Give God the Power of Attorney and Make the Thief Pay Sevenfold

Sermon outline

God invites you to command Him, appointing Him over your situation so He can restore what the enemy stole, and like David you must take responsibility for your own success by putting your faith and your effort to work.

1. Grow in the knowledge of God

   God's will is that you are filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so that you can recognise and interpret the seasons and shifts of your life. No one ever reaches the point of not needing to learn; as you increase in the knowledge of God you are strengthened with all might, and God has already qualified you, so you need not only admire others.

   “If you don't have spiritual understanding, you will not know how to recognize and interpret the seasons of your life.”

   • 2 Peter 1:19
   • Hebrews 5:14
   • Colossians 1:9-12
   • 2 Peter 1:5-7

2. God fully repays His enemies

   When people set themselves against you, they set themselves against God, and nobody wins a fight with God. Keep walking in love and let God deal with them in His own way, as surely as Goliath's head came off.

   “When people set themselves against you, know this for a surety, they have set themselves against God.”

   • Isaiah 66:6
   • Romans 12:19
   • Ephesians 6:12

3. Command Me: appoint God and loose Him in your situation

   God says 'concerning the work of my hands, command me'. The word means appoint: make Him your advocate and general, give Him the power of attorney and an assignment, rather than begging, crying or trying to represent yourself. When you loose Him in your situation He brings judgement on your adversary and blessing to you, because you are His child in the right camp.

   Illustration: A seller told him nothing was available when he wanted three of an item. He went to his office, wrote the request on the prayer of agreement form from his book Lord Teach Me to Pray, sealed it with the blood, signed it and had his wife sign it. The next morning one became available, a week later a second, and on the day of this service the third.

   “God says to you, loose me and give me an assignment.”

   • Isaiah 45:11

4. Whatever you sow you reap: from miracle garden to miracle forest

   People withhold tithes, offerings and love because they do not trust God to give back. Whatever you sow, love, money or good deeds, comes back to you in much more than equal measure. Commission God, put your faith to work, and do not be afraid of making mistakes, because you will learn and grow wiser.

   Illustration: Last year he spoke of growing your own miracle garden; now he says you can turn it into a miracle forest.

   “Whatever you sow, you will get back not its equal proportion, you will get much more than the proportion that you sow.”

   • Galatians 6:7

5. Restoration and compensation: make the thief pay

   Do not just catch the devil out; make him repay sevenfold what he stole, as the law required of a thief, and as Israel left Egypt with the Egyptians' goods. It may not come back through the person who wronged you, but God will move on someone to restore it. Pronounce the verdict: 'Enough is enough, tonight is payback.'

   Illustration: Someone who lost a family inheritance should not fight the family but command the devil who caused the loss to restore it sevenfold. He has those who have lost things stand, and agrees with them in prayer.

   “I don't want you to catch the thief, I want you to make him pay.”

   • Proverbs 6:31
   • Exodus 12:35-36
   • Zechariah 4:6

6. Make the word work for you

   Running from church to church for a new word or a new anointing will not solve your problem, and admiring the preacher will not change your situation. Put into practice the dreams and visions God has given you: if it is a God idea and not just a good idea, He will give the provision for the vision.

   “Don't let it be a good idea it must be a God idea.”

7. David put his faith to work: seven ways he differed

   David, faithful with his father's sheep, came to the battle where the army hid behind talk of strategy when it was really fear, and asked what would be done for the man who killed the giant. He differed from the others in his perspective, his methods (a sling, not untested armour), his conviction (he had Goliath's head before he faced him), his motive (defending God's name), his vision (making the living God known to the world), his experience (the lion and the bear) and his attitude.

   Illustration: While others said Goliath was too big to hit, David said he was too big to miss. David presented his CV: a lion and a bear. Build up victories, such as praying for a sick child or calling in food, so your confidence grows for bigger battles.

   “True faith says, I have it before you possess it.”

   • 1 Samuel 17:12-37
   • Luke 16:12
   • Psalm 42:1
   • Psalm 68:19

8. Ten responsibilities to adopt as a lifestyle (1 to 5)

   From David's life: 1, ask only for opportunity; 2, seek your true place in life instead of fighting the people around you; 3, write down compelling goals for five, ten, fifteen and twenty years; 4, invest your minutes and hours wisely, away from negative people who have not changed in decades; 5, visualise the attainment of your goals in rich, vivid detail.

   Illustration: You may have come from a farm or a village, but God told Abraham to go to a land He would show him, a land of more than enough.

   “Your life means something to God.”

   • Genesis 12:1

9. Ten responsibilities to adopt as a lifestyle (6 to 10)

   6, talk yourself into success every morning, measuring what you were brought up to believe against the word; 7, live a high-energy lifestyle whatever your age; 8, develop every area of your life to its maximum; 9, provide more value and contribution if you want more reward: work hard, save, and stop running to every sale; 10, persist until you succeed, because your only expiry date is when God says so.

   Illustration: God has no Lo-debar for you. He runs up and down the stairs and does not feel old, while some younger people walk older than him.

   “You will never experience success if you don't talk success.”

   • 2 Samuel 9:4
   • Amos 3:3
   • 2 Chronicles 16:9
   • Luke 4:18

10. Apply yourself and keep honest boundaries

    David succeeded because he knew great principles and applied them, not simply because God loved him. Work hard and diligently, look after your employer's property as if it were your own, and do not blame the devil when dishonesty lands you in trouble. Make a personal commitment to the things you will never do.

    Illustration: A hairdresser's employee who takes the scissors one day and the blow dryer the next, until even the hair on the floor is gone.

    “We must learn to function on boundaries there's some things you just won't do.”