Abraham  gave God his only son Isaac and he became the father of all nations

The widow of zeraphat prepared her last meal for the servant of God and she never lacked for food through out famine

If you want a blessing from God, the question is what do you have in your hands. so whatever you have in your hands will serve as a seed. In 2kings 4

One day the wife of a man from the guild of
prophets called out to Elisha, “Your servant my
husband is dead. You well know what a good man
he was, devoted to GOD. And now the man to
whom he was in debt is on his way to collect by
taking my two children as slaves.”
Elisha said, “I wonder how I can be of help. Tell
me, what do you have in your house?”
“Nothing,” she said. “Well, I do have a little oil.”
“Here’s what you do,” said Elisha. “Go up and
down the street and borrow jugs and bowls from
all your neighbors. And not just a few—all you can
get. Then come home and lock the door behind
you, you and your sons. Pour oil into each
container; when each is full, set it aside.”
She did what he said. She locked the door
behind her and her sons; as they brought the
containers to her, she filled them. When all the
jugs and bowls were full, she said to one of her
sons, “Another jug, please.”
He said, “That’s it. There are no more jugs.”
Then the oil stopped.
She went and told the story to the man of God.
He said, “Go sell the oil and make good on your
debts. Live, both you and your sons, on what’s
left.”

She had a something in her hands before she could be a supplier of oil.
Brethren sow a seed today. Sow a seed towards your carrier, towards your academics, towards your finances. Your seed will speak for you when you're absent.

One more thing, did you know when you come into the presense of God, God dosent let you God empty handed.
Luke 9:12

after Jesus had taught the multitude, he didn't let them go insearch of food for themselves because it was a deserted land. He asked his disciples to group the people in 50's and he fed performed a miracle and they ate till they were filled and there were even left overs. David said a day in the presense of God is better than a thousand days else where.

In 2 kings 4:8-17

One day Elisha went to Shunem. And a well-to-
do woman was there, who urged him to stay for a
meal. So whenever he came by, he stopped there
to eat. She said to her husband, “I know that
this man who often comes our way is a holy man
of God. Let’s make a small room on the roof
and put in it a bed and a table, a chair and a lamp
for him. Then he can stay there whenever he
comes to us.”
One day when Elisha came, he went up to his
room and lay down there. He said to his
servant Gehazi, “Call the Shunammite.” So he
called her, and she stood before him. Elisha
said to him, “Tell her, ‘You have gone to all this
trouble for us. Now what can be done for you?
Can we speak on your behalf to the king or the
commander of the army?’”
She replied, “I have a home among my own
people.”
“What can be done for her?” Elisha asked.
Gehazi said, “She has no son, and her husband is
old.”
Then Elisha said, “Call her.” So he called her,
and she stood in the doorway. “About this
time next year,” Elisha said, “you will hold a son
in your arms.”
“No, my lord!” she objected. “Please, man of God,
don’t mislead your servant!”
But the woman became pregnant, and the next
year about that same time she gave birth to a
son, just as Elisha had told her.

She just offered to help bless the man of God and the man of God searched out the blessing the woman needed at that time , even though it seemed too late for her.
Bless  a man of God today.

A pastor friend of mine was sharing with the church one day, He said he went to the market one day to get some stuff, and he parked at a place where cars are meant to be parked and went into the market to get what he wanted to get. When he came back he put the things he got in the boot and a woman approached him and started shouting and cursing that because of him she could not place her wares to sell since morning. Shr was cursing him seriously. He did not say anything, he just got into the car and he started praying to God to forgive her.

Let us note that he did not pray to reverse or break the curse, that is because he has the understanding, the mindset that what God has blessed no man can curse. He had the understanding that the woman could only be harmed for cursing him because the Bible says in Genesis 12:3 that he will bless those that bless us and curse those that curse us.

What kind of Mind set do you have?? Do you still have fear of curses or threats from evil minded people?

Study the word of God and let the Holy Spirit give you revelations from it. Be expectant and the right word will stand out to you.

