How to win with a jawbone

And they spake unto him, saying, No; but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand: but surely we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him up from the rock. And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him: and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands. Judges 15:13, 14

 Samson is here betrayed by his countrymen the Israelites who out of fear, decide to hand him over to the enemy. They pledge to only bind him with new ropes and hand him to the people who seek his life. Observe therefore that;

 1. In times of crisis, do not put your hopes in man for cursed is the man who trusts in man. (Jer 17:5).

 2. The devil will use friends, colleagues, family and close associates to bind you with cords and hand you over to Him helpless and subdued. He does this because he knows he can't approach you directly lest you see through his tricks and resist him.

3. The devil will intimidate you with a large army of thousands of Philistines shouting at the top of their voices to cause you to lose heart and give up the struggle.

4. DO NOT be distracted by his antics. Watch out for that moment, that moment when the Spirit of the Lord comes mightily upon you. He will not come with noise, but with a still small voice of assurance, like the angels coming to strengthen Jesus at the garden of Gethsemane. You will notice a moment of faith like a spark, faith as little as a mustard seed.

5. When you notice that little faith, you will know the Spirit has come, the mountains are ready to be moved, the walls of Jericho are ready to fall, the prison doors are breaking.

6. Shake off the cords, because they are now like flax, loose them off. The cords of fear, of doubt, of sin, of hopelessness, of memories of failure, of false friends, of bad influence, of disillusion, of laziness, of hate, of folly and of everything that is negative, of the dead weight that must be loosed off at this point.

7. And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith. Judges 15:15 after that, all you need is A NEW JAWBONE. Watch out for anything that God has provided at hand for that is the instrument God will use for deliverance.

 8. You must watch out for it is said of Samson that he FOUND a new jawbone. This implies the jawbone did not fall from heaven even though the Lord could have had it fall from heaven anyway. He had to find it for man must do his part and let God multiply the results.

 9. He does not require you to begin looking for a sword or wishing that you had bows and arrows. He requires you to use what's at hand.

 10. Often, it will be something new, not used by anyone before. Something simple, not well suited to the task in human eyes. Something new, not used by you before in a battle. Even in its simplicity, it will be the best available. I imagine there could have been several jawbones there but Samson chose the new one. What then is left after victory is to give glory to the one who gave the victory, the Lord of armies.