Ziglag, Part 3

Greetings, friends and new listeners. Welcome to the Archie Hardy Ministries Program.

I'm Sharon Notts thanking you for joining us today, because we know that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. And I'm really excited today to bring you a tremendous tool to use when you are facing intense attacks against your life on many fronts. It's entitled Zigzag, 10 Ways to React When Satan Attacks. Pride always goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. And the devil still hasn't learned that lesson. Amen. So when the devil is boasting, when that boss that doesn't like you on your job, when that unsaved person that doesn't like you is boasting what all they're going to do, you just let them boast and you say humble before the Lord and you go before God and say, Lord, what should I do? Amen. Should I, should I go to the superior or should I hold my peace?

Should I report them to somebody else or should I just hold my peace and that you take care of it? What do you want me to do, God? I don't want to get in self.

I don't want to go take it into my hands and cause it to blow up in my face. I want to trust in you, Lord. I want to know what you want me to do, God. How do you want to move, Lord?

How do you want to move in this situation? Amen. Number four, get a word from God. Number five, act in confidence once you get that word. Number six, be aggressive and go after the enemy and God led them right in the enemy's back yard. Amen. And number seven, take back what the devil stole from you. Let's read on. And David smote them from the twilight even unto the evening of the next day.

Do you know what that means? Two, four, 24 hours from twilight to evening is the same thing evening to evening for 24 straight hours. You're not going to tell me the Holy Ghost didn't get in there. 24 straight hours, they smote the enemy and they're escaped, not a man of them. Now get this, only 400 young men got away and you know why? They had camels.

400 young men jumped on some camels and got out of there quick and they're the only ones that got away and everyone else, not one man escaped. And I love verse 18. I think I'll let you help me read this one. Okay.

Y'all been such a good audience. I'm gonna let you participate. You ready? On the count of three, let's read verse 18.

You ready? I didn't say three yet. Aha. Remember, wait for the word of the Lord.

Wait for the word of the Lord before you move. Don't be too hasty. Amen. All right.

Two, three. And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away and David rescued his two wives. Go on. And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoiled nor anything that they had taken to them. David recovered all. Look at somebody and say that last phrase again. Oh, that's a miracle. That is a miracle. If somebody's shoelace came out of their shoes while they were being pushed away, they felt they got that shoelace. Amen.

He recovered all. You will go and what the devil is trying to tell you, I got your son. I got your son on drugs. I got your daughter.

I've got your, your children messed up. Amen. You say, Oh no, I am going to recover all. Amen. I am going to recover all. One thing I love about God, he's a God of restoration.

He said, I will restore unto you the year of the canker worm, the year of the pommel worm, the year of the caterpillar. I'll give it all back to you. Let me tell you something in these hard economic times. It's going to affect everybody.

Everyone is going to feel the pinch, everyone. And sometimes other people's decisions over which you really had no control affect you. Amen. Like one illustration I give sometimes you can get out there in the fall and you can rake your lawn because you like a nice clean, pretty yard. You like to have your yard all nice and neat and you get out there and you work and you rake up all of those leaves and you put them in one of those big bags and you stand back and think how pretty your lawn looks. You go in the house and you come out a little while later because your neighbor did not rake up his leaves and a great wind came by blowing in your direction and your pretty lawn is now just as covered with leaves as it was before you raked them because they didn't rake their leaves. Amen.

And sometimes things happen in your life because of people around you and it blows over on your yard. Amen. But I will tell you this, you just hang in there with the Lord and you will find out that when God is for you, he'll work that all together for your good. Amen. So they went in and they took back all that the enemy had taken. And this is so important. Take back what the devil has stole from you. Amen. If the devil says you're never going to do this again, you're never going to be able to do that again. You're never, whatever he tells you that you're not, remember this, he is a, he is a, and the father of, so whatever he tells you, you know that good and well, God's going to give it back. Amen. However he threatens you, you know that is going to be the key to your greatest victory. So take back what the devil stole from you, but don't stop there.

A lot of people, thank God, get there. And if you don't get any further than that, get there, get back what the devil stole from you. But my, the God that I serve says in Ephesians three and 20 is able to do exceeding and abundantly above all that we ask or think. So when you ask God to give it back to you, keep in mind that God is ready, willing and able to go above and beyond what you asked him to do. And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoiled nor anything that they had taken to them.

David, David recovered at all. And David, now here's what I like verse 20 and David took all the flocks and the herds, which they drove before those other cattle and said, this is David's spoil. So David not only took back what they had taken from him, but he took their stuff too. When the devil messes with you and comes against the child of God, amen, the apple of God's eye. When he starts coming to steal and to take from you, all he's going to do is put you in a position where God is not only going to show himself up as your mighty deliverer and your mighty source of rescue and victory and give back to you, but God is going to let you take the spoils and see a lot of people, they stop and get their stuff back and that's good, but God wants to give you more.

