Friday Morning Scripture (Wk13/2022) – 1 Samuel 17:31-58

David Kills Goliath

31 When the words that David spoke were heard, the men reported them to Saul, and he sent for him.

32 David said to Saul, “Let no man’s [1]courage fail because of him (Goliath). Your servant will go out and fight with this Philistine.”

33 Then Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight him. For you are [only] a young man and he has been a warrior since his youth.”

34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant was tending his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock,

35 I went out after it and attacked it and rescued the lamb from its mouth; and when it rose up against me, I seized it by its whiskers and struck and killed it.

36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has taunted and defied the armies of the living God.”

37 David said, “The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and may the Lord be with you.”

38 Then Saul dressed David in his garments and put a bronze helmet on his head, and put a coat of mail (armor) on him.

39 Then David fastened his sword over his armor and tried to walk, [but he could not,] because he was not used to them. And David said to Saul, “I cannot go with these, because I am not used to them.” So David took them off.

40 Then he took his [shepherd’s] staff in his hand and chose for himself five [2]smooth stones out of the stream bed, and put them in his shepherd’s bag which he had, that is, in his shepherd’s pouch. With his sling in his hand, he approached the Philistine.

41 The Philistine came and approached David, with his shield-bearer in front of him.

42 When the Philistine looked around and saw David, he derided and disparaged him because he was [just] a young man, with a ruddy complexion, and a handsome appearance.

43 The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with [shepherd’s] staffs?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

44 The Philistine also said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field.”

45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a [3]javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted.

46 This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the corpses of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel,

47 and that this entire assembly may know that the Lord does not save with the sword or with the spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and He will hand you over to us.”

48 When the Philistine rose and came forward to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine.

49 David put his hand into his bag and took out a stone and slung it, and it struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone penetrated his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.

50 So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and he struck down the Philistine and killed him; but there was no sword in David’s hand.

51 So he ran and stood over the Philistine, grasped his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their [mighty] champion was dead, they fled.

52 The men of Israel and Judah stood with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as the entrance to the valley and the gates of Ekron. And the [fatally] wounded Philistines fell along the way to Shaaraim, even as far as Gath and Ekron.

53 The sons of Israel returned from their pursuit of the Philistines and plundered their camp.

54 Then David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his weapons in his tent.

55 When Saul saw David going out against the Philistine, he said to Abner the captain of the army, “Abner, whose son is this young man?” And Abner answered, “By your life, O king, I do not know.”

56 The king said, “Ask whose son the young man is.”

57 When David returned from killing [Goliath] the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand.

58 Saul asked him, “Whose son are you, young man?” And David answered, “I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem.”

1 Samuel 17:31-58 (AMP)

Footnotes

  1. 1 Samuel 17:32 Lit heart.
  2. 1 Samuel 17:40 Smooth stones offered less resistance to the air in flight and would travel with greater speed and accuracy. The sling was a pouch attached to the ends of two long leather thongs, and was a formidable weapon (as the Philistine giant was about to discover).
  3. 1 Samuel 17:45 This weapon may have been similar to a scimitar (short curved sword).

Lion Bites – Global Prophetic Alliance – I Am Love

Come and receive my love. Let it overwhelm you; let my love be the power to destroy every weapon formed against you. Without love you have no part in me. Love is my greatest command and you cannot love others if you don’t first receive my love.

Activation: Sit with God and ask him to show you how much he loves you. Ask him to show you those areas where you haven’t fully received his love, and then ask him to show you how to love others from this place of being loved.

God is Love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

1 John 4:16 (NIV)

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16 (NIV)

#lionbites

Lion Bites – Global Prophetic Alliance – The Power of Love

I am and there is no other. I am love and it is from love that I created the world. I created you from love to be loved. You love because I first loved you. My love is all powerful because it is all that you need. My love covers, protects, creates, intercedes, and yes, sometimes it disciplines you. My love is eternal. My love for you sent my only son to die for you – to redeem you – and bring you back to me. My love in you has the power to turn every impossible situation around. My love is key. Love is the greatest weapon against the enemy for love conquers everything.

