Rabbi Schneider - The Reality of Resistance
Recently I was sitting before the Lord just ask Him to speak to me. And the Lord directed me to a Scripture in the book of Samuel. I'm going to be sharing it with you today. I'm calling this message "Keys to Breakthrough". As the Lord direct me to the Scripture, what I realized was that years ago, I'm talking over 10 years ago, I was sitting in my study one day, and the Holy Spirit spoke to me. Not audibly, but I just knew in my heart that he had spoken to me. He said to me, "From this day forward, I'm going to let you see into the Torah and into the Hebrew Bible truth, and be able to make application from that truth for the church and for your own life". So I believe that the word I have for you today is real, it's powerful, it's authentic, it's from the Lord, and it can transform your life.
You see, when the Word of God goes forth and finds entrance in our heart, it changes us. The Word of God is transforming. It literally brings about change, because the Word of God is what brought about the creation of the world. The Word of God is creative. So beloved ones, with that said, let me just pray for you now. Father, I just pray that as your word goes forth right now, that you would bring change, transformation, sanctification to your people and to your bride, preparing us, Lord, to meet you face to face at the marriage supper of the Lamb. In Yeshua's name and for Jesus fame, Amen and Amen. We're going to go today to the book of 2 Samuel. I'm beginning in chapter 5, verse 17. What I'm going to do is I'm going to read the whole section together, and then we're going to go back and we're going to take it apart, verse by verse, and make application. 2 Samuel chapter 5. I'll be reading now verses 17 through 25. Hear the word of the Lord.
"When the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines went to seek out David; and when David heard of it, he went down to the stronghold. Now the Philistines came and spread themselves out in the valley of Rephaim. Then David inquired of the Lord, saying, 'Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You give them into my hand?' And the LORD said to David, 'Go up, for I will surely give the Philistines into your hand.' So David came to Baal-perazim and defeated them there; and he said, 'The Lord has broken through my enemies before me like the breakthrough of waters.' Therefore, he named that place Baal-perazim. They abandoned their idols there, so David and his men carried them away. Now the Philistines came up once again and spread themselves out in the valley of Rephaim. When David inquired of the LORD, he said, 'You shall not go up directly; circle around behind them and come at them in front of the balsam trees.' It shall be, when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then you shall act promptly, for then the LORD will have gone before you to strike the army of the Philistines.' Then David did so, just as the LORD had commanded him, and struck down the Philistines from Geba as far as Gezer".
I want to go through this section of Scripture now, verse by verse, because, beloved ones, there are principles of breakthrough, keys for breakthrough for our lives today. Let's hear the Word of God. The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the Word of God abides forever. Verse 17. "When the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines went to seek out David..". The first point I want to make is this: supernatural people attract opposition. Notice, when the Philistines heard that David had been anointed, immediately, they came to come up against him. You see, when you're walking in the Spirit, when you're walking in the anointing, the powers of darkness are going to resist you. The powers of darkness will attack you. We have to realize this and wake up because so oftentimes we place the blame of things that go wrong in our life, things that we're going through on natural reasons. We have to understand that the fight that we're in beloved ones, it's not primarily against flesh and blood.
Paul tells us it's against the unseen powers of darkness. We see the powers of darkness, physically manifested here when the Philistines come up against David. Why? Because David was anointed. You see, oftentimes when you and I move forward in the anointing, when we move forward in the Spirit, when we're making progress in the Lord, what happens is that the enemy then tries to stop us by attacking, just like we see here when the Philistines attacked David when they saw he was anointed. I remember years ago, as a brand new believer, I had just come to the Lord. God had supernaturally revealed Himself to me in the middle of the night in a vision as Jesus. People told me, "You need to go get a New Testament". So I went out and started devouring the Word of God. Then I read in the Scriptures, in the book of Hebrews, that the Lord is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him. When I read that the Lord is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him, I thought, "Wow, God, if I diligently seek you, you're going to reward me".
