Give and Take

Give and Take

Disquiet. Not quiet. The voices of the enemy are constantly in my ear.

It is the cry of battle, the sound of the ambush, the trap, the intended place of defeat.

They cry aloud, they accuse, they speak words of fear, of panic, of harm. They seek to bring me down. To stop me in my tracks.

They surround me on all sides. I escape to the country, far away from my homeland, but they have come with me. In the valley, the place of refreshment, they seek my life.

Psalms 38:8-15 I am faint and sorely bruised [deadly cold and quite worn out]; I groan by reason of the disquiet and moaning of my heart. Lord, all my desire is before You; and my sighing is not hidden from You. My heart throbs, my strength fails me; as for the light of my eyes, it also is gone from me. My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my plague; and my neighbors and my near ones stand afar off. They also that seek and demand my life lay snares for me, and they that seek and require my hurt speak crafty and mischievous things; they meditate treachery and deceit all the day long. But I, like a deaf man, hear not; and I am like a dumb man who opens not his mouth. Yes, I have become like a man who hears not, in whose mouth are no arguments or replies. For in You, O Lord, do I hope; You will answer, O Lord my God.

But they are just a shadow. They cannot touch me. My God shall provide a way of escape for me, but not for them. They will fall into the pit they have dug for me!

Psalms 18:1-6 ​I LOVE You fervently and devotedly, O Lord, my Strength. The Lord is my Rock, my Fortress, and my Deliverer; my God, my keen and firm Strength in Whom I will trust and take refuge, my Shield, and the Horn of my salvation, my High Tower. I will call upon the Lord, Who is to be praised; so shall I be saved from my enemies. The cords or bands of death surrounded me, and the streams of ungodliness and the torrents of ruin terrified me. The cords of Sheol (the place of the dead) surrounded me; the snares of death confronted and came upon me. In my distress [when seemingly closed in] I called upon the Lord and cried to my God; He heard my voice out of His temple (heavenly dwelling place), and my cry came before Him, into His [very] ears.

Perhaps I need no escape, for they come against me in one direction, but leave in 7. For I shall stand. Having done all to stand. I stand fast. For He has hold of me. He is my refuge and strength. He is my stronghold, my strong fortress. I shall not be moved! But neither shall I stand still in some paralyzed state like a deer in highlights. For His light shall shine in the presence of the darkness. The light shines in the darkness and is not overcome by it. The smallest light, dominates the darkness all around it!

John 1:4-5 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

The time is now, I was born for such a time as this. I’m one of those guys, who refuses to stay down. Rejoice not over me my enemy, for I shall rise again. The same spirit who raised Christ from the dead lives in me.

Jeremiah 50:31-35 Behold, I am against you, O Babylon [you who are pride and presumption personified], says the Lord, the Lord of hosts, for your day has come, the time when I will visit and punish you. And Pride (the arrogant one) shall stumble (totter) and fall, and none shall raise him up. And I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all who are round about him. Thus says the Lord of hosts: The children of Israel and the children of Judah are oppressed together; all who took them captive have held them fast; they refuse to let them go. Their Redeemer is strong; the Lord of hosts is His name. He will surely and thoroughly plead their case and defend their cause, that He may give rest to [the land of Israel and to the Babylonian-enslaved nations of] the earth, but unrest to the inhabitants of Babylon. A sword upon the Chaldeans, says the Lord—upon the inhabitants of Babylon and upon her princes (rulers in civic matters) and upon her wise men (the astrologers and rulers in religious affairs)!

I am more than a conqueror. I serve a God who defeated death, pain, hurt, tears, lack. Who defeated defeat, who cannot be defeated.

I’m looking to plunder, overtake and recover all. Have a full and complete recovery. Stop the theft. To take from the enemy, to rip him off, to disarm him, to discredit him, to disrobe him, to expose him, to pour out all fear upon him. To give him what he has given me, to take back what he has taken from me.

1 Samuel 30:8 And David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them? The Lord answered him, Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all.

What I will take from him, is more that one has. I will multiply my attack, I will advance against him, not with one rock, but many. I intend to take this territory, expand my territory, take possession. Reposition myself as an owner not an indebted slave. I break these chains, I will be released from this bondage. Today I take a stand. I refuse fear, I will not accept it, I refuse to be quiet, I refuse to turn the other cheek. Today I say why did you strike me! I will speak the truth. I run towards the enemy. I walk through no mans land, to claim it as our own, and to possess that which was taken from us.

1 Samuel 30:16-25 And when he had brought David down, behold, the raiders were spread abroad over all the land, eating and drinking and dancing because of all the great spoil they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. And David smote them from twilight even to the evening of the next day, and not a man of them escaped, except 400 youths who rode camels and fled. David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken and rescued his two wives. Nothing was missing, small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that had been taken; David recovered all. Also David captured all the flocks and herds [which the enemy had], and the people drove those animals before him and said, This is David’s spoil. And David came to the 200 men who were so exhausted and faint that they could not follow [him] and had been left at the brook Besor [with the baggage]. They came to meet David and those with him, and when he came near to the men, he saluted them. Then all the wicked and base men who went with David said, Because they did not go with us, we will give them nothing of the spoil we have recovered, except that every man may lead away his wife and children and depart. David said, You shall not do so, my brethren, with what the Lord has given us. He has preserved us and has delivered into our hands the troop that came against us. Who would listen to you in this matter? For as is the share of him who goes into the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage. They shall share alike. And from that day to this he made it a statute and ordinance for Israel.

I say charge, advance, attack, to the enemy, you will be charged, my God will have recompense. I will claim compensation, I will advance to claim an advance. I will take that which is not yet due, as an advance.

1 Samuel 17:22 David left his packages in the care of the baggage keeper and ran into the ranks and came and greeted his brothers. 1 Samuel 17:45-47 Then said David to the Philistine, You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the ranks of Israel, Whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will smite you and cut off your head. And I will give the corpses of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.

I will shout with the voice of triumph, I declare victory! I advance without arms, with hands raised in the air. The enemy shall be confused. He will think that I have my hands raised in surrender. But they are raised, lifting the most powerful, invisible weapon. Worship!

2 Chronicles 20:20-26 And they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the Lord your God and you shall be established; believe and remain steadfast to His prophets and you shall prosper. When he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers to sing to the Lord and praise Him in their holy [priestly] garments as they went out before the army, saying, Give thanks to the Lord, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever! And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir who had come against Judah, and they were [self-] slaughtered; For [suspecting betrayal] the men of Ammon and Moab rose against those of Mount Seir, utterly destroying them. And when they had made an end of the men of Seir, they all helped to destroy one another. And when Judah came to the watchtower of the wilderness, they looked at the multitude, and behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none had escaped! When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take the spoil, they found among them much cattle, goods, garments, and precious things which they took for themselves, more than they could carry away, so much they were three days in gathering the spoil. On the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Beracah. There they blessed the Lord. So the name of the place is still called the Valley of Beracah [blessing].

Be afraid devil, run for your lives, my God shall have the head of your mightiest warrior!

Retreat, sound the alarm. Or if you set an ambush or aim to attack, prepare for confusion and defeat.

There is an end to this, and we shall stand on the end. He will raise us, elevation comes from Him.