We Fight, The Enemy Fights Back

By David Hobbs

8 Once more war broke out, and David went out and fought the Philistines. He struck them with such force that they fled before him.
9 But an evil spirit came upon Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand. While David was playing the harp, 10 Saul tried to pin him to the wall with his spear, but David eluded him as Saul drove his spear into the wall. That night David made good his escape. (1 Sam. 19)

Early on in David’s relationship with King Saul, he found himself in a quandary. Every time he was successful in his ministry of battling the Philistines and delivering Israel from their domination, it only heightened Saul’s fear and jealousy of him. So David was tempted by mediocrity: be successful, but not too successful; kill the Philistines, but not too many. Lose a few more of your own men while you’re at it so you won’t look too good; maybe Saul won’t be stirred up against you.
David however, rose to the challenge, resisted the temptation, and “struck them with such force that they fled from him.” God was surely pleased with David’s integrity. But what was the immediate result for David? Once more Saul was back on the warpath against him and David had to flee for his life, never to return to Saul’s service, now to be a hunted fugitive for 13 long years until Saul’s death.
As the Bible so succintly puts it in Revelation 12:7—“And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.” We fight and they fight back. And I don’t mean that David was ultimately fighting the Philistines. We know from the New Testament that our enemies are not human, but spiritual principalities and powers. David too was fighting the dragon by fighting the enemies of God’s people, as God’s proxy on earth. And David enjoyed great success. But then the dragon fought back through one of his proxies on earth, which in this case was not the Philistines, but the backslidden King Saul! David resisted his temptation to mediocrity, scored a great victory, and then was forced to flee by the enemy scared to death of his powerful anointing (1 Sam. 18:28).
I tell this story because I have found it to be true in my life. When the anointing of the Holy Spirit comes on me in power, it makes the devil furious! I’m talking about the anointing in such power that I am literally set free of everything that usually holds me back from complete abandonment to the service of God—like my mundane human personality.
For a long time I was going over to Cheryl’s every morning to pray for an hour. One morning the anointing came on me in power as I as driving through Marysville. I was set free, singing and worshipping . . . I know in the Spirit my countenance was shining as much as Moses’ countenance used to shine when he spent time with God. Brother, believe me, Satan is always on the lookout for such things, and can be counted on to respond immediately. And he is not called “the god of this world” for nothing!
In the place where 5th Street narrows down from 2 lanes to 1 as it starts to cross the 5th St. Bridge into Yuba City, I looked in my side mirror and saw a car coming up fast behind me. There was no way he could overtake and pass me because the road was already narrowing. But to my amazement he kept coming! He passed when it was only a lane and half wide. But there was traffic coming the other way. To avoid a head-on collision with oncoming traffic he cut right in front of me and would have hit me if I hadn’t slammed on my brakes to avoid the accident. Then he turned and shook his fist at me, his face snarled in a curse! Well, needless to say I lost it, blasting on my horn and yelling back at him in indignation. With the rush of adrenaline the anointing went right out the window and I arrived at Cheryl’s shaken and angry, but also amazed at how quickly Satan had sent someone to shut down the Holy Spirit’s anointing.
That was a year ago. But just 2 weeks ago I had a similar experience. I was driving to Sacramento early Thurs. morning for our weekly prayer time in the state capital. It’s often my best time in God for the whole week. Once again the anointing came upon me in power. Cruising along the freeway at 65 mph, I began declaring the victory of Jesus Christ: His power, His glory, the absolute surety of His promises . . . I was having a great time. Nothing could stand against me in the Spirit—I was walking in total victory!
Eighteen miles south of town is the little burg of East Nicolaus with a 4-way stop. As I pulled up to the stop light it sounded like I was sitting beside a diesel pickup; I could hear that loud engine noise diesels make. But as the traffic beside me pulled away, the sound continued just as loud, even when there was no other vehicle close by. “I’m making that noise!” I thought, suddenly alarmed. I looked down at the temperature gauge—it was pegged out! Immediately I pulled over to the side of the road and shut off the ignition. Steam was rising from the motor.
Fortunately I was only ¼ mile past Nicolaus. I walked back and was able to borrow a bucket from the guy who runs a little restaurant there. I filled it up with water, lugged it back to the car, filled up the radiator, and limped home.
The mechanic checked out the car: it had a hole in the radiator. With the new radiator and thermostat the bill came out to $650.00. Now here’s where it gets interesting. For those of you who still believe in “coincidences” rather than spiritual warfare: that night when my son Daniel (who works for me) came home from his job in the paint van, he came into my office and told me the radiator in his paint van had sprung a leak! When I took it to the mechanic it too needed a new radiator, another $400.00.
A week later, the next time the car was driven, it stalled suddenly going over the 10th St. Bridge and the police had to come and push it off the bridge. Some computer that controls the gas had gone out, another $400-500. We fight, the enemy fights back!
Do we give in to the temptation to mediocrity or do we continue to seek the anointing regardless of the cost?