Amen. God wants to give you more. God wants to do above and beyond that. Why?

So you can sit back and and be selfish. No, there wasn't a selfish bone in David's body, not a selfish bone. So number seven is take back what the devil stole. And number eight is take the spoils too. How many remember when God delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt and they were getting ready to leave on their midnight journey? Amen. What did God tell Moses to tell the people to do?

Go to your masters, go to your taskmasters and ask them silver and gold. And when they went to ask of their masters to give them silver and gold, those Egyptians were so glad to get rid of those Hebrews. They were so glad to get them out of their hair after all those 10 plagues had done to them. They said, here, take it all.

Take whatever you want. Here is all that gave them their jewelry, their silver, their gold. They came out of there. The Bible says they were loaded down with silver and gold and riches.

Why? Why did God, what were they going to need with that in the wilderness? Because God was going to build himself a tabernacle and God doesn't use cheap stuff.

How many say men? God wanted his tabernacle to be made out of silver and gold and all of those fine things he knew they were going to need it. Amen. And God will not only give you back what is yours, but God will give you the spoils so that you can do these next two things. Let's read verse 21 and David came to the 200 men, which were so faint that they could not follow David, whom they had made also to abide at the brook Basor. And they went forth to meet David and to meet the people and were with him. And when David came near to the people, he saluted them. Now these 200 men were patiently waiting for them to come home to see what had happened. And when they got there and David told him, he began to tell him everything that happened and David began to take of the spoils that they had just got and began to share it with the 200 men. You've always got to be careful when God gives you a great victory because the devil will always try because your guard is down and the devil will always try to come in on the tail of a great victory to do something that he can to spoil it.

So what happened? Verse 22, then answered all the wicked men and men of Beliala that went with David and said, now remember these men that David had, you know, they were these rough customers. Amen. He didn't get them from the cream of Israel. These were rough guys and they were ready to revert back to the old nature.

Amen. And they said, huh, because they went not with us, we'll not give them art of the spoil that we have recovered. We're only going to give to every man his wife. We'll give them back their wives. They can have back their kids, but that's it. That's all they get is their wives and their kids. They didn't go with us.

They're not getting anything. How many know the devil tried to get you to be an old chinch after God's done blessed you? David said, you shall not do so my brethren with that which the Lord who, who gave it to us, the Lord gave it to us. Always remember it's the Lord who won the victory. Always remember it's the Lord who blessed you with that job. It's the Lord that got that person moved out of the way and moved you in.

Promotion doesn't come from east, west or south. It comes from the Lord. It comes from God. He's the one that blesses you. He said, I, the Lord by God have given you power to get wealth. So always remember where the blessing came from. He said, the Lord has given us who have preserved us and delivered the company that came against us into our hand for who will harken under you in this matter. But as his part is that the go is the battle, so shall be his part that's terrieth by the stuff. They shall share like everybody's going to get an equal. And it was so from that day forward that he made it a statute and ordinance for Israel unto this day.

In other words, that was a turning point from that point on in the, in the way that of the rules of warfare. Those who stay home and watch the stuff, those who stay behind, they will share just the same as those who go to battle. And I'm going to tell you this really, there was a time in my life that this gave me a great and tremendous boost because when I was lying flat on my back, I couldn't get out of bed and the devil said to me, you will never preach again. You're never going to get up again. You, your days are done. Your days are over all that stuff you used to do.

You ain't never doing it anymore. Look at you. You can't do nothing. Amen. The devil used to tell that to me. He used to tell me, you are just nothing and nothing. And this is all your, all of that, that you had what's ever going to come. But let me tell you something. One day the Lord let me come upon this. And I began to realize that there's a time that you might find yourself a little weary from the battle and a little tired and a little faint. And maybe it's time for you to lie down and rest a little while. But God is not going to forget you.

No, he's not going to forget your faithfulness. How did you get like that? Amen. Cause you were faithful to the Lord and the devil was jealous and he came after you and attacked you. But God says, I'm going to bless you just like I bless those that go to war.

Amen. I'm going to bless you. And there was times when I couldn't pray for myself, but God sent the saints who were strong, who were on fire, who were full of faith, who had the anointing and they would come to my house and pray for me. And they would minister to me and they would lift me up and encourage me.

And when the devil says you're not getting back up, I said, the devil is a, the devil is a. So David said, oh no, Jesus, they're going to get just equal as you and I got. And he made it a law. He made it a law that from that point on, even those who were not able to go, they still got the blessings. Amen. They shared in the blessings.

