Thurs.’s Devo - Bringing Down the Strong Man -

Read: Judges 15:1-16:31; John 2:1-25; Psalm 103:1-22; Proverbs 14:17-19 It was the time of the wheat harvest which was around the time of Pentecost. Pentecost is associated with the fire of the Holy Spirit and the spreading of the gospel. *** Samson had left his wedding, mad, so his wife had been given to his best man. When he found this out, he took 300 foxes and tied their tails together in pairs. He lit their tails with fire and set them free in the fields of the Philistines destroying their grain, which spread to their vineyards and their olive trees. He spread his gospel of revenge. *** The Philistines came to attack Israel so the Israelites told them they would hand Samson to them to keep them from war. The Philistines agreed that Samson was who they wanted. *** Samson gave himself up to the Israelites so they could hand him over to the Philistines. They tied up his hands and gave him to the Philistines. The Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson and he snapped the ropes off his arms. He found the jawbone of a donkey and killed 1,000 Philistines with it. *** Samson was so thirsty after his battle, he cried out to the Lord for water. God caused water to gush out of a hollow in the ground and Samson was revived. *** One night, Samson went to spend the night in Gaza with a prostitute and the Philistines of the town locked the gates planning to take him in the morning. Samson left at midnight and when he came to the gate, he picked it up and carried it on his shoulders and set it on the top of the hill across from Hebron. (Samson was a bit of a prankster.) *** Samson fell in love with Delilah, a Philistine from Sorek. The Philistines came to her and told her to entice Samson to tell her the source of his strength. They offered to each give her 1,100 pieces of silver. Delilah’s name means “bringing low.” The bribe brought her so low, she agreed to double cross her lover. *** She tried many things Samson told her was the source of his strength, but none ended up being true. Samson hadn’t learned from his wedding party not to trust Philistine women and Delilah finally got the truth out of him. She lulled him to sleep in her lap and had a man come in and shave his locks. His strength was gone. *** She called in the Philistines and they captured him and gouged out his eyes. They put I’m in Gaza where he was bound with chains and forced him to grind grain in the prison. They didn’t know not to let his hair grow back. *** The Philistines held a great festival to their god, Dagon, and brought Samson out to laugh at him. As he was standing between the pillars which supported the roof, he asked if the guard could put his hands on the pillars that held up the Temple so he could rest. All the Philistine rulers and leaders where there with about 3,000 people. They were all on the roof looking down into the arena where Samson stood. He prayed tot he Lord to remember him and strengthened him one more time to pay the Philistines back for the loss of his eyes. He was willing to die with them. The temple crashed down on the Philistine rulers and all the people. He killed more people with his death than he had during his entire lifetime. *** The opposite could be said of Jesus. Jesus saved more in his death than in his entire lifetime. *** Samson was taken back to his home town and buried. He had ruled Israel for 20 years. *** The story of Samson is a living parable teaching us how to bring down a strong man, or a principality. It works on both sides of good and evil. A strong man is brought down by knowing the source of its strength. If we can find out how a principality has a right to be in a person or area then we can bring it down. *** Satan can use this against us as well. He can find out the source of our strength and take it from us, but if the trinity is our source of strength, he cannot touch them. They is our secret power! *** In John, Jesus, his mother and his disciples had gone to a wedding in Cana. The wine supply ran out so Jesus’ mother came to Jesus and told him. *** Jesus was not ready to do his miracles openly, but Jesus mother was relentless. She told the servants to do whatever Jesus told them to do. There were six stone water jars that could hold twenty to thirty gallons of water each. Jesus told them to fill them with water, then dip some out and take it to the master of ceremonies. When he tasted it he declared that most people served the best wine first and then brought out the cheap stuff when the people were drunk, but this host had saved the best till last. *** It was close to the time of the Passover and Jesus went to the temple in Jerusalem. He saw the merchants selling cattle, sheep and doves for sacrifices and how the dealers were cheating the people out of their money. *** Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased the animals and the money changers out of the Temple. He upended their tables scattering their coins. He told the people who sold doves to get out and stop turning his Father’s house into a market place. *** His disciples remembered the prophecy that said, “Passion for God’s house will consume me.” *** The Jewish leaders wanted to know who gave him the authority to do this. They wanted him to show them a miraculous sign to prove who he was. *** Jesus told them to destroy this temple and in three days, he would raise it up. They were astonished. They reminded him that it took 46 years to build the Temple and he was claiming to raise it up in three days??? Jesus meant his body as the Temple of the Holy Spirit. *** Jesus did many miraculous signs at the Passover celebration which caused many to believe in him, but he didn’t trust them because he knew their hearts. *** Lord, the only hope we have in being saved is a new heart. Let your heart be in our heart that we might not sin against you. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit, may we constantly be driving out the evil and filling it with your Spirit.