1 Chronicles 18:1

1 Chronicles 18:1 says, Now after this it came to pass, that David smote the Philistines, and subdued them, and took Gath and her towns out of the hand of the Philistines.  After this time of communion and prayer, David began to be successful in defeating the Philistines, who had long been enemies of Israel, and even took Gath from them.  Before we go out to battle the enemies of God today, we need to spend some time in communion with God, and we will be facing the forces of Satan, who is always the ultimate enemy.  He has already been defeated, though, not by us but by Jesus Christ, so we just have to put our faith in Him to claim the victory.  Verse two adds, And he smote Moab; and the Moabites became David's servants, and brought gifts.  David next defeated the Moabites, and they became his servants.  If we defeat the enemies of God today, they should not become our servants, but if they want to serve someone after they are defeated, it should be God.  Of course, our ultimate responsibility is not to physically defeat those who don't believe in God, but to reach them with the gospel out of love.  Verse three continues, And David smote Hadarezer king of Zobah unto Hamath, as he went to stablish his dominion by the river Euphrates.  David continued to be victorious and expand the kingdom of Israel even farther.   We need to pray that we will be able to expand the kingdom of God further as we witness to people today  Verse four states, And David took from him a thousand chariots, and seven thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen: David also houghed all the chariot horses, but reserved of them an hundred chariots.  From these people, David took a thousand chariots, seven thousand horsemen or cavalrymen, and twenty-thousand footmen, or infantry men.  He then houghed, or hamstrung the chariot horses, and kept only a hundred chariots.  David had said a horse was a vain thing to put your trust in according to Matthew Henry, and he proved that he believed it by his actions.  We may look to the amassing of weapons of war to keep us safe today, but only faith in God can.  Verse five adds, And when the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadarezer king of Zobah, David slew of the Syrians two and twenty thousand men.  When the Syrians came to help Hadarezer, David and his forces, by God's power, killed twenty-two thousand of them.  As followers of Christ, we can expect all those who do not believe in God to be aligned against us. but they will never defeat us spiritually as long as we remain faithful to Him.   Verse six continues, Then David put garrisons in Syriadamascus; and the Syrians became David's servants, and brought gifts. Thus the Lord preserved David whithersoever he went.  David then set up a garrison in Syria at Damascus, and the Syrians brought him gifts and became his servants.  Our goal as Christians is to reach people with the gospel, not for our material gain, but so that they might become servants of God and bring their gifts to Him.  Verse seven says, And David took the shields of gold that were on the servants of Hadarezer, and brought them to Jerusalem.  David also took the golden shields of Hadarezer's troops and brought them to Jerusalem.  We need to bring anything we gained in the battle against evil to God, and not just claim it for our own use.  Verse eight adds, Likewise from Tibhath, and from Chun, cities of Hadarezer, brought David very much brass, wherewith Solomon made the brasen sea, and the pillars, and the vessels of brass.  David had also brought a lot of brass from the cities of Tibhath  and Chun, which Solomon would later use to make the sea of brass, the pillars, and the vessels in the temple.  Though David amassed all this brass that was later used in the temple, he was not allowed to build the temple himself.  We may lay the seeds of the gospel that others will reap the benefit of, but we are not to serve God for our own glory.