1 Samuel 7:14 (NKJV)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThen the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron to Gath; and Israel recovered its territory from the hands of the Philistines. Also there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The original topic for today\u2019s devotion was, \u201cDon\u2019t settle for less.\u201d And that topic aptly describes God\u2019s plan for His children, vis their interactions with the world. Satan\u2019s job is to kill, steal, and destroy. That\u2019s his everlasting assignment, and he does not joke with this. And that is why we have suffered so much loss at his hands. He has stolen our joy, shipwrecked many people\u2019s faith, killed many God-given ministries, stolen our visions, and wrecked our children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But we must not be silent, neither must we accept these as the end of the story. Satan is working, but we must also work. Look around you and take a vow before God, that under the Lordship of Christ, you will recover all that was taken from you and your loved ones. Restoration is what God specializes in, and He is looking for partners to take back from Satan, what does not belong to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this story quoted above, all the cities taken by the Philistines were restored \u2013 from Ekron to Gath. These territories had been forcefully or deceitfully taken, and God was not going to be silent about it. We must not be silent about it as well. Of course, you understand that what we are talking about here is figurative and must not be interpreted as physical land space or territories between countries. In the spiritual realms, these are allocations given to God\u2019s people that have been lost. We are talking about the spaces that were yours, and Satan took them. The joys that were yours, and Satan took them. The peace that was yours, and Satan took it. The love that was yours, and Satan took it. The inheritance given to you that was stolen. Why accept that what is yours should be taken by the enemy? Why be silent while he freely overtakes you and your loved ones?<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you have been following the devotions in the past few days, God has been speaking repeatedly in this direction. God is with you. God is on your side. God will thunder in the place of battle. And when He does, He expects you and I to arise to confront the enemy at the gates of our lives. We are losing our children. We are losing our communities. We are losing our spiritual vitality. We are losing the joy of our marriages. We are losing control of even our churches \u2013 as Satan continues to wage war and plunder. We are even losing hitherto Christian communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Arise Church of God. Lift your voices in prayer. Don\u2019t let the defeat of yesterday weaken your resolve for today. God wants to restore all that has been stolen from you, and from His Church. God wants to manifest Himself like never before. From Ekron to Gath, they have occupied spaces that God gave us. But no more. It\u2019s not a physical fight but a spiritual confrontation to reclaim what is yours. By faith, arise and call on the God of restoration. He is waiting for you. Identify areas of loss, and by faith, begin to call to life those things that seem to have died. Remember, He specializes in giving, \u201cabundant life\u201d to those who believe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 1 Samuel 7:14 (NKJV) \u201cThen the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron to Gath; and Israel recovered its territory from the hands of the Philistines. Also there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.\u201d The original topic for today\u2019s devotion was, \u201cDon\u2019t settle for less.\u201d And that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7372,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-reflections-from-1st-samuel"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t