Life Around "The Fire"
This podcast is dedicated to those wanting to experience a living and real relationship with God as well as growing together in love for one another. We consider that to be a true sign of spiritual growth as we journey along The Way. If this is you then come along with us as we co-operate with God in what He is doing around the corner and around the world!
Life Around "The Fire"
Who Gets The Credit When God Moves
A risky climb, a taunt from the hill, and a truth that won’t let go: nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few. We walk through 1 Samuel 13–14 and watch Jonathan move when others stall, not because the odds improve, but because covenant confidence changes how you read the odds. Alongside him stands an unnamed armor bearer whose simple yes—“I am with you heart and soul”—turns faith into action. Their partnership exposes a quiet power the modern world often misses: victories rise from visible leadership and unseen loyalty working as one.
We unpack the landscape of Israel under pressure, the tension between promise and resistance, and the way God uses small teams to shift large battles. Jonathan’s sign is both practical and prophetic; he seeks confirmation, then commits. From there, we explore what this means for our daily choices: when to step forward, how to carry another’s vision without resentment, and why motives matter more than mentions. If you lead, you’ll hear a call to humility, clarity, and gratitude for those who carry the weight with you. If you serve in the shadows, you’ll find language for your courage and a reminder that shared battles mean shared victories.
Woven through the story is a larger hope rooted in Jesus and the new covenant written on our hearts. Faith is not performance; it is participation in what God has promised to do. Whether your current season looks like Jonathan scaling cliffs or like an armor bearer keeping pace, the invitation is the same: act with courage, guard your heart from the lure of applause, and aim your work at God’s glory. If this conversation strengthens your resolve to move with faith—seen or unseen—subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review to help more listeners find it. Then tell us: where is God asking you to climb next?
Loving Yeshua/Jesus, Loving people... Come as you are and you will be loved!
Feel free to check out our website by typing in lifearoundthefire.com or Life Around The Fire ... We think you'll find some beneficial stuff to look at and apply to your life.
Shalom to you and your home.
Holly folks, I want to welcome you back to Life Are on the Fire, and we are right now looking at the book of First Samuel. And today we're going to look at 1 Samuel, primarily 1 Samuel chapter 13, verses 16 through 23. That's the entire end of the 13th chapter, and then some portions from chapter 14. And there are so many things that are going on here, and historically, we're talking about a battle between two people that have been going on for a long time. And in our terms, this battle between the Philistines and Israel had been going on for over 3,000 years. It's 2025 right now, at the recording of this particular podcast episode. And these things date back to prior to us, right? They date back over 3,000 years. So this battle had been going on for a long time. It's still going on, in fact. We're going to find out. So in verse 16, in chapter 13, we read Saul and his son Jonathan and the men with them were staying in Gibeah, in Benjamin, while the Philistines camped at Nikmash. And so the picture here is Israel is settling things down in the country. They've divvied up the land, and now they're doing the work of occupying the land and dealing with the resistance to that taking place. Because the people that were living there prior to Israel, they weren't is prior to Israel moving in, they didn't want to leave. They had settled down, they had settled in, and so they felt entitled to that land, even though it had been given to Abraham and his descendants to occupy. And that was Israel and Philistine. The Philistines did not have that same bloodline. Yet they were occupying that land and did not want to move. And so they had settled in and provided for Israel resistance to advancing. And God, in his wisdom, did not drive out all of the inhabitants from the land when Israel moved in. Because we find out later that the Lord said, If I would have done that, wild beasts would have come in and overtaken you. So he provided an opportunity for Israel to get strong by allowing these people to remain. But they would be defeated. The enemy would be defeated if the people would keep covenant with God. They would be protected by God Almighty. And yet Israel continued to try to do things its own way. They did not want to take and follow God's instructions, which is so like human beings. And we get to see Israel doing what we do without people seeing oftentimes what we're doing. And here we have a nation that we're looking at, as well as individuals, so that we can look at their lives and see what they did right and what they did wrong. That's why the scriptures are so powerful because they don't mince words. They allow us to see things the way they really were, and in that