2Corinthians 9:7
Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

God loves a cheerful giver, don't we get it?? It dosent say God loves a mighty giver (mighty in the sense that you give so much of what you have).

The Bible tells us that there is much more blessing in giving than receiving. A hand that dosen't want to give cannot receive because such hand is always closed. Now, do we remember the story of cornelius in the book of Acts 10:4. The angel of the Lord came to him and told him

Act 10:4
cornelius stared at him in fear. "What is it, Lord?" he asked. The angel answered, "Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God.

An unbeliever gave to the point that God was moved and his attitude of being a philantrophist brought salvation to his door step. And that is the reason some of us are christians today because God found this attitude of love in is and he reached out to us.

Givers never lack. Since God so much loves givers that he brings salvation to their door step, how much more will he give them all neccecities of life. Is it money, peace of mind, name it. Let giving be a part of your life, it does not matter how small it could be; try as much as possible to increase everyday in the manner in which you give.

It may not necessarily be money alone, it could be your services, it could anything you can do to help others.

Don't be selfish, being self centered cannot take you anywhere, it dosent speak well of you before men and even before God. This is because God is love, and love is not self centered?

All what am trying to say is that everytime somebody requires our help, it is an oppourtunity for us to be blessed.
Therefore we should always be looking for the oppourtunity to bless others.

Have you asked yourself this question lately?
The Bible tells us that the days are evil, meaning that there is no time to waste. Do you try to improve everyday. Are you a guitarist? Do you rehearse everyday? Are you a singer? Do you do your voice training everyday? Are you a business man or woman? Do you have financial plans to improve or take your business to the next level?

With the help of the Holyspirit and his guidance we can bring our dreams to reality. But don't be distracted by anything, be it girls, watching movies 24/7, meaningless or worthless companions that don't add anything to your life. Don't even buy unnecessary things that does not add to your carrier. Be focused.

Have a good attitude. I have a message on attitude by Pastor Chris, send me an email if you need a copy.
Have the attitude of blessing others, favor them, when God tells us that this is our month of favor, we only look forward to being favored; fine but have you ever thought of showing favor to others? Think about it.
The bible lets us know that there is more blessing in giving than in receiving. when your hand is open you can receive, but when your hand is closed you cannot receive.

Be honest in your dealings, when you're honest, people will recommend you to others, but if someone is crafty, people can only speak wrongly about such person, which is bad for his/her carrier.

Surround yourself with like minds, i.e people with the same vision as you do. Make sure they are the positive type of people. When you're around them, it makes you current and easily you can receive information that are necessary at the right time and you can also be recommended.

Be unique; Let the Holyspirit give you inspiration, try not to copy others; think about something nobody has ever thought of. I heard about a man of God who has what he calls a thinking room. Think. Brainstorm.

God Bless You

When a Man gives his life to Christ, he becomes a new creature. 'creature' not 'creation'; this means that there has never being any being like him before. we cannot categorically tell or describe what he is. Let us note that when you give your life to Christ it  does not change your physical body but it changes your spirit into a new creature because man is a spirit who has a soul and lives in a body. The body of man is just his domicile.

Now the spirit of God which is actually the power of God now abides in you as soon as you give your life to Christ. The issue now is to activate that power of Christ in you; to put it to work, to stir up the power so it can perform wonders in our mortal body and make us overcomers in this world.

• When you speak in tounges your spirit is praying directly to God just like the Bible tells us that we are speaking the language of angels.
• It may sound senseless to us or the people around us but the bible tells in 1st Corinthians 2:14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.  So therefore the opinion of the world doesn't count. Its by the grace of God that we believe in Jesus; how do you expect an ordinary man to believe that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin; somebody who never had sex. Can you imagen? 
• When a man of God was preaching in a particular crusade some few years back, he preached about the power of tounges and after the message a boy with a growth on his body touched it and started praying; immediately the power of God was stirred up within him and he hit the party of his body where he had the growth and it reduced drastically and after a few days it disappeared. That is the power of praying in tounges.
• When you don't know what to pray about; pray in tounges, so that the spirit of the lord will go before you and pave way for you. This way you can never be disadvantaged in whatever you do.
• When you speak in tounges the spirit of fear will automatically leave you; and you will receive confidence in whatever you do and everywhere you go. So if you're a timid person all you have to do is speak in tounges and you will see results.
• When you speak in tounges the spirit of God can intercede for other people through you; so therefore as you speak in tounges you have become an intercessor.    

