Today, we continue our series entitled “Laser Focus,” emphasizing living with a Laser Focus on the Fixed Purpose God established for us before the world began.
Scriptures we have been looking at all year:
(Proverbs 4:25 TPT)
Set your gaze on the path before you. With fixed purpose, looking straight ahead, ignore life’s distractions.
(James 1:2-4 TPT)
2 My fellow believers, when it seems as though you are facing nothing but difficulties, see it as an invaluable opportunity to experience the greatest joy that you can!
3 For you know that when your faith is tested, it stirs up power within you to endure all things.
4 And then as your endurance grows even stronger it will release perfection into every part of your being until there is nothing missing and nothing lacking.
(Ecc 3:1 ERV)
There is a right time for everything, and everything on earth will happen at the right time.
Focus for today:
Setting the Stage. (From 1 Samuel 27:5-12)
Yesterday, I told you that David got tired of life on the run, and he decided to move into the land of his enemies, partnering with those he had been sworn to fight against for years, the Philistines. David befriended Achish, the King of Gath, and he and his 600 men moved into the royal city.
The last time I mentioned the King of Gath to you was back in chapter 21. Do you remember what happened back then? Here is an excerpt from my message (from a few weeks ago) so you can remember:
“I would love to tell you that David was fearless, or that he prayed and God told him what to do, or that angels protected him. But none of that happened. David was afraid that the king’s men would come and capture or kill him, so he pretended to be insane, scratching on doors and allowing saliva to drool down his beard. Wow. What a tactic! It works. David was taken to stand before the king, and King Achish said to his men, “Must you bring me a madman? We already have enough of them around here! Why should I let someone like this be my guest?” They let him go, and sure enough, David was on the run again before anyone knew it.”
So here we are, six chapters later, and several years later, David has partnered up with a man he was previously afraid of. A man who was his enemy. However, it did not take long before David was uncomfortable with the arrangement. So one day, he said to King Achish, “If it is alright with you, we would rather live in one of the country towns instead of here in the royal city.” Achish did not know David’s reason for asking, but he obliged and gave David and his men the town of Ziklag.
David and his men lived in Ziklag, among the Philistines, for about 16 months, during which they spent their time raiding the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites—people who lived near Shur, toward the land of Egypt. These were all hard-core enemies of Israel, so David had no problem fighting them. The Bible says that David did not leave one person alive in the villages he attacked, and he instructed his men to take the sheep, goats, cattle, donkeys, camels, and clothing before returning home to see King Achish.
“Where did you make your raid today?” The king would ask him. And David — knowing the Philistines were friends of the Geshurites, Girzites, and Amalekites, but enemies of Israel — would reply, “Against the south of Judah, the Jerahmeelites, and the Kenites.” David was lying to the king, but since there was no news coverage or social media back then and no one was left alive to come to Gath and tell where he really had been, David’s lies were going unchallenged.
David continued this false life the entire time he lived among the Philistines. King Achish believed David and thought to himself, “By now the people of Israel must hate him bitterly. Now he will have to stay here and serve me forever!” So, on the one hand, you have David, who was living a lie before Achish, and on the other hand, you have Achish, who was helping David but only with ulterior motives. This is clearly NOT a picture of God’s best. But it is the mess David got himself into by making a decision out of frustration. We will stop here for today.
So, what does this mean to you today? A few things:
1. Frustration Can Lead to Terrible Decisions.
Before moving to Gath, David walked with God, and God walked with him as David sought to do God’s bidding. David was not perfect or flawless, but he was at least attempting to do what was right in God’s sight. However, once David allowed the frustration of being on the run to get to him, he made a critical mistake in deciding to move to Philistine. And to make matters worse, instead of admitting the mistake and moving back, he started to live a lie.
When we allow frustration to drive our decisions, we often make choices that take us out of God’s perfect will. Despite God having protected David repeatedly, David got tired of Saul’s attacks, and he fled into Philistine territory and joined forces with his enemies. This decision wasn’t based on God’s direction but on his emotional state, leading him down a path of compromise and deception.
How this applies to you:
— Learn to recognize when you are making decisions based on frustration and not prayer. If frustration influences your decision-making process, you will make poor decisions.
— Take time to pray and seek God’s guidance before making major life decisions. Make sure your heart is at peace, and your spirit is hearing from the Holy Spirit.
— Remember God’s past faithfulness when facing current challenges. God did not bring you this far to fail now.
— Practice emotional intelligence by not letting temporary feelings drive permanent decisions.
— Develop the habit of waiting on God’s timing rather than forcing your own solutions.
2. The Price of Being Out of Position.
Being in the right place is critical to becoming the right person and doing the right things. When you are out of place, like David was, you will feel all sorts of pressure to do things you should not be doing. If this is you this morning, if you know you are out of place and the pressure is on you to be someone you know God did not call you to be, then repent and move back into position with God. Please don’t stay in the wrong place when you know it’s the wrong place because nothing good will come out of it.
When we step out of God’s ordained position for our lives, we often find ourselves having to maintain appearances and live inauthentically. David, who was called to be King of Israel, found himself pretending to be an enemy of his own people to survive among the Philistines. This misalignment created pressure to perform and maintain a facade that was never part of God’s plan for his life.
How this applies to you:
— Regularly evaluate if your current position aligns with God’s calling for your life. Ask yourself, “Am I doing what I am supposed to be doing? Am I where I am supposed to be? Is my life in alignment with my divine assignment?“
— Pay attention to feelings of having to pretend or maintain appearances.
— Recognize that discomfort in your spirit might be God’s warning signal. When the Holy Spirit gives you a “check” in your spirit, it is because you are out of position or you are about to do the wrong thing.
— Take immediate steps to correct your course when you realize you’re out of position.
— Trust that God’s position for you is better than any place you choose for yourself.
— Understand that living authentically in God’s will is easier than maintaining a lie.
— Remind yourself that God’s anointing only flows when you are being authentic.
3. The Corruption of Compromise.
In a couple of chapters, we will see David experience the worst tragedy of his life, which could have been avoided had David been true to himself. David knew he was wrong when he had to lie to King Achish every time he went out and came back. Don’t live a lie. Be true to yourself and God. When you understand your God-given identity, and you make every effort to walk therein, you will experience God’s best.
Living outside of God’s will often leads to a series of compromises that corrupt our character. David, a man after God’s own heart, found himself lying, deceiving, and even taking lives to cover his tracks. This deviation from his true identity as Israel’s future king shows how one compromise often leads to another.
How this applies to you:
— Guard against small compromises that can lead to bigger moral failures.
— Remember that whatever you compromise to get, you’ll have to compromise to keep.
— Stay true to your God-given identity regardless of circumstances. Life is easier when you simply live as your authentic self.
— Remember that short-term comfort isn’t worth long-term character corruption.
— Maintain integrity even when no one is watching.
— Accept that being true to God may sometimes mean facing difficult situations, but the difficulties you face with God are nothing compared to what you will face if you decide to step outside of God’s will.
4. The Illusion of False Security.
David’s choice to live among the Philistines gave him temporary relief from Saul’s pursuit but created a false sense of security. While he thought he was solving his problems, he was actually creating bigger ones. King Achish’s trust in David was based on deception, making his position increasingly dangerous.
How this applies to you:
— The ways of God’s Kingdom differ from the ways of the world. Recognize that worldly solutions often provide only temporary relief.
— Trust in God’s protection rather than seeking security in compromising situations.
— Understand that false security often comes with hidden costs.
— Sin will take you longer than you wanted to go, make you stay longer than you wanted to stay, and it will cost you more than you wanted to spend.
— God’s way might seem harder, but it provides true peace.
5. Repentance Will Get You Back On Track.
Even in this season of compromise, God didn’t abandon David. The path back to purpose was always available through repentance and realignment with God’s will. This situation would eventually lead to circumstances that would drive David back to his true calling.
How this applies to you:
— Even if you know you are outside of God’s will, you should also know that it’s never too late to return to God’s purpose for your life.
— Open your heart to God’s redemptive power.
— Use moments of clarity to make course corrections.
— Learn from detours to strengthen your future walk with God.
— Trust that God can restore what was lost during seasons of compromise. If you caused the detour (like David did), God can still give you double for your trouble once you get back on track because our God is a good God!
— Thank God for grace and mercy!
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I choose Your perfect will and refuse to make frustrated decisions.
I declare that I am positioned exactly where You want me to be.
I reject every compromise that would lead me away from Your purpose.
I walk in complete authenticity as the person You created me to be.
I am who You say I am, and I will do what You called me to do while I am in the land of the living!
I maintain my integrity even when facing difficult circumstances.
I choose to align myself with Your perfect will for my life, even if it seems like it will cost me something.
Anything I give up for You becomes a seed, and I know I will reap a harvest.
I declare that Your purpose for my life prevails despite any detours.
GREATER IS COMING FOR ME because I make a human alignment with my divine assignment daily!
I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen!
This is Today’s Word. Apply it, and prosper!
