Obeying the Lord God to Obtain the Victory

by Aspiring Rev. Isaiah Thomas
(Virginia)

2 Samuel 5:17-25
Read for yourself in the King James Version (KJV)

I want to focus on the 25th verse: "And David did so, as the Lord had commanded him." My message is "Obeying the Lord God to Obtain the Victory".

Obedience to God is necessary and essential to obtaining the victory over circumstances that the Devil puts in your way to try and destroy you. David knew that he had to obey God if the prophecy Samuel gave him was going to come to pass and if he wanted to defeat Israel's enemies. But that reason alone is NOT the ONLY reason why he chose to obey God. He also chose to obey God because he loved God from the very beginning.

The Bible says he was a man after God's own heart. Saints of God, we should obey Jesus Christ and worship and glorify Him because while we were yet sinners, He died on the cross for our sins. Now in our scripture text, back in 1 Samuel, David had been running from King Saul and he fled from Israel and sought shelter in the homeland of the Philistines.

While in the homeland of the Philistines, the Philistines showed him hospitality. Why? Because they were afraid of him. They were afraid of him and yet they hated Saul, so when they found out that David was now like a common enemy to Saul, they became his "temporary" allies. Sometimes, I've seen it happen where some people who try to come across a truly righteous person as their enemies when they realize God was and is on their side and when they realize they can't defeat or even fight against the power and the plans of God, they'll be nice to that person.

God knows how to make the very people who tried to defeat God's plan for you and sabotage God's plan for you be nice to you and show you kindness and they'll be able to gain favor with you because you have the glory of God in your spirit. Then the Philistines attacked Israel another time about eight years before the time of our scripture and defeated King Saul and his armies.

About a year later after that David was anointed and crowned King of Israel in Hebron where he lived for seven years. Now when the Philistines heard David had become king, they thought that David was going to use his new royal powers he had over the armies of Israel and Judah to get revenge on them for all the things they did when Saul was alive. They thought he was going to try and invade their lands and conquer them. But you see, God knew this all along from the very start.

I want to let you know whatever the Devil has been using to attack you with, don't you dare think that it caught God by surprise. God knew about it before the Devil even fully made out his plans for his attack. And because God already knew about it, that ought to let you know that God has already thwarted the plans of the enemy on your behalf! Somebody say "HALLELUJAH TO GOD!" So in that 19th verse, David asked the Lord, "Should I attack the Philistines? Will you let me win? Will you be with me? Will you let me win?"

And the Lord said to him, "Go and attack them, for I will most definitely deliver the Philistines into your hand!" Hallelujah!! So David went up and attacked and defeated the Philistines, and he named the place where he fought them "Baalperazim" which means "The Lord broke forth upon my enemies." How many of you has God broken forth against your enemies and defeated them on your behalf? If he has say "Yes Lord!" Glory to JESUS!

But notice the 22nd verse: "And the Philistines came up yet again." Sometimes, even when it seems that once you've fought against the Devil and God defeated the plans of the enemy and defeated the Devil on your behalf, the evil will come right back later on looking to try and fight you again. Why does he do this? This is the reason why if you let me tell it: you see, the Devil will ALWAYS try to fight against you and throw his weapons at you to attack you.

He also knows that you won't succumb under the stress and the pressure or backslide, so He'll just try everything he can to destroy you. But as long as you have God on your side and keep obeying Jesus and His Word, no matter what the Devil throws at you, you'll never have to face it alone. Say "Amen!" So David cried unto the Lord again and asked God (more or less) and he said, "Well, Lord, what am I going to do? I already fought them once and our armies and I gave it our all to defeat them. We came up with clever battle strategies and we prayed to You and You helped us to win and defeat them!

But now they're coming back! So Lord, what are we going to do?" And God said "Don’t attack them from the front. Circle around behind and attack from among the mulberry trees. Wait until you hear a sound like troops marching through the tops of the trees. Then attack quickly! That sound will mean I have marched out ahead of you to fight the Philistine army." Then it says "And David did so, as the Lord had commanded him; and smote the Philistines from Geba until thou come to Gazer."

In the Contemporary English Version (CEV) it says "David obeyed the Lord and defeated the Philistines." Now notice if he had not obeyed God, it would said something like this: "But David disobeyed the Lord, and the Philistines defeated the Israelites." If he had not obeyed God and went with God's plan, the Lord would have allowed the Israelites to be defeated by the Philistines.

