{"id":35138,"date":"2025-03-18T22:00:22","date_gmt":"2025-03-19T05:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=35138"},"modified":"2025-03-11T21:07:09","modified_gmt":"2025-03-12T04:07:09","slug":"1-kings-20_1-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/1-kings-20_1-12\/","title":{"rendered":"Are You Trying To Make a Deal with the Devil? Don\u2019t."},"content":{"rendered":"

1 Kings\u00a0 20:1-12 \u00a0(CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 1 Kings 20:1-12.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.\u00a0 See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

1 Kings 20:1-12 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Now Ben-Hadad king of Aram mustered his entire army. Accompanied by thirty-two kings with their horses and chariots, he went up and besieged Samaria and attacked it.
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He sent messengers into the city to Ahab king of Israel, saying, “This is what Ben-Hadad says:
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0‘Your silver and gold are mine, and the best of your wives and children are mine.'”
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The king of Israel answered, “Just as you say, my lord the king. I and all I have are yours.”
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The messengers came again and said, “This is what Ben-Hadad says: ‘I sent to demand your silver and gold, your wives and your children.
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But about this time tomorrow I am going to send my officials to search your palace and the houses of your officials. They will seize everything you value and carry it away.'”
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The king of Israel summoned all the elders of the land and said to them, “See how this man is looking for trouble! When he sent for my wives and my children, my silver and my gold, I did not refuse him.”
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The elders and the people all answered, “Don’t listen to him or agree to his demands.”
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So he replied to Ben-Hadad’s messengers, “Tell my lord the king, ‘Your servant will do all you demanded the first time, but this demand I cannot meet.'” They left and took the answer back to Ben-Hadad.
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then Ben-Hadad sent another message to Ahab: “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if enough dust remains in Samaria to give each of my men a handful.”
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The king of Israel answered, “Tell him: ‘One who puts on his armor should not boast like one who takes it off.'”
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Ben-Hadad heard this message while he and the kings were drinking in their tents, and he ordered his men: “Prepare to attack.” So they prepared to attack the city.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses\u00a01-12:\u00a0 Ben-Hadad king of Aram, together with his entire army and 32 other\u00a0kings\u00a0(most likely rulers of smaller neighbouring city states), besiege Israel’s capital city of Samaria.\u00a0 Ben-Hadad tells Ahab in verse 3, “Your silver and gold are mine, and the best of your wives and children are mine.” (In the Nintendo International Version, Ben-Hadad says “All your base are belong to us.<\/a>”\u00a0 I\u2019m kidding.)<\/p>\n

King Ahab of Israel tries to appease Ben-Hadad by agreeing to Ben-Hadad\u2019s initial demand (v4).\u00a0 But then Ben-Hadad says he wants more.\u00a0 He says he wants everything in the palaces of Ahab and Ahab’s officials (v5-6).\u00a0 King Ahab realizes that negotiating with Ben-Hadad is of no use.\u00a0 With the support of the elders and the people of Israel, King Ahab refuses to let Ben-Hadad enter Samaria (v9).\u00a0 After a trash-talking exchange between Ahab and Ben-Hadad, Ben-Hadad orders his troops to prepare to attack Samaria (v10).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0 When you\u2019re facing an enemy who is bent on destroying you, taking everything from you and leaving you with nothing, don’t try negotiating.\u00a0 It’s no use.\u00a0\u00a0Just as Ahab’s attempts to negotiate with Ben-Hadad were of no use, you can’t negotiate with your enemy Satan, whose agenda is to steal, kill and destroy your life\u00a0<\/strong>(John\u00a010:10).<\/p>\n

How do you know if you are trying to negotiate with Satan?\u00a0 It’s when you’re tempted to give into Satan in some area of your life, hoping that it will afford some kind of advantage or peace.\u00a0 When we give into Satan that way, Satan will not stop his attacks.\u00a0 Rather, he will continue to press for more and more of your life.<\/p>\n

So when Satan tries to take a valuable part of your life away, when he tempts you to compromise and do what is wrong, don’t give into him, thinking that he will be satisfied with that.\u00a0 As the people in verse 8 say, “Don’t listen to him or agree to his demands.”\u00a0 The fact is your enemy will not be satisfied until you are totally destroyed.<\/p>\n

Don’t negotiate with Satan.\u00a0 Don’t make a deal with the devil.\u00a0 Stand firm against him in Jesus’ name, knowing that greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4).\u00a0\u00a0Like Jesus, say \u201cGet behind me, Satan!\u00a0 You are a stumbling block to me.\u00a0 You do not have in mind the things of God but the things of men.\u201d (Matthew 16:23).<\/strong><\/p>\n

Also,\u00a0whenever Satan attacks, remember these promises from God\u2019s Word:<\/strong>
\n–\u00a0 \u201cResist the devil and he will flee from you.\u201d (James 4:7).
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u201cBe self-controlled and alert.\u00a0 Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.\u00a0 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers and sisters throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.\u00a0\u00a0And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.\u201d (1 Peter 5:8-10)<\/p>\n

Lord Jesus, thank You that You did not negotiate with Satan but You completely defeated him. Because You gained victory over Satan at the cross, thank You that through You I can experience victory over Satan as well.\u00a0 So I say, in Jesus’ name, Satan get behind me.\u00a0 May I not compromise my faith, but stand my ground against the enemy.\u00a0 In Jesus’ name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

copyright \u00a9 2022 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 1 Kings 20:1-12.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.\u00a0 See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!\u00a0<\/p>\n

1 Kings 20:1-12 (NIV)
\n1\u00a0\u00a0Now Ben-Hadad king of Aram mustered his entire army. Accompanied by thirty-two kings with their horses and chariots, he went up and besieged Samaria and attacked it.
\n2\u00a0\u00a0He sent messengers into the city to Ahab king of Israel, saying, “This is what Ben-Hadad says:
\n3\u00a0\u00a0‘Your silver and gold are mine, and the best of your wives and children are mine.'”<\/p>\n

On verses\u00a01-12:\u00a0 Ben-Hadad king of Aram, together with his entire army and 32 other\u00a0kings\u00a0(most likely rulers of smaller neighbouring city states), besiege Israel’s capital city of Samaria.\u00a0 Ben-Hadad tells Ahab in verse 3, “Your silver and gold are mine, and the best of your wives and children are mine.” (In the Nintendo International Version, Ben-Hadad says “All your base are belong to us.”\u00a0 I\u2019m kidding.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35140,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35138"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35141,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35138\/revisions\/35141"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}