On August 11th, I was awaken in the middle of the night by The Lord's voice saying: " How to recover your spoils."
I knew He was talking about spoils of war, so I wrote it down, and have been meditating and researching on it since then.
What are "spoils of war"?
According to: yourdictionary.com, and Wikipedia.
1)Any profits extracted as the result of winning a war or other military activity.
2)Goods, valuables, or other items taken by an army from an enemy.
Spoils are something that you have earned, something that you obtained by going through battle, they or legitimately yours, they belong to you!
The Lord wants us to go after our spoils, after what the enemy has taken from us!
He wants to give us the strategies and tactics we need to get them back!
I kept asking The Lord: "How do I recover my spoils?? Give me the strategy! I know I have been robbed, now how do I take it back?!"
He led me to study 1 Samuel 30, which talks about how David took back the spoils that had been taken from him and his men.
In chapter 29 we read that the Philistine commanders didn't want David to fight in battle with them because he was a Hebrew and they were afraid he would turn against them in battle.
They told king Achish to send David back to the town that was assigned to him. The king trusted David, infact in the previous chapter (28) he appointed David as his personal body guard for life.
David had proved himself trustworthy and loyal, so when the king told him that he had to leave and couldn't fight in the battle, David was very hurt.
Three days after, David and his 600 men arrived at their village of Ziklag, only to find that their wives, children and posessions had been taken away by the Amalekites and their village burned to the ground!
Can you imagine how they must have felt? Their egos were hurt, they were tired, weary and hungry. They couldn't wait to see their families, eat, drink, and rest, instead all they found was total destruction and desolation!
All they could do was weep, and weep and weep, until they had no tears left!
The men started blaming David and wanted to stone him.
Tired, weary, afraid and overwhelmed, David did the only thing he knew how to do every time he faced a difficulty, he found strength in The Lord and inquired of Him.
He asked the priest to bring him the Ephod. The Ephod is a ceremonial dress of the high priest. It was worn outside the robe and probably kept in place by a girdle and by shoulder pieces, from which hung the breast piece containing the sacred lots, Urim and Thummim, which were used to inquire of YHWH.
David asked The Lord:
"Should I chase after this band of raiders? Will I catch them?”
And the Lord told him: “Yes, go after them. You will surely recover everything that was taken from you!”
(1 Samuel 30:7-8 )
So that's what David did, he set out to take back what the Amalekites took from him and his men.
Before he could reach the enemy, David suffered another loss, 200 of his men were too exhausted to continue, so they stayed behind and set camp at the Brook Besor.
That did not deter or discourage David from his mission to recover his spoils, because he knew that God was with him! After all God was with him when he fought and defeated the bear and the lion with his bare hands and Goliath with just a sling and stone!
On his way there, David encountered another test. His men found the Egyptian servant of one of the Amalekites, who had also taken part in the distruction of Ziklag and the kidnapping of the women and children.
Before David knew who he was, he had his men give him food and water.
After the young man revealed who he was, he told David that if he spared his life, he would bring them to the Amalekites' camp.
I believe The Lord was testing David's compassion, would he show mercy to this young servant, just as The Lord had always shown David mercy?
Hearing the voice of God, receiving instruction and obeying in faith doesn't mean that we will not encounter obstacles, hindrances or testing. I have found it is quiet the opposite.
James 1:2-4
2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
In my walk with The Lord I have learned that when He tells me to do something, it is usually something hard, something that is totally out of my comfort zone, something beyond my abilities, something that requires faith, effort and total reliance on Him! But it's our obedience that brings forth the breakthrough and victory, even if we get bruised and bloody through the process!
You see, He Has already won every battle for us! All we need to do is go through it, keeping His word as a lamp onto our feet and fixing our gaze upon Him and Him alone!! I know it's easier said than done, but it is the only way! He will not leave us nor forsake us!
Isaiah 50:7
Because the Sovereign Lord helps me,
I will not be disgraced.
Therefore, I have set my face like a stone,
determined to do his will.
