From Bound To Revival

Hey folks, I am working on a message tentatively entitled "From Bound To Revival..." I want to share with you some notes and thoughts and get some feedback. This is by no means a finished set of notes, but rather just some thoughts I want to jot down before they pass through the exit door of my brain...



Judges 15:12-19 (New King James Version)
12 But they said to him, “We have come down to arrest you, that we may deliver you into the hand of the Philistines.” Then Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not kill me yourselves.”

13 So they spoke to him, saying, “No, but we will tie you securely and deliver you into their hand; but we will surely not kill you.” And they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.

14 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting against him. Then the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him; and the ropes that were on his arms became like flax that is burned with fire, and his bonds broke loose from his hands.

15 He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand and took it, and killed a thousand men with it.

16 Then Samson said: “With the jawbone of a donkey, Heaps upon heaps, With the jawbone of a donkey I have slain a thousand men!”
17 And so it was, when he had finished speaking, that he threw the jawbone from his hand, and called that place Ramath Lehi.[a]

18 Then he became very thirsty; so he cried out to the LORD and said, “You have given this great deliverance by the hand of Your servant; and now shall I die of thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?”

19 So God split the hollow place that is in Lehi,[b] and water came out, and he drank; and his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore he called its name En Hakkore,[c] which is in Lehi to this day.



A brief background, Samson just got through burning down the wheatfields of the Philistines because his father in law gave away his wife to one of his friends...(some friends.) Well, the Philistines in return burned down the house of the father in law and estranged wife. Next, the Philistines show up in Judah and start attacking people. Judah in turn, not wanting to suffer the loss for the cause of one man proceed to turn Samson over to the Philistines...that brings us to this passage. Judah selling out Samson for the sake of peace. Sheesh.



The Bible explains that Samson was basically hiding in the cave of a rock. Then Judah came to him and said: "we are come down to bind thee and to deliver thee to the Philistines..."



It was not the Philistines that bound him, it was Judah. Lets get on the same wavelength. The Philistines represent the enemy, Satan, sin, evil, etc. It was not the enemy that came to bind Samson, who is a representative type of the church, it was Judah. Judah was God's people in a broken, backslid, carnal condition. Man of God, saint of God, church of God, it is not the devil that comes to bind you. Its worldliness, carnality, the hint of a backslidden heart. Its not even sin that comes to bind you, its weights.



There is a two step process that will attempt to stifle you from doing damage to the enemy. The first thing that happens that prevents you from praying like you should, worshipping like you should, preaching like you shoud is you get BOUND by carnality and worldiness; by the condition of a backslid heart.



The second thing that happens is what has you BOUND attemtpts to deliver you to the ENEMY: Satan, sin, total backsliddeness. This is why weights are so dangerous, why carnality is so dangerous, because if you get bound by something, then you can easily be led away from your ROCK, your GOD, your place of safety. And this unfortunate happenstance befalls Samson in our text: he is bound, and then he is led away from the ROCK by a condition of backwards prioritied people.



Samson made the men of Judah promise not to kill him. Weights are not what kills you spiritually. Weights are what lead you astray to things that CAN kill you spiritually. That is why being bound is so dangerous. First weights and worldliness and distractions bind you, and then they lead you away to a place called DEATH...or at least that is the process that enemy wants to engage you in. It is too dangerous of an attitude to have: well, its not really that bad, its not really that sinful, so it won't kill me...IT DOESN'T HAVE TO KILL YOU, all it has to do is BIND you, and then you are spiritually useless and vunerable to an attack from the enemy...



In verse fourteen Samson arrives bound in Lehi. Now this is where the encouragement for you and I comes. He shows up in a place that would seem to be a situation of certain doom. He's bound, and the enemy is his way to take him out, but pay close attention. In verse fourteen, the Bible says that the Philistines "shouted" against Samson, but when they shouted, the Bible says that the Spirit of the Lord came MIGHTILY upon Samson. Here is a message you need to hear: the enemy has a voice, be we have a SPIRIT...This is why the book says "greater is he that is IN you than he that is in the world..." he that is in the world has a VOICE, but YOU have a SPIRIT inside of you...



The voice is dangerous ONLY if you listen to it. Satan used his words to deceive Eve, and she listened. Woops. The devil talks to you all the time. He breathes out threatenings, he is the accuser of the brethren. Its that voice that is always disagreeing with what God told you. He is trying to get you to believe his false, negative report, but he can only use his VOICE. BUT YOU CAN YOU TAP INTO THE SPIRIT IN YOU....



The Philistines shouted victory against Samson, but the Spirit of God came on Samson, and when it did the word says "and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands."



