Our Place / God's Grace

Victory: If we are going to recover all…we want to reaffirm that our place is with God, period!

David/Goliath…Saul’s Sin…“David said in his heart”…This trial has been going on too long, God isn’t going to deliver me, I will escape to the Philistines “other side” where he can’t find me, he will despair…

We go to Gath – In the midst of our pain and trials we can stop trusting God to deliver us and we willingly leave the place of our promise/ protection /provision.  “The word Gath means wine press” – we end running a place of our own “crushing”

Instead of asking God for our portion in his will, we are now asking unrighteous kings for their provision

1 Samuel 27:5-6 (NIV)
Then David said to Achish, "If I have found favor in your eyes, let a place  be assigned to me in one of the country towns, that I may live there… So on that day Achish gave him Ziklag

If you are out of God’s will and you are in a place that isn’t apportioned to you from God, everything you think you have is unsanctioned, and all of it is up for grabs:

1 Samuel 30:1-3 (NIV)
David and his men reached Ziklag on the third day. Now the Amalekites had raided the Negev and Ziklag. They had attacked Ziklag and burned it, and had taken captive the women and all who were in it, both young and old. They killed none of them, but carried them off as they went on their way. When David and his men came to Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive

What is required?

1. True Confession/Contrition

Unhealed/Halfhearted:

1 Samuel 15:13-28 (NIV)
When Samuel reached him, Saul said, "The LORD bless you! I have carried out the LORD's instructions." But Samuel said, "What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?" Saul answered, "The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the LORD your God, but we totally destroyed the rest." "Stop!" Samuel said to Saul. "Let me tell you what the LORD said to me last night." "Tell me," Saul replied. Samuel said, "Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel. And he sent you on a mission, saying, 'Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; make war on them until you have wiped them out.' Why did you not obey the LORD? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the LORD?" "But I did obey the LORD," Saul said. "I went on the mission the LORD assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the LORD your God at Gilgal." But Samuel replied: "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king." Then Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned. I violated the LORD's command and your instructions. I was afraid of the people and so I gave in to them. Now I beg you, forgive my sin and come back with me, so that I may worship the LORD." But Samuel said to him, "I will not go back with you. You have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you as king over Israel!" As Samuel turned to leave, Saul caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore. Samuel said to him, "The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors--to one better than you.

Healed/Wholehearted:

Psalm 51:1-12 (NIV)
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place. Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

2. Reaffirmation of Faith in God

Psalm 16:1-6 (NIV)
Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge. I said to the LORD, "You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing." As for the saints who are in the land, they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight. The sorrows of those will increase who run after other gods. I will not pour out their libations of blood or take up their names on my lips. LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.

Personal Application: Lord Jesus, I reaffirm that you have always been faithful in my life. In the past, you have delivered me through trail, and pain, and difficulty and today you will do it again, you are not a man that you should lie! Through every storm, you have been, and you will forever be, my shelter, your name is my strong tower. I am looking to your Word and I am seeking your will as I go forth from this place. You are not just Lord, you are The Lord of my life.  I reaffirm your will for me and I lay my life at your feet. I won’t just serve you with my lips, I will serve you with my whole heart and with every aspect of my life. I will serve you with my lifestyle and my choices, and what I see and where I go, even with my faults and my failings. Everything without you is nothing!  It’s all meaningless without you, what I want, where I go, whatever I do, it’s void of life giving substance without you. I receive the glory that you  grant to me through your grace and my greatest desire is to live for your delight. My sorrows increase every time I run after other Gods. There are so many, they are so colorful and so vivid. Sometimes, in my pain, I seek them first and  I am guilty of giving them the offerings of my life that belong solely to you. Only after my attempts to gain their approval do I realize that, once again, I have misplaced my trust, squandered your grace and ended up where I don’t belong. Then, I experience the sorrow that comes with giving myself to anything but you. When I am wayward and out of your will, no amount of pious activity makes me feel acceptable again and when I am apart from you I separate myself from your affirmation and blessings. The cup you have given to me is the portion you have desired and predestined for my life. It’s all in my cup, the amount of my pain, the amount of my provision and the extent of the pleasure I choose to receive from it. I can’t add or take always from that which you have given to me. Any overflow is a function of your grace and whatever you have set as my lot cannot be removed by man. All of the determinations, and the demarcations and even the limitations that you have set for my life point to the pleasure of my future with you in eternity.  Surely Lord, you have given to me that which I could never earn, the right to sit with you and reign with you forever!

Let’s Create a Highway back to the Throne of God, let’s create a highway back to the heart of God, lets create a highway back to the move of God