And I know that I will not be put to shame.
Matthew 14:28-31
28 Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.”
29 “Yes, come,” Jesus said.
So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted.
31 Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?”
The Lord allows certain trials to help us grow from faith to faith, but He will never test us beyond our strength. He Is a loving Father Who delights in blessing us! He deserves to be trusted!
When David and his men reached the camp, they found the Amalekites celebrating their victories and plunder.
They were drinking and dancing, totally unsuspecting and this allowed David and his men the upper hand and they slaughtered each and every one of them all through the night, except for 400 who fled on camels.
Needless to say, they recovered ALL that was taken from them, including the women and children, plus all the spoils that the Amalekites had taken from the other cities.
When they reached the Brook Besor where 200 of David's men stayed behind because of exhaustion, some of he 400 men who fought in the battle didn't think it was fair to share the spoils equally with them because they had not fought to recover it.
But again David showed compassion and grace by saying:
“No, my brothers! Don’t be selfish with what the Lord has given us. He has kept us safe and helped us defeat the band of raiders that attacked us.24 Who will listen when you talk like this? We share and share alike—those who go to battle and those who guard the equipment.”25 From then on David made this a decree and regulation for Israel, and it is still followed today.
(1 Samuel 30:23-25)
David recognized that without The Lord's help they would have never defeated the Amalekites and recovered their spoils, so the first thing he did, was to share the spoils of war with others.
26 When he arrived at Ziklag, David sent part of the plunder to the elders of Judah, who were his friends. “Here is a present for you, taken from the Lord’s enemies,” he said.
27 The gifts were sent to the people of the following towns David had visited: Bethel, Ramoth-negev, Jattir, 28 Aroer, Siphmoth, Eshtemoa, 29 Racal, the towns of the Jerahmeelites, the towns of the Kenites, 30 Hormah, Bor-ashan, Athach, 31 Hebron, and all the other places David and his men had visited.
(1 Samuel 30:26-31)
David didn't keep the extra blessing for himself, he shared it and blessed others.
He knew that whatever was earned in battle was not just meant for himself, he knew that it was also The Lord's. If The Lord allowed him to recover so much, it meant that part of it would be used to minister to The Lord, infact in his old age, David dedicated part of the spoils of war to the upkeep of the temple.
1 Chronicles 26:26-27
26 Shelomoth and his relatives were in charge of the treasuries containing the gifts that King David, the family leaders, and the generals and captains and other officers of the army had dedicated to the Lord.27 These men dedicated some of the plunder they had gained in battle to maintain the house of the Lord.
We also see in Genesis 14 that when Abram recovered his nephew Lot and what was taken from Sodom and Gomorrah, he recovered all plus what was taken from 9 other cities, he gave 10% to Melchizedek.
Genesis 14:18-21
18 And Melchizedek, the king of Salem and a priest of God Most High, brought Abram some bread and wine. 19 Melchizedek blessed Abram with this blessing:
“Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. 20 And blessed be God Most High, who has defeated your enemies for you.”
Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of all the goods he had recovered.
21 The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give back my people who were captured. But you may keep for yourself all the goods you have recovered.”
By tithing to God's priest Melchizedek, Abram is worshipping God for giving him the victory. Melchizedek as king hadn't helped in the military victory and wasn't entitled to a share of the spoils, but Melchizedek, the priest and representative of God, received Abram's gift as an act of worship of God Most High. Abram, as the general of the expedition, divides up the spoils of war and begins with God who had given them the victory. (jesuswalk.com)
I believe that the strategy to get our spoils back is:
1- Stop complaining and moping about it.
2- Clothe ourselves in the authority that The Lord gave us when we became His children.
3- Ask The Lord for instructions.
4- Obey those instructions no matter how hard or crazy they sound.
5- Don't get discouraged as we face trials, because we WILL face trials!
6- Show mercy and compassion along the way.
7- Don't accept defeat until we take back what is rightfully ours.
8- Once we do, let's not forget to give back to The Lord and share our spoils with others!
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