My father in heaven, I love you, you know I do. I know I sin against you, but you just have to forgive me because my righteousnes is like a filthy rag before you. You know I'm your son and no matter what I do to my earthly father he dosent dis own  me not to now talk of my heavenly father.

Teach me to do your will and to increase in your knowledge, help me to be the light of the world. I want to be a solution to the problem of the world. Your word told me that I am the light of the world, I will not be a disgrace to zion, I maybe born poor, but i cannot grow up to be poor. I cannot be disadvantaged, provisions have been made down for me already, all because I am the child of the living God. I promise you that you're the only one i'll serve all my life because I stuck to your word and I have testimoneis.

Thank you father for granting my heart desires. I often ask myself that who am I that you've been mindful of.
To end this all i have to say is I love you.

If a guy should tell his girlfriend sweet words like 'I love you' and the likes, dosen't she feel so special and the love she will have for the guy will be without measure if the guy should keep telling her sweet things like that.
And you will find out that the lady will love this guy with everything she has, her time, her money name it.

The bible tells us that that we were created in his image and likeness so therefore God feels the same way. If only you could tell God that you love him, if you could only tell him a lot of sweet words passionately from your heart, if only you could let him know how much he means to you, if you could only tell him that it is him you will serve all the days of your life, then God will love you with all that is within him and he will grant the desires of your heart. God bless you.

I know your answer is "yes, who dosent want to be rich?"

Now the main issue is " how do I go about it?"

I'm writing this article as am being led by the spirit of God. I may not be able to tell you where exactly the scriptures are quoted in the Bible, but am hundred percent sure that you will find it there.

Firstly the bible tells us to seek ye first the kingdom of God and everyother thing shall be added unto you. I interprete it as when you mind the business of God, God is going to mind your own business, everything you need to be successful in life he is going to put it in your hands.
In your church, are you a worker, do you play musical instruments with an humble heart, are you a chorister that sings with all your heart, are you an usher, are you part of the prayer band team, are you a Sunday school teacher that teaches the word of God and also does the word of God, are you the treasurer, can you give an accurate account of how you manage the church's resources. I have a message the Bible tells us that God is not unjust to forget the labour of the righteous.

Secondly the Bible tells us I think in the book of Genesis that as long as the earth is still in existence sowing time and harvest time will not cease, this tells us that if we do not sow we cannot reap; if there is no time to sow, surely there can't be a time to harvest.
Do we pay our tithes regularly, do we invest towards the work of God, the work of preaching his gospel, our money can also do this. Do we give welfare offerings in the church; or we just leave it to the so called rich people, hmm the rich shall become richer and the poor poorer. When our neighbours ask us for something, and we know we have it at our finger tips, do we give them or ask them to come back, or we tell them we don't have it, hmm and we keep telling God to let us find favour in his eyes and in the eyes of men. Let us endaevour to give freely, the money we use to drink beer the money that if our girlfriends ask us for it we easily give them, but when it comes to giving God it becomes a problem.Let us change.

What can you offer people; people don't value worthless people; wen you help people without the mindset of money; you help them without considering receiving money from them but because of the love for what you do for them; you will see that the quality of the service you render to them cannot be compared to what they will pay for elsewhere, at that point your work will begin to speak for you; then people will begin to come to you with offers you cannot refuse, they are ready to hire you. Now make yourself valuable.

Lastly do not use any fraudulent method to get rich. The end is destruction,remember  whatsoever you sow you shall reap, if you steal from somebody and make him cry, what do you think will happen to you in the future. Let's think about this very well and endaevour  to make clean money.