Saint of God, preahcer of God, hear me, the solution to unbinding you from what has you bound is the SPIRIT coming mightily upon you...remember what John the Baptist said: ''he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and FIRE..." Remember on the day of Pentecost "there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of FIRE..." Remember that the writer of Hebrews said that "our God is a consuming FIRE..." If you need to get unbound, put yourself in the middle of a red hot apostolic prayer meeting, put yourself in the middle of a red hot, Holy Ghost saturated altar call and let HIS SPIRIT come on you MIGHTILY because John said the Spirit, the fire, will burn up the chaff; thats the waste, the weight, the sinful part that has you bound...



Church, we have got to get unbound or we will lose this fight against the enemy...we have got to get a fresh touch of Holy Ghost fire, we have got to pray through, worship through, preach through...we have got to let that FIRE come on us MIGHTILY to get us unbound...physical fire burns things, so does Spiritual fire...it BURNS things that BIND you. If we can get unbound, we can fight!



So once you get unbound, you have got to get an instrument in your hands by which you can fight the enemy. Samson picked up a freshly deposited jawbone of a donkey. HE PICKED UP THE FIRST THING THAT HE SAW! Maybe you can help me figure out what it means. I'm not what if anything that jawbone represents. Who killed the donkey? I don't know. Did it die of natural causes; did it starve? I'm not sure, I just know that because it died, because it gave up or lost its life, it was right were God wanted it, and right where Samson needed it. Maybe we're not Samson, maybe you're the donkey. If you're willing to sacrifice, lay down your life if you will, then you could be in a God-ordained position to be used by a man of God in a fight against the enemy. It was just a jawbone, but it was available, and in the hands of an UNLOOSED man of God, it became the instrument by which Samson dropped 1,000 Philistines in one fight.



So get unbound, pick up a fresh weapon. Pick up a fresh prayer. Pick up a fresh session of praise and worship. Pick up a fresh sermon, preacher. Pick up a fresh WORD...the sword of the Spirit, your offensive weapon against the enemy is the WORD of GOD...pick up a fresh WORD and start swinging it: "no weapon formed against me shall prosper..." "rejoice not against o mine enemy for when I shall fall, I shall arise..." and WATCH THE ENEMY FALL AT YOUR FEET. Sin will fall, devils will come out, sickness will leave, addictions have to go when you get UNBOUND, and you start swinging that God ordained instrument...my my.



After the victory, Samson sang about it. He had himself a praise session about his victory. We need some more of those in our churches.



Samson named that place Jawbone Hill. We need to name our victories. We need to landmark them. We need to remember them.



Now, this is where we need to go. Read verse 18 again, here I'll paste it so you don't have to scroll back up:



"Then he became very thirsty; so he cried out to the LORD and said, “You have given this great deliverance by the hand of Your servant; and now shall I die of thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?”



Friend here me, we can't miss this truth. Your greatest moments of spiritual vunerability come immediatley following your greatest victories. Listen to me prayer warriors: spiritual warfare will deplete your spiritual energy...virtue goes out. You get thirsty. You become weak. When you are thirsty and weak you are just as vulnerable as when you were bound...but Samson cries out to God. I find this interesting, when he was getting put into a position in which he needed to fight, the Spirit came MIGHTILY upon him, but when he needed something in himself, for himself, HE cried out to GOD. God will equip you for the battle, loose you, provide a weapon for you, but when it is a relationship aspect between you and God, he is a gentleman. He wants you to call out to him. Jesus, I need you, I'm spiritually spent and dry, I need you.

Watch verse nineteen:

"So God split the hollow place that is in Lehi, and water came out, and he drank, and his spirit returned, and he revived..."

This is the dangerous mistake we can make if we are not careful: we cannot affor to mistake or replace revival with just a spiritual victory over sin and or the enemy...Getting loosed is not revival. Victory over the enemy is not revival. Getting loosed and defeating sin and weights and devils are PREDECESSORS to REAL REVIVAL...

Samson, even after his great victory over the Philistines cried out to God "I THIRST!" And maybe you are in that place...Lord I don't understand, I've been loosed from weights and sins, I've prevailed in prayer over the enemy, WHY DO I FEEL SO EMPTY AND THIRSTY??? Its because God never wants your deliverance and your exploits spiritually to replace your relationship with Him...Your victories are given to lead you to a place where he can refresh YOU with living water. Not to fight, not to do some great exploit, but just to refresh YOU.

The Bible says that when Samson drank of that water that God caused to spring up from the ground at Lehi, a representative type of the living water spoken of in John chapter seven, he revived. Friend, real revival is a place beyond victory, beyond Jawbone Hill...we must ge to the place called En Hakkore - which means "The Spring of the Caller..." Getting loosed and gaining victories will put us in a place to call out to God in desperation "I thirst..." and there in that place the waters of the Holy Ghost can refill us, and refresh us personally. Don't stop at getting loosed. Don't stop at gaining the victory...CALL OUT TO HIM, and will refresh, and revive...The spring is "in Lehi to this day..." that place will be a landmark for you, greater than victory, a landmark of relationship between you and your God.

I hope this helps someone...if you have feedback, let me know. God bless.