{"id":27498,"date":"2015-09-04T00:25:34","date_gmt":"2015-09-04T04:25:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=27498"},"modified":"2015-09-01T23:30:14","modified_gmt":"2015-09-02T03:30:14","slug":"he-could-have-been-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2015\/09\/04\/he-could-have-been-more\/","title":{"rendered":"He could have been more"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"encouragementbloggraphicromans15\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Then Samson called to the Lord and said, \u201cO Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.\u201d <\/span>
\nAnd Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. <\/span>
\nAnd Samson said, \u201cLet me die with the Philistines.\u201d Then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it. \u00a0So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life. <\/span>
\nThen his brothers and all his family came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. \u00a0He had judged Israel twenty years.<\/span><\/p>\n

Judges 16:28-31<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0* \u00a0~ \u00a0\u2665 \u00a0~ \u00a0\u271e \u00a0~ \u00a0\u2665 \u00a0~ \u00a0*<\/span><\/p>\n

If you went to Sunday School as a child, you have probably heard this story. Maybe even got to put the characters on the purple felt board. \u00a0I do remember thinking that it was tragic. \u00a0How could someone who said that they loved someone, hurt them and betray them? \u00a0Now that I have lived a few 24 hours since then…I see that it happens. \u00a0Do you wonder what we could possibly learn from this story? \u00a0God always has a lesson, right? And this story is no different….<\/p>\n

There’s Samson: his birth was announced to his parents by the angel of God, just like Jesus and John the Baptist. \u00a0He was chosen and set apart for big things. \u00a0He would grow up strong and would defeat many. \u00a0But he had a weakness…women. \u00a0And he had a secret—he could never cut his hair. \u00a0God had big plans for him to begin saving the children of Israel but his love for the things of this world kept him from doing the will of God.<\/p>\n

Then there is Delilah: she was in love with him but chose greed and power over her husband. \u00a0She asked him many times what his weaknesses were and he lied. \u00a0She got angry and threatened to leave until he finally told her the truth—that he can never cut his hair. \u00a0You can guess what happened next (if you don’t already know)…she sets him up for failure and has his head shaved. But God gives him one more chance to show his strength; and Samson grew his hair back once more. \u00a0At their wedding, he gets his revenge and kills all who are there by pushing the main pillars that hold the roof. \u00a0Over 1,000 died that night.<\/p>\n

This world is so full of temptation and things that can take us so far from God and His will. \u00a0If we don’t stay so close to Him and constantly remain in the Word, we just might stray from Him. \u00a0This world is our temporary home. Heaven is our forever place! \u00a0When our eyes look at the things of this world, and we start to place value here on things like big houses and nice cars, we can lose our strength, too, and become weak. \u00a0But all we have to do is look up and we find grace. \u00a0God forgives us and gives us chance after chance. \u00a0He never gives up on us.<\/p>\n

We all are sinners and we all fall short. \u00a0Instead of judging each other, let us pray for one another. \u00a0Let us love each other like Jesus has told us to. \u00a0That is the best way to show our love for Him.<\/p>\n

What are you putting value in today? \u00a0I challenge you to really think about it. It is never too late…God is always waiting!<\/p>\n

\u00a0* \u00a0 ~ \u00a0 \u2665 \u00a0 ~ \u00a0 \u271e \u00a0 ~ \u00a0 \u2665 \u00a0 ~ \u00a0 *<\/span><\/p>\n

Let us pray<\/em><\/span>: Dear Father, thank You for loving us so much that You sent Your only Son to die in our place. \u00a0Thank You for forgiveness and grace. \u00a0Lord, I pray for those today who are hurting, and for those who desperately need provision, and for those who need healing. \u00a0You are the One Who can do all things. \u00a0Nothing is too hard for You. \u00a0Comfort Your children today, Lord. \u00a0Give them hope and let them feel Your arms around them today! \u00a0We praise You and worship You. \u00a0In Jesus’ name, amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Then Samson called to the Lord and said, \u201cO Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.\u201d And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":20533,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6228],"tags":[6998,425,9364,454,3913,9363,589,9362,964,5276],"class_list":["post-27498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-encouragement-2","tag-encouragement-blog","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-gods-strength","tag-grace","tag-greed","tag-judges-1628-31","tag-kim-spring","tag-samson-and-delilah","tag-sin","tag-weakness","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/encouragementbloggraphicromans15.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-79w","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27498"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27518,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27498\/revisions\/27518"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}