So a day or two after reading that, I said, "I'm going to spend all day today seeking God and He's going to reward me". So all day long for probably 12 hours, I sat on a chair with my Bible in my hand, reading my Bible, praying, listening to worship music, sitting before the Lord. Then at the end of that day of seeking God all day long, I vividly remember like it was yesterday, even though this was over 30 years ago, close to 40 years ago this happened. I vividly remember after seeking God all that day long walking into my bedroom. I remember opening my bedroom door, literally. And as I was walking into my bedroom, beloved one, listen, I was thinking, I remember thinking it, "Wow, I wonder what good thing God's going to do for you. I wonder how God's going to bless you. I wonder what good thing is coming because you just got done seeking God all day long, and His Word says that He's a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him".
So I was looking up with expectation and joy, wondering and pondering what reward was coming to me. Then I got into my bed and went to sleep. What happened that night, beloved, was so horrific. I'm telling you, if you would have experienced what I experienced that night, you would be saying the same exact thing that I'm saying to you right now. I was attacked by a spirit that night that was more violent, more hostile, more angry than anything I've ever encountered in my life. There's no question I was attacked by the forces of darkness. It was literally-and I know it doesn't make sense to the natural mind-but I literally felt like I was a dodgeball that the enemy was "bam, bam, bam, bam, bam". Slamming off all four walls in my bedroom, just absolutely attacking me with such violence that there was nothing in this world that even comes close to the intensity to the spirit that attacked me that night. And mind you, I had never encountered anything like this before in my entire life. It was that horrific.
When I got up the next morning, I was like, I couldn't believe it. I mean, I was like struck, like being hit by a Mack truck. And I remember thinking to myself, "If this is what happens when you seek God," and there was just a faint thought in my mind, "Maybe you better not seek Him like that anymore or this will happen to you again. You're going to get attacked like that again". Of course, this is exactly what the enemy wanted. He wanted to stop me from moving forward in the anointing. He wanted to stop me from moving forward in God and advancing in the Spirit by attacking me. Beloved one, the point that I'm making to you is you need to understand that when you're moving forward in God, you're going to be attacked. And you can't be afraid of it. You need to keep on pressing in and pressing through.
I remember the story recently that I read. A true story of a man. For years, he had thought that God was calling him into the ministry but he was afraid to go and follow that calling, because he had a very secure job and he was afraid of giving up his secure income. And for several years, he had been, you know, really feeling the weight of God's calling his life to go into full-time ministry, to leave secular occupation, to leave his job and follow God into full-time pastoral work. But he was afraid, again, to let go of that financial security. Finally, he made the decision to trust God to let go. As soon as he made the decision to trust God, let go of that secular job and trust God for income, as soon as he made that decision, bam, just like that the company came to him and offered him a promotion. Why? The enemy, listen, was trying to stop him from advancing in God's call in his life.
We need to understand that we're in a war. The Scripture says, "Don't be ignorant of the schemes of the devil". Just as the Philistines attacked David when they heard that David was anointed, so too, my friend, the powers of darkness will attack you as you're moving forward in God. It just comes with the territory. Think of our model King Jesus. What was the first thing that happened to Him after He was supernaturally anointed by the Holy Spirit and declared before the world as the Son of God? Remember He came to the Jordan River. And as He came to the Jordan River, John the Baptist said he saw lighting above Jesus, the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. And He heard a voice from heaven saying, "This is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased". As soon as that happened, He's led by the Spirit into the wilderness where the devil attacked Him for 40 days. This is nothing to be afraid of because greater is He that's in you than he that's in the world.
There's nothing to fear. But you have to recognize and I have to recognize we're in a war. Because if we don't recognize that, what's going to happen is when the enemy attacks us in whatever way he does when we're advancing in God, if we're not aware of what's going on, he may successfully chop us off at the ankles and stop us from advancing. But when you realize you're in a war and you expect resistance, you expect that there's going to be opposition, then when it happens, you'll just keep going forward like a battleship in the night because you'll know that you're advancing in the Lord. The Scripture says, "Don't count it strange because of the fiery trials that are happening in your life. But this is happening," Peter says, "and it's going to prove in you what God has done". In other words, Peter says when you go through this fiery trial, it's because of God's call on your life. And as you successfully rely on God through the trial, it's going to form in you character and give you firm roots and make you sturdy.
