Highs And Lows // Your Purpose. Your People. Your Redemption.

Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, so the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.   Judges 13:1 (NIV)

A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was childless, unable to give birth. The angel of the Lord appeared to her and said, “You are barren and childless, but you are going to become pregnant and give birth to a son. Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean. You will become pregnant and have a son whose head is never to be touched by a razor because the boy is to be a Nazirite, dedicated to God from the womb. He will take the lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”   Judges 13:2 - 5 (NIV)

One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her. Judges 16:1 (NIV)

Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain in the prison.   Judges 16:21 (NIV)

SAMSON DID NOT SEE GOD’S PURPOSE FOR HIS LIFE   

Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint.   Proverbs 29:18a (NIV)  

SAMSON DID NOT SEE THE POWER OF RELATIONSHIPS  

Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman. When he returned, he said to his father and mother, “I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.”   Judges 14:1 - 2 (NIV)

Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” 1 Corinthians 15:33 (NIV)  

SAMSON DID NOT SEE THE NATURE OF GOD  

After putting him to sleep on her lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him. Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free. But he did not know that the LORD had left him. Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain in the prison.   Judges 16:19 - 21 (NIV)

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?   Romans 6:1 - 2 (NIV)

LONG FOR GOD’S PRESENCE IN OUR LIVES  

Do not quench the Spirit.   1 Thessalonians 5:19 (NIV) 

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.      Ephesians 4:30 (NIV)

CHOOSE YOUR RELATIONSHIPS WISELY  

Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm. 

Proverbs 13:20 (NIV)

Not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.   Hebrews 10:25 (NIV)

MISTAKES DO NOT DEFINE YOUR FUTURE 

Then Samson prayed to the LORD, “Sovereign LORD, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more…”   Judges 16:28a (NIV)