Freeing the Places the Devil Has Occupied
After that you shall come to the hill of God, where is the garrison of the Philistines: and it shall happen, when you are come there to the city, that you shall meet a band of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tambourine, and a pipe, and a harp, before them; and they will be prophesying: and the Spirit of the Lord will come mightily on you, and you shall prophesy with them, and shall be turned into another man. — 1 Samuel 10:5-6
Follow after love, and earnestly desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. — 1 Corinthians 14:1
Author
Dr. Roberto Miranda
Summary: Samuel directed Saul toward men who would give him bread, a picture of the substance of God’s Word, and toward an atmosphere filled with the Holy Spirit. We need both: teaching and sound doctrine to bring order to our lives, and the Spirit’s anointing and enthusiasm to bring the Word to life. Saul was then to reach the hill of God, which was occupied by a Philistine garrison. Likewise, there are places where God was once acknowledged but opposing forces now prevail; Boston and New England are examples. To free the areas the enemy occupies in our lives, churches, and cities, we must seek the fullness of the Holy Spirit and wage spiritual warfare in his power.
Saul receives very specific instructions from the prophet Samuel. Samuel tells him: Look, start walking, and on the way you will meet these men going up to God at Bethel, and they will give you certain things; they will give you loaves of bread. To me, those loaves represent the substance of the Word of God.
We need to rub shoulders with, and spend time among, people and in environments filled with the Holy Spirit, whose energy will rub off on us. Biblical instruction is very good, necessary, essential—we know that—but we also need that atmosphere of fire and enthusiasm that gives life to the Word of God.
There is no conflict between a life filled with order, teaching, and sound doctrine and a life filled with the Holy Spirit. God wants both at work. Therefore, the ideal is a church and people who know the Word and live in an orderly way according to the principles of the Word of God, and who also have the fullness, the anointing, the energy of the Holy Spirit. Both are necessary to live a powerful life.
After that encounter, Samuel tells Saul in verse 5 of First Samuel, chapter 10:5: “After this you will come to the hill of God, where the Philistine garrison is.” It is interesting that there is a kind of conflict, isn’t there? The hill of God, a place perhaps where the Presence of God was manifested very powerfully, is now occupied by the Philistines. The devil always wants to occupy those places where the Presence of the Lord is. Perhaps, instinctively, the Philistines’ occupation of this place was part of a spiritual war that was going on.
God was going to use Saul to liberate those places the enemy had seized. And, incidentally, I would say that often the only people who can liberate places the devil has occupied, where the Presence of God was once found, are people filled with the Holy Spirit.
And Saul has to go to that place where the Presence of God dwells but which is now occupied by a stronghold of God’s enemies. And I say, brothers and sisters, as I say this it occurs to me that—I am going to pause for a moment on this point. There are places today where God moved with great power in the past but which are now occupied by enemy forces. These places once expressed love for God and submission to divine and biblical principles, and now they are places of extreme rationalism, anti-Christianity, and modernism.
For example, the city where we live and minister, here in Boston in the United States, and the area around Boston were, in the seventeenth century, the place where the American nation began—a nation that for a long time would fear God. This was a place where the Will of God was acknowledged. There was great respect, great reverence for the things of the Spirit. The early government here in Boston and its surroundings was almost theocratic, governed by the rules of the Word of God.
Yet today, in the twenty-first century, it is one of the most unbelieving and spiritually barren places in the whole world. This city, and the entire region in which it lies—the region of New England—is completely secular and far removed from the principles on which this region was originally founded.
And it is as though here in the city of Boston and the surrounding parts of New England, there is a Philistine garrison on the hill of God. An anointed people, filled with the Holy Spirit, are needed to drive away these enemy powers symbolized by the Philistines. If we want to cast Satan out of our lives, our churches, and our cities, we must seek the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
I think that may be why Samuel sends Saul through these places, and it is as though, instinctively, the Holy Spirit is declaring what must be done. There must be liberation; the man God is going to use to carry out these works must have contact with the energy of the Holy Spirit.
In our lives, if we want to drive the enemy out of the areas where he has strongholds in us, in our cities, and even in our churches, we need the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Spiritual warfare must be waged in the power and energy of the Spirit of God. God bless you, and until our next meditation.