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There are seasons when it feels like everything is pressing in at once. The threats feel overwhelming. The future feels uncertain. And the temptation is to surrender simply to make the pressure stop.

In 1 Kings 20, we see this exact moment play out in Israel’s history. After Elijah’s restoration and victory over the prophets of Baal, Israel immediately faces another battle. Thirty-two kings unite against them, threatening to take everything. What unfolds is a powerful lesson about preparation, obedience, and trusting God’s plan.

This passage reminds us that victory does not remove the need for preparation, and mercy without obedience can cost us more than we realize.

It’s Not Over Until God Says It’s Over

Before stepping into 1 Kings 20, Scripture reminds us of a foundational truth first revealed in Elijah’s story: God decides when the story ends.

Elijah believed his life and calling were finished, yet God declared otherwise. God had more assignments, more purpose, and more work for him to do. The same is true for us. No failure, discouragement, lack of experience, or sin disqualifies someone who comes to God in repentance and surrender.

God’s grace empowers obedience, and obedience unlocks what comes next.

When the Enemy Threatens Everything You Value

In 1 Kings 20, King Ben-Hadad of Syria leads thirty-two kings against Israel. His message to King Ahab is clear and brutal: your silver, your gold, your wives, your children, everything you value belongs to me.

This mirrors the enemy’s strategy today. Scripture tells us the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy. He aims directly at what matters most, hoping fear will cause surrender before the fight even begins.

Ahab initially responds with fear, offering everything without resistance. Fear always leads to premature surrender.

Fear Surrenders, Faith Prepares

Though Ahab wavers, the people resist. And suddenly, God intervenes.

A prophet brings a word from the Lord:
“I will deliver it into your hand today, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”

God does not minimize the threat. He acknowledges the size of the enemy. Then He declares His power over it. God’s deliverance is not random. It is intentional, purposeful, and designed to reveal who He is.

Faith does not deny the battle. Faith trusts God in the middle of it.

God Already Knows the Outcome

When Ahab asks how this victory will happen and who will lead it, God’s answer is surprising. The young leaders will fight, and Ahab himself will set the battle in order.

This moment reveals something critical: God already knows the outcome before the battle begins. He invites His people to participate in what He has already planned.

God does not remove responsibility. He provides direction. Obedience is how we step into the plan He has already prepared.

Victory Today Does Not Eliminate Tomorrow’s Battle

Israel experiences a miraculous victory. The enemy flees. But God does not allow complacency.

The prophet instructs Ahab to strengthen himself, take note, and prepare, because the enemy will return in the spring.

This is where many believers stumble. We celebrate victory but fail to prepare for what comes next. God calls His people to learn from past battles, recognize the enemy’s tactics, and strengthen themselves spiritually.

Preparation is not fear. Preparation is wisdom.

Strengthen Yourself and Make a Plan

God’s instruction is specific: strengthen yourself, take note, and see what you should do.

Strengthening requires intentional action. It means ordering your life around God’s priorities, renewing your mind through Scripture, and making room for growth. Growth demands pruning. Capacity increases only when space is created.

Without a plan, believers remain vulnerable. God calls His people to be disciplined, sober-minded, and attentive to His Word.

When Mercy Becomes Disobedience

After a second miraculous victory, Ahab spares Ben-Hadad instead of obeying God’s command to destroy the enemy completely. He makes a political treaty instead of trusting God’s instruction.

This is a turning point. Mercy that ignores obedience becomes compromise. Alliances God tells us to break often look reasonable, even compassionate, but they eventually undermine protection and peace.

Partial obedience is still disobedience.

Obedience Is Where Protection Lives

God confronts Ahab through a prophetic illustration, revealing the cost of his choice. The judgment Ahab speaks over another becomes his own.

Scripture makes this clear: our protection lives under obedience. When God instructs removal, pruning, or separation, it is not punishment. It is preparation for what we cannot yet see.

Disobedience creates chaos. Obedience creates alignment with God’s will.

God’s Will Is Good, Pleasing, and Perfect

Scripture repeatedly affirms that God’s will is not restrictive but life-giving. Romans 12:2 explains that transformation comes through renewing the mind, refusing conformity to the world, and aligning with God’s truth.

God’s will is good. It is pleasing. It is perfectly designed for each person. Discernment only comes through obedience, surrender, and time in God’s presence.

If God asks you to release something, it is because it is not good for you.

Trusting God’s Plan Requires Daily Surrender

Faith is not a one-time decision. Jesus calls His followers to deny themselves daily, take up their cross, and follow Him.

Surrender means trusting God’s timing, methods, and outcomes. It means choosing His way over convenience, fear, or compromise. God can be trusted because His Word never fails and His promises always stand.

Preparing for What God Has Next

God is not finished with His people. He was not finished with Elijah. He was not finished with Israel. And He is not finished with you.

Now is the time to strengthen yourself, take note, and make a plan. Remove what does not belong. Make room for growth. Commit to obedience.

God’s plans endure. His Word does not return void. And what He has prepared for you is worth surrendering everything else.

Key Scriptures Referenced:
1 Kings 19–20
Romans 12:2
James 4:7
Psalm 84:11
Luke 9:23
Exodus 33:13

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to God’s Word and Purpose
02:30 Elijah’s Journey and God’s Assignments
03:26 The Threat from Ben-Hadad
12:05 Ahab’s Response and God’s Assurance
22:29 Victory Against the Syrians
30:32 Preparing for Future Battles
34:31 Strengthening Yourself for Growth
35:16 The Power of Faith Over Finances
36:13 God’s Sovereignty in Battle
39:05 The Church’s Reflection of God’s Power
40:19 The Consequences of Disobedience
46:37 The Importance of Annihilating Sin
52:32 The Call to Obedience
54:28 Understanding God’s Will
01:00:24 Trusting God’s Plan
01:05:53 Living a Life of Surrender

Full Transcript

This transcript is auto-generated and not perfect. We hope it blesses you.

Jaime Luce (00:09.134)
Welcome to the Jaime Luce podcast. Really happy to spend some time with you today. I hope you’re ready to dig into the Word. If you’re new to this podcast, it’s all about what’s in God’s Word. We want to study His Word. We want to know it. We want to feed on it. It’s the bread of life. We want to consume it. We want it to stir us up. We want it to motivate us. The Word is the gift that God has given us that we are able to know His heart and His mind to be able to know the will of God,

purposes of God, the plans of God, and that’s really what we’re going to be talking about today. If you were with us last week, we were talking about Elijah and really how he got through and survived a very serious depression and how it wasn’t over till it’s over, right? That’s Yogi Beria, it isn’t over till it’s over. That he thought he was done. He thought he was finished and there were many reasons why he would think that.

But we can see based off scripture, it wasn’t over. God had not said it was over. In fact, God said, have more for you to do. God said, there’s still a plan I have for your life. There is still purpose on your life. And he gave him three assignments that he still needed to complete. Now, I don’t know the length of time of those assignments. I would assume just based off of the journey that he made to get to the place he was, this was gonna take some time to get done all of these things that needed to get done.

And we were encouraged last week to know that no matter what circumstance we have come through, no matter how difficult it has been, it isn’t over until God says it’s over. And that we are not disqualified by lack of experience or pedigree or education or financial background or…

the sin of our past. have all come to the cross the same way, needing to be forgiven of our sin. And it is the blood of Jesus that cleanses us. It is the grace of God that empowers us to be able to go forward and do what he has called us to do. And that no matter what was in our yesterday, if we will repent and come before him and be ready to walk a life of surrender and obedience to God, that all things are possible to him that believes.

Jaime Luce (02:30.632)
And so we’re going to pick up in that same vein, that same feeling, that same place here. We are now moving from first Kings 19 into first Kings chapter 20. I wasn’t sure last week if we get to it and we didn’t. So I wanted to do that today. And I’m not going to read to you the entire chapter, though I do hope that you will go back and read this yourself. But we have now finished this.

portion of Elijah and what God is saying are the next three assignments that he needs to complete. And then that’s the incoming and welcoming of Elisha as his new servant, because we read that he had left his servant in Beersheba before. And so now God has assigned him a new one. And this one will be the one who kind of steps into his place and receives a double anointing.

though we’re not talking about that today, but that’s where that chapter ends up is when Elisha accepts that call and mantle and prepares to be the servant for Elijah. I will read you the first few verses and then I’m going to give you a synopsis of chapter 20. Now Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, gathered all his forces together. 32 kings were with him. This is a big group, guys.

32 kings. This is a lot of nations banning together to come and overtake, overthrow, and destroy Israel.

with horses and chariots, and when they went up and besieged Samaria, they made war against it. Then he sent messengers into the city to Ahab king of Israel and said to him, thus says Ben Hadad, your silver and your gold are mine, your loveliest wives and children are mine.

Jaime Luce (04:36.576)
And the king of Israel answered and said, this is going to blow your mind. This is a threat. All of these kings have come up against King Ahab. And don’t forget now King Ahab has just seen God do the miraculous through Elijah and they have slaughtered all the prophets of Baal. So this is fresh that all the people

When Elijah had slaughtered all these prophets and when God answered by fire, all of Israel said, the Lord, is God, the Lord, he is God. God has been trying to prove to Ahab, I and I alone am God and I am God of Israel. And whenever God is trying to make himself known, it’s not so that God is simply worshiped. He’s wanting you to understand he has called you to himself.

He loves you. He has a plan for you. There are purposes that he has in mind for you. There are things that God wants to do in you. There are things God wants to do through you. There are things that God wants to do for you. There are so many things that God has planned for those that he calls his own. Israel was his own. A group

of Hebrews that he created and said, I will be your God, you will be my people. This was a relationship, a covenant relationship that God had established with these people. And King Ahab was wicked. And over and over again, the grace of God can be seen. The grace of God is the gospel story. If it was not for the grace of God to us, we would be lost in our sin. And he was trying so

miraculously to show King Ahab, I am God. Quit wasting your time on false gods, false idols, things that produce nothing and cost you everything. If you’ve been following along with us over the last month or so, you will have seen this pattern of what God was trying to show them and that God is saying, I have for you better. I’m all you need if you will just surrender your life to me.

Jaime Luce (07:00.884)
And so we see that here comes this great army of many nations, 32 kings, along with Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria. This is no little weak army. This is a serious threat. And they have come and he has said to him in threat, everything that you’ve got that’s gold and everything you’ve got that’s silver, all your beautiful wives and your children, guess what? I’m taking them all. I’m gonna take it all from you.

This is the threat. And look what Ahab says. This blew my mind when he said this. He said, my Lord, O King, just as you say, I and all that I have are yours. I mean, there’s no fight in him. There’s no resistance in him. He is literally ready to just give it all to Ben Haddad. Okay?

Then the messengers came back and said, thus speaks Ben-Hadad saying, indeed I have sent to you saying, you shall deliver to me your silver and your gold, your wives and your children. So not only is he saying, I don’t even need to come in and fight you, I’m expecting you to walk all of this to the gates and hand them over, just give it all to me. I mean, it’s complete robbery. But listen to what he is adding to this now.

but I will send my servants to you tomorrow about this time and they shall search your house and the houses of your servants and it shall be that whatever is pleasant in your eyes, they will put in their hands and take it. I mean, he is threatening.

I’m gonna take everything from you, but it doesn’t stop with you. I’m taking everything from everyone in your kingdom. All of Israel is going to give me everything. I will be leaving you destitute. You will have nothing. Isn’t that just like the devil? The enemy comes, but to steal, kill and destroy. That’s it. To steal, to kill, to destroy. Verse seven.

Jaime Luce (09:14.424)
So the king of Israel called all the elders of the land and said, notice, please and see how this man seeks trouble for he sent to me for my wives, my children, my silver and my gold. And I did not deny him. So he’s saying I was willing to sacrifice for all of Israel, give him everything I have to make him go away. But watch, I want you to notice he says now what he’s saying. He tells his elders, this is what he actually now says.

And all the elders and all the people said to him, do not listen or consent. So the people are, at least there’s some resistance in the people. I mean, he was willing to lay down. This king was willing to just give it all up. And the people are saying, hang on a minute. No, no, no, no, no. They’ll just, you’re not stealing all our stuff. You’re not, we’re not just handing it over to you. Anything that we think is valuable, you get to take it from us.

So then you go to verse nine, it says, therefore he said to the messengers of Ben-Hadad, tell my Lord the king, all that you sent for me to your servant the first time, I will do. He’s still trying to work with him, but this thing I cannot do. I will not let you go into the homes of all my servants and take everything that you want from them. And the messengers departed and brought back word to him. Then Ben-Hadad sent to him and said,

The gods do so to me and more also. Doesn’t this sound familiar? That was exactly what Jezebel said to Elijah. The gods do so to me and more also if these are their threats. If enough dust is left of Samaria, which is where King Ahab is for a handful for each of the people who follow me. He’s saying there is there’s going to be a handful of dust left. 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. Now I love that saying. I don’t like that. I have to attribute it to King Ahab, but it’s a great saying. This is what the devil does. He boasts to you about all he’s going to do to you. You hear the continual threats of everything he’s going to take from you. All the things you’re afraid to lose. All the things that you are scared is going to happen.

Jaime Luce (11:39.488)
all the, you know, the sky is falling and the enemy is the one telling you that. And this is what the response should be. Let not the one who puts on his armor boast like the one who takes it off. Meaning you haven’t even started this fight yet. You’re boasting and we haven’t fought yet. You don’t get to boast until the war’s over and you’re taking your armor off because of victory.

Only then do you have the ability to boast about what you’re going to do. And it happened when Ben-Hadad heard this message as he and the kings were drinking at the command post. So here he’s making these threats, but he’s not taking fighting seriously. He’s off drinking at the command post that he said to his servants, he told them while they’re all drinking, get ready. I mean, he’s mad, right? Get ready. And they got ready to attack the city.

Suddenly, suddenly, does anybody need a suddenly in their life? Suddenly a prophet approached Ahab, king of Israel saying, thus says the Lord. Now, before I read this, I’m just going to say this right now by faith because I feel this right now. There’s somebody listening and you need this exact word. You are listening to this at the very time that you’re listening to this.

purpose. God does have a purpose. He does have a plan and I want you to hear this word. This is for you. Thus says the Lord, have you seen all this great multitude? I mean, he’s saying, have you seen how bad it is? What’s what how many enemies there are that surround you? How incredibly difficult this fight will be? Have you seen the extent

of what the threats are that are truly against you. This is how God starts off through the prophet. Thus says the Lord, have you seen all this great multitude? Behold. That word behold, it’s like pay attention. You need to see this. Behold, look at this. I will deliver it into your hand today. Today.

Jaime Luce (14:04.098)
That is for somebody. I will deliver it into your hand today. And you shall know that I am the Lord. Now, whoever that’s for, you need to take that by faith, by faith. It is impossible to please God without faith. Take it by faith. Okay. Now, as far as Ahab goes, this was the word for Ahab.

This was the word got brought to Ahab regarding these 32 Kings. I am going to deliver this into your hand today and you shall know the reason he’s going to do it. The reason God is going to do this again by the grace of God, the mercies of God, the love of God. He is saying so that you shall know that I am the Lord. He just wants this King to understand and lead his people.

that God is their protector. He is their source. He is an abundant source. He’s saying, do you see this great multitude? It’s nothing for me. It’s so nothing for me. I can so do this that I’m gonna do it today. I’m gonna do it today. So Ahab said, by whom? He’s thinking my army’s not big enough. There are 32 kings out there with all their armies. By whom? And I love this because we can have questions.

And it’s okay that you have questions. Ask the questions. Let God lead your life. Let him determine what the plan is for your life. He knows your tomorrow. We talked about this last week. He knows your tomorrow. He knows what’s in front of you. We may not know, but he has a purpose. He has a plan. It ain’t over till it’s over. By whom?

And he said, meaning the prophet, thus says the Lord by the young leaders of the provinces.

Jaime Luce (16:13.902)
Lord, I’ll take that for myself. Thank you. I know what that means. Then he said, who will set the battle in order? Who will set the battle in order? He said, okay, God, you’re telling me who’s going to fight, but who’s going to be the general? Who’s going to take care of all this? Who’s going to make sure this works? Who’s going to band them all together and set out the plan? And he answered, you.

You are. Isn’t that amazing? So many times we look for an external savior, yet we have Jesus Christ the savior who resides in us. His Holy Spirit resides in us. It is His Spirit that has brought new life, who speaks truth, who gives us vision, who sets forth a plan.

who gives us the blueprint, who knows the outcome before we even set out to do this. This little passage right here, these two verses are saying God already knows the outcome, he’s already got a planned outcome, it’s a fixed fight, I’m gonna do this and I’m gonna tell you now how I want you to proceed so that you can actually reap the benefits of the plan that I have set in motion for you, okay?

Then he mustered the young leaders and the provinces and there were 232 and after them he mustered all the people and all the children of Israel, 7,000. So they went out at noon. Meanwhile, Ben-Hadad and the 32 kings helping him were getting drunk at the command post. They had just been told, you’re ready to fight. And God says, yeah, that’s a joke. They’re in there.

getting drunk while I’m over here making the plans to have a great deliverance today. You know, my mom used to always have this saying whenever we would be praying and believing for God to step in and do something, if we were really needing the Lord to move on our behalf and whatever it was, and we’re in the midst of that battle, whatever that battle is, there would come a point in that battle where because

Jaime Luce (18:38.954)
You can be in a battle and it can bring confusion. That’s how the enemy operates. He’s very stealthy and you can be operating, he’s operating and causing a lot of confusion and you’re not sure what you should be praying. You don’t really know what the real core or root of the problem is. And you’re not sure how to move forward. And one minute you’ll think this and the next minute you think that and your thoughts are hard. You can’t get your thoughts together. It’s just, everything seems.

you know, discombobulated, it’s just difficult. It’s confusing, it’s very confusing. And when you’re confused, it’s really difficult to actually come to a decision, make up your mind and take action. So it’s an attempt to cause you to fall into the trap that he has set for you versus you being ready with a plan to attack. And in this, she would always say, the minute we would all of a sudden understand, this isn’t just this that we’re dealing with, this is the devil, this is the enemy.

This is a spiritual battle, because we can have things that pop up in life and you just think those are life circumstances. You don’t realize you’re getting hit one after the other with things and all of a sudden you recognize it’s the enemy. So she would use the term, the enemy has just shown us his hand. Like if you were playing cards, we now know it’s you. We know what you’re doing. We know why you’re doing it. All of a sudden it’s as if his plans against us are made manifest and we can see them all.

just as simply as all of the plans of this enemy were laid out. I want to take all your gold. I’m going to take all your silver. I’m going to take your wives. I’m going to take your kids. I’m going to take anything that’s precious to you, anything that you value. That’s what I’m coming for. And so they have seen the whole plan now all in front of them. And God is saying, I’m telling you, you’re going to get deliverance for this today. Now, while this is happening, all these leaders of the enemy are getting drunk.