Our Fortifications

What do I mean by fortifications?
They are devices that we put in place against incoming or unknown attackers.
Now the questions are

• Who are we?
• Why do we need fortifications?
• Who are the unknown attackers?
• How do we fortify ourselves?

Who are we?

John 17:14
I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.


Jesus Christ has made it known here to us that we are not of this world but we are of God. We have recieved the word of God(we are christians), and now the world has hated us for it. Now that the world hates us, they probably would want to harm us just as they did to Jesus. Now this leads us to the second question

Why do we need fortification?



We have one enemy, and that is satan, but he has agents all over the world. His agents could operate in the spiritual and they could manipulate people in the physical to do his work. The Bible lets us know that the devil is going all around the earth, going back and forth in it, and so are his agents. They have come to steal kill and to destroy.

The segment we have being waiting for .

How do we fortify ourselves?

We dont have to make any sacrifices, neither do we have to make any incantations, we do not need to place anything under our pillows before we sleep, neither do we need guns or bodyguards to fortify ourselves. All we need is the word of God. Hallelujah.

We need to exercise the authority and power that God has bestowed on us. We should do this in our prayers. How do we do this? Let us take the scriptures below and master them we can start by using

Psalm 91

**Proverbs 23:7
"For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:"

Someone once said: Watch ur thoughts, they form ur words. Watch ur words, they deyermine ur actions. Watch ur actions, they determine ur habits. Watch ur habits, they become ultimately, ur character

You are a direct produce of ur thoughts. You are where you are today because of what u thought of "yesterdays".
That means; we can actually become someone better by "Renewing or changing our Thinking patterns". In times like this, we need to pay attention to our thoughts. And every thought is based on an INFORMATION.
I like breaking down english words; "IN" (when it comes in), "FORMation" (it forms or create a thinking pattern according to its own pattern/source).
My dear, what have you been listening to?
Be decisive and deliberate about what you hear this week. If you hear failure, you'll think failure... If you hear wrongly, u'll think wrongly... If you hear rightly (by the Word of God), there's only one result...Testimonies :D .
Love you, See u @ the top! Hav a Gr8 week

Eddy

This is something I feel we should know to increase our knowledge in the Lord Jesus Christ

• The HolySpirit does not have a name. ''Holyspirit'', ''HolyGhost", are just description's of his person. Do we remember when Jesus said to his disciples "I will pray ask my father to send you another helper in my name". This means that at the mention of the name of Jesus here on earth; the Holy Spirit swings into action.

Hello, you may be wondering, ''why should i be filled the Holy Spirit?". Our preachers keep preaching about being filled with this Spirit, but how does this enhance my practical life?, how does it move my business forward?, how does it affect my relationship with people?

We have a message for you!!

Exodus 31:1-4

 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 3 and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, 4 to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze,

After the Lord filled Bezalel with the spirit of God, skill, ability and knowledge in all kind of crafts to make artistic designs with all sort of materials came upon him. The reason for giving them skill and ability in craftmanship is because that was their occupation.

Whether you are a guitarist, a fashion designer, an engineer, a teacher e.t.c.
By the time the Holy Spirit comes down upon you and fills you, you will have unlimited access to numerous kinds of improvisation and knowledge that men have never heard of or seen. Then you become the best in what you do.

This is just one of the numerous reasons and advantages to be filled with the Holy Ghost

I also thought you should know that Bezalel made the ark of the covenant.

All of us experience change in our lives. Change is the one constant in our lives. There are changes that we look forward to and change that we fear. However, one thing is for sure. Things will not stay the same no matter how much we would like them too. When a life change occurs, we have two choices in how to respond. We can despair that a change has come and assume that things will be worse, or we can look with excitement at the new possibilities that the change presents.
Eddy.

