Thrive In Position by Brother Curtis Hansen

         The end of the year, you reflect upon your gains, victories, and accomplishments. The beginning of the year is for setting goals and adjusting expectations. Our scripture reading will be from the book of 1 Samuel chapter 30. We will be reading beginning at verse 1.

        And it came to pass, when David and his men were come to Zik-lag on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the south, and Zik-lag, and smitten Zik-lag, and burned it with fire;

        2 And had taken the women captives, that were therein: they slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away, and went on their way.

        3 So David and his men came to the city, and, behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken captives.

        4 Then David and the people that where with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep.

        5 And David's two wives were taken cpatives, A-hin-o-am the Jez-reel-i-tess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Car-mel-ite.

        6 And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.

        7 And David said to A-bi-a-thar the priest, A-him-e-lech's son, I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod. And A-bi-a-that brought thither the ephod to David.

        8 And David enquired at the Lord, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue; for thou shalt suerly overtake them, and without fail recover all.

        9 So David went, he and the six hundred men that were with him, and came to the brook Be-sor, where those that were left behind stayed.

       10 But David pursued, he and four hundred men: for two hundred abode behind, which were so faint that they could not go over the brook Be-sor.

        11 And they found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and he did eat; and they made him drink water;

        12 And they gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two clusters of raisins: and when he had eaten, his spirit came again to him: for he had eaten no bread, nor drunk any water, three days and three nights.

        13 And David said unto him, To whom belongest thou? and whence art thou? And he said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an A-mal-ek-ite; and my master left me, because three days agone I fell sick.

        14 We made an invasion upon the south of the Cher-e-thites, and upon the coast which belongeth to Judah, and upon the south of Caleb; and we burned Zik-lag with fire.

        15 And David said to him, Canst thou bring me down to this company? And he said, Swear unto me by God, that thou wilt neither kill me, nor deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will bring thee down to this company.

        16 And when he had brought him down, behold, they wee spread abroad upon all the earth, eating and drinking, and dancing, because of all the great spoil that they had taken out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah.

        17 And David spote them from the twilight even unto the evening of the next day: and there escaped not a man of them, save four hundred young men, which rode upon camels, and fled.

        18 And David recovered all that the A-mal-ek-ites had carried away: and David rescued his two wives.

        19 And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither spoil, nor any thing that they had taken to them: David recovered all.

        20 And David took all the flocks and herds, which they drave before those other cattle, and said, This is David's spoil.

        As you go into this new year, do not go absent. The only reason Ziklag had been attacked was because David had not been in position. The Amelekites invaded the city, took the possessions, and burned the homes. The marauders had taken their safety, their goods, and their wealth.

        When you are in position guarding the door, the enemy can't take your house, take your money, take your possessions. So, don't be absent in the coming year. There are roles that God designed for you to walk into. 

        There will be doors of opportunity in the coming year but be wise and wary. Not all open doors are good. If it takes your house, your family, or your money it is dangerous. To thrive in life is not to become selfish. Be a good steward of what God has given you. God will ask you how well you have been a steward of what he has given you. If you stay in position, the problems you face or need intercede upon will be kept in check.

        How does God work? God starts with instructions. Often we want the manifestation of a good outcome right away. God brings instructions requiring obedience. Obedience is something you can control.

        God's idea of thriving is different from how we see it. What we see as a trial or affliction, God sees as an opportunity to remove sin from your character. There are plenty of examples in scripture of God giving instructions. Look at the story of the woman with debt and the oil or the story of Naaman at the river Jordan. God meets needs through his instruction.

        We are going to lose opportunities serving God. Some of the opportunities will put you out of position. In the new year, use discernment in decision making. 

        We question God, "Why aren't you showing up all the time?" The question should be, what instruction am I missing from God? In the reign of King David, you may read about the mistakes, but David took learning from it.

        Chasing behind a prophet. You don't need to ride the coat-tails of someone to get ahold of Jesus. Don't chase behind a prophet so you don't want to develop a prayer life. God wants you to develop and more importantly grow your prayer life.

        Let's talk about the fixes. When you are faced with a change there's always a choice. David sent for the priests in verse 7. Why did David request the ephod? The ephod represented the atonement of idolatry and repented from it. Much how many people wear a cross today. David had seen that his pusuit was an idol above God.

        In Matthew 6:24, Jesus said you can only serve two masters. God or the love of money. David not only gained what was lost but gained even more in the end. Don't be easy for the devil. Don't place what you have above God.