They’re getting drunk. They’re so confident. They are so proud, so arrogant that they are in there getting drunk instead of being serious about rallying the troops for a battle. They really didn’t believe because Ahab had so acquiesced easily that they didn’t think there’d be any kind of fight ahead of them. I don’t think they really thought it would take much. But in verse 18, it says, so he said,

Jaime Luce (21:02.542)
I’m sorry go to verse 17 the young leaders of the prophets went out first So Ben Haddad sends out a patrol He has him go look see what’s going on while they’re in there getting drunk and they come back and say well We see some Israelites coming and as they’re coming This is King the Ben Haddad King of Syria. His response is basically Okay. Well if they’re coming out To surrender and to serve me fine. Take them alive

In fact, it kind of says, no matter why they’re coming out, just take them alive, which means he plans on using them for his own service. wants to put them, his desire isn’t necessarily to kill them. He wants to make them slaves. He wants to take everything they’ve got and make them slaves. so down in verse 21, no, I’m sorry, verse 20, and each of each one, meaning each of the young leaders of Israel, each one killed his man.

So the Syrians fled and Israel pursued them and Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, escaped on a horse with the cavalry. So they take off renin. They’re drunk, they can’t fight, they take off renin for their lives. Then the king of Israel went out and attacked the horses and chariots and killed the Syrians with a great slaughter. So God brought about a great victory with their small number. And the prophet came to the king of Israel and said to him, and this is really important,

This is the word of God. He has just brought victory. God has just brought victory. And he did so after telling King Ahab, I’m going to do this. And I’m doing this so that you know, I alone am God. I’m the Lord. You should be serving me, not these false prophets and prophets of Baal and other, why am I struggling with that? The idols and false gods.

So verse 22, and the prophet came to the king of Israel and said to him, go strengthen yourself, take note, this is really interesting, take note and see what you should do.

Jaime Luce (23:17.678)
in for in the spring of the year, the king of Syria will come up against you. So here the prophet is letting him know, I’m not only going to tell you what was going to happen today, I know what’s happening in the springtime of next year. And this king is going to get bold and brazen again, and he’s going to come up against you again. So I hope that you can begin to see

the effects of

of what the king is up against and in himself serving false gods, his tendency must be that he doesn’t take seriously things he needs to take seriously, which is the same problem Ben Haddad had because God is specifically addressing an issue. saying, I’ve told you basically, you know, I’m God, I’ve told you I’m going to do this and I’m doing it because I am the Lord, but I’m also telling you

by the prophet that you need to take note. Everything you’re seeing, everything you just went through, everything that I spoke to you, how this all went down, everything you learned on the battlefield today about the Syrians, take note. Take note. We should be learning as God is leading us in our lives, as he is bringing about victories in our lives, we need to take note about how that took place.

We need to understand how the enemy works against us. What are the ways the enemy tries to set traps for us? What are the schemes that he uses against me? What are the ways that he sent that he usually uses to tempt me? You should be learning so that you understand and grow in your faith, grow up in the faith, know how to defeat the enemy on his turf when he’s setting traps for you.

Jaime Luce (25:18.562)
There God is trying to give us strategy for winning strategy to know how to win. If we will serve the Lord, if we will follow his commands, if we will do what he says, serve him and him only and do follow his instructions that will lead to victory. And he’s giving him clear instructions. He’s telling him, strengthen yourself. Now he’s talking about not just personally, he’s talking about your army, strengthen your army.

You just went through this battle. Don’t put your guard down. It’s time to strengthen now. It’s time to build it up. Build up your army, strengthen yourself. Take note and see what you should do. Meaning you should already be putting a plan in motion for the future. Now I mentioned last week that, you know, many people like to prepare for a new fresh start come new year and we’re coming up on a new year.

We are winding down of 2025 and 2026 is right in front of us. And I know many of us could not have envisioned what 2025 would bring, but I get the sense because of, guess in my sphere of my world, the people I talk to and commune with, no one seems to have a real handle on their thoughts about 2026.

It seems very elusive. There’s a lot going on in the world. There’s a lot going on in the United States. There’s a lot going on in politics. There’s a lot going on in the state level. And there is sure a lot going on in the church and in our lives, in our own families. There’s a lot. And we need the Lord because he knows tomorrow. He knows the plans he has for us. So in this

Knowledge, we need to remember that. You need to remember God has a plan. The way he had a plan for Elijah, the way he had a way forward, that there’s still a purpose in his life. There are things he needs to accomplish that God has said, I want you to do this. And right now God is saying to King Ahab, you need to strengthen yourself. You need to take note and you need to see what you’re gonna do. Get a plan.

Jaime Luce (27:43.596)
So maybe right now at the end of this year, what we need to be doing is sitting down with our time with the Lord, the way Elijah pulled away and spent time with the Lord to get his mind right, to get his heart right, to get his emotions right, to get the plan right. Instead of a mindset of giving up and quitting, a mindset of there are still things that I need to get done. How will I get them done? Maybe ask the questions like Ahab did. By whom? Who’s gonna do this? Who’s gonna set the battle in?

battle array. Who’s going to do that? Ask the questions. Let the Lord lead those answers, but get a plan. If you want next year to look different and you want to make sure that you are doing what God has put you on this earth to do, then you need to be asking the Lord, what’s the plan? Help me to formulate the plan. Help me to strengthen myself in preparation. You know, when we, the scripture we love to quote is from the Old Testament is when it says, lengthen your

and strengthen your stakes, right? Throw wide open, we’re gonna make our curtains bigger. We’re gonna expand, we’re gonna grow. That’s an uncomfortable place to be in a growing, stretching time. People tend to look at that as thinking, yeah, I’m gonna grow. And they usually think about it in finances. I’m gonna get more, I’m gonna be more. Folks, we need to look at that as our capacity. Are you making room for God to do more in your life? To use you?

Are you actually strengthening yourself in preparation for what’s coming? Because you can’t house more if you stay the way you are. If nothing changes, if you make no new plans, you’ll be a sitting duck like King Ahab, come the spring. Ben-Hadad’s coming back. The enemy will come again at another opportune time. That’s what Jesus’ experience was in the wilderness. He left, but he waited to come back for another opportune time.

and the enemy will do the same in your life. I’m gonna read this later, but I’m gonna say it right now, but in James 4.7, therefore submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. But we know that he will come back. He won’t just flee, you don’t pray one time and then you never have to pray again. We stay in relationship with the Lord because he has a plan. And he knows.

Jaime Luce (30:03.746)
that whatever opportune time that will make itself evident, the devil’s gonna show up and try to rob, steal and destroy. That’s what he’s gonna do. He’ll steal, kill and destroy. That’s his plan. So again, go strengthen yourself. Take note. If you haven’t noticed, I’m trying to give you instructions right now. I’m giving them to you out of the word of God. Prepare for what’s coming. Go strengthen yourself.

