Asleep In Delilah’s Lap

0:00:00 – (Steve Gray): Millions of believers are kind of like Samson who failed God and ended up on a grinding wheel, just going in circles, going in circles. They feel like they’re going nowhere with their life. I’m going to tell you how to get out of that situation and get back into the presence of God on the next More Faith, More Life podcast.

0:00:16 – (Steve Gray): You were made for more than the status quo. I’m Pastor Steve Gray and this is the More Faith, More Life Podcast. This podcast is for Christians with an ambitious heart who want to be more for their family, do more with their career, and see more of God’s promises in their life. I’ve spent many years as a worship artist, minister, non-profit leader, bold truth speaker, and most importantly, father and spouse.

0:00:41 – (Steve Gray): When I was in my early 40s, I was craving more. More from God and more from life. I’d done everything I was supposed to do. My life was good, but it wasn’t good enough.

0:00:53 – (Steve Gray): So I spent the following years diving into the word of God and searching for the biblical principles that would bring me closer to God and help my purpose and life flourish. That’s what I want to share with you. In every episode, you’ll get practical tools based on real life experiences that you can put into action to redefine your faith and ultimately your life. So if you’re ready to do more, subscribe to More Faith, More Life and hear an unfiltered biblical truth every week.

0:01:24 – (Steve Gray): It’s time to be and experience more.

0:01:29 – (Steve Gray): Hello everyone, and welcome to another More Faith, More Life podcast. Your voice of revival to this nation and around the world. I hope you’re getting that. That’s why it’s so important that you watch these podcasts every time one comes out, because this is for you. I’m not trying to teach stuff to just help you barely get along or, you know, validate you that you’re a good person or you’re worth something.

0:01:51 – (Steve Gray): I’m trying to empower you in the spirit of revival, empower you with the fire of God. And a lot of times you’re not getting that in your church or your Bible study or home group. And that’s sometimes the people themselves that teach never have learned it themselves. And I’ve been around long enough to know what works and what doesn’t. And that’s what I want to help you do. We were just talking a minute ago on the floor here about the new book, Revival or Ruin.

0:02:18 – (Steve Gray): I think the subtitle’s going to be something like Fighting for the Soul of America, something like that. And it’s going to be done soon. And I keep saying that, and it’s taking longer and longer. Two reasons I’m adding chapters, but I’m doing something that I’ve never done before. Kathy’s helping me every day. She’s taking a lot of time, too, because we are sitting down and we’re reading every single sentence of every single chapter and talking it over. Is this saying it the best way we can say it and get the message across, or is it a straight line we need to take out?

0:02:50 – (Steve Gray): If you’d like to be a book writer, you need an editor. But if you kind of edit yourself first, you find editing is more taking out than putting in is realize we don’t need that. So we do a lot of that. And that will be coming out and made available to you very soon, especially at https://stevegrayministries.com. I’m not going to a big publisher. Mighty Like Gideon was a big publisher. It was good. It was in bookstores.

0:03:14 – (Steve Gray): But this book probably would not make it through publishers because it is so pointed that it needs to be. We’re just going to publish it through J.D. king’s publishing company. I can’t even say the name. Oh, yeah, Christos Publishing. And then we’re going to politicians and influencers with it directly. And we’re setting up appointments where we’re going to go to them or give them the book first and make an appointment to go. And these are politicians. If I said their names, some of them you would know. Especially if you’re from our state of Missouri, there’s names that you would know.

0:03:49 – (Steve Gray): So this is the action that’s taking place. So it’s important that you watch. It’s important you understand. And that’s why we like you. When you send a message or a comment and just let us know, I’m here, I’m getting it. I’m getting something. We hope that you’re not getting that not everybody else is saying, because a lot of podcasts are good. Some of them are political. And it’s my opinion if it’s Christian, it needs to be spiritual.

0:04:16 – (Steve Gray): That backs up the political rather than the political backing up the spiritual. And that’s what’s happening in America today. Guys, listening out here in the studio, you know, that’s what’s happening. It’s politicians are going on TV and telling us we need to pray. Our president did that. I’ve heard politicians go on and say, this is demonic. These are politicians and news people. But I don’t hear it out of the Pastors. The pastors are still trying to just get crowds and soothe people and get people to come and give them activities and keep them busy and, you know, just keep them, soothing them and coddling them.