Indications: At least twice a day

I know who I am
I am the son of God
I am a royal priest hood
Everywhere i set my foot upon will be mine
No man will be able to stand before me
The Lord will bless those who bless me
He will curse those who curse me
I am a giver of light
Men will be blessed through me
I do not fear the terror of the night
Nor the arrow that flies by day
I tread upon the lions and cobras
I trample the great lion and the serpent
Surely there is no enchantment against me
Neither is there any divination against my family
A thousand shall fall at my side, ten thousand at my right hand
But it shall not come near me
I am a tree planted by streams of water
I yield my fruit in season
My leaf does not wither
In all I do I shall prosper
I will not die but live to proclaim what the loird has done
God has prepared a table before me
In the presense of my enemies
Goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life
I am arising
I am shining for my light is here
Nations will come to my light
Kings shall come to the brightness of my dawn
I am radiant
Riches of the Nations will come to me
Lions may go week and hungry
But I shall lack no good thing
I am highly favored
I am not disadvantaged
Everywhere i go provisions are already made down for me
I am the best
In my going out I am blessed
In my coming in I am blessed
I am not a failure
I am a success
I cannot be sick because by his stripes I am healed
I'm working in power
I'm working in miracles
The devil cannot withstand my light
I am the son of the living God
The unchangeable changer
The rock of my salvation
Hallelujah.

Being humble is divided into two categories


1.      Being humble in your relationship with people
2.      Being humble in your heart(God looks at the heart)


1.      Your relationship with people: To have a humble relationship with people around you; you have to work on something we call "attitude". If you have a good attitude or a bad attitude, it determines whether you are humble or proud respectively.

Am not going to talk about theories today but am going to use practical examples to help us practical examples of situations that we come across everyday.

The issue of greetings

When somebody does not greet us atall or does not greet us well, we become offended and don't greet the person again because we feel we are too big to be treated like that. We say things like "who is he?", "Does he know who I am?", "Does he know the kind of people i move with?", "We are not in the same level, so i don't want insults from people like him".

No, It shouldn't be like that. If somebody doesn't greet you you can as well greet him. And we shouldn't be nasty when we do so. Do we know the story of Haman in the book of Esther. Everywhere he went people bowed before him because the king has exalted him to the level of a prince. Then one day his friends asked him if he noticed that Mordecai does not bow to him. The bible records that he didn't bow because he knew the wickedness of Haman. Haman's pride was hurt that he believed it was in insult to kill Mordecai alone, He then decided to kill all his people, but God disgraced him and he lost his life and his family in the process. So greeting somebody tat doesn't greet us does not take anything from us. Maybe if oneday Haman decided to greet Mordecai maybe he would have had a change of heart and started respecting Haman.

The issue of recognition

You are the guitarist, the way you played made people love your band so much; but then you friends come to you one day and ask you why you are not recognized. You shouldn't be angry or moody, you should have the right attitude by saying; i made the music work out, my joy is fufilled i therefore do not care if i am recognized or not.
Let us apply this in our daily activities.

Don't ever think you are better than someone else and as a result look down on them

We can look down on people through our words body language and so on. It is as a result of thinking we are better than them.

Romans 12:16b
"Do not be proud but be willing to associate with people of low position"

There is an exception to that verse tho'

Do not be conceited

When you are humble, it dosent mean you should do unskilled or domestic work for people in the name of being humble. Let's be wise.

What what you say and how you react to what you hear

After Jesus Christ had being baptized by John the Baptist. Some time later he went to someplace with his disciples where he spent sometime with them and baptized people.
Some of John's disciples now came to him and said that the man who was with him at the other side of Jordan-that he testified about) is now baptizing and everyone is going to him. Hear what John says in John 3:27-36.

Most importantly in verse 29b he said that joy is mine and it is now complete. He must become great and I must be less. That is humility. He didn't seize the opportunity of speaking ill against Jesus because he was not there. He did not condemn the action of Jesus because he(John) baptized him(Jesus) or because he was the one who was given the ministry of baptism.

Let us learn from John

Do not condemn Others

We should not condemn people and their actions even if they are wrong. Do we remember when God was angry with the Israelites Genesis 32:9. God told Moses that he should let him destroy the Israelites completely; then he will make him into a great nation. At this point God wanted to start a new nation with moses. What an honour

“I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. ¹⁰ Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
¹¹ But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. “Lord,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? ¹² Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. ¹³ Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’” ¹⁴ Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.