Take note and get a plan. Get a plan.

See what you should do for in the spring of the year the king of syria will Come up against you Let’s plan ahead. Let’s plan ahead spiritually What are the things that we’re going to do to make sure we are strengthening ourselves and growing in the lord next year? Do you have a plan? Are there things you need to cut off are there things you need to cut out? I’m going to show you an example of that because in order to make room sometimes we have to prune

make room. The reason we get pruned is because we are pruning down so that we are making room for more and more abundant growth, more multiplication. Pruning is necessary. Let’s look at this. Verse 23. Then the servants of the king of Syria said to him, their gods are gods of the hills. It just shows you. It never ceases to amaze me. You’ve heard me say this before.

When we hear people who are not serving the Lord, not Christians, and they try to tell us what it is to be a Christian, they criticize our Christianity trying to tell us, if you were a Christian, you’d do this. As if you know, you’re not one. That amazes me. And that we allow those voices. I feel bad. They said to me, my husband has dealt with this.

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We own a couple of businesses and it’s not preferable. We don’t want to have to do it, but sometimes you have to lay people off. Sometimes you have to actually fire people and no one likes to do that. And of course, because they know that he is a man of faith, he does not shy away from it. He has proclaimed the Lord many times. They know where he stands and what he believes. And the minute that they have a negative impact in their life,

And if it’s a layoff, could be because financially they need to lay them off. It could be because there’s underperformance in an entire area and there’s restructuring in a company and you have to lay people off in order to restructure. But those people who don’t have faith, who aren’t serving the Lord, always will say, I thought you were a Christian. Okay, but I’m running a business. This is just what you do in business.

Being a Christian doesn’t mean that you hire everybody and they all stay and you can never do business. That’s crazy. You know how many times Jesus talked about how much better the world is at business than Christians, than those who are Christ followers, who are those who submit to God. And he was challenging them saying, should be better. You should be smarter. And we need to be smarter. We do this in politics. We let people…

who don’t like what we stand for try to tell us, well, if you were a Christian, you’d be basically, you’d love everybody and you’d condone everything they wanna do, cause you love them and you just care about them. So you just want them to be happy. That is not at all Christianity. We stand for truth and sometimes the truth hurts. Sometimes it hurts, but it hurts because the truth is what sets you free. We’re trying to help you, but to be a Christian and to be mamzy-pamzy, to be weak.

to be waffling back and forth to do like King Ahab. Okay, come take everything. Just take it all. It’s okay, I’ll give you everything I have. You can just come rob me. You can just come steal from me. I mean, we’re doing that as a nation right now. It’s ridiculous. And this is what we’re seeing. This is the same scenario being played out here with Ben-Hadad and King Ahab. And God is saying, that’s not my plan for you. That’s not, I have a plan for your victory.

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for your freedom to not be servants of Ben-Hadad. And he’s saying, you have to strengthen yourself. You need to take note. You need to see what you’re gonna do. You need to make a plan. I mean, these are things we’ve got to do. We have to be very diligent. We have to be those who are disciplined. We have to be those who take God’s words seriously, not off getting drunk, not off not paying attention, not off thinking, you know, we’ll handle it, no big deal, it’ll be fine. Get a plan.

You’re not going to grow in God if you don’t have a plan. You’re not going to grow in strength for 2026. You’re not going to be stronger and know him more if you don’t do what he’s speaking to us to do through his word.

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So let me finish with this, not finish, but finish this portion. The servants of the king of Syria said to him, their gods are gods of the hills. Therefore they were stronger than we, but if we fight against them in the plain, surely we will be stronger than them. So their whole reasoning, it’s ridiculous, but their whole reasoning and why they thought they lost was because well, their gods that they serve are gods of the hills. So they know how to fight in the hills and that’s why they won. But if we fight them in the plains, then we got them. And this is comical to God.

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So verse 24, so do this thing, dismiss the kings each from his position and put captains in their places and you shall muster an army like an army that you had lost horse for horse and chariot for chariot. Then we will fight against them in the plains. Surely we will be stronger than they. And he listened to their voice and he did so. So this is Ben-Hadad. He’s like, okay, that sounds like a great plan. So it wasn’t the spring of the year, just like God said, here he comes that Ben-Hadad mustered the Syrians and went up to Afak to fight against Israel.

And the children of Israel were mustered and given provisions and they went against them. Now the children of Israel encamped before them like two little flocks of goats. Can you just see this? This is very poetic. I love when scripture does this to give you a really great picture to see what’s happening. Here he’s saying Israel has encamped. They know they’re gonna have to fight. And in number, it looks like they are two little flocks of goats. A little group of goats over here and a little group of goats over there in the plains.

And yet you’ve got all of Syria’s army coming up against them. Okay? So while the Syrians, well, let me finish the scripture. Now the children of Israel camped before them like two little flocks of goats while the Syrians filled the countryside. Okay? Filled the countryside. So you have a mass of people and then two little flocks of goats. Then a man of God, another prophet,

Then a man of God came and spoke to the king of Israel and said, thus says the Lord, because the Syrians have said the Lord is God of the hills, but he is not God of the valleys. Therefore I will deliver all this great multitude into your hand and you shall know that I am the Lord. Here he is again coming by his miraculous grace to say, they’re mocking me. They think that I’m so small. And the obviously the life

that Israel has been living has not proved to the Syrians that God is truly God. Enough time and enough serving of idols has gone by, enough generations of those not serving God that these other enemies now, the enemies of God, these other nations no longer fear Israel. They used to fear Israel because they knew God went before them, split waters, brought plagues on Egypt, destroyed their enemies.

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took Jericho walls down without even fighting. They used to fear God. And now they just think, they don’t even have an idea who this God is really. And know, shame on us because if we were to take that and look at the church right now, have we done a good job of portraying to the world how powerful and how great God is? Has the church done a good job? I don’t think so because they seem to be speaking back, their God only is this, that and the other. They think of God as weak.

They think that we need a God because that’s our crutch. They don’t see the power of God. Shame on us that our lives are not reflecting the glory of God and how glorious he truly is. We should be. That’s just a side note. That one’s free. Then the man of God came and spoke. I’m gonna read that again. Well, let me read the last part again.

Because he said this, therefore I will deliver all this great multitude into your hand and you shall know that I am the Lord. So again, God is trying to show King Ahab, I am God and you need to be serving me and I will take care of you if you will submit yourself to me. If you will obey me, if you’ll just let me lead you, I will take care of you. I’ll bless you, I’ll protect you.