0:04:53 – (Steve Gray): And that’s not what we need. We need teachers to say, I need to walk by the spirit. Because these demonic powers that even people that don’t go to church see, even people on news media see, even politicians see it’s not being taught in the churches because the pastors are afraid to bring up demons. They’re afraid to talk about evil. They’re afraid to talk that you’ll be convicted or you’ll get mad and leave and go to somebody else’s church. Which people do.

0:05:20 – (Steve Gray): Some people shop for the best church, not for the best sermons or for the best programs. Okay, enough of that. But we’re so glad to have you and you watch all the time. Subscribe, tell your friends and comment. Let us know that you’re getting something out of this. This is going to be good today. So let’s get going on it. Today we’re going to talk about Samson. And I don’t know what you can remember a lot of growing up. Even I was so, so on church growing up, but I knew who Samson was. You know, I didn’t understand Delilah.

0:05:49 – (Steve Gray): I know I heard, always heard Samson and Delilah, but I didn’t understand what was going on between them. I was too young. But I understand Samson, how strong he was. So before he was born, an angel appears to his mom and says this, son, you’re going to have Samson. You’re going to make him a Nazirite and a Nazarite. Was a man or kid up to a man that makes a vow to God, vows their life over to God. And really, if you think about it, that’s what a Christian is too.

0:06:17 – (Steve Gray): You know, so much of people praying, the salvation prayers, they’re doing it for themselves. They’re not making a vow to be anything for God or anything to God. If you listen to the standard, even on tv, I hear standard evangelism. And it’s all about, I’m a sinner, I’m sorry, God, you’re the Savior, come and save me. That I know that I have a life in heaven after I die. And then maybe they’ll tag on something and I’ll love you or serve you or something.

0:06:46 – (Steve Gray): But this is a guy who made his mom and him, they made a vow. And the representation of the vow was, you shall not cut your hair. There were a couple other things in it, but one of the main things that’s going to be his downfall is you will not cut your hair. A Nazarite cut your hair. Now a lot of people think, well, what’s that? They didn’t cut their hair anyway. Yes they did. It was sometimes longer, as we see in movies and stuff. But there were guys that had short hair too.

0:07:14 – (Steve Gray): And I was explaining, I was laughing when I was talking to some people earlier. I was laughing because when I was in high school and college, I had long hair down to my shoulders. I wasn’t a Christian and all that. So what, you know, there’s the story. A lot of people have that story. And anyway, I had long hair and other people would have long hair and then some stupid guy would speak, you know, they’d say, you need to cut your hair. And some guy would speak up. Well, why you say Jesus had long hair?

0:07:39 – (Steve Gray): Looking back, I laugh at that. Like, how do you know? How did you know? You don’t know he had long hair. And you know what? It’s more likely he didn’t if you study that because he was more of a rabbi figure. And a lot of times they would wear shorter hair and they would wear turbans. That was very popular. Not everybody had shoulder length hair. So that makes no difference. But, but it does with Samson because he probably really grew it. It was like his whole life he was not supposed to cut his hair.

0:08:07 – (Steve Gray): So you know, he looked like a rock star right down to his waist. And so anyway, so he makes this vow and because he made a vow to God, he got this tremendous, powerful, supernatural holy spirit strength to defeat God’s enemies, the Philistines. And the Philistines were always bothering God’s people, right? That’s how you get David and Goliath. Goliath was a Philistine. Later he get, you know, he gets killed. But later he’s got five brothers, they’re all giants too.

0:08:36 – (Steve Gray): Philistines. And it’d be interesting to do a. I’ve done a study on that. It’s interesting to learn something about those giants. But anyway, and so he made a vow. And he can and he can. They just can’t stop him. He can defeat him. He can, you know, swing a bone, donkey bone kill. You know, he could do anything. And so they can’t stop him. He just ornery too. Ornery and ornery nazarite. He got 300 foxes and tied their tails together.

0:09:04 – (Steve Gray): I was sharing earlier, it was probably jackals because they don’t have a lot of foxes in that area. But they do have foxes, but not in three, finding 300 foxes, finding 300 jackals wouldn’t be that hard. But anyway, he tied their tails together, put torches in their tails, and then let them loose into the fields. And they burned down the fields of the Philistines. That irritated. They didn’t like that.

0:09:23 – (Steve Gray): And so he’s the number one enemy and so powerful they can’t stop him. So so far, so good. He’s keeping his vow. He’s doing what God wants, defeating the Philistines and honoring God with his strength. But guess what? A woman comes along named Delilah, and it says he fell. You know, he fell in love with this Delilah. My anticipation, my thought on this is if we’re adults, we think like, you’re not going to fall in love with Delilah, who’s a pagan Philistine. She’s a Philistine.

0:09:55 – (Steve Gray): That’s the enemies of God. And he falls in love with this woman. Well, let’s not just think he’s sending her valentines. I mean, he fell asleep in a room, and so what was he doing in her room? We’ll just leave it at that. I think it was an adult relationship. So it was bigger than just, I like you. Right. Okay. So anyway, he falls in love with Delilah, who is a Philistine, and he’s goo goo over and all that.

0:10:20 – (Steve Gray): And so he’s hanging out with her, and the Philistines come and say, hey, Delilah. Cause I don’t think she cared. I don’t know if she cared about him or not. Maybe he was just. Maybe she went for muscle men. I don’t know. But anyway, they go and they say, hey, find out the secret of his strength. Go trick him. And so she does, and she tries to get the information out of him once, twice, a couple times. And he doesn’t fall for it. But then he gives in.

0:10:48 – (Steve Gray): And somebody was talking to me, I guess, that he got drunk and he wasn’t supposed to do that, and fell asleep. And before he fell asleep, she did her thing, whatever she did. And he gave his secret away. He said, the secret of my strength is in my hair. And it really was, but it wasn’t. Because the hair only represents the secret of his strength, was his vow. And his vow was, I won’t cut my hair to represent that I’ve made a vow. Got it. But anyway, so he falls asleep in the lap of Delilah. I see this pic, I get a picture of his. You know, he laid his head down in her lap and dozed off. And while he’s asleep, she cuts his hair.

0:11:24 – (Steve Gray): Then he Wakes up. Of course, now the vow is broken. You can’t say, well, it’s not my fault, you know, he shouldn’t have been there in the first place. He should have protected the vow. But anyway, and he wakes up and the Bible says he did. And he said, I’m going to go out and. And clobber some people. I’m going to clobber some Philistines. And he gets up and the Bible says he goes out, but he says he did not know the Lord had left him.

0:11:46 – (Steve Gray): That’s a scary thing. Very scary, isn’t it? That the idea that we can still be functioning as Christians, are functioning as believers, and he’s still thinking he’s functioning in his vow. Cause otherwise, why would he go out if he knew the Lord left him? Why is it he didn’t know? So he goes out. Oh, big mistake, though. Big mistake. Cause they capture him, they gouge his eyes out and they, you know, tie him up and do all that stuff. And they put him on the grinding wheel. The grinding wheel. You know, you’ve seen pictures of the big wheel goes around, you push it around and they put the grain on and it smashes the grain. Okay, they put him on that and he can’t get off.

0:12:26 – (Steve Gray): And there he is now, this guy who. Powerful, most frightening enemy of the Philistines of his day is now blind and walking in circles and walking in circles and walking in circles. And I find that to be true of so many people that when they, when they started out with God, they started out with Jesus. Such good intentions, especially if you, you may have grown up in church, but you didn’t really grow up around the movement of God where God’s really. Like I talk about revival and how thousands of people came to that small town in Missouri, hundreds of thousands came over a three and a half year period and were so changed. And they would leave there and so on fire and so dedicated. Cause that’s what they need. They needed a spark, you know, they wanted to, but they needed a spark. And that’s what true revival will spark your love for God, your dedication, and renew your vows, you know, and so, you know, so many people, they’ll find themselves today in church.

0:13:27 – (Steve Gray): I find more fire, like I said, in politicians and other places, news media, they’re talking more about God. And then people go to church and they sing a few songs and then they leave. I was sharing. You know, statistics say that the average American spends four and a half to five hours a day on their iPhone or their cell phone a day and then spend one hour in church a week, if they even go. How can you balance that out in your vow?

0:13:53 – (Steve Gray): How can you serve the Lord when you’re giving all this time to your phone and to your entertainment and to movies and all that? Just keeping yourself entertained constantly and stimulated constantly. Like you have to be stimulated constantly with something. You have to see something, have to hear something. And then we come to the church and what we let down, it’s nominal. We sort of sing, we sort of participate. Oh, we appreciate it. It was inspirational.

0:14:19 – (Steve Gray): I have friends here. I got a great, you know, loving pastor who smiles just when he’s supposed to. And, you know, and that’s so, you know, we’re the church folks. Most church folks I see are on a wheel going in circles. They’re not going anywhere with anything while evil in our nation and in our world is got a plan. They have a plan to disrupt America and change the way we do things and change the government of our way we do it. They have a plan.

0:14:56 – (Steve Gray): They have people and they have money. And yet we see where is the church? The church is asleep in the lap of Delilah. Just. I guess we just think it’s all going to work out somehow. We have enemies of the church. We have anti God people with a plan, you know, and just like the Philistines, they got a plan. Delilah, go trick him, find out, and then we’ll. They have a plan. And yet the church is full of people who have lost their vows, they’ve lost their zeal, they’ve lost the fire, they’ve lost their love.

0:15:30 – (Steve Gray): And there they are, they’re just going in circles, still going to church, you know, still thinking. And many do not know that the Lord in his presence and power, you know, they think, well, the Lord said, I’ll never leave you, forsake you. I don’t know about that. I mean, I agree with it. He did say it. But look who he said it to. He said it to guys that had already left their lives behind and were following him and said, I’ll be with you.

0:15:53 – (Steve Gray): I want him to be with you too. But in this lazy, kind of lukewarm, dead dull religion that’s everywhere, that’s just trying to soothe us and make us feel better about ourselves and make sure we come back next week. So we’re going to give you a lot of activities and a lot of, you know, a lot of messages sent on your phone to you to say how much we appreciate you, all that stuff. And so he’s on the wheel going round and round and The Philistines come and they say, let’s get Samson and let him entertain us.

0:16:30 – (Steve Gray): I think that’s a funny, funny word, isn’t it? But it makes sense in today’s world. Because entertainment. I don’t think he was a dancer, you know, I don’t think he was a singer, whatever. But entertainment. I think they were going to poke him and hit him and slap him and make him do things. You know, you’ve seen old movies, guys, where they take a gun and make. And start shooting at their feet and say, dance, dance. And they laugh because, you know, I think it was. That kind of stuff was going to happen.

0:16:58 – (Steve Gray): Entertain us. But I thought about that of people who. So many people made vows and made intended to be more than they are. But they’re just lost it. And they’re nominal and they’re going around in circles. And then we put. If they’re talented, either talented speakers or talented singers or talented musicians, particularly, or maybe even talent with kids. So we take them and say, here, entertain the kids. We take and say, hey, you’re a good singer. Come Sunday, you’re a great singer. Pick some songs we like.

0:17:33 – (Steve Gray): And it’s really entertainment because the person doing it has lost the anointing and doesn’t realize the power of God has left them. But they can still sing, they can still entertain us. Or maybe a pastor who’s lost his vow, he’s just going, you know, just nominal. Just, I guess, more of a business person. We have so many corporate pastors that are more business than they are spiritual. But they’re very entertaining because they’re really good at what they do.

0:18:00 – (Steve Gray): And so they say, let’s have Samson entertain us. So they get him and he says, listen, I want you to put my hand. Let me put my hands on the pillars of the temple. And when he does that, he says it. A very, very important prayer that’s very important for you to get. He does something and he says, lord, remember me. When you don’t know what to pray, you don’t know what to say. Say that. Just do it every day.

0:18:28 – (Steve Gray): Every day. If you can’t, you say, I’m so busy. I wish I had more time to pray. Or I’m just lazy. I don’t pray. Say, get in the car, you’re driving to work. Lord, remember me. Just remember me. And when he said that, when he’s making that vow over again, his hair begins to grow back again. And that’s a sign God did remember him. As bad as it’s gotten, as compromised as he Is God remembered him and his strength.

0:18:57 – (Steve Gray): Well, his hair. And with his hair, which was represented his vow, his strength started coming back to him. Think of that. His strength started coming back. That’s revival. Strength is coming back. Pursue it, seek it, pray for it, Search for it, Find people who understand it. Read books on it, whatever. Get your strength back again. Cause you’re going to need it. You’re going to need it. There is a plot to implement things that are foreign to America. There’s imported spiritual ideas. They were importing ideas that are not what made your life what it is today. And it is happening now. I can guarantee it is happening now.