LIsten to his prayer to God in verse 32

Then Moses returned to the LORD, and said, "Alas, this people has committed a great sin, and they have made a god of gold for themselves. 32"But now, if You will, forgive their sin-- and if not, please blot me out from Your book which You have written!

What manner of lowliness and love.

2.      Your heart:  let us guide our hearts; how and what we think. When we imagen ourselves in so much wealth, do we treat people like trash in our imaginations??
When we imagine our selves in high desirable positions? do we look down on people or rivals in our imaginations??

David had it in his heart to build God a temple now see what God did in return for him

1st kings 8:18

But the Lord said to my father David, ‘You did well to have it in your heart to build a temple for my Name. ¹⁹ Nevertheless, you are not the one to build the temple, but your son, your own flesh and blood—he is the one who will build the temple for my Name

Psalm 132:11-12

The Lord swore an oath to David,
    a sure oath he will not revoke:
“One of your own descendants
    I will place on your throne.
¹² If your sons keep my covenant
    and the statutes I teach them,
then their sons will sit
    on your throne for ever and ever.”


Let us watch and guide our hearts. Its very important.

Good luck in being humble; the Holyspirit will guide you and tell you how to go about it
 

James 4:6

But he gives us more grace. That is why scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble"

A man of God once said "I have seen people with abilities, talents. They are unable to move"

So many people pray against enemies of our destiny, enemies of our breakthrough; we pray that they should die. We have forgotten that we have only one enemy which is satan.

But still we pray against enemies in my fathers house, enemies in my mothers house, enemies in my neighbourhood, working place e.t.c.

My brothers and sisters for how long? Some of us have being praying all these kind of prayers since we were little. The big question is "where are the results".

Now if you are in the category of people who have being praying so much against enemies, and after they have have all died, you can now succeed. Right???

I have a message for you

Proverbs 3:34
He mocks the proud mockers but gives grace to the humble

That's it. God mocks the proud. To mock somebody means to treat him/her with contempt i.e lack of respect by a feeling of intense dis-like.

The proud will keep trying to move forward, but God is saying no. He is elbowing them. He dosen't make them move forward

Proverbs 15:25
The lord tears down the prouds man's house but he keeps the widow's boundaries intact

They have the abilities but they cannot move forward. At this junction satan is not their enemy. God is their enemy. And since God is against proud people who can be for them. They are doomed. They will continue to fail because of what proverbs 15:25 says the Lord pulls down their houses, their investment.

Let us keep ourselves humble and let God give us unmerited grace and favour.

Jacob- Stole is brothers blessing

Rehab- A prostitute from Jerico

Naomi- Conspired with Ruth to seduce Boaz

David- Gave an innocent man an undeserving sealed letter of his death. After he died, he married his wife

And many more wicked kings Manasseh, Amon, Ahaz.


We do not intend to judge these people listed above but to derive lessons from them categorically even after they had died.
These set of people where in the geneology of Jesus Christ. Now the key point is Jesus christ the perfect one came out of their Generation. He never stole, he never bowed down to any idol, He never killed any man, He is just blameless. He had the bloodline of these men, yet he did not give way to sin.

Despite the short comings of these people, God still chose to come to the world though them. He did not give up on them; all he did was to give them a perfect ending. Imagine Jesus is called the son of David; what a great honour to David.

Now, Matt 5:48
Be perfect even as your heavenly father is perfect


Jesus Christ has come to stay in us; the perfect person; we are therefore also made perfect. We are 100% perfect. We cannot make mistakes because He that is in us is greater than he that is in the world.

In some families there are some ungodly riyuals that are being  right from the times of their fore fathers. It may be regarding marriage or burials; it happens mostly in African countries. As new creations it has to stop with us. We don't have to follow their trend of doing things because jesus christ did not behave like that.