And they encamped opposite each other for seven days. So it was on the seventh day, the battle was joined and the children of Israel killed 100,000 foot soldiers of the Syrians in one day, but the rest fled to Afek into the city, then a wall. this. So Israel is annihilating them again. They’re running, but the rest who fled to Afek into the city, then a wall fell, a wall, a wall fell on 27,000 of the men who were left.

20s, that’s like a city wall, literally 27,000 were killed with this wall falling down. And Ben-Hadad fled and went into the city into an inner chamber. This is where this gets really interesting. I’m gonna try to wrap this up, but this gets really interesting. Ben-Hadad now is scared for his life. He has twice lost. You can’t call him just the God of the Hills. Now you gotta also call him the God of the Plains. And even if you’re not destroyed on the battlefield,

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you’re being destroyed in these other cities by walls falling on you. So there’s some fear that has come over him now. He’s no longer bragging. Remember his remark? That he was gonna, what he was gonna do and Ahab’s response was, let not the one who puts on his armor boast like the one who takes it off. Such a great line. That’s really what’s happening here. He’s taken away all place that he could have to boast. Any place he thought he had, any attempt of strength that he thought he had has been stripped from him.

And so he goes and he hides in an inner chamber. So in these next few verses, the servants of Ben-Hadad come to him and say, listen, we’ve heard this said that Israel’s kings are very merciful. So maybe if we like put on sackcloth and ashes and we tie a rope around our heads and we come in and we’re in submissive, know, we come in submissive to him and

and hoping for mercy of him that he will be merciful and he won’t destroy you and come after you and he won’t come and destroy all of us in Syria who are left. And so there’s this plan that they have that they’ve hatched. And Ben Haddad says, yeah, go ahead and do that. So in verse 33, it says, now the men were watching closely, here they’ve come, they’re hoping that King Ahab will save them alive. It says, now when the men were watching closely to see whether any sign of mercy would

come from him and they quickly grasped at this word that he had said. I should have read you verse 32. Let me read that to you because you need to hear that. Verse 32 says, so they wore sackcloth around their waist and put ropes around their heads and came to the king of Israel and said, your servant Ben-Hadad says, please let me live. Now he’s instead of I’m going to take everything from you. It’s please don’t kill me.

Just let me live and he said this has been I mean this is now king ahab his response is Is he still alive? That’s hilarious to me. He thinks he’s dead. He thought that of all the ones he just thought he was dead Is he still alive? But then he says this statement He is my brother Wrong bad statement. He’s not your brother. He’s not in his real life. He’s an enemy He threatened you he threatened everybody

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He is my brother. Talk about merciful. No, this is the kind of Christianity I was talking about where you think that you can coexist with everybody and coexist not meaning that you just coexist. It means that you align with, okay? You can’t align. It was the practice of kings many times in these ancient times to make alliances with kingdoms so that if

If we had a peace treaty, then I didn’t have to worry about you coming up and fighting me and taking things from me. So Ahab is still living in his old ways and acts like, okay, instead of recognizing God just slaughtered the threat, God literally, this was all God. And if it wasn’t for God, you’d be dead or Israel would be completely in captivity. They will have lost everything, but instead because of God,

You’re now in a place of power and no threat. But Ahab’s still not paying attention to what God said. He’s still not acknowledging that this is God. Regardless of the fact that God had said multiple times, I’m doing this so you’ll know I’m God. But instead of him paying attention that it’s God, he still is resorting to his regular way of doing things and saying, okay, I still should fear you because you’re alive. And instead of thinking kill him,

you should have been destroyed. God literally sent you out to destroy this enemy and now you’re gonna save him alive. Doesn’t that sound like King Saul? God said, kill them all. And he didn’t kill them all. He spared the king. He spared the best of the flocks. I don’t know if this is truly historically accurate or not. I know some believe that it is, but when Saul did that,

there are those who claim that the king lived and that whole group that he was supposed to annihilate should have all died. That nation should have been completely wiped out. But because the king lived, that while he was in prison, he was allowed to have relations with servant girls. And because of that, they repopulated. And that that is actually the group who came out against them again later.

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And that’s a whole nother story, a whole nother thing. I don’t know if that’s accurate or not, but there are many who believe that that is. When God says you need to deal with something, it’s time to remove something, it’s time to get rid of this. It’s for your salvation. It’s for your deliverance. It’s for your victory. It’s for the things in the future that you can’t see, you don’t understand. And he’s wanting to take care of things and some things you need to annihilate.

There are sins that have entered your life. There are habits that have come into your life. There are temptations that you allow around your life. And the Lord is saying, deal with it. Deal with this. Deal with it now. Completely get rid of it. Don’t let this stay. Don’t keep an alliance here. It might be people, ties you have with people. Do not keep this alliance.

And so now the young men who were watching closely to see whether any sign of mercy would come from him, they quickly grasped at his word when he said, your brother, Ben Haddad. So he said, go bring him. Then Ben Haddad came out to him and he had him come up into his chariot. So Ben Haddad said to him, the cities which my father took from your father, I will restore and you may set up marketplaces for yourself in Damascus as my father did in Samaria. So he’s saying, I’m gonna undo

He has a right fear. Ahab is not acting wisely at all. Ben Haddad is saying, I’m gonna give you back any land that we took from you and the way that we set up shop in your land, you get to do that in our land. We’re not gonna, I’m not gonna do to you what my father did. We’re gonna fix all this. I’m gonna undo all the bad stuff I did. I’m gonna make it right. And there are people that we keep in relation that we should not because they say all the right things.

They make all the right promises, but it’s an alliance, God said, destroy that thing. I don’t want that in your life anymore.

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So verse 34, so Ben had said to him the cities which my father took from your father I will restore you may set up marketplace for yourself in Damascus as my father did Samaria then Ahab said I will send you away with this treaty So he made a treaty with him and sent him away Then and I’m gonna try to do a synopsis here real quick the rest of this chapter from verse 35 to 43 is

God is furious with Ahab for doing this. Here he took him by the hand, literally, by the word of the prophets, literally, and has walked him through the process to make sure that he gains victory and Israel is safe all through this year long process. And as he’s doing this, he’s given strict instructions on what to do. And instead of annihilating him, he makes a treaty with him. He makes a treaty with him. And there’s a prophet,

who gets a word from God and he goes out and he kind of concocts this scenario. So he goes to a man, he says, I want you to punch me, know, bruise me up, make me look beat up. And the man refuses. And he says, because you have refused the word of God, because he’s doing this for the Lord, you’re gonna be killed. Today you’re gonna be killed. And sure enough, a lion comes and he kills him. He goes to another man. He says the same thing. I want you to hit me. I want you to strike me. I want you to beat me up. And so the man listens and he does that.

