Saturday, December 29, 2012

Dec | 29 | He’s Good! He’s ‘Ebeneezer’ good!

Dream Word – PREPARE

1 Samuel 7:3-5 Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, "If you return to the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths from among you, and prepare your hearts for the Lord, and serve Him only; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines." So the children of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and served the Lord only. And Samuel said, "Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord for you." NKJV

He’s Good! He’s ‘Ebeneezer’ good!

Standing some 600 feet above the plane of Gebeon, Mizpah, ‘The Watchtower,’ at the time of the prophet Samuel, had become the religious and political centre in times of national emergencies. Here Samuel called the whole nation together for a time of repentance and revival, in that he was calling them back to their vows and thus back to their first love! At this time of year I can think of no better call to send out through 'Whispering Word', no better call to be sent out from God the Holy Spirit within you, no better call than this deepest of all of God’s calls, which is “Come back to your first love and come back now, in all your faithfulfullness!”

You might be saying, “I can’t Robert. You don’t know how much I have lost this year of my love, of myself, of my devotion, of my passion. I can’t Robert, because you don’t know what precious things once given to me by the Lord of love, are now out of my hands and in the possession of my enemies. I can’t come back.”

May I tell you tonight, that in this very area of ‘The Watch Tower’ just some twenty years previous, the Israelites suffered two catastrophic defeats at the hands of the Philistines and in the last battle with them, the Israelites had lost the very Ark of God to their enemies. The support of the mercy seat was gone! The very place where the manifest presence of God once touched down and illuminated a gathered nation, was gone! In comparison to this, what have you lost? Maybe indeed something as precious. Yes, maybe indeed. Never the less, Samuel calls Israel to repentance and recommitment and tonight dear friends, I do the same and in so doing would like to point out just three things to you.

Firstly, that when Samuel called the people together for national repentance their enemies heard of it, the same enemies that had routed them some twenty years before and had robbed them of their preciousness, heard of it and in the hearing, came up to the Watchtower to trounce them once again! Be prepared for a fight then, for any recommitment will be resisted and that by the mightiest of evil manifestations.
Secondly, that the Israelites were not a little perplexed when this happened and cried out to God for help, indeed they had Samuel cry out to God on their behalf. So pray dear friends and then get people who have power with God to also pray for you! Pray for help!
Thirdly and finally tonight, that when on the back of a blooded sacrificial lamb they prayed for help and deliverance, God thundered against their enemies and Israel rode on this shock wave of the Most High and thoroughly routed their enemies, even the enemy that had slaughtered them not once, but twice some twenty years before and had robbed them of all their preciousness. He shall do the same for you.

In these dog days of the year’s end, go to Watch Tower of your heart and repent and recommit yourself to your first love and have the honour of restored victory made your portion once more. When you have done this, set up your own stone of help, so as you consider and look down the past years of your life, you shall be able to say, “Despite it all, up to now, the good Lord has helped me. He’s very good. He’s Ebeneezer good!”


Listen: - And Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. Then Samuel cried out to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord answered him. Now as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. But the Lord thundered with a loud thunder upon the Philistines that day, and so confused them that they were overcome before Israel. And the men of Israel went out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, and drove them back as far as below Beth Car. Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, "Thus far the Lord has helped us." So the Philistines were subdued, and they did not come anymore into the territory of Israel. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. 1 Samuel 7:9-13 NKJV

Pray:- Lord, tonight I gather myself at the Watchtower of my heart and survey all my battlefields of defeat and places of victory. Father, I recommit myself to You. Jesus, I turn my heart in love to You and tell You that I shall love You more and with that shall also love you more with greater passion. Thunder O God against my foes, put a sword in my hand and an unrelenting swing in my arms until I have pursued them and lain them dead and bloodied at my victorious feet. Help me to gather up the stones at the end of this old year and write in blood upon the rocks that ‘up to now, the Lord Himself has been my helper.’ In Jesus name I ask it, amen!


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