(John 10:10 AMP) The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).
(1 Timothy 6:12 NKJV) Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life…
One of the greatest things that God has given us in our weaponry and walk as believers is praise and worship.
There is a principle from the Word of God that most Christians are probably not aware of that we need to make sure is in our lives.
(2 Chronicles 1:7-10 NKJV) (7) On that night God appeared to Solomon, and said to him, “Ask! What shall I give you?” (8) And Solomon said to God: “You have shown great mercy to David my father, and have made me king in his place. (9) Now, O LORD God, let Your promise to David my father be established, for You have made me king over a people like the dust of the earth in multitude. (10) Now give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people; for who can judge this great people of Yours?”
Verse 10 tells us the reason that Solomon asked for wisdom. There is a principle that Solomon’s father David understood that we do not understand.
The term, “Going out and coming in” is found throughout the scriptures and we need to understand what it means.
(Numbers 27:15-17 NKJV) Then Moses spoke to the LORD, saying: (16) “Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, (17) who may go out before them and go in before them, who may lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the LORD may not be like sheep which have no shepherd.”
Moses is praying for his successor and this is the one thing that he asked for in his successor.
(Deuteronomy 31:1-2 NKJV) (1) Then Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel. (2) And he said to them: “I am one hundred and twenty years old today. I can no longer go out and come in. Also the LORD has said to me, ‘You shall not cross over this Jordan.’
Moses knew that his time of leadership was over because he could no longer come in and go out and could not lead the people to do the same thing.
(Joshua 14:10-11 NKJV) And now, behold, the LORD has kept me alive, as He said, these forty-five years, ever since the LORD spoke this word to Moses while Israel wandered in the wilderness; and now, here I am this day, eighty-five years old. (11) As yet I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me; just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both for going out and for coming in.
Coming in and going out were warfare terms. You came in from war and you went out to war. The people needed to know how to come in from war and to go out to war. They still do!
Coming In – (When you came in, you came in primarily for worship.) You came in to be refreshed and refilled from war in the Presence of the Lord.
Going Out – You went out from the Presence of the Lord for battle.
The entire purpose of warfare in the Old Testament was to establish that God was the one, true and living God. The same is true today.
God used the smallest nation in existence at that time to establish His Name throughout the entire world by making them the strongest through His supernatural help and strength. His heart is for the world and He chose Israel to be the light in the world.
We are in a war and we need to learn how to come in and how to go out.
- Let’s continue to come in.
(Jeremiah 17:19-22 NKJV) Thus the LORD said to me: “Go and stand in the gate of the children of the people, by which the kings of Judah come in and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem; (20) and say to them, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who enter by these gates. (21) Thus says the LORD: “Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; (22) nor carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, nor do any work, but hallow the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers.
Often, a natural literal thing in the Old Testament illustrates a spiritual principal in the New Testament.
✓ Leave your burdens in the Presence of God!
God is saying to us, “When you come in to My Presence, you are going to have to lay your burdens down. I want to take your burdens from you.”
(Ezekiel 46:9 NKJV) “But when the people of the land come before the LORD on the appointed feast days, whoever enters by way of the north gate to worship shall go out by way of the south gate; and whoever enters by way of the south gate shall go out by way of the north gate. He shall not return by way of the gate through which he came, but shall go out through the opposite gate.
✓ Whoever comes in to worship one way should go out another way.
Again, this is a natural illustration of a spiritual principle. God is saying, “When you come into My Presence, you should leave differently than when you came in.”
(Ezekiel 46:10 NKJV) The prince shall then be in their midst. When they go in, he shall go in; and when they go out, he shall go out.
The Presence of God is what makes us different from any other organization. The beauty of church is that God’s Presence goes with you when you leave.
✓ We should not go out FROM the Presence of God, but we should go out WITH the Presence of God.
- Let’s continue to go out.
(1 Samuel 18:12-16 NKJV) Now Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with him, but had departed from Saul. (13) Therefore Saul removed him from his presence, and made him his captain over a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people. (14) And David behaved wisely in all his ways, and the LORD was with him. (15) Therefore, when Saul saw that he behaved very wisely, he was afraid of him. (16) But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he went out and came in before them.
David was an incredible worshiper and he was an incredible warrior and this is what was the source of his wisdom and power.
Unfortunately, David stopped going out.
(2 Samuel 11:1-2 NKJV) It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. (2) Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold.
Would David have even seen Bathsheba if he had been where he was supposed to be? Here was David, the greatest worshiper of all time but when he stopped going out, he fell.
We should come in to the Presence of God to get filled up and refreshed.
God has never intended for you and me to be reservoir but His intention was for us to be a river. Even though the water flowing in is good water, if it is not flowing out, it will get contaminated. He wants to fill you up in His presence and then flow out of you as you go out into your daily life.
Our church needs to be a worshiping church but we also need to be a church that is going out and allowing God to flow out of us. The world is depending on us to worship and get filled up with God’s presence and they are depending on us to go out and take it to them.