Then after he beats him up, he goes and he sits and he waits for the king to come by, King Ahab to come by. When he does, he stops and he says to him, King, in fact, let me read that part to you. Now, as the king passed by, this is verse 39, he cried out to the king and said, your servant went out into the midst of the battle and there a man came over and brought a man to me and said, guard this man. If by any means he is missing, your life shall be for his life or else you shall pay a talent of silver. While your servant was busy here and there,

He was gone. So he’s saying, he made up this story and he’s giving him kind of a living, a living, what do we call those? Illustrated sermon, right? And he’s saying that I was told I have to watch this person and if I don’t, my life for his, and I’m gonna have to pay the price if I don’t keep my eye on him. But I was so busy doing this and that and the other that when I turned around, he was gone. So he didn’t keep an eye on him. And he says, while your servant was busy here and there, he was gone. Then the king of Israel said to him,

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So shall your judgment be. You yourself have decided it.” He’s saying, you’re the one who blew it. He told you and then you didn’t do what he told you. And he hastened to take the bandage away from his eyes and the king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets. Uh-oh, 42. Then he said to him, thus says the Lord, because you have let slip out of your hand a man who I appointed to utter destruction.

Therefore your life shall go for his life and your people for his people. This is a high consequence to pay. And so the king of Israel went to his house, Solonit is pleased and came to Samaria. This was what was so necessary. What is the significance behind him sparing Ben-Hadad? This was a political maneuver. This was a bad political maneuver. This is what we would call in today’s vernacular,

When someone is either dirty on the take, somebody who is corrupt, all of those things, the swamp, this is a political maneuver that should not have been done. And this was divine disobedience, complete disobedience of what God had asked him to do. After proving who God was, he completely disobeyed. And your protection is under your obedience. If you want to not be protected, you then walk in disobedience because your protection

is under the covering of that obedience. And he had self-condemnation. He himself gave a judgment to somebody saying, knew what you should have done and you didn’t do it. Now you’re gonna pay the consequence. It’s your own fault. I mean, talk about hypocritical and being completely blind to himself. What he judged at someone else, he’s now being judged for. That exact same judgment is now coming on him. And the prophet says so.

This was a missed opportunity. God had so much planned for Israel and Ahab had opportunity and he missed it. He completely missed it. And it shows you the contrast in leadership. Behind Ahab’s decision is a contrast to other biblical leaders who would follow God’s commands. Take Ahab versus King David. have to, the reason David replaced Saul,

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was because he obeyed in all of those things. He would bring complete destruction. He would obey God. He was a man after God’s own heart. This is a call to obedience for us. This passage is a call to obedience. We have to understand that when God says he’s got a plan, it means the only way to attain that plan is to do it the way God tells you to do it. That’s obedience. God giving you a plan for the future, that’s great. When you feel like, just got…

God downloaded a plan for me, I can see it. I have all this vision. I know what God wants me to do. Okay, that’s great. But in order to get there, in order to attain that, you need to walk in obedience because God has a way to get you from point A to point B, okay? Otherwise, this will be a waste of your time. Having a dream, it will never manifest. In fact, far worse bad things can happen. Instead of good things, bad things can happen. Disobedience causes…

chaos in a believer’s life. So I wanted to show you a couple things based off of what we’ve just read in chapter 20. God has a will. His will was to save his people. His will was to protect and take care of and bless his people. His will was to make himself known so that this covenant people could have relationship with this God. God has a will and he has a will for your life. God has a will for your life.

What does the scripture say Matthew 6 10 and in Luke 11 2 it says your kingdom come Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven God has a will he has a will and we need to acknowledge that just because we have a will our will may not be the same as God’s if If my will does not line up with God’s Something’s got to give That’s that’s the line between obedience and disobedience

God’s way or my way. What you need to know about God’s will so that you can rest in God’s will, so you can trust God’s will, so you can surrender to God’s will, is that His will is good. His will is good. Romans 12.2 says, do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then, then, so have to go through this process. You need your mind renewed.

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You need to not be conformed. You need to break alliances. You need to do what we talked about. You need to strengthen yourself. You need to take note. You need to make a plan. Okay. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is, His good, pleasing and perfect will. So it takes not conforming, which

means obedience to God and not the world. Don’t do it the world’s way, do it God’s way. You need to not conform to this world and you need to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. I should have looked up the other scripture, says, our minds are renewed by the washing of the word. That means you need time in prayer every day, you need time in the word of God every day. Now I’m not being legalistic, I know there will be days things happen, okay? But your plan that you make needs to be about how you order your life.

Is God a priority? Are you one of those who says, don’t have time? What do you make time for? Is it possible that the thing you make time for has now become an idol in your life and you serve that? You make ways to take care of that? You have a plan. You know how to make sure and carve out time for that thing, but we’re not doing it for the Lord. It’s a sign of an idol. That’s a sign of an idol in your life. If God’s not first, who is? What is?

What are you willing to sacrifice for? We’ve talked about that in previous weeks. Don’t want to repeat myself. Okay. God’s will is good. He has a will and his will is good. To attain that will, we have to obey. Okay. Because it is only, what did we read? It is only by doing this, by not conforming to the world and being transformed in our mind that we are then able to test and approve what God’s will is. He’s saying, you can’t discern my will and you can’t know my will.

And it won’t work out in your life unless you have done these prior things. And that his will, he’s telling us is good, it’s pleasing. So many people think that if I do it God’s way, I’m going to be miserable. Then you don’t know God. That comment right there tells me you don’t know anything about God. He takes pleasure in blessing his children. His will for your life is pleasing. It’s good and pleasing and

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Perfect. Perfect is a perfect way, a perfect will for your life. Perfect for you. Made, totally custom for your life. You were made custom, you are a one off. There is nobody like you. They broke the mold. And he has a plan that is directly for your life and your life only. And the only way you will discern it and test it and approve it and know it.

is if you will not conform to this world and you’ll be transformed in your mind by His Word.

So to attain it, you must walk in obedience. I wanna give you a couple of verses about that. You know what, before I do that, I wanna give you one more verse on his will is good. James 1.17 says, every good and perfect gift comes down from the father of lights in who there is no variance or shadow of turning. To say that easily, every good and perfect gift is from above, from God. Every good and perfect gift.

every good thing in your life. He’s saying, do you not recognize that was me? Every good gift it hit. If it has truly been good in your life, it was God. If it was truly good and good, truly good is what stands the test of time. Not good for a moment, but is eternal. His goodness is eternal. Then Psalm 84 11 says the Lord God is a son and shield.

The Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing will he withhold from those who walk uprightly. What is uprightly? Who walk in obedience, who walk a life of surrender. Those who do that, he says, no good thing will he withhold from you. Not one good thing will he keep back from you. So if he’s telling you, I don’t want you doing this, it means it’s not good.

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It’s not good. It will not go well with you. It will not be good for you. We need to surrender. What does it mean to surrender? It means your will be done, not mine. It means God’s plans, God’s ways. His way, His time, not mine, His. Teach me, let’s see what’s, Psalm 25, four, sorry.

Make me know your ways, O God. Teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me. For you are the God of my salvation. For you I wait all the day long. The psalmist is telling us, I need to know your ways. I need to know how you do it. Show me. Have a dialogue with me. Tell me what I’m supposed to do the same way we just read that he will completely do.

We need to trust God’s plan. Trust God’s plan.

I read this earlier for you, James 4 7, therefore submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. This is a point of surrender. Submit yourself to God. To submit yourself to God means I fully surrender. Your way, not mine. I lay it all down at your feet. I will not do it my way. It’s like Moses. If you don’t go with me, I don’t go. I’m not going if you don’t go, God. That’s surrender.

And it’s in that place of surrender where we have learned trust to trust God’s plan. What does the scripture tell us that the just shall live by faith? The just shall live by faith. Let me read to you. Let’s see. I wrote this one down, Luke 9 23. Listen to what our surrender and trust will look like with the Lord. If anyone.

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desires to come after me. Let him deny himself, that’s your way, your plan, your time, and take up his cross daily and follow me. This is a daily decision. This isn’t a one-time decision for all. This isn’t just I got saved. This is living our life of surrender and you can surrender because he can be trusted. He is faithful in

all things. I will end with this. Exodus 33 13 says, Now therefore I pray you, if I have found favor in your sight, let me know your ways that I may know you so that I might find favor in your sight. I can trust the plan of God, the just

shall live by faith. The just live by faith. Faith means I have, I know who you are based off of your word and I believe it. I believe you’re who you say you are. When you said to the King Ahab, I am the Lord, I believe you. Whenever you say something’s going, you’re gonna do something, you do it.

That’s why His word goes forth and it must accomplish what it was set out to do. It cannot return to Him void. He is not a man that He could lie. He’s not a liar. He is faithful. His word stands. His word stands. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My word will never pass away. You can trust that He has a plan for your life. Just like Elijah. I’m not done with you, Elijah. It’s not over.

I have a good plan for you still ahead. There are things I have designed for you. There’s still purpose in your life. There are things that I have made just for you. And you need to know God has a plan for you. He has a plan for this upcoming year. It’s time for us to get serious about it. We can’t be off drinking, you know, and not paying attention. We have to be sober minded, sober minded to consider the things of God.

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to not be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. If you don’t know what God’s will is, begin praying, carving out time, cutting off the things that need to be cut off, getting rid of the things that we are tied to that we shouldn’t, make room. We have to make room. We have to prune. We have to make room for the growth. You have to make room for the Lord, for His plans for your life.

You need to make room to hear Him, to commune with Him. This is a covenant relationship. Salvation brings more than just a get out of jail free card. It’s not, you don’t have to worry about going to hell. Yes, you get to go to heaven. Yes, but He has plans for us. He has things we’re supposed to be doing. We are supposed to be laboring and building in heaven right now. There are things that He has for us to accomplish and do, but the only way to do that, the only things

The things that he has for us folks are the things that will not be burned up. They’re not hay and wood and stubble. They are the things that are refined by gold and they are purified and they last and that we will see those works in eternity. We have got to be the people who have given themselves to the Lord fully, wholly surrendered in our life to a life of obedience and in so doing we will see God’s favor.

That’s what Moses had said. I want to see your favor. I want favor in your sight. I want your favor on my life. I want to see you do the miraculous. I want you to help me to win these battles, to be a victor, to be a conqueror. And that’s what we are in Christ. We are conquerors in Christ. Let’s not waste our opportunities. Let’s not do like King Ahab did. Let’s learn from these lessons. Let’s be better than this.

Let’s take the instruction God has given us and let’s do and complete the will of God in our lives next year. The end of this year, next year. Let’s make a plan for it, okay? Let me pray for you. Heavenly Father, I thank you for your word. It is so meaty and satisfying and it fills us up and it feeds us and nourishes us and it gives us what we need, Father. Help us to be people who are wise.

Jaime Luce (01:06:48.248)
Give us wisdom, give us the grace, Father, to do things that you’re calling us to that we could never do in our own strength. Give us the grace that empowers us to hear you, to follow after your plans and your timings and your ways, God, that we would know you. Give us a hunger that stirs us to know you more than we know you now, that we would hunger as David and hunger as Moses.

to know you God, to know your ways, to know your plans, to be obedient servants. Father, I pray that you would minister to each one, that you would, as they cry out to you, that they would clearly and plainly hear what the plan is that you have. Help them, Father, as they take note. Let them be serious about this, Father. Let them be strengthened and to fortify themselves in you, in their knowledge of you.

Father, give them the ability to know what to cut off, where not to make alliances, that they would surely plant themselves in the house of God and become a fruitful vine, that they not only let them be like the mustard seed tree, that it turns into a big, beautiful tree and the other birds could come and find rest and nest in that tree, that we would not only be a blessing,

to our family, but to all those that we come in contact with. God, I ask you for your blessing over their lives, for your favor over their lives, that you would show yourself strong on their behalf, that you would answer their prayers, and we will be so careful, God, to give you the glory. And it’s in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you so much for taking time today in The Word. I know I went a little bit long. I hope that this was an encouragement to you. Share this with someone who needs to hear it. If this was a blessing, would you give me a thumbs up?

Maybe hit the subscribe button, ring that bell, get notified when a new episode comes out. If you’d like to get any more information, if you’d like to get a hold of my book, you can do that on Amazon or go to my website, Jaimelewes.com, J-A-I-M-E-L-U-C-E. I know that’s different than how most people spell it, but that’s my way. So I’d love to see you there. If you have a praise report or prayer request, can email those to me at mail at Jaimelewes.com. And I’d be happy to read those, rejoice with you or pray with you.

Jaime Luce (01:09:09.59)
over what’s concerning you today. Thank you so much for spending time with me today. We’ll see you next time. Bye bye.