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T. Austin Sparks - Messages.

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                                                >> Samson:  <<

              >> A Great encouragement for the new Year ahead. <<

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                                       Written by: David Hayman.
                         
                              >> STAY IN THE FIGHT! <<
       >> KNOCKED DOWN BUT NOT KNOCKED OUT... <<
Judges 15:20-16:1 "And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years. Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her."
I heard a well known preacher say once that he didn't think that Samson achieved much at all in his lifetime. It is easy for us to think that. I guess it's easy for us to think that of each other too. When we look at Samson's life we see a lot of failure which tends to overshadow the Lord's work in and through him. The truth is that every Christian is a lot more like Samson than we might think. Samson's weakness was in the area of woman. And we see that after 20 years of being the Lord's servant, judging the people of Israel, he had a 'blow out' and ended up in Gaza with a harlot. He then moved on from that relationship into another one with a woman named Delilah. But as we read Judges chapter 16 we find the amazing grace of God as while Samson is messing round in the muddy waters of the flesh, the LORD is still with him, and time and again strengthens and delivers him! It appears from the scripture that this was always an area of weakness for Samson. And we too all have some area or areas of sin with which we find a MAJOR battle! A battle that just goes on and on. The thing is, not to give up in the fight against sin; even if you have to bleed over it; time to wear those knees out in prayer and petition. Samson fell but the problem was he got COMFORTABLE there. And there came a day when the Lord separated from him and he ended up suffering loss and affliction (Judges 16:20-21). The good news for us all is that God knows all about our problem with sin and he hasn't departed from us, just as he didn't depart from Samson (no matter how dark and ugly our sin is), but he's standing by to strengthen us: so what we need to do is, get back up off the canvas and fight! Christ can train you to overcome every sin through his power! "Knocked down but not knocked out"! is the message to us (2 Cor 4:9 paraphrase). And if like Samson you've thrown in the towel some time ago, God wants you to know that like Samson, who's hair grew back while there in the prison house (Judges 16:22), Jesus Christ our Saviour is able to raise you up to do greater things than you've ever done before! "By grace ye are saved" Ephesians 2:5. Jesus loves you. Have a happy new year with a fantastic beginning. ???? If you haven't made Jesus Christ your Lord and Saviour, you can do that today; behold, now is the accepted time: or if you know Christ, but you need to get right with him and back on the road.
God Bless.
 "Friend of a Wounded Heart" (Wayne Watson.)