Som families say the wife should get pregnant before marriage; and in the christiandom premarital sex is a sin; as christians we should not follow the trend.

Good news; it also comes with blessings. All those generational curses and judgement of death sorrow and the likes will have no place in our lives. Praise God.

We are a chosen generation

A royal priest hood

We are blessed

kings shall come to our rising

We are highly favored

Let us endeavor to know who we are and continually declare it as we believe in our hearts and watch our lives become perfect

1st samuel 22:2 (KJV)

And everyone that was in distress, and everyone that was in debt and everyone that was discontented ngathered themselves unto him andb he became a captain over them, and there were with him about 400 men.

David started from the bottom and he made it to the top. While he was raising his army, he passed through so many difficultiesw because the bible let us know that it was those that were in distress, those that were in debt and those that lived uncomfortable lives that came unto him. He did not despise them. He did not treat them as worthless. He did not ask them to go back and stay away from him; but he accepted them unto himself and respected them.
They did not have any weapons to start with; probably only David had a weapon. We are going to see what God did with their lives.

Now how did David respect them
2nd Samuel 23:14-17

¹⁴ David was then in the stronghold, while the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. ¹⁵ David had a craving and said, “Oh that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem which is by the gate!” ¹⁶ So the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines, and drew water from the well of Bethlehem which was by the gate, and took it and brought it to David. Nevertheless he would not drink it, but poured it out to the Lord; ¹⁷ and he said, “Be it far from me, O Lord, that I should do this. Shall I drink the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives?” Therefore he would not drink it. These things the three mighty men did.

He knew the men risked their lives to bring him the water, He therefore did not drink it but poured it out as a sacrificial offering to the Lord. Although he really needed to drink water, but he just couldn't drink that particular water. This act of love made the men know that David truly loved and respected them.
Now hear what the men told him in 2nd Samuel 21:17

But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to his aid and attacked the Philistine and killed him. Then David's men swore to him, “You shall no longer go out with us to battle, lest you quench the lamp of Israel.”
  
What height of loyalty!!!

Can you imagen how those three men did it. They broke into the enemy camp and fought their way through until they got to the well; then one of them started fetching while the others were fighting. Am sure the enemy soldiers would even laugh when the found out that they broke into their camp just to fetch water. What manner of loyality!!!

Now see what mutual understanding and love between david and his men brought him.
Am sure that if David's men were outside and they mistakenly overheard a stranger speak ill of David they will kill the person immediately

Do we also realize that david never judged his men. Do we remember when Achish one of the philistine rulers asked David to go back in peace because the other pkilistine rulers did not approve of him going into battle with them. 1st Samuel 29:1

In chapter 30 when his men got back to ziklag the amalekites had taken their children and wives and families and burned thei town to the ground. When David found strenght in the Lord his God. He decided to pursue but two hundred of his men were too tired to pursue but the remaining fourhundred continued in the pursuit.
God gave them victory and they recovered all and even more. Nothing was missing.

1st samuel 30:22

But all the evil men and troublemakers among David's followers said, "Because they did not go out with us, we will not share with them the plunder we recovered. However, each man may take his wife and children and go."
 
But David did not judged them or treat them with contempt but he said in

1st Samuel 30:23-24

David replied, "No, my brothers, you must not do that with what the LORD has given us. He has protected us and delivered into our hands the raiding party that came against us.

Who will listen to what you say? The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle. All will share alike."
 

He said they should share with their brothers equally and he also sent plunder to all others who were in Judah and other lands where his men had roamed; Why wont they be loyal to him.

Now let us look at the end product of David and his army before he finally became king

2nd samuel 23:14
2nd chronicles 11:10

One of his men armed with a spear killed 800 men in one encounter

One of them stood his ground when other soldiers ran away and fought till his hand froze to the sword

One of them armed with only a spear killed 300 enemy soldiers

One of them pursued a lion into a pit on a snowy day and killed it

One of them killed a huge egyptian with a knife while the egyptian was armed with a spear 


God Bless you as you learn from David.