I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.

Jeremiah 31:3 (NIV)

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:37-39 (NIV)

#lionbites

Tuesday Morning Scripture (Wk13/2022) – Psalm 147

Praise for Jerusalem’s Restoration and Prosperity.

1 Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our [gracious and majestic] God; Praise is becoming and appropriate.

2 The Lord is building up Jerusalem; He is gathering [together] the exiles of Israel.

3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds [healing their pain and comforting their sorrow].

4 He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by their names.

5 Great is our [majestic and mighty] Lord and abundant in strength; His understanding is inexhaustible [infinite, boundless].

6 The Lord lifts up the humble; He casts the wicked down to the ground.

7 Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; sing praises to our God with the lyre,

8 Who covers the heavens with clouds, Who provides rain for the earth, Who makes grass grow on the mountains.

9 He gives to the beast its food, and to the young ravens that for which they cry.

10 He does not delight in the strength (military power) of the horse, nor does He take pleasure in the legs (strength) of a man.

11 The Lord favors those who fear and worship Him [with awe-inspired reverence and obedience], those who wait for His mercy and lovingkindness.

12 Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion!

13 For He has strengthened the bars of your gates, He has blessed your children within you.

14 He makes peace in your borders; He satisfies you with the finest of the wheat.

15 He sends His command to the earth; His word runs very swiftly.

16 He gives [to the earth] snow like [a blanket of] wool; He scatters the frost like ashes.

17 He casts out His ice like fragments; Who can stand before His cold?

18 He sends out His word and melts the ice; He causes His wind to blow and the waters to flow.

19 He declares His word to Jacob, His statutes and His ordinances to Israel.

20 He has not dealt this way with any [other] nation; they have not known [understood, appreciated, heeded, or cherished] His ordinances. Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)

Psalm 147:1-20 (AMP)

Lion Bites – Global Prophetic Alliance – Gideons Arise

I am unravelling you and delivering you, my bride, from all that has restricted and bound you. Let me unfurl you and release you into the fullness of your expression of me. Don’t hold back. Those of you who have been hidden in the past – in old and religious ways – I am releasing you into a new expression of me. It is time for me to roll out the red carpet so the King of Glory can be seen. I will express my glory through the least and the little. I am contending for the least.

Those who feel forgotten, let me reach the hidden places of your heart and deliver you. You will be overcome in my glory. Stand up mighty warriors and move out! Watch as the Gideons arise! The ones who feel the least, the most insignificant or unworthy, will be called into my glory and will arise as a warrior generation. Come forth Gideons and rise up as mighty warriors. Receive your deliverance; rise up from your unworthiness and receive the greatness of God.

Activation: Watch, wait, and ask God to show you the glory room in Heaven. Breathe in the breath of God, you ones who feel the least or not good enough . Let God bring deliverance to you by saying out loud that you break all agreement with any lies of the enemy that tell you that you are nothing, or not good enough. Then, tell the spirit of fear and unworthiness to go and receive the power of God’s spirit to rise up in his power and glory.

The Lord lifts up the humble; he casts the wicked to the ground.

Psalm 147:6 (ESV)

When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”

“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”

The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”

“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”

The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”

Judges 6:12-16 (NIVUK)

#lionbites

Lion Bites – Global Prophetic Alliance – Watch the Picture Emerge

You have spent years gradually setting up the different facets of your journey; one step at a time we have been building your story together. There were times you took wrong turns or we made a detour. Often it didn’t look like you expected and sometimes you thought you were alone – but you never were.

For many it feels like endlessly waiting for it all to make sense, hoping for the mighty rushing wind, holding on for the glorious breakthrough. Yes – it seems like a long time coming.

