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Protecting the Anointing -
the story of Samson
Stop loving this evil world and all that it offers you,
for when you love the world, you show that you do not have the
love of the Father in you. For the world offers only the lust
for physical pleasure, the lust for everything we see, and
pride in our possessions. These are not from the Father. They
are from this evil world. And this world is fading away, along
with everything it craves. But if you do the will of God, you
will live forever...But you have an anointing from the Holy
One...So you must remain faithful to what you have been taught
from the beginning...As for you, the anointing you received
from him remains in you. (1 John 2:15-27 NLT & NIV)
We have freedom in Christ; freedom to abide in Him...
but it is not a license to living life loose. We're free
from lust of the world – not addicted to it. It's all the
world lives for. Let's look at the example of Samson - the
greatest "he-man" that ever lived.
“Fully follow - fully devote - fully surrender”
Samson was supposed to be set apart - consecrated to God as
a Nazirite - from birth. A Nazirite could not have anything that
came from grapes. He was not to go near anything dead. And no razor
was to be used on his head. These rules were a sign of his consecration.
Our outer life is a symbol of our inner consecration.
He grew and the Lord blessed him. Then obviously something happened…
Samson was strong because of God’s blessing, but he didn’t respect
the anointing God had given him. He had a weakness for women. He ignored
God and followed women.
Eventually he falls in love with Delilah, a woman who was working
for the enemies of God’s people. She nags him until he tells her the secret
of his strength. She lulls him to sleep in her lap, cuts of his hair, and
turns him over to the enemy. Samson doesn't even realize the anointing has
left him. A lifestyle of compromise dulls the spiritual senses and eventually
you won't even know that the anointing is no longer on your life. They gouged
out his eyes and led him away to grind grain in the prison. He was no longer
able to see physically - he had not been able to see spiritually for a long
time already.
But the gifts and callings of God are without reproach - God doesn't take
them back. Eventually his hair started to grow again. One day while the
Philistines were having a big party, God granted Samson the strength to
topple the pillars of the temple they were in. The temple collapsed and
killed everyone inside – the Philistines and Samson.
It's sad to think what Samson could have done had he been fully committed
to serving God instead of serving his own selfish pursuits. The final verdict
is actually found in Judges 21:25 "In those days Israel had no king,
so the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes." That was
the problem – Samson did whatever seemed right in his own eyes - just like
everyone else around him. Just like in our own culture.
“Stop loving this evil world and all that it offers you… the
anointing you received from him remains in you…I can do nothing without
abiding in Him.” (1 John 2:15-27 NLT & NIV)
What we can learn from the lesson of Samson?
Fully follow - fully devote - fully surrender
- Samson took the anointing for granted - may we never
take His anointing for granted! Learn to defend and protect
the anointing – we don't have time to be like Samson. We don't
have time to lose the anointing and wander around until our
strength comes back. There's work to be done. Don't allow the
strength of God to weaken in our lives because we did not maintain
our life and priorities. They put his eyes out - don't let scales
come upon your eyes. We should see things no one else can see.
- Samson did not maintain a vow of consecration. He laid his
life into the lap of a lady he should have stayed away from. Whose
lap are you laying your head into you? You cannot let anyone lull you to
sleep – it will destroy you. It's never too late to consecrate.
- Don't get drunk on anything that dissipates and causes the
anointing to be lost on your life. We need to ask ourselves what
is causing the presence – the anointing – to be unproductive in my
life?
- Don't touch dead things. Stay away from things that bring death
into our lives. The Bible says to stay away from anything that would
contaminate body and spirit. What is contaminating us?
- Let your hair grow – set the example. The hair wasn't the issue
but he was dealing with headship or sign of authority or consecration –
leadership. He was supposed to be a leader to the people - the example
of Godly living. People look to us! What happens when we allow things
of the world to trim our hair? What happens when our integrity is lost?
Are you protecting the anointing or are you allowing the “Delilahs” of
the world to snip at your hair?
Fully follow - fully devote - fully surrender
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