AVOID LEAKAGES
Memorise:
Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes. .. Song of Solomon 2:15
Read:
Judges 16:1-21
Message
Over the past few days, I have been discussing being filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit. If a person can be filled, it then means there is a possibility of being empty. Talking about the possibility of emptiness brings me to the possibility of leakages. There are various ways to empty a container; one is to pour all its content out at once, and another could be to puncture the container so that the content begins to leak until it is totally drained.
Most times, when satan wants to attack a believer who is full of the Holy Spirit, he doesn't launch an all-out attack. The devil is wary of the impact of the anointing; therefore, when he wants to attack such believers, he looks for subtle ways to empty them of the anointing. He looks for little cracks in their lives that he can exploit to cause them to lose the anointing gradually until they become empty-then, he strikes.
Believers who toy with sin will first experience a leakage of the anointing, and if they do not repent, it will ultimately lead to death (Romans 6:23). A believer might still be functioning in the gifts of the Spirit, but if he or she is involved in secret sins, the anointing will begin to leak. The problem with leakage from a container is that the time it is discovered is usually when the remaining content has become too little to be useful or when the container is totally empty; by then, it is already late. When Samson said, '" will arise and go out as before" (Judges 16:20), he didn't know that the anointing had departed from him. The discovery that the anointing is gone often happens when the devil has achieved his goal, and it can only take the special grace of God for the believer to be restored.
. . it is high time to awake out of sleep. . . let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. . . . Romans 13:11-12
Beloved, if you have been toying with sin, this is the time to wake up. Those toying with sin are courting destruction. Nobody may know what you are doing in secret, but God knows, and you can be sure that the devil knows too. Solomon spoke about little foxes that spoil vines in today's memory verse. If you have been committing secret sins, please deal with them now before they destroy you.
Bible In One Year:
Jeremiah 18-21
Hymn:
Yield Not To Temptation
Key Point:
Secret sins will cause a leakage of the anointing and eventually destroy a believer.
King James Version
Judges 16:1-21
Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her. [2] And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they compassed him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, In the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him. [3] And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron.
[4] And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. [5] And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him: and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver.
[6] And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee. [7] And Samson said unto her, If they bind me with seven green withs that were never dried, then shall I be weak, and be as another man. [8] Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green withs which had not been dried, and she bound him with them. [9] Now there were men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber. And she said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he brake the withs, as a thread of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire. So his strength was not known. [10] And Delilah said unto Samson, Behold, thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: now tell me, I pray thee, wherewith thou mightest be bound. [11] And he said unto her, If they bind me fast with new ropes that never were occupied, then shall I be weak, and be as another man. [12] Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And there were liers in wait abiding in the chamber. And he brake them from off his arms like a thread. [13] And Delilah said unto Samson, Hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: tell me wherewith thou mightest be bound. And he said unto her, If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web. [14] And she fastened it with the pin, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awaked out of his sleep, and went away with the pin of the beam, and with the web.
[15] And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth. [16] And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death; [17] That he told her all his heart, and said unto her. There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man. [18] And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he hath shewed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their hand. [19] And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him. [20] And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him.
[21] But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house.
Christly Living