Genesis 27:40

By your sword you shall live,

And you shall serve your brother;

And it shall come to pass, when you become restless,

That you shall break his yoke from your neck.”  (Discussion with Ps George)

 

“Faith is the currency that superimposes the influence of God's Kingdom over our natural world.” Bro Eddy. (LIVING IN TWO WORLDS - ONE AT A TIME)

 

Hebrews 10:38

Now the just shall live by faith;

But if anyone draws back,

My soul has no pleasure in him.”

 

Hebrews 11:1-3

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 

For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.

By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

 

Matthew 7:7-8

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

 

 

SOME QUOTES ON FAITH. 

 

“Faith is a living, daring confidence in God's grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times." — Martin Luther

 

“ Faith is unseen but felt, faith is strength when we feel we have none, faith is hope when all seems lost." — Catherine Pulsifer

 

“Every single thing He has ever or will ever say is true. The simplicity of faith is this: taking God’s Word for it." — Jackie Hill Perry

 

“To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim you don't grab hold of the water, because if you do you will sink and drown. Instead you relax, and float." — Alan Watts

 

” Through hard work, perseverance and a faith in God, you can live your dreams." — Ben Carson

 

“No matter what has happened to you in the past or what is going on in your life right now, it has no power to keep you from having an amazingly good future if you will walk by faith in God. God loves you! He wants you to live with victory over sin so you can possess His promises for your life today!" — Joyce Meyer

 

“And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith." — Matthew 21:2

 

 

Genesis 27:39-40

Then Isaac his father answered and said to him:

“Behold, your dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth,

And of the dew of heaven from above.

By your sword you shall live,

And you shall serve your brother;

And it shall come to pass, when you become restless,

That you shall break his yoke from your neck.”

 

KEY TEXT 

1 Samuel 30

 

1 Samuel 30:1-2

 

David’s Conflict with the Amalekites

Now it happened, when David and his men came to Ziklag, on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the South and Ziklag, attacked Ziklag and burned it with fire, and had taken captive the women and those who were there, from small to great; they did not kill anyone, but carried them away and went their way.

 

 

1. PRAY

 

1 Samuel 30:6-8

Now David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.

Then David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech’s son, “Please bring the ephod here to me.” And Abiathar brought the ephod to David. So David inquired of the LORD, saying, “Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them?”

And He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all.”

 

Philippians 4:6

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

 

Mark 11:24

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

 

Romans 8:26

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

 

2. PLAN

 

1 Samuel 30:9-15

So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and came to the Brook Besor, where those stayed who were left behind. But David pursued, he and four hundred men; for two hundred stayed behind, who were so weary that they could not cross the Brook Besor.

Then they found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David; and they gave him bread and he ate, and they let him drink water. And they gave him a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. So when he had eaten, his strength came back to him; for he had eaten no bread nor drunk water for three days and three nights. Then David said to him, “To whom do you belong, and where are you from?”

And he said, “I am a young man from Egypt, servant of an Amalekite; and my master left me behind, because three days ago I fell sick. We made an invasion of the southern area of the Cherethites, in the territory which belongs to Judah, and of the southern area of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire.”

And David said to him, “Can you take me down to this troop?”

So he said, “Swear to me by God that you will neither kill me nor deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will take you down to this troop.”

 

Proverbs 16:3

Commit your works to the LORD,

And your thoughts will be established.

 

Proverbs 21:5

Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity,

but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.

 

Psalms 20:4

May he grant your heart’s desires

and make all your plans succeed.

 

Proverbs 16:9

We can make our plans,

but the LORD determines our steps.

 

Luke 14:31

Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?

 

 

 

3. PURSUE

 

1 Samuel 30:16-19

And when he had brought him down, there they were, spread out over all the land, eating and drinking and dancing, because of all the great spoil which they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. Then David attacked them from twilight until the evening of the next day. Not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men who rode on camels and fled. So David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away, and David rescued his two wives. And nothing of theirs was lacking, either small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything which they had taken from them; David recovered all.

 

Luke 14:28

For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it—

 

James 2:14

 

Faith Without Works Is Dead

(cf. Gen. 22; Josh. 2)

What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?

 

James 2:17

Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

 

1 Peter 1:13