When you woke up this morning did you cause satan to shudder in fear or clap with glee? Are you an armed and dangerous Christian who is a treat to hell and a praise to heaven?
What does an armed and dangerous Christian en route to breakthrough look like? Rewind to James 4:7. “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you.” When you are armed and dangerous, you are submitted to God and a threat to satan. You invite God in and the devil’s got to go. Want a breakthrough this year? Relinquish control of your life and emotions to God before you encounter difficult situations and He’ll be there to meet you when you need Him most.
What does a disarmed and weak Christian en route to breakdown look like? On Sabbath our Exhibit A was Samson—the weak strongman of scripture. Samson is an example of dependence on self and on past experience.
Rewind to Judges 16:1-5. Though he was the strongest man of his generation, Samson couldn’t control his lust. If Samson had subdued himself to the Lord, he would not have been subdued by the Philistines. You’re either a fool for the Lord or made a fool by the devil. You choose.
In verse 9 we read, “So the secret of his [Samson’s] strength was not discovered.” Why did the Philistines have to rely on espionage to discover the source of Samson’s strength? Why wasn’t it obvious? When you are armed and dangerous, your connection to Jesus shows. (See Acts 4:8-13.)
Though Samson was dedicated to God at birth, he was dedicated more to satisfying his passions. His life obscured God’s glory instead of revealing it, and whenever we are more dedicated to pleasing self than pleasing God, we do the same thing.
Samson continues to toy with Delilah, inching closer and closer to revealing the truth (see Judges 16:10-14). Unless you renew your strength in God every day—subduing yourself before Him in obedience—self gets stronger making you morally and spiritually weaker. It is only when self is weak that you are truly strong (2 Cor. 12:9-10). When you are armed and dangerous God’s grace is your greatest strength.
Delilah began to hound Samson day and night until he was “tired to death.” “So he told her everything” (vs. 17). Samson’s strength was not so much in his hair as it was in his relationship with God. He was to be set apart to God, instead he had steadily been drifting apart from God, the true source of his strength and ours.
“Having put Him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. (“He began to weaken”) And his strength left him. He awoke from his sleep and thought, ‘I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.’ But he did not know that the Lord had left him.” (vss. 19, 20). How you wake up in the morning has a lot to do with how you went to bed the night before. You can’t go to sleep in the arms of the devil and expect to find God in the morning.
“I’ll go out as before.” Sampson was attempting to live on a past experience. Too often we are coasting on the momentum of a past experience. Christians who don’t renew their experience with God every day are disarmed and harmless and unable to breakthrough. If you haven’t read the Bible in months, or shared your faith in years, or prayed in days, you are losing momentum and starting to stumble spiritually.
God’s absence from our lives is slow and subtle. We can have the form of godliness for so long that we don’t even miss the power–until it’s too late. Until when our feet hit the floor in the morning, God shakes His head and says sadly, “Oh no….he’s asleep.”
Samson has given us a great example of how not to live. So how do we live? Rewind to Romans 13:11-14.
When you are armed and dangerous, you are submitted to God.
When you are armed and dangerous, your connection to Jesus shows.
When you are armed and dangerous, God’s grace is your greatest strength.
When you are armed and dangerous, you are clothed with Christ. Wearing His character.
When you are armed and dangerous, you are prepared to breakthrough with God. Now go out there and give the devil a migraine.
Pastor Randy Maxwell
