Exposed

In the following message Tommy Nunn, the youngest son of David Nunn (a healing evangelist who held large crusades in India, Africa, Central America and South America, and sponsored many churches and ministers there), reminds us that God takes us through situations that we don't like in order to lead us to where His purpose is increased through our dependence on Him.  It is taken from the Volume 125, May 2012 Revival for the Heart newsletter:

"No one reaches their place of purpose by accident; neither do they reach it easily.  In every area of accomplishing the will of God in our lives, there is a battle that we will have to win, and an enemy that we will need to overcome.  Because great victories only come from great conflicts.

"Yet the road ahead does not always present itself clearly to us, and the road markers leading us to the perfect will of God sometimes can easily be missed.  Yet in these moments we return to the same result that Jehoshaphat came to when Jerusalem was being attacked.  In 2 Chronicles 20:12, he stated '. . . neither do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.'

"Whether you are in the beginning . . . in the middle . . . or in the end, we must always trust God.  He is the only One who can get you to the place He has chosen, and only He can cause you to walk through the mountain tops and valleys that lead to His perfect will.

"In the process of God's leading He will also take you through trials and conflicts that will test you.  Situations that will expose your will, desires, and motives; and situations that will allow you to be exposed to the enemy's attack.  Because problems reveal where our trust and reliance really is, and what we fall back upon by default when a storm cloud rises on our horizon.

"And in all this God allows these things to come about so that through them He can lead us into a place of victory and increase of His purpose through our dependence upon Him.

"In this newsletter I want to focus on these issues, and I trust that by bringing understanding into the situations we all sometimes face, we can also discover how to walk faithfully through them and into God's desired purpose for our lives.

"And I want to use a passage of scripture found in 1 Samuel 6:21-7:13 to portray how God works through these situations to will and do of His good pleasure.

"In this story we see a time right after the Ark had been taken by the Philistines and then returned by the Lord.  Because of the foolishness of the men living in Beth Shemesh that looked into the Ark, God had put seventy of the men to death.  In response to this the people called for the people of Kiriath Jearim to take the Ark of the Lord and place it there at the house of Aminidab.

"For twenty years the Ark set in this town, who's [sic] name translated means 'City of Forests'.  It was not a major town, neither was it well-placed.  But it was a place where the Ark could sit out of sight of most of Israel until they began to sense their loss of God's presence.  It was while the Ark stayed at the hidden place that they realized they needed God's presence restored.

"It is in the hidden places where we find our need. It is in the hidden places where God changes our direction.  And it is out of the hidden places that God brings forth greatness.  For Israel, it was while God was hidden that they discovered how exposed they were.  It was not that the Ark was not present, but in the hidden place we remember how far away we are.

"It was after 430 silent years that God brought forth John the Baptist and took him out of the wilderness and made him a voice to Israel.  It was in the wilderness place where Jesus developed the power and authority that caused Him to defeat the enemy and step out in the power of the Holy Spirit.  It is from the hidden places that God brings forth new purposes.

"While God was hidden from the people, the Philistines filled the void.  The Philistines are a type of the demonic kingdom, and let me assure you if we displace God from His throne in our lives, the throne won't stay empty for long.  There is one who desperately wants to sit there in God's place, just as he did when he was thrown out of heaven, and just like those same Philistines, he will be a ruthless and hard taskmaster over us.  But just like Israel, the very rule of darkness will remind us of our need for the Light.

"As the people return to God, Samuel calls for everyone to put away their foreign gods and return to the Lord.  The people respond and served the Lord God only.  Then Samuel calls for the people to meet him at Mizpah so that he could intercede for them.  Mizpah's name means 'The Watchtower', and it is at the watchtower that Israel would go and begin waiting upon the Lord again.

"But while the people went to Mizpah, the rulers of the Philistines also heard about it and they gathered themselves together for an attack.  The news of the Philistines gathering caused the people to fear, and they became desperate for Samuel to not stop praying to God for their rescue.

"When we return back to God, He will often lead us to a place of waiting, and eventually a place of conflict.  At the watchtower we find our need to cry out and return to God, but for the enemy it is a place where he must stir up fear that causes us to pull back.  One of the greatest weapons of the enemy is intimidation.  For when intimidation takes root, it thwarts our progress with God.

"Consider the intimidation of Goliath that caused Israel to stay in one spot for weeks on end.  One giant defying them and their God caused all the Israelite army to stand down and no longer advance.  If the devil cannot rule over you, his next plan is to control you.  If he cannot stop you from winning, he will stop you from engaging the fight.  Because when we decide to fight despite our fear, our victory is imminent.  Therefore, stopping us from fighting is his only chance to overcome us and defeat us.

"Have you ever wondered why it is that when you determine to make headway with God everything around you seems to be fighting you?  Ever seen your prayer time diminished because of something that took over your thoughts?  Have you wondered why, when you want to fast and pray, that not eating is easier than finding time to pray?  Have you ever tried to understand why during prayer you can be overtaken with anger or fear over something that enters your mind?  It is because the enemy has gathered against you because you went to the watchtower.

"It is in these moments that you need someone who will stand with you in prayer.  Someone who knows how to get ahold [sic] of God and intercede in your behalf.  It is this moment that the army of Israel turns to Samuel and tells him to not stop praying in their behalf.  For when you're in the battle and the enemy has his sights set on you, you need the confidence that you are not in this battle alone.  For if one can put a thousand to flight, and two can put ten thousand to flight, it is because there is power in numbers, and the prayer of agreement with someone else can be the difference between you pushing through to victory or getting overwhelmed in the battle.

"This is because God never intended us to face the enemy on our own.  Jesus sent people out in pairs on purpose.  The Early Church followed that example and always sent two that were on assignment together.  Ecclesiastes 4:12 shows us the power of having two people in agreement together, and through this it defeats one main weapon in the enemy's arsenal . . . loneliness.

"When the battle is hot against you, find someone who will pray with you and for you.  Find someone who won't give up or give in, but will continue standing in faith and prayer until the victory has been won.  Don't engage just anyone to pray, engage someone who knows how to pray, and if you don't know someone there where you are, then write to me and let me know so that I can pray.  Because we are all stronger together than we are separately.

"In life this is the truth that we always need to fall back upon in the difficult times of battling.  It is the reminder that we are not our own, and our battle is not about us, but it is about His Kingdom and it's [sic] advancement through us.  And in the end the battle is the Lord's!

"Though the people gathered and feared because their enemy had gathered against them they didn't avoid the battle, they went toward it.  That is the step of faith that God demands from each of us to gain His intervention and victory.  The people had repented, but now they needed to obey no matter how great the obstacle was, and they needed to trust that their God would help them.

"And God showed up at just the right time.  In fact the people didn't even go into battle because the Lord sent what the Bible called 'loud thunder' that threw the enemy into a panic, and all Israel had to do was chase them and cut them down from behind.  Proverbs 28:1 tells us that the righteous are as bold as a lion, and the wicked flee with no one pursuing them.  In this case, they did pursue them and it was the last time in Samuel's life that the Philistines ever advanced into this area again.

"And there are battles that your God wants you to engage so that He can win a victory in your behalf that you'll never need to fight again.  That your enemy will  be so routed that he won't even consider coming against you on those same grounds again, and you will live in a freedom over an area of intimidation and insecurity that will cause you to live in a greater victory than you've ever know [sic] before.

"In the end, Samuel set up a standard upon which Israel would never forget the victory that God had won for them.  Upon this battleground he set a stone of remembrance and called it 'Ebenezer', which means 'Stone of Help'.  And on this day he commemorated this victory by stating:  'Thus far has the Lord helped us.'

"This stone would serve to be a reminder through out the years of the victories that God can accomplish if we will but serve Him with our whole heart.  It was a sign for the current generation, and every future generation that would come after.  It was a reminder that God was faithful to help.

"And you have victories in your life as well.  Moments when God showed up and defeated the enemy of your soul.  Don't forget those moments.  Set up a remembrance of them so that in your hour of battle you can look back and remember that He is with you.  Put them up on your refrigerator or on your mirror in the bathroom.  Remember what the Lord has done, because He will do it again because the battle is not yours, it is the Lord's!"