight with.

"King's business requires haste"

Priest says, "The sword of Goliath is here wrapped in a cloth - take it."

"There is none like that, give it to me." David said. He was the king but not fully.

Sometimes people recognize you at a capacity that you don't recognize yourself.

Most think that if a person is anointed, everything will be smooth.

Often partializing pieces of his life that are great preaching texts, but not realistic to the tumultuous experience of life itself. His life was complicated.

Before we have the joy, we have the pain, the tests, the fire.

High moments, low moments. Moments of battle and recluse.

No matter what life threw at him, he found a song to sing.

Psalm 23:4

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.

Goliath did not prepare to fight David - Goliath is the victim in some instances - he was prepared for the army but not for David.

David fought somebody else's battle. Hard to determine the victor and the victim, people make quick judicial decisions without complete details.

Have to be flexible and transformative at a moment's notice to adapt. The place that was a promise has become a place of prosecution. AND HE'S STILL IS ANOINTED.

When God's glory is on your life, it doesn't matter where you are; you're anointed.

You are who you are. You just are.

David is in a quandary again over how to fight this battle.

Sooner or later you're going to face something you don't have a weapon for.

Ask God to strengthen your mind. IF your mind is strong, the weapon within you is always stronger.

We don't exercise our spiritual muscles enough. Too focused on outer appearances.

When your life is complicated, you have to be flexible enough to use your mind against your mess.

Think yourself clear. As a man thinketh in His heart, so is He. (Proverbs 23:7)

Satan sends noise so you can't get clarity of thought; so you can't hear what the spirit is saying.

There's a correlation between what's wrong and what's right with you. Learn to appreciate your own worth and value what God has given you.

1 Peter 2:9

We are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood.

Criteria is based on the viewer. The way people see you me is the way that they define you.

Anything we don't understand, we think is crazy.

All you need is the anointing of God. You have to know who you are and never lose sight of who you really are.

David wrestled with using what he had versus what Saul gave him. What was a weapon for your last fight, may not give you the victory for this new fight.

Go with something new or what I already got? It came down to a choice between a sword and a thought.

You're one thought away from your next breakthrough. From the door swinging open. From your first million. From building your empire. 

Crazy to believe a man made an ark to save humans and animals from a global flood.

Or, that Job could lose everything and end up with a double portion.

She touched the hem of his garment and was made whole.

It's a miracle how I got here, in this position and how God made a way and opened up a door time after time. If you knew who I was before and what I'd been through, you'd probably wouldn't believe me.

All hell breaking loose in your life is a sign that He's about to do it. He's about to do something unexplainable. Unimaginable.

Your life doesn't make sense, it doesn't add up on paper. How can you be in trouble and still be triumphant.

IF GOD IS FOR YOU, who can be against you? (Romans 8:31)

Praise is my weapon. When praises go up, blessings come down.

Decide that the devil can't have your joy.

David takes discouraged men and turns them into an army to fight the battle - uses the most unlikely people. Called to take the fragments and transform them into power.

All your life He's been getting you ready.

Stop cursing your madness - there's a reason for it all. Needed to be shaped first for where God is about to take you.

It took David a while from the time Samuel anointed him to be king until the time he became king of Israel. He was 30 years old when it happened.

Just because it doesn't happen when you want it to, doesn't mean it won't happen at all.

If God said it, it's going to happen. This is a God-ordained statement.

Silence the noise in my head, Lord I need to hear you.

My focus has become distracted by other people's business. Keep me focused on You.