All right. So that means that that was number nine. Number eight was take the spoils. Number nine is share the blessings with others. Honor others remembering it is the Lord that gives the victory. What does the Bible teach us through Paul says when we're all members, one another in the body of Christ, when one member suffers, we all suffer. And when one member is honored, we're all honored.

There's no need to be jealous of anyone else. God will honor you too. God has given us different positions, different gifts and different things that he's given us to do, but we're all connected each to the other and I need you and you need me.

Every one of us. There were times like I said, I couldn't have prayed for myself. I couldn't, but thank God there were faithful saints who were able to come alongside of me when I was weak and lift me up. Amen.

He said ye that are strong off to bear the infirmities that of those that are weak and not please ourselves. Amen. So we're suffered together. We're honored together because we're all on the same team. Hallelujah. And Jesus is our great captain and all glory is his. All right, we're coming down to number 10.

We're almost finished. And when David came to zigzag, he sent of the spoils unto the elders of Judah, even to his friends saying, behold a present for you of the spoil of the enemies of the Lord. And I'm not going to read it all because there's no need, but he goes on. He sent some to Bethel to Ramoth to Jair, uh, to all of these different cities in verses 27, 28, 29, 30. We dropped down to verse 31 and to them which were in Hebron and to all the places where David himself and his men were want to haunt. Now this, what this means is number nine, that we share the blessings with others. But number 10 specifically means when God blesses you and brings you out, don't forget to pay your tithes and your offerings to God.

I think I'll say that again. When God blesses you and brings you out, don't forget to pay your tithes and offerings to God. Because now in the, in number nine, he shared the blessings with the other men and their families.

But here it's the elders of all the cities of where Judah, remember he was in, uh, he was, as it were, was, was an exile from Judah because of Saul chasing him down. But he could have said, I ain't giving them nothing. Why should I give them anything?

They didn't help me. No, David didn't have that kind of a heart. He realized everything was from the hand of God and God's blessing. And he took of the spoils and you read all those cities, all of those different elders and all of those cities that David sent them a present.

He said, this is a gift from whom? From the spoils of your enemies that the Lord has given into our hands. Amen. So when God blesses you, make sure you give God your tithes and throw some on top extra.

Just give them a little bit more. Amen. When God blesses you, don't pay him $9 and 92 cents. Just give him $10.

Oh, just give him 20. Amen. Because remember that you had lost everything and the devil was dancing and the devil was saying, look what I've done to you. But now God's given it all back and more on top. God has delivered you. God has set you free. Don't forget where your blessing came from. Because whatever you do, God is able to bring you out and do it again. Amen. So 10 things that you do when you come under attack of Satan, you weep, but you move on.

You don't park there. Don't get bitter. Don't give into despair, but encourage yourself. Get a word from God.

And when you get a word from God, act on that word with confidence. Get a vision of victory because of what God has promised. Get mad at the devil and go into his camp, pursue and take back everything he stole from you.

Recover it all. Make the devil pay. Amen.

You've got to get that attitude. I'm going to make you pay for this grief you've caused me. And then when you recover all, take the spoils, share your blessings with others, and don't forget to give God his ties and his offerings. How many say amen? That's how you make the devil sorry that he picked on the children of God. Amen. What a powerful word of encouragement.

Zig lag. 10 ways to react when Satan attacks. You know, we all love David, the shepherd, the warrior, the king, and especially the psalmist, because no matter what was going on in his life, he found a way to climb out of the pit, evade the enemy, deliver God's people, and to give God the praise. Many of his Psalms start out in despair, but they usually always end in an anthem of praise and expectation of good.

But the experience of zig lag may have been the lowest point of his life. Forced to flee the jealous and murderous King Saul, he found himself taking refuge of all places amongst the Philistines, Israel's avowed enemy and the home of Goliath, whom he had slain as a boy with a slingshot. Suddenly King Achish befriended David and his 600 ragtag men and gave them the city of zig lag to live in. But to keep up the farce, they had to go to battle with the Philistines against other nations. It was all going fine until the day the Philistines went to war with Israel again.

But mercifully, the Philistine generals did not trust David to go against his own people, and David and his men did not have to blow their cover. Then things got worse. When they returned to zig lag, they found it on fire and their wives and children kidnapped. And adding to this atrocity, David's men, mourning their losses, wanted to stone David. This was rock bottom. He had lost his family too, and now his men had turned on him.

But when there was no other source of encouragement, David encouraged himself in the Lord. Then he did 10 things that reversed the disaster and brought one of their greatest victories. Don't miss one of these 10 strategies. Order 10 ways to react when Satan attacks zig lag on CD for a love gift of $10 or more. Request offer SK139, mail to RG Hardy Ministries, PO Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203, or go online to rgharty.org. Once again, the offer for zig lag is SK139, send to PO Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203. Until next time, this is Sharon Otse, Maranatha.