Judges 13-16; 2 Cor 2

"And she said, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" So he awoke from his sleep, and said "I will go our as before, at other times, and shake myself free!" But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him," Judges 16:20

What a frightening thought of not knowing the Lord had departed from you. Samson had become so confident in his own strength and his life quickly crumbles when the Lord let's him see and feel what life would be like without the strength that comes from the Lord. How did he get in this place? The same way we do. The lust of the flesh, pride of life, and the belief in ourselves just to name a few. I have witnessed so many believers follow this path to destruction so many times. Sometimes it starts with just missing church and then it leads to missing three weeks of church and soon enough you tell yourself your strong enough to go it alone and you don't even need to go to church. The same is true for reading our bibles and spending quality time in devotions with Lord. The Bible tells us faith comes by hearing and hearing of the word. When were not strengthen by the word we lose our strength to fight of the attacks of the enemy. Life happens and then we tend to doubt God and his promises and then fall away, it's not that He has left us it's that we have left Him. I have yet to meet a believer who stays true to the word and continually calls on the name of the Lord who has not stayed the course in even the darkest of times. I know of several others who have walked in a false strength, that is under there own set of rules and like Samson feel like God is there personal genie or something. They rub the lamp and God doesn't show up in there timing and they lose sight of the plan God has for them. God is much more concerned with us than we are, and He knows under our own strength we will fall, but with him all things are possible. Sometimes the Lord allows me to operate under my own strength and yes I do fall but the Lord also picks you up when you genuinely call on him. Samson later in the chapter does just that and the result is that he kills more philistines then he ever had before. So today let's operate under his strength and power and not ours.

Have a great day,
Pastor Joe