I want to let you know there are consequences and penalties for disobeying God and His word. But when you obey God when he speaks to you and obey God's word the Bible, whenever the Devil tries to fight you, God WILL win the victory for you!! HALLELUJAH!! When you decide to obey the word of God and decide that you don't always have to obey the advice of man, then God will work on your behalf!! Pastor Dickerson Wells of Memphis, Tennessee said "Your word brings confusion, but God's WORD BRINGS UNDERSTANDING AND PEACE OF MIND!!!"

Your words of evil advice brings desolation and destruction, but God's word brings peace and tranquility! Your words disturb the spirit, but God's word puts blessed peace down in your spirit. AND WHEN YOU OBEY GOD, GOD WILL REWARD YOU FOR YOUR OBEDIENCE AND YOUR HOLINESS UNTO HIM!!!! OBEYING GOD'S WORD IS ONE OF THE FIRST STEPS TO LIVING HOLY!!! AND WHEN YOU ABIDE IN HIS WORD, AND LIVE HOLY, AND WHEN YOU HAVE THE HOLY GHOST, EVEN THOUGH THE DEVIL MAY COME IN LIKE A FLOOD, GOD WILL STILL HAVE YOUR BACK THROUGH IT ALL!!!!

WHEN YOU OBEY GOD AND GOD GIVES YOU THE VICTORY, WHENEVER YOU LOOK BACK OVER YOUR SHOULDER, YOU'LL THANK GOD FOR THE MOUNTAINS AND THE VALLEYS, AND ALL THE HILLS YOU HAD TO CLIMB!!!! C'MON AND GIVE HIM A SHOUT OF PRAISE!!!

Conclusion:

MANY TIMES I THINK ABOUT THE SONG ANDRAE CROUCH WROTE WHEN I THINK ABOUT MY PAST, I SAY THE WORDS OF THE SONG:
"AND NOW I THANK GOD FOR THE MOUNTAINS! AND I THANK HIM FOR THE VALLEYS! AND I THANK HIM THE STORMS HE BROUGHT ME THROUGH! BECAUSE IF I NEVER HAD A PROBLEM I WOULD NOT KNOW THAT GOD COULD SOLVE IT!! AND I WOULDN'T KNOW WHAT FAITH IN GOD COULD DO! BUT THROUGH IT ALL I'VE LEARNED TO TRUST IN JESUS! THROUGH IT ALL I'VE LEARNED TO DEPEND UPON HIS WORD!!!"

AND ALL I WANT TO LET YOU KNOW IS DON'T LET WHAT YOU'RE GOING THROUGH SHAKE YOU!!! DON'T LET WHAT YOU'RE GOING THROUGH MAKE YOU FEEL LIKE GOD DOESN'T LOVE YOU!!! BECAUSE IN MATTHEW 28:20 JESUS SAID "lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." IN ISAIAH 43:2: ISAIAH SAID "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee."

THAT'S WHY DAVID DECIDED I'M NOT GOING TO LET MY CIRCUMSTANCES GET ME UPSET, AND THAT'S WHY HE OBEYED GOD, AND HE ALSO KNEW THE LORD WAS HIS SHEPHERD, YEA THOUGH HE WALKED THROUGH THE VALLEY...ANYBODY IN HERE GOING THROUGH THE VALLEY...SHADOWS OF DEATH ARE EVERYWHERE, BUT I'LL FEAR NO EVIL BECAUSE I KNOW I'M NOT WALKING BY MYSELF! I MAY HAVE TROUBLE, I MAY BE IN THE FIERY FURNACE BUT JESUS IS IN THE FURNACE WITH ME! OH JESUS!!!! HALLELUJAH! SAY HALLELUJAH!!!!

IF I KEEP MY HEAD ON STRAIGHT AND GO WITH GOD ALL THE WAY, GOD'LL TAKE CARE OF ME AND I'LL GIVE HIM PRAISE AND GLORY FOR HOW HE BROUGHT ME OUT OF THE MIRY CLAY!!!!!! SAY YES!!!!! NOW PRAISE HIS NAME!!!! HALLELUJAH! PRAISE JESUS! JESUS SAID IN JOHN 15:7 "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." HALLELUJAH! IF YE ABIDE IN CHRIST, AND HE AND HIS WORDS IN YOU, YOU CAN ASK HIM TO HELP, AND IT SHALL BE DONE!!!!

IF YOU BELIEVE IT GIVE HIM PRAISE! GIVE HIM GLORY! GIVE HIM HONOR! PRAISE HIS HOLY NAME! DO LIKE DAVID AND DANCE FOR JOY!!!! HALLELUJAH!!! THANK YOU JESUS! YES LORD! Thank you Jesus!