Declaring War in a Time of Peace: The Spirit of Joab

By Bernadette Falcon-Lopez

We are living in a world where chaos seems to be the norm with wars, rumors of wars, political wars, and spiritual wars. Declaring War in a Time of Peace: The Spirit of Joab will take you through war and peace from the time of David to where we are in this world today.

In the time of King Solomon (the wisest king), he said, "There is a time for war and a time for peace" (Ecclesiastes 3:8), but are we discerning the time we are in today? King David, the father of King Solomon, was called to war but also to peace. In fact, he made a peace pact that would be destroyed by the general of his army, Joab. Joab did not discern if it was a time for war or a time for peace, and he broke the covenant of peace David had with Abner and brought chaos through war and destruction. How many of us have seen the peace but chose the chaos instead? On the Sermon of the Mount, Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God." But what if we prefer the chaos over the peace? Joab's actions caused unnecessary chaos. Are we doing the same today? This book will help us identify where we may have come out of God's peace, and it will help us discern the time we are in. It will help us find our way back to that place where we can rest with Jesus in that place of peace despite the storms going on around us. I advise you to read this book and watch and see how you can find Christ's peace even in a time of war.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Oct 25, 2022
• ISBN: 9798886850628

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Declaring War in a Time of Peace

The Spirit of Joab

Bernadette Falcon-Lopez

ISBN 979-8-88685-061-1 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88685-062-8 (digital)

Copyright © 2022 by Bernadette Falcon-Lopez

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

The Chaos Creator

The Pot Stirrer

Strife Builder

About the Author

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the Holy Spirit for providing me revelation of the Word of God. I know without my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, this book would not be manifested. I thank you, Lord, for activating Your gifts in me.

I thank my husband, children, mom, family, and friends for their faith and support.

I thank God's Army for their love and financial support.

I thank my pastors and 123 Main Healing Center for their emotional, financial, and spiritual support through some dark times.

I finally want to thank all my financial supporters who believed enough in me that they allowed God to use them in providing the faith seed to bring this book into fruition.

May the Lord shine down upon all of you as He provides the great exchange of a prophet's reward.

Introduction

Blessed are the peacemakers, because they will be called sons of God.

—Matthew 5:9

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where everything around you is filled with peace that even you begin to question it? You start to question the peace as if though it isn't normal to have it. There's an old Spanish saying, "buscando las tres patas de el gato, which translated means, looking for the three paws of the cat." I will be honest, it took me decades to figure out what that meant. I then realized that finding three paws of the cat represents always finding fault or abnormality during some normal situations. You see, it's not that unusual for a cat to have only three paws because animals are resilient and find ways to overcome the most difficult of situations. On the other hand, we focus on the situation and not how to resolve it. I guess we could learn a lot from our furry friends.

I've often asked myself why we search for conflict or chaos even when there is a calmness in the atmosphere. I have seen conflict and war provoked in the most tranquil situations that you question how it even started. It's almost as if we need the disorder and chaos in order to function. This isn't the case for everyone, but I know quite a few friends, family, and even myself in the past where this is considered the norm. I started to ask myself, Why do we welcome chaos as our norm? What is the root of this conflict, chaos-driven life, and how can we find that place where peace overcomes chaos?

War brings chaos and disturbs our moments of peace. Not that there should never be war because we do understand that there is a time for war as the wise King Solomon said, There's a time for war and a time for peace (Ecclesiastes 3:8). He did say there is also a time for peace. But what if we are so off-balance that we are looking for war or chaotic situations where God's peace should be? What if we prefer war over peace to the point that we intentionally start a war? What if we remove ourselves from being God's children as it states in Matthew 5:9 because we have no desire to be creators of peace?

The word beatitude comes from the Latin word beatitudo, meaning blessedness. The phrase blessed are in each of the beatitudes imply a current state of happiness or well-being. The word is an expression of bliss. So imagine yourself in a state of joy, happiness, feeling good, which ultimately leaves you in a state of bliss. Imagine being in such a state that you are totally unshakable during a storm. That's what Jesus did during a storm (which we will talk about later), and that's how we should be.

Just like there are peacemakers, there are also those who do the complete opposite, those we will call chaos creators.

The great King David had a general in his army (Joab). Not only was he his general but also his nephew through his sister, Zeruiah. Joab had access to the king's deepest secrets, even those David later regret, and it would cost him dearly. General Joab was an intentional initiator of war. He held on to unforgiveness and bitterness in such a way that he dishonored his king by spilling blood where a covenant was established.

Abner said to David, Let me now go and I will gather all Israel to my lord the king. They will make a covenant with you, and you will rule over all you desire. So David dismissed Abner, and he went in peace.

Just then David's soldiers and Joab returned from a raid and brought a large amount of plundered goods with them. Abner was not with David in Hebron because David had dismissed him, and he had gone in peace. When Joab and all his army arrived, Joab was informed, "Abner son of Ner came to see the king, the king dismissed him, and he went in peace."

Joab went to the king and said, What have you done? Look here, Abner came to you. Why did you dismiss him? Now he's getting away. You know that Abner son of Ner came to deceive you and to find out about your activities and everything you're doing. Then Joab left David and sent messengers after Abner. They brought him back from the well of Sirah, but David was unaware of it. When Abner returned to Hebron, Joab pulled him aside to the middle of the gateway, as if to speak to him privately, and there Joab stabbed him in the stomach. So Abner died in revenge for the death of Asahel, Joab's brother. (2 Samuel 3:21–27)

Let's review this. Abner made a covenant with David to help him gain more of the kingdom of Israel by letting the people know that David was the king who was appointed by God. Abner was the nephew of Saul and sided with Saul at first but was now a supporter of David. Later, we will get to understand how and why Abner crossed over to the other side. The important thing is that Abner did cross over and made a pact with David in hopes of uniting the kingdom to fully serve the truly God-appointed king. After Abner agreed to serve King David and bring the kingdom to serve him as well, it says that David dismissed Abner, so Abner went in peace. The key word here is peace. Abner walked away from the situation in peace, not in strife, not with the intent of causing conflict but with the intention of promoting peace and unity. Don't get me wrong, Abner was not always so peaceful with David, but during this time, Abner wanted to unite the people to David.

When Asahel (Joab's brother) pursued Abner to kill him, Abner gave him every opportunity to turn around and go back, but Asahel wouldