04/18 Thoughts & Comments By Dr. Daniel Daves

18-Apr Judges 15-16 Hebrews 7-8 Psalms 86-90 Proverbs 18

Judges 15:12-15 (NIV) 12 They said to him, "We've come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines."
Samson said, "Swear to me that you won't kill me yourselves."  13 "Agreed," they answered. "We will only tie you up and hand you over to them. We will not kill you." So they bound him with two new ropes and led him up from the rock. 14 As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came toward him shouting. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him in power. The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands. 15 Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.

Samson was the leader that all the fearlings and religious people hated.  They just couldn't handle the anger of the enemy that was displayed because of Samson's cruel treatment of the Philistines.  They were actually used over and over again to help the Philistine enemy try to capture Samson.  This was one classic case.  3,000 men came to capture Samson, tie him up, and hand him over to the Philistines in order to try to appease the enemy's anger.

Rule #1 for a follower of Christ.  NEVER try to appease the enemy's anger.  Never play ball in his court.  Never work for him, and never compromise!  This would only provoke God to stir the enemy up more against these types of people, and indeed God turned this incident around on these religious leaders.  While they thought they were binding God's anointed one and sending him away to enemy hands so they could have some "self built" peace, God anointed him to break the ropes, kill 1,000 Philistine soldiers, and now the Philistines would think that these leaders had conspired against them.

God was trying to deliver them, and had clearly sent a man like no one had ever seen before, named Samson.  A man with a Nazarite vow who could kill 1,000 men with the jawbone of a donkey? A man who could rip city gates off of the city walls and drag them up a mountainside?  This man had supernatural powers and was fighting on God's side. Why couldn't the blindling religious leaders see this and get behind it?  Because they were full of fear, they were indeed blind, and they were not true leaders.  True leaders will face death, and though their knees will be knocking, their principles, their lifestyles, their belief systems, and their ultimate trust in God will hold them on spot.  One way or the other, live or die, they will lead for God and will not back down.  This is a true leader.  And if you don't see this quality in your spiritual leaders, you MUST think again and be wise during this time and season.  You and I also must be leaders that will stand, and after having done all - we STAND IN FAITH OF GOD!

Samson stood in the faith of God.  How else would a normal man take a jawbone of a donkey, and run straight towards 1,000 armed and armored Philistine trained warriors?  He ran forward in faith, trusting the strength that he knew God would provide when first contact was made with the enemy.  But he would not know for sure that God was helping him until he broke the first spear in half and crushed the first soldier with the jawbone.  His Nazarite commitment and his faith in God opened the heavens and poured out a supernatural response from Heaven.

Samson was clearly a man in the right place at the right time.  The Spirit of the Lord would come upon him when needed.  Even on this day when the religious leaders bound him up with their traditions, desires, and goals, as the enemy was approaching to take Samson away from treasonous Judah, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him and the ropes simply melted off of him.  It was at this location that he looked around and chose his weapon to use.  He had an idea when he saw the donkey jawbone.  He said, "I will turn these Philistines into donkeys by killing them with a donkey jawbone!"  On another note, the 3,000 men of Judah are very fortunate that Samson didn't turn around and kill all of them too!!  Samson clearly walked in self control.

Being at the right place at the right time is important COMPASS GUIDE will help you arrive at the right place at the right time. It's at this location where the power of God will open doors and use you mightily to fulfill His miraculous plan.  He will come upon you in Spirit and power to anoint you for the time, season, the day and the hour.  You will be different from the others because you will actually be a tool that God can use.  Being a COMPASS GUIDE student, you become like the Nazarite who has taken a vow to stay in the Word of God every day, to live in three dimensions of God, to stay away from dead religious thinking and those who think like this.  You become like Samson who guarded his life and walked a different walk than all the others.  

Take the Nazarite vow today.  In other words, separate yourself from the world.  Commit yourself to reading the Word of God every day.  At the top of every month on this forum is your bible reading for the month.  It's broken into days and you will read 2 Old Testament chapters, 2 New Testament chapters, 5 Psalms and 1 Proverb.  You will read the bible through in one year, and you will read Psalms and Proverbs 12 times per year (so you will begin to think like the kings who wrote those books).  You will begin to see different, judge different, walk different, and make different decisions.   Your life will begin to light up and God's Word and principles will begin to flow out of you in new strength and power.  You will leave the path of the blindlings, darklings, and religious idiots who are leading a wide path of idiots into the ditch.  You will not be like them, nor with you think, act, or move like them.  You will walk on a path of intense light, while they flop around in extreme darkness.  It will take commitment, but it will be worth it.  And the Spirit of God will come upon you like He did Samson.  You will be victorious and you will hit the mark of the high calling of Jesus Christ in your life.  And you will be known among others, and especially your children and family members - as a FOLLOWER OF CHRIST, and not just a Christian who bought the Sunday morning T-Shirt!      

Tomorrow's Reading:
19-Apr Judges 17-18 Hebrews 9-10 Psalms 91-95 Proverbs 19