0:19:40 – (Steve Gray): So you need to get your strength back to protect yourself. Get your strength back to protect your children, wife or friends. Get your strength back to put some fire Put some fire back into your church. Be the one that does it. Be the one that does it. You know, churches want people to stay so badly, maybe they’ll ask you to leave, but I doubt it. Maybe you could fire up the pastor, go have a meeting with him and talk about revival.

0:20:04 – (Steve Gray): He might not appreciate it, but at least you’ve done the right thing, right? And so they put him against the pillars. And he say and strengthens back. And he says this great prayer. One more time, God, one more time. Let me feel your strength. That’s a great, great prayer. I was sharing with some folks. I wrote a song that did well, a hundred years ago, you know, a long time ago, but I wrote a song called one more time, let me feel your strength.

0:20:31 – (Steve Gray): And it was a good song. And. And he prays it one more time. Let me feel your strength. And he’s sneaky. Now, remember he tied those tails together of the foxes? He’s sneaky. He says, put my hands on the pillars. And they do. They don’t have any idea. He’s got a plan now. His strength is back, and he’s going to renew his vow right there at the end of his life. But he’s also going to renew the honor of God. He’s going to destroy a lot of Philistines, a lot of Philistines by putting his hands on those pillars with the strength that he has.

0:21:03 – (Steve Gray): But it’s interesting because it’s not just going to cost the Philistines their lives, it’s going to cost him his life. And that’s what happens in the gospel. You know, I do a teaching sometimes on how does the gospel work? And we know that Jesus gave his life for us, right? He sacrificed his life. Just like, you know, Samson sacrificed his life not to save, but to Honor God to restore God’s honor and his vow. But anyway, you know, the whole thing is a life for a life.

0:21:38 – (Steve Gray): Jesus gives his life to us so we can give our lives to him. And so it’s a life for a life. And Jesus did that. And now Samson is going to kind of in that same spirit, he’s going to lay down his life and he’s going to die in the rubble, restoring God’s honor. And so he does and it all collapses. And he sacrifices himself for the glory of God. So today we have a whole generation of people asleep. They’re just asleep in the lap of Delilah. They’re lazy, asleep, overly entertained, stimulated by everything, but not the Holy Spirit.

0:22:19 – (Steve Gray): Not walking in the Spirit and then wanting to go to a church or a church service or hear something online that tells them they’re okay, that this is okay. Well, I’m telling you, it’s not okay. You just cannot be a 21st century Christian while studying a 1st century savior. It just doesn’t work. There’s an attitude and a commitment that they had and Jesus had, obviously that the others had too, that we’re missing. Which puts us on the grinding wheel, just going in circles. And when you go in circles, a lot of times people drop out of church because they’re just going in circles.

0:23:00 – (Steve Gray): They not excited anymore. Cause they’re going in circles. And I get it. Cause it’s pretty boring just going around in circles. You need help. You’d like to grow your family, you’d like to grow financially, you’d like to maybe buy a house. You’d like, you’d like to, you know, do something substantial with your life, right? And you don’t know the answer. So that grinding going in circles just wears you out. And you need to just remember me, Lord, and say, lord, I know where I am. I know it’s me, it’s not you.

0:23:26 – (Steve Gray): My faith is low, but it’s not your fault. It’s my fault. But one more time. Get me, Lord. Grab me, Lord. Let me feel your strength. Let me get excited for God again. Let me feel the power. Let me feel the presence. Let me know that you still love me and you still care for me and you still remember me so that I can do something great to honor you in my life, in my lifetime. So we have a generation that’s pretty asleep in the lap, but it doesn’t have to be you. This is to excite you, to get you going. So that’s why I remind you, go to Steve Gray Ministries, we try to have books there, things there, comment, you can make comments, tell your friends, subscribe, all that stuff. The new book will be out soon. And it’s just like this. It’s like this. It’s continually revealing what’s happening politically, revealing what’s happening spiritually, and putting it together. If you’re a Christian, then we need to start pushing a spiritual message to a nation that’s ready to hear it.

0:24:22 – (Steve Gray): Did you hear that? It’s ready. But are we ready to give it one more time? God, let me feel your strength. Till next time, bye-bye.