Maybe you're in a place right now, where you lost everything like David did.
Maybe, you got kicked out of your church. Maybe, you are watching right now and you're
about to lose your job or you lost your job and externally, the world is falling apart.
But maybe you are in a place where internally your world is falling apart
and externally, everything is fine. So whether you're in one camp or the other
camp. I want to speak to both of you right now and to let you know that, Renewing your Strength
meaning, Renewing your Spiritual Life with God is a prerequisite to receiving from God.
Drop this in the comments. Drop this in the chat right now, 'Renewing your Strength
is a prerequisite to receiving Direction from God.' So many times, when people are in
a spiritually dry place, a spiritually dead place or if they are in a spiritual defeat
or if they are spiritually depleted. A lot of times what we do is that, we say Lord, guide me
or if you're maybe, in the place today, where you lost everything and you feel like, I can't take it
anymore. I don't know what to do next. What do I do? It's one of the most asked questions that
young people ask me all the time and even older people too. Young adults ask, What do I do? What
do I do in this situation? What do I do in that situation? And I want you to notice one thing,
David lost his family. David lost his children. He lost his wives. He lost his possessions. He lost
everything. This would have been a good moment to go quickly in a panic desperate mode and say,
God, what do I do? But David did not do that. The Bible says that, David first strengthened
himself in the Lord his God and then he inquired of the Lord. Why is that important?
If you are not spiritually connected, you will not hear from God. When you are spiritually depleted,
you will not hear from God. When you're spiritually depleted, your spiritual, your senses are dull.
Your receptives, your receptors to hear from God are closed. You need to strengthen yourself
first in the Lord before you can receive a direction, a strategy from the Lord.
The chapter before, where David lost everything, you know Amalekites attacked
him. The chapter before was 1 Samuel chapter 28 and it says this about Saul, it says when
when Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid and his heart trembled greatly.
And when Saul inquired of the Lord, Listen to this very carefully,
The Lord did not answer him, neither by dreams or Urim or by the prophets. So Saul's heart
is not strengthened in the Lord. Saul is full of fear. Saul is full of panic. Saul
is afraid. Saul is disconnected from God and guess what he does. He says, God what do I do?
God doesn't answer. You will think, Why wouldn't God answer? Saul is in the worst place in his life.
Why doesn't God answer? I'm going to tell you why. God wants to feed you before He can lead you.
Come on somebody! Drop it in the comments. God wants to feed you before He can lead you.
If God is not your strength first, the source of your strength
Then He becomes a supplement for your strategy. He becomes someone you use
not someone you depend on. David, after he lost everything, he didn't come to God for
a strategy. He came to God for strength. All he needed is what to do next but David knew,
I need God, the strength of Israel to be my source right now.
Saul did not do that. Saul was afraid. Saul was facing huge army right in front of him.
And instead of repenting, reconnecting, instead of recalibrating, instead of
fixing that broken relationship, Saul is just saying, God what do I do and God does not answer
not by dreams, not by Urim and not by prophets. Why doesn't God answer?
Because God doesn't want to lead you.
Before God told Elijah, when he was discouraged, what he should do next. He fed him
twice, the angel came and fed him and fed Elijah and with that food, he walked for 40
days and there, God told him, go back, anoint this guy, anoint this guy, anoint this guy
and then you're free to go. I found myself sometimes in the place of spiritual depletion,
dryness and especially in those moments, I need direction, I need direction. God,
give me direction and God never gives direction. He says, I want you to come
and I want you to receive strength from Me. I want you to renew your strength in Me
and then ask Me what to do, and then inquire of the Lord.
If you renew your strength, you will receive from the Lord, the direction
of what you should do next. If He will feed you, He will lead you. If He will fill you,
He will lead you. Jesus was filled with the Spirit and then Jesus was led by the Spirit.
So many people want to be led without being filled. So many people want to hear an instruction,
without first being filled with divine inspiration of God's Word and God's presence.
But to do that, you have to switch from desperation to devotion.
You have to switch from panic to passion for His presence.
They wanted to kill David and David didn't panic but he strengthened himself in the Lord. Now, why
is important to renew yourself in the Lord is so that you can receive direction from God. Why is it
important to renew yourself in the Lord secondly, is so that you can actually renew others or revive
others. It was when David actually renewed his strength and he received direction, then he found
an Egyptian guy, who was also dying, who was also depleted. He was forsaken, he was sick and instead
of killing that guy, David gave him bread. David gave him water. David gave him piece of cake of
figs and two clusters of raisins and when the guy that David now revived. See, when you are revived,
you will receive direction. When you are revived, you will revive others.
And these people that you will revive, sometimes can give you cues or clues on how to recover what
you lost. I'm going to say that again. Are you ready? When you are spiritually revived,
you can receive direction from God because God wants to feed you before He leads you. He wants
to fill you before He guides you. When you are renewed spiritually, you can revive others.
David helped an Egyptian guy, who was dying and he gave him water and cake of raisins and all of the
stuff and when he revived him, then this guy gave him tips and tricks and strategies on how David
can recover what he lost. So when you renew your strength, you can experience a receiving from God,
a direction. You can help others to be revived and then you can recover what you lost.