Good morning, Church Family and Friends,
When King David in the Old Testament was only 29 years old, he gathered around him 600 men who were in debt, discouraged, and discontented, and he molded them into a mighty army. They claimed victory after victory for Israel.
The Bible gives an account of when David and his army of 600 men were coming back from another victory. They were maybe ten miles from home when they noticed black smoke on the horizon. They picked up their pace, and when they were two or three miles away, they realized it was coming from their city. Their anxiety turned to panic, and they took off running. The Bible gives an account of what they saw; it was a horrible sight. The Amalekites had raided their city and destroyed it. They had ransacked the city and set it on fire; they kidnapped the women and children; they had taken all the possessions they wanted and burned the rest.
It was a dark hour in David’s life. But even at so young an age, David’s life had produced endurance. He knew that, with the power of God within him, adversity could not master him. God would master adversity. David knew that, even in this dark moment, God wasn’t going to desert him. He wasn’t alone. David knew that the answer wasn’t to give in to adversity; it was to step out in faith.
So, David got his 600 men together. No doubt, some of them tried to discourage David. They might be outnumbered five-to-one. But David told them, “We’re not going in our own strength. We’re going in the strength of our Almighty God.” The Bible says they went out and fought with a new fervor, and with a new determination. The Bible says they defeated the Amalekites that day, and it records that they recovered all the women and children and everything they had lost.
When David was sitting there on the ash heap of his ruined city, in that dark hour, he was just 72 hours away from the greatest victory of his entire life.
I know some of you today may be going through terrible adversity. You may be going through great trials or facing tough problems. But i want you to know that if you keep your faith in God, and trust God’s power and strength within you, you could be right around the corner from the greatest victory that you’ll ever see. “Blessed are you, when you endure trials for Christ’s sake, for surely your reward is great in heaven” (Luke 6:23).
You see, we can endure trials, not just because Christ has entered the world, but because Christ has entered our hearts.
Your greatest victory could be right around the corner,
Bruce Jones,
Pastor Imagine Church