Hand me afresh the parts of your life that don’t make sense to you; submit to me your story-so-far and watch what I am doing with it. Not one moment will be wasted; not one tear shed was missed by my watch and every year lost will be restored to you.

Soon, the crescendo of my victory will break through like never before and you will see the power of the picture I have been painting. You will stand strong and whole, and the majestic mosaic of your destiny in me will be clear for all to see.

It won’t be long now. At that perfect moment, one touch from me will bring it all together

You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.

Psalm 56:8 (NLT)

I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten— the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm — my great army that I sent among you.

Joel 2:25 (NIV)

I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Psalm 27:13 (NIV)

#lionbites

Lion Bites – Global Prophetic Alliance – Turnaround Time

I am in the turning. The turning of the world on its axis; the turning of your situation; the turning of your heart towards me; the turning towards the new. I am the one who turns the soil, ready for planting, so in the last season I have ploughed and turned the ground ready for now. I am the God of the turnaround. Turn to me and see, I am turning my attention to the cries and the hearts of my people, those who are crying out for justice and mercy. I am turning mindsets and places where you have felt stuck and at a dead end with no-where to go. I will open up a new way. I will begin to turn every impossibility around and every situation that seems hopeless. I will turn your mourning into dancing, for nothing is impossible for me.

Activation: Begin to declare that God is the God of the turnaround. Declare a turnaround for every difficult situation and begin to declare specifically for your own individual situation where you need a miracle.

You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy.

Psalm 30:11 (NLT)

Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God and there is no other.

Isaiah 45:22 (NIV)

#lionbites

Friday Morning Scripture (Wk12/2022) – Isaiah 45:18-25

God’s Supreme Power

14 For this is what the Lord says,

“The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush (ancient Ethiopia) and the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you and they will be yours; they will walk behind you, in chains [of subjection to you] they will come over, and they will bow down before you; they will make supplication to you, [humbly and earnestly] saying, [1]‘Most certainly God is with you, and there is no other, no other God [besides Him].’”

15 Truly, You are a God who hides Himself, O God of Israel, Savior!

16 They will be put to shame and also humiliated, all of them; they who make idols will go away together in humiliation.

17 Israel has been saved by the Lord with an everlasting salvation; You will not be put to shame or humiliated for all eternity.

18 For the Lord, who created the heavens [2](He is God, who formed the earth and made it; He established it and did not create it to be a wasteland, but formed it to be inhabited) says this, “I am the Lord, and there is no one else.

19 “I have not spoken in secret, in a corner of a land of darkness; I did not say to the descendants of Jacob, ‘Seek Me in vain [with no benefit for yourselves].’ I, the Lord, speak righteousness [the truth—trustworthy, a straightforward correlation between deeds and words], declaring things that are upright.

20 “Assemble yourselves and come; come together, you survivors of the nations! They are ignorant, who carry around their wooden idols [in religious processions or into battle] and keep on praying to a god that cannot save them.

21 “Declare and present your defense of idols; indeed, let them consult together. Who announced this [rise of Cyrus and his conquests] long before it happened? Who declared it long ago? Was it not I, the Lord?And there is no other God besides Me, a [consistently and uncompromisingly] just and righteousness God and a Savior; there is none except Me.

22 “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.

23 “I have sworn [an oath] by Myself, The word is gone out of My mouth in righteousness and shall not return, that to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear [allegiance].

24 “It shall be said of Me, ‘Only in the Lord are righteousness and strength.’ To Him people will come, and all who were angry at Him will be put to shame.

25 “In the Lord all the offspring of Israel will be justified (declared free of guilt) and will glory [in God].”

Isaiah 45:14-25 (AMP)

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 45:14 These words foretell the fact that salvation will be available to believing Gentiles, as well as Jews.
  2. Isaiah 45:18 Longer parenthetical passages such as this one are in the Hebrew text, and should not be confused with the general use of parentheses as a way to define or modify the previous word or group of words.