Advancing Encouragement By:
Bishop James Jr. Hairston

1Samuel:22:2: And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men.

Here in the text David was running from King Saul, for his life was in danger of death. David was in his pre-dominion, pre-rule and pre-reign in the land. Before David could prepare and build his kingdom he had to start with an army of men, soldiers ready to be trained for battle. These men had these conditions, disabilities, anguished, distress, in other words in pain, misery, sorrowful and suffering, grieved and filled with bitterness, plus they were angry and did not have it all together. Additionally, they were broke and in debt, they had nothing to live for and what an opportunity to be someone great, mighty, powerful, able to take dominion in the land under the guidance and direction of Pre-king David. This story reminds me of the types of people that were drawn to Christ Jesus exactly in the same light. We have been talking about the remnant of God in the past two day’s and these groups of men sounds just like the remnant of God! The remnant of God is His preserved and reserved for the Kingdom of God to do great and mighty things in the earth to take dominion in the land. This is exactly what David was doing getting ready to take dominion in the land with these men! On one hand you have David building his kingdom and on the other you have the remnant of God building God’s Kingdom! David is the Captain and ruler over his men and Jesus Christ is the Captain and Ruler over His remnant of God. Captain in this text means, chief, general, governor, keeper, lord, (-task-) master, prince, and ruler. If you look at these words describing captain, Jesus Christ is definitely our Prince of peace, our Master, Keeper, Governor, Lord and Ruler over our lives. Jesus Christ can empower you and make you great in spite of your situation. You can be broke, angry, distressed, in anguish, pain, misery, sorrowful, with disabilities or even suffering in some other way. If David can build his kingdom from these groups of men and make them successful how much more can the Lord Jesus Christ do for you? His remnant is a strong Nation, a royal priesthood, a peculiar people, and people belonging to Him to take rule reign and dominion in the land where you are right now! Today is your day to start preparing yourself to take rule and dominion for the Kingdom of God in your land, in your area of life. You are mighty my friend and now it is time to live up to who you are in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. Today you are trusting in Him to do great things and take dominion in your life in Jesus name…

James Jr. Hairston