Pursue, Overtake, and Recover All

By Raquel Soto  

Have you been in this place? Have you gotten to a point where you have cried till you had no more strength? Have you had the world turn so upside down for you that even your loved ones want to turn against you? There is hope for you today!

In 1st Samuel, Chapter 30, Ziklag was attacked by the enemy. Ziklag was in the southern region of Judah (which is important to remember). They not only were invaded, they burnt the city and took the wives and children. When David and his men saw what had happened, they cried until they had no more strength to cry. The people were so distressed they wanted to stone David! After praising the LORD, David inquired if he should pursue. God’s counsel was to go and pursue, for he will recover all!

Judah means praise. Ziklag was in the southern region of Judah. When Ziklag was attacked, it attacked its provisions (the city), its relationships (the wives), and its future (the children). Somewhere in the core of your being (the southern region) is that place in you that is called to praise. That is what the enemy wants. If he cannot steal the Word from you, the only thing he can try to stop is your praise. If he can get your praise, he can take what rightfully belongs to you. He is only here to try to kill, steal, and destroy, but Christ has come for you to have life, and have that life more abundantly, to the full, till it overflows (John 10:10)! The enemy knows that praise + the Word = results. So his main focus is to take one or the other from you so that he can then ambush you. But God is a good God who has brought you to this page so that you can pursue the enemy, overtake him, and recover all!

Praise is a powerful weapon. With it we honor and glorify God and we defeat the enemy. In praise, we can receive wisdom and direction. It keeps us humble. And, it gets our stuff back!

In 2nd Chronicles Chapter 20 another war was raging again against the people of Judah. What was the answer to pursue, overtake, and recover all? Praise!

In verse 21, the singers were sent up front and began to praise the LORD. As a result, the LORD set ambushes against their enemy and they were defeated (verse 22). They actually destroyed each other (verse 23). When the people of Judah came to check it out, no one was left alive (verse 24). When Jehoshaphat came with his troops to check on the spoils, there was so much abundance that it took three days to gather it all (verse 25)! When they returned, they again praised the LORD (verse 28).

Our enemies on this side of the cross are not with flesh and blood, but against rulers, authorities, and powers of wickedness (Ephesians 6:12), namely the devil and all his cohorts. But God has given us weapons of warfare so that we shall not be defeated. Weapons may form against us, but they shall not prosper. We yield the sword of the Spirit (the Word – Ephesians 6:17) and when we’ve done all we can do, we stand and praise because we have the victory. We have the victory because we have it by the Blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony (Revelation 12:11). Forever is God’s Word established in heaven (Psalm 119:89) and no devil in hell can stop it!

So if you have done all you know to do, then rejoice! It is time to pursue, overtake, and recover all that has been stolen or hindered from you. It’s time to break out in praise like David, unashamed and uninhabited. It’s time to be free and glorify God, who is not a man that He should lie. For if He said it, He shall make it good (Psalm 23:19). It’s time to move out in that final act of faith and be fully persuaded that what God promised, He is well able to perform (Romans 4:21!)!

So bring out your cymbals! Break out in song! Dance wildly in passion and love for your Creator! Can you see the LORD ambushing your enemies? Can you see your enemies turning against themselves until there is nothing left but the spoils? Abundance is right around the corner. Right around the corner from praise!

Raquel Soto is the prolific and cutting edge writer of The 1 Minute Guide to Health, Wealth, and Happiness: Wisdom from the book of Proverbs and Breaking the Limitations. She is currently working on her next book, Maximum Results and High Performance. To read testimonials, please visit her site at www.booksbyraquel.com

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