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1 Samuel 4:1-10
Wars and rumors of wars are always within or outside your camp, unless you are living somewhere outside of this world. The wars that you engage on a regular basis are the challenges of life. As a child of God, the wars are not meant to overcome you; you are to be an overcomer if you can acknowledge that God is in your camp and you did not camp out from the LORD. The children of < ?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>Israel went to battle against the Philistines and the Israelites were defeated. The Israelites went back to get the ark of the LORD hoping to regain victory. 1 Samuel 4:5-6, ÒAnd when the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all Israel shouted so loudly that the earth shook. Now when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, ÔWhat does the sound of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews mean?Õ Then they understood that the ark of the LORD had come into the camp.ÕÓ The children of Israel were happy to know that the LORD was in their camp while their enemies were afraid that the LORD has camped in with the Israelites. 1 Samuel 4:7, ÒSo the Philistines were afraid, for they said, ÔGod has come into the camp!Õ And they said, ÔWoe to us! For such a thing has never happened before.ÕÓ In your challenges, it is not enough for you to know that God is on your side if you are not on His side. God can be in your camp while you have been camped out from God. He has said that He will never leave you nor forsake you. God will always honor His word and He will not leave you unless you have left Him in your walk. He is always there for you, are you there for Him? The children of Israel lost the battle not because God was not in their camp, but because they have camped out from GodÕs word.