Don't Count Me Out

I Kings 20:11

So the king of Israel answered and said, “Tell him, “Let not the one who puts on his armor boast like the one who takes it off.”

It’s amazing how your enemy can sense when you are vulnerable and chooses to attack. Oftentimes, it is the verbal threats which cause the most anxiety. Laying in the bed thinking about their threats and their schemes is enough to cause you to lose your peace. As a believer, you must know that the enemy’s bark is bigger than his bite. The devil will have you running from something that can’t even bother you.

The king of Syria besieged Samaria and threatened the King of Israel to hand over his wives and children. For a moment the King of Israel considered handing over his wives and children just to get the enemy away from his city. In this recession, we all feel like we are under siege with bill collectors, IRS representatives building ramps up to our homes. The King even considered giving in until the enemy went too far by saying he would walk through the homes of the King and take whatever pleased his eye. Through wise counsel with the Elders, the King said this was not going to happen on his watch. You can’t just sit back and let the devil come in your house and take what he wants. There comes a time where enough is enough and I can’t sit idly by while the enemy puts siege ramps up to my house and walks in like he owns the place. Don’t count me out!

When you take a stand the enemy will talk louder. The king of Syria was furious and said he was going to tear the whole city down and drag the people away with him. Then King Ahab said, “Don’t count me out! Let not the one who puts on his armor boast like the one who takes it off.” You haven’t whooped me yet? The battle ain’t over! You have to beat me before you can brag. You’ve messed with the wrong person! When the enemy comes against your family there ought to be some Righteous indignation that causes you to say, “Don’t count me out!”

God told King Ahab to gather the young leaders of the province and draw up battle plans. If you are going to defeat the enemy, you need to:

1. Get your team together. Your team might be your immediate family. Make sure you are all on the same page. Your team might be your staff, start assembling your best and brightest and get their input on what it is you are up against. The ideas for your victory are already in your camp, you just have to empower them to get them out. Who is your book keeper? Who do you need to hire on staff?

2. Write your battle plans. Whatever obstacle you are up against right now, God is waiting on you to give leadership to your team. Sit down and put it on paper. Habakkuk 2:2 says write the vision and make it plain that the runners may run with it. What is your plan to get out of debt? What is your business plan to make a profit this year?

3. Fight with everything you got. This is not the time to punk out. Stand still and fight the fight God told you to fight. Now if God ain’t told you to fight don’t move. But if he told you to fight, you unload with everything you have knowing that the battle is not yours it’s the Lord’s. Don’t relent until you get out of debt. Don’t give up until you get the job.

4. Finish what you started. King Ahab messed up. When he defeated the Syrians, King Ben Hedad gave himself to the King and made a plea bargain. King Ahab accepted. As a result God told him that King Ben-Hedad would be back to bother him again because he didn’t finish him off. I know that sounds gangsta but you don’t need to let the enemy come back into your life when God told you to annihilate him. You don’t make friends with people who want to kill you. Whatever tried to kill you needs to be utterly destroyed. You only make friends when your enemy is converted not just defeated. Don’t stop until the addiction is defeated. Don’t stop until every toxic person is out of your life.

Dear God, help me to courageously face my enemies and not retreat in fear from those who would try to lay siege to what I care about the most. Give me the wisdom to know when to fight, when to forgive, and when to finish what they started. Jesus taught us to love our enemies but he also taught us to go get two swords. Show me when to strap up and when to take it off. I await your orders.

In Jesus Name.

Amen.