Lord where has Your Glory Gone...sometimes when you are in the Fight of Your Life, it can seem like God has left you. Especially when the fight you are in is not going your way. You feel like you are in the right place, position and posture, but God seems like He is not listening or responding to any of your efforts. You continue to try and try, fight and fight, never stopping to realize that you have been fighting battles with your own power and not His. So then God allows for you to lose for what you think is judgement upon you, but He is really RIDDNG YOUR CAMP of any hinderances and people that may still be trying to steal the Hope of His Glory in your life. He is getting rid of those people, that you think still need to be on the journey with you, and the dependence you have developed for them over Him. So He allows for you to suffer defeat for the exact purpose to Prune Your Life so the true fruit of His Glory can be revealed. You may think that He has forsaken you, but in reality, He is silent to the fact that the lesson you must learn is Full Dependance on Him, In Him and For Him, for the sake of walking your life out His way! If you feel like His Glory has gone, stop and look at where you are, who you are around and you will find that its not Gods Glory that has left, but we have left the place where He is present! It is time to go and find Him again! - Coach Mason Scripture: And Samuel’s words went out to all the people of Israel. At that time Israel was at war with the Philistines. The Israelite army was camped near Ebenezer, and the Philistines were at Aphek. The Philistines attacked and defeated the army of Israel, killing 4,000 men. After the battle was over, the troops retreated to their camp, and the elders of Israel asked, “Why did the Lord allow us to be defeated by the Philistines?” Then they said, “Let’s bring the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord from Shiloh. If we carry it into battle with us, it will save us from our enemies.” When all the Israelites saw the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord coming into the camp, their shout of joy was so loud it made the ground shake! “What’s going on?” the Philistines asked. “What’s all the shouting about in the Hebrew camp?” When they were told it was because the Ark of the Lord had arrived, they panicked. “The gods have come into their camp!” they cried. “This is a disaster! We have never had to face anything like this before! Help! Who can save us from these mighty gods of Israel? They are the same gods who destroyed the Egyptians with plagues when Israel was in the wilderness. Fight as never before, Philistines! If you don’t, we will become the Hebrews’ slaves just as they have been ours! Stand up like men and fight!” So the Philistines fought desperately, and Israel was defeated again. The slaughter was great; 30,000 Israelite soldiers died that day. The survivors turned and fled to their tents. The Ark of God was captured, and Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were killed. Eli was waiting beside the road to hear the news of the battle, for his heart trembled for the safety of the Ark of God. When the messenger arrived and told what had happened, an outcry resounded throughout the town. “What is all the noise about?” Eli asked. The messenger rushed over to Eli, who was ninety-eight years old and blind. He said to Eli, “I have just come from the battlefield—I was there this very day.” “What happened, my son?” Eli demanded. “Israel has been defeated by the Philistines,” the messenger replied. “The people have been slaughtered, and your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were also killed. And the Ark of God has been captured.” She named the child Ichabod (which means “Where is the glory?”), for she said, “Israel’s glory is gone.” She named him this because the Ark of God had been captured and because her father-in-law and husband were dead. Then she said, “The glory has departed from Israel, for the Ark of God has been captured.” (1 Samuel 4:1-3, 5-11, 13-17, 21, 22 NLT)
Posted on: Fri, 31 Jan 2014 10:07:27 +0000