So I want to encourage you today to recognize, first of all, that it's not a strange thing. When you trust God for something new, when you surrender to Him in a new way, when you're advancing in His call in your life, expect, beloved that there's going to be resistance. That's the first key that we learn for breakthrough here. Let's continue on in the Word of God. Again, verse 17. "When the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to seek out David; and when David heard of it, he went down to the stronghold". Now I want you to notice this with me. When David heard that he was under attack, when he came to the realization that he was under attack, listen, he didn't just passively sit there and let the enemy attack. But Beloved, listen, he responded. He did something. So the scripture said that when David heard that the Philistines were on the attack towards him, it says he went down to the stronghold. And that word "stronghold" in the Hebrew is metsudah. It means "castle," or "place of defense".
The first thing I want you to get from this, listen, the second key is, David wasn't passive when he realized he was under attack. But when he realized he was under attack, he did something. He went down to the stronghold. He went down into God's fortress. He responded to the attack aggressively by taking action. You see, too often, I have found what happens in our lives is that when we're under attack, we just kind of cower. We just kind of go like this, and we just let the enemy keep beating us up. Whether it's a mental attack, whatever it is, people too oftentimes respond to it, God's people, that is, respond to it passively. They just say, "Oh, I'm under attack". But David didn't just say, "Oh, I'm under attack". But he went down to God's stronghold. He looked to the Lord. He began to pray. He began to encourage himself in the Word of God. He responds aggressively to the attack by digging down deep into the Lord.
So I speak over your life right now, an action, action that God's Spirit, listen, beloved, is alive. God's Spirit, listen, now is in continuous, unfinished action. In other words, we have not received the Spirit of passivity but of love and of power, of sound mind and action. God hasn't called us to be on the defense against the forces of darkness but to be on the offense against the forces of darkness. The Bible says that Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil. Jesus didn't come into the world and just sit there cowering while the enemy attacked, but he was actively, aggressively, listen, coming against the devil, and destroying the works of the devil. So you and I need to recognize that when we're under attack, we need to get in motion like David did, and respond to it. Listen once again, David got in motion. It says, "when David heard of it, he went down". He was in action. He was in motion. He went down to the stronghold.
So when you and I are under attack, we need to get in motion. Because listen, motion will change your emotion. If you want to change the way you're feeling, if you want to change your emotions, then get in motion. And by doing something, you can change your feelings, change your emotions, and change the spiritual atmosphere around you. Oftentimes, I find if I wake up in the morning, maybe I had a rough night the night before, maybe a dream was disturbing to me, when I get up in the morning, the first thing I do every morning is I get into the Word of God. I'm always reading a spiritual book. My time in the morning consists of reading a passage from the Scripture, however long that is. It could be short. It could be longer. I'm always reading other spiritual material. I encourage you to always begin your day looking to the written Word of God to dig something out from the Word of God. And then also to have other spiritual literature that you're reading. Even as the writers of Scripture were inspired, beloved. There are many books today that are also inspired by the Holy Spirit, not to the same level as the Bible is, which is inerrant. But God uses words.
And there are many people on the earth today that have written books, there are so many great books out there that can inspire you and encourage you. It doesn't mean that you need to take everything in every book you read and say, "This is truth". But there's enough good things in so many books that you want to constantly be ingesting Spirit life into your spirit by reading words, listen now, that are inspired by the Holy Spirit. First and foremost, the Bible, but then also so many great authors have been able to take the Bible and apply it to people's lives today that are living in this generation and help them appropriate the Scriptures into their life today. You see, listen to me. Words are important. Some people might think "Well, how important is reading"? But let me ask you this question: how did the Bible come into our lives? Listen to me. By reading it.
You see, Paul said about the Bible. He said, "These things", he was speaking about the Old Testament, the Tanakh. And he said to the church in the book of Corinthians, "These things have been," get it now "written for our instruction, upon whom the end of the ages has come". In other words, we receive the Word of God by reading words. You receive God's Word, listen now, when you read the Bible. So God's Spirit can enter your life through written words. The point that I'm making is, David when he realized he was under attack, he took action. And I want to encourage you, when you get under attack, take action. Right now I'm making the application of taking application by constantly reading God's word and reading inspired literature because it will change the spiritual atmosphere of your life, and it will change your emotion.