respect, the way things really are. God is not insecure about revealing the fact that things don't always go according to what we have in our plans. And we tend to think that because that doesn't go that way, that God's through with us. God's done. Because we have some defeats, that means that God is completely done with us forever. And we're now on our own, so we might as well go back and do our old thing, our old way of living. Israel fell into that, and they were in that situation right now. But Jonathan, Jonathan had something else in his heart. There was something that had taken place in Jonathan's life as a result of him having a relationship with a young man in a way that just totally riveted his heart and solidified his relationship with God. Isn't that funny how friendships can do that? How we can stimulate one another and spur one another on into ways of living that we were previously maybe wanting to live up to, but just didn't feel the strength or the ability to. But because we aligned ourselves with the right people, we get we just get empowered. And Jonathan had aligned himself with David, but he also had, as we find out, another secret weapon. And in verse 14 of chapter one, we see something that's very important. One day we read, one day Jonathan, son of Saul, said to the young man bearing his armor, Come, let's go over to the Philistines outpost on the other side. But he did not tell his father. So Jonathan had decided with his armor bearer, his armor bearer being the secret weapon. He decided with his armor bearer to go up to the other side, but he said to his armor bearer, in verse eight, Jonathan said, Come then, we will cross over toward the men and let them see us. If they see us, wait there until we come to you. We will stay where you are, not go up to them. But if they say, Come up to us, we will climb up because the Lord will because that will be our sign that the Lord has given them into our hands. So both of them showed themselves to the Philistine outposts. Look, said the Philistines, the Hebrews are crawling out of the holes they were hiding in. The men of the outposts to Jonathan and his arm bearer, come up and we'll teach you a lesson. So Jonathan said to his arm bearer, climb up after me. The Lord has given us them into the hand of Israel. But one of the key things in this whole picture is found in verse six, where Jonathan said to his young armor bearer, come, let us go over to the outposts of those uncircumcised fellows. Perhaps the Lord will act in our behalf. Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few.
SPEAKER_00:Amazing insight.
SPEAKER_01:That's faith. If God's in it, it's gonna happen if there's a few people, whether or not there's a few people or there's a ton of people. If God's in it, it's gonna happen. Now that attitude right there, that attitude came as a result of Holy Spirit working in this man's life. But also it came as a result of his armor bearer being with him, heart and soul. In the battle, he was going to be in the battle with Jonathan, outmanned, out armed, outmaneuvered, but not outprotected.
SPEAKER_00:Israel was protected by covenant, God's covenant to Abraham, his promise.
SPEAKER_01:And his promise was significant, and his promise was enough. And if God said it, that settle it. It's going to be done whether it's by many or by few, and the same is true today. But back to Jonathan and his armor bearer. I want to keen on that, man. Because in our lives, in our personal lives, we are part of a kingdom. Those of us who are believers in Jesus are grafted in like a wild olive branch being grafted into an olive tree, becoming a recipient of the same nutrients of that natural olive tree. We are that tree grafted in, those of us who are Gentiles, to the promises provided to Israel, but also to the new covenant that Jesus has cut. In his body by his broken body and shed blood, he has cut covenant with us. Even a greater covenant because it's a covenant that is not on stone written and chiseled by hand, but it's in our hearts. His word is in our hearts. Powerful. Powerful, powerful, powerful. So Jonathan and his armor bearer were recipients of the power of the Holy Spirit and the promise of the covenant. And they were resting on that. And the word of God is faithful. His word is faithful. He will fulfill what he has promised. He watches over his word to perform it. He's watching over his word and looking for an opportunity to perform it. And he performs it through the vehicle of faith. His kingdom is manifest through faith into planet earth. It comes from heaven and it's manifest to us and through us on planet earth for those of us who are believers in Jesus. Now, some of us are Jonathans, and some of us are the ones who carry the shield of the one who is a leader in front of us. And we all have opportunities in life to be both. Sometimes at the same time, other times we are either Jonathan, we're the ones that have the privilege and the responsibility to lead, we're in front, we're up front, and we lead by example. Or we are armor bearers and we support someone else in leadership, ultimately God, but sometimes it's other people that we are supporters of.
SPEAKER_00:We support the vision of another man, of another woman.
SPEAKER_01:We support them. We're support role people. We come alongside of and we support. Which is more important. You can't say more important. One is more visible, and sometimes one gets more recognition, meaning your name gets mentioned. Jonathan had his name mentioned in Scripture. The armor bearer, we don't know who he was. Sometimes we are going to be that person who is going to be unrecognized by name, but we're recognized by the function. Because we contributed to something in the midst of the battle. The armor bear was as much in the battle as Jonathan was. Even though Jonathan was getting credit for some things, it was a it was a dual effect. It was a combined effort. Jonathan needed the strength also and support of his armored bear. And leaders need the support of the people around them. They need to know that people are with them. Really, really, really with them, willing to be in the battle with them, not just saying, you go ahead and fight and we're gonna watch. You go ahead and do all the work and we're gonna watch. And we'll see what goes on. Please entertain us. Show us something that we can be surprised and wonder about. Tell us something that we want to hear. Show us something we want to see. Keep us occupied and entertained versus help us be in the battle with you, fighting hand in hand, even if we don't get our names mentioned. Even if you don't get your name mentioned, or if you're a group of people and you come alongside of someone else who's doing something of let's just say an outreach, and it is their outreach to lead, and they get their name recognized, but you are in support of what's going on, man, you share in the victory because you were sharing in the battle. Being a nobody doesn't mean you're nothing. Meaning if your name isn't mentioned, that doesn't mean you're not important. Sometimes we become as valuable, if not more valuable, when a name isn't mentioned. How many things have gone on without someone's name being recognized in today's world? How many fellowships exist that may never be mentioned in the paper or any magazine or any article on the internet or any other place, and they still are involved in kingdom activity, regardless of whether or not they are recognized. That man, that commitment, that love, that devotion, that type of passion, it requires leaders as well as supporters in order to be successful. It requires Jonathan and his armor bearer. It required it then and it requires it now. Who are we in situation currently? Are we the Jonathan? Then let's be humble and obedient. But also appreciative of those around us who are helping. And if you are a person who is helping, let's be appreciative of the fact that you're in the mix, you're in the middle of what's going on, you're really in what's happening. It's just your name doesn't happen to be mentioned. That's not a bad thing. That can actually be a good thing. Because the more visible a person's name gets, the more attention they get also from the enemy. So we, as people whose names may not be mentioned, need to be careful that we're not coveting or jealous or desiring to have our name mentioned because we have some kind of unmet need to be known, to be famous, to be popular, to be big, to be recognized, to be successful, to have your name mentioned.
SPEAKER_00:You just want to see and hear your name mentioned publicly.
SPEAKER_01:That's if if if if if that's the case, you might get that recognition, but that's going to be your reward. And in the end, that recognition goes away so quickly.
SPEAKER_00:The same people that said Hosanna to Jesus were some of the same people that said crucify him. Compliments are fickle, but true encouragement is what we need.
SPEAKER_01:Compliments can be intoxicating. But really, there's better life to be lived than a life being lived intoxicated.
SPEAKER_00:There's more to be lived. It's better.
SPEAKER_01:So sometimes we're Jonathan, and sometimes we're the armor bearer. Who are you? And what is your attitude in the midst of it? My encouragement is that is the attitude is one of praise and worship to God, because He is central. Jesus, if Jesus is being exalted and His name is being exalted, who cares whether or not our names are mentioned? His is being mentioned. He is being exalted. If our attitude is that way, the victory. It belongs to the Lord, and in that case, it belongs to us as well. Hallelujah. Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00:Father, I thank you, God, and I humbly bow myself by my head before you in honor of you.
SPEAKER_01:I lift you high, Lord Jesus, and your name, and desire for it to be exalted, for your name to be remembered, regardless of whether or not my name is ever mentioned. Mentioned just as armor bearer. But you, the ultimate Jonathan, your name be mentioned, Jesus. That's what we want. So, Holy Spirit, grant us our desire.
SPEAKER_00:We pray as we stand here in Jesus' name and ask you to make us more like Him. We thank you and we love you.
SPEAKER_01:We honor you, and we say Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. All right, folks, we love you. And if you have any thoughts, questions, concerns, please feel free to look us up online, LifeRound the Fire, or you can type in life around the fire at gmail.com and look us up and send us a message on our email address. So either way, God bless you. Adios, amigos.