THE BATTLE OF ALTARS – THE ARK WAS CAPTURED

A typical example is the story of Samson and Delilah in Judges 16. Samson thought he was dealing with an innocent girl who could not hurt a fly but he never knew that Delilah was wired up and connected to the lords of the Philistines. She was at that particular time a carrier of everything that the Philistines represented. She was their ambassador. Unfortunately, Samson that was supposed to be the person manifesting the spirit of God (because the spirit of God came upon him from time to time for exploits) had a weakness. He was supposed to be a consecrated vessel, a Nazarene. What was his weakness? Women. Samson, though a mighty man, was not a very wise person.

Samson wanted to go and marry a Philistine but his parents objected, he however, insisted despite his parents’ objections. That is one of the ways to know a person who is wise – your attitude to mentorship; your attitude to instructions is one of the things that show if you are a wise person. What happened? He took the wrong step. The Philistines lords offered Delilah great wealth to reveal the secret of her husband’s strength. After several attempts, Samson eventually revealed the secret of his strength to Delilah and in his sleep the locks of his head were cut off. When the enemy attacked, Samson jumped up as at other times to defend himself but he never knew that his strength had departed from him and he was captured with ease. May the power of God never depart from you in Jesus name.

• Pray – Lord, make it impossible for me to take any step that will grieve your Holy Spirit to depart from me in the name of Jesus. Lord, take not your Holy Spirit from me in the mighty name of Jesus. Lord, I depend on you, grant me the grace to be attentive to the instructions of wisdom and make it impossible for me to take any step that will make your Spirit to leave me even for one second, in Jesus name I pray.

The Philistines, however, committed a great blunder. Our enemies will commit blunders; their celebration will be cut short in the name of Jesus. Because they had no fear of God, they lacked understanding. They thought that it was their god that won the battle, they didn’t realize that what won the battle was the sin in Israel. Sin makes the glory to come short. Holy Spirit does not fraternize with sin. Sin breaks the hedge and once the hedge is broken, serpent will bite. They committed a strategic blunder in taking the ark of God to the house of their god. We must be careful not to allow any trace of idolatry to manifest in our lives. As long as there is materialism in the Church, there is idolatry. As long as there is perversion of worship in any form, there is idolatry, so we need to be very careful.

TO BE CONTINUED.