No single person's life speaks to me more personally or prophetically than the life of King David, the "man after God's own heart". David is not only a type of Christ, but of the Church or those "in Christ" and his journey to the throne is more than a clue to us how to walk that out, it is the blueprint of how to walk into our destiny, expand the kingdom and discover our realm of authority as the end time church, both individually and corporately. Probably the greatest and most unique characteristic of Davids's life was his revelation and ability to walk in God's mercy with joy instead of being paralyzed with guilt and condemnation because of his sins (which were many)- Walking in the revelation of God's mercy will be one of the key characteristics of the end time David church, and that revelation of mercy will allow them to fight for and expand the kingdom to present to the Son ( greater Solomon). David declares God's mercy more than any other characteristic of God in the Psalms. Possibly the greatest example of the strength of this revelation is during his transition out of God's will in the Philistine city of Ziklag, to the throne of Judah, just a short time after Ziklag is destroyed. ( I sam. chapters 27-30)
As I was studying the life of David the Holy Spirit spoke to me powerfully and I knew the word was not only for me, but for many of my generation. God's Spirit said that Ziklag is where many of today's anointed and called are living and that they have been decieved into believing this is their final destination. They question the call on their life, the words they received so many years ago, the promises they used to treasure in their heart, their hopes for changing the world. They vaguely remember their calling and anointing by the prophet or the Goliath's they have defeated or the favor of the king and living in the palace. Instead all they can remember is fleeing out of fear and questioning if they heard correctly. Otherwise why would they be living in caves, pursued by Saul ( Flesh). They don't know how they have ended up in Ziklag. How did they end up living in the enemie's ( who we used to destroy) territory and begging for a piece of land to live on instead of ruling a kingdom? What stands out to us are all the lies and compromises along the way that have brought us to Ziklag ( destruction of the priestly city because of our lies, feigning insanity, denying our faith and our people).
Even when the prophetic word comes (via prophet Gad- I sam. 22)) to remind us who we are and that we are supposed to go to Judah and to stop running, we go back to Ziklag. We stay there because we no longer believe 2 sam. 3:1- that the house of David would go stronger and stronger and the house of Saul would get weaker and weaker- instead in a state of depression we declare and believe that the flesh ( Saul ) is going to win. So why not live in Ziklag- and give up the idea of reigning as king. We have a longing and love for God's people and kingdom and we do whatever we can from Ziklag, but it is still not God's will for us to stay there. God's Spirit is saying to many right now "Ziklag is not your final destination" and out of God's mercy, he allows those of us who are living in Ziklag ( the place of our compromise) to watch the smoke rise in the distance as it is being burned. For many in this generation our Ziklag is our Home that is being foreclosed on, the job we had for 20 years, being uprooted from the safe ministry-and any other false security we are holding onto, all the things that have kept us from trusting God to establish us as his regents to the kingdom we were called to.
Ziklag is only a place of transition and not a final destination, God is prying it out of our hands and when it is taken from us, that is when we strengthen ourselves in the Lord ( I sam. 30:6-8) and his mercy and we see all the events of the past in their proper perspective. The destruction of Ziklag will be one of the hardest times in our lives, everything seems lost. You are being chased by Saul, living in compromise, rejecting God's prophetic word to come back to Judah where you know you are supposed to be, loss of family and posessions, and completely misunderstood by the 400 mighty men who say they understand you. This is exactly the time that God wraps up everything and ties it with a bow. You pursue the enemy and gain victory, Saul dies in battle, you write Psalm 18, and 56 because of a revelation of God's mercy, and the next week you are crowned king in Judah. David learned that God was with him in the whole journey, that God's gifts and callings are irrevocable and that God full of mercy, still loved him through all the weakness of the journey to the throne.
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