Sell Me Your Vineyard
Ahab wanted Naboth's vineyard (1 Kings 21) so bad that he was ready to do anything just to have it. Why was he dying to have it? Well, people who understand nothing in the spirit grab whatever they can in this world, no matter if they're believers, non-believers, or backsliders. Believers? Sometimes, they even head the greed procession. They urge people: "Sell me your vineyard!" You see them do that in their frantic desire to own properties in the name of church planting.
You've got to hold on to your God-given vineyard because the enemy will want to take it for his own, no matter what. He's going to offer you to buy it, replace it with a better one, or kill you to grab it from you. Naboth didn't want any other vineyard, but he lacked the power to protect it from Ahab. You may realize the value of your vineyard so well and love it with all your heart, but that isn't enough. Without power, the enemy will just take it by force from you.
Many God-given vineyards have been grabbed from their owners or caretakers without a fight. Some owners even gladly sell theirs to the enemy and think they gain much by it. The vineyard is designed by its true Owner for a specific purpose and it should be worked solely using His ways and instructions in the Word, but some caretakers opt to do something else with it, deeming their own ways to better improve and make it more lucrative.
Later, without noticing, they use the enemy's design and purposes for it. In effect, the enemy offered the caretaker to, "Sell me your vineyard,"and the caretaker took the bait. Sure enough, the vineyard looked much more productive than it seemed when the caretaker had been faithful to the Owner's specifications. The vineyard produces spiritual fruit when managed using the Owner's specifications in the Word alone, and such fruit, because it is spiritual, are not appreciated, valued, or even seen by the unspiritual.
But when managed with worldly specifications, the vineyard yields material fruits that unspiritual people marvel at--like church buildings, money, members, properties, cars, titles, degrees, etc.--but which are nothing but garbage in the Spiritual realms.
Some guard their vineyards well and never want to sell them to the enemy, like Naboth. But the enemy easily kills them because they do not know how to fight the enemy. They think love and loyalty are enough in the spirit life. They do not realize that every equipment and weapon God has given us--love, faith, hope, the Name of Jesus, power of the Holy Spirit, the Word, prayer, worship, spiritual fruit, all spiritual gifts, signs and wonders, miracles, the supernatural, Jesus discipleship and fathering, etc., are all needed for winning battles, and that all of them are important. Otherwise, God would have never given them to us.
Many have trashed God's spiritual and supernatural equipments and weapons and claim these things are not relevant anymore in modern times. They prefer the same things that the enemy is using against them. They're easy to kill, like sitting ducks.
Naboth Christians know nothing of the entire spiritual arsenal of God. They just attend church, do their programs and activities, attend prayer meetings, appear nice and decent, speak with a pleasant voice, sing well, play musical instruments, study their denominational doctrines, and do other earthly stuff like that, and think the enemy cannot harm them. Then they wonder why their churches decrease in spiritual quality. They exert all efforts at trying to raise their church quality, to no avail. Each year, their spiritual quality just worsens, and it seems unstoppable no matter the number of revivals they have.
The Word shows us that Naboth is no much for Ahab, even if Naboth is rich and has ownership of his vineyard. Only someone like Elijah, who is well equipped in God and in the supernatural, can face and destroy the spirit of Ahab and Jezebel.
You've got to hold on to your God-given vineyard because the enemy will want to take it for his own, no matter what. He's going to offer you to buy it, replace it with a better one, or kill you to grab it from you. Naboth didn't want any other vineyard, but he lacked the power to protect it from Ahab. You may realize the value of your vineyard so well and love it with all your heart, but that isn't enough. Without power, the enemy will just take it by force from you.
Many God-given vineyards have been grabbed from their owners or caretakers without a fight. Some owners even gladly sell theirs to the enemy and think they gain much by it. The vineyard is designed by its true Owner for a specific purpose and it should be worked solely using His ways and instructions in the Word, but some caretakers opt to do something else with it, deeming their own ways to better improve and make it more lucrative.
Later, without noticing, they use the enemy's design and purposes for it. In effect, the enemy offered the caretaker to, "Sell me your vineyard,"and the caretaker took the bait. Sure enough, the vineyard looked much more productive than it seemed when the caretaker had been faithful to the Owner's specifications. The vineyard produces spiritual fruit when managed using the Owner's specifications in the Word alone, and such fruit, because it is spiritual, are not appreciated, valued, or even seen by the unspiritual.
But when managed with worldly specifications, the vineyard yields material fruits that unspiritual people marvel at--like church buildings, money, members, properties, cars, titles, degrees, etc.--but which are nothing but garbage in the Spiritual realms.
Some guard their vineyards well and never want to sell them to the enemy, like Naboth. But the enemy easily kills them because they do not know how to fight the enemy. They think love and loyalty are enough in the spirit life. They do not realize that every equipment and weapon God has given us--love, faith, hope, the Name of Jesus, power of the Holy Spirit, the Word, prayer, worship, spiritual fruit, all spiritual gifts, signs and wonders, miracles, the supernatural, Jesus discipleship and fathering, etc., are all needed for winning battles, and that all of them are important. Otherwise, God would have never given them to us.
Many have trashed God's spiritual and supernatural equipments and weapons and claim these things are not relevant anymore in modern times. They prefer the same things that the enemy is using against them. They're easy to kill, like sitting ducks.
Naboth Christians know nothing of the entire spiritual arsenal of God. They just attend church, do their programs and activities, attend prayer meetings, appear nice and decent, speak with a pleasant voice, sing well, play musical instruments, study their denominational doctrines, and do other earthly stuff like that, and think the enemy cannot harm them. Then they wonder why their churches decrease in spiritual quality. They exert all efforts at trying to raise their church quality, to no avail. Each year, their spiritual quality just worsens, and it seems unstoppable no matter the number of revivals they have.
The Word shows us that Naboth is no much for Ahab, even if Naboth is rich and has ownership of his vineyard. Only someone like Elijah, who is well equipped in God and in the supernatural, can face and destroy the spirit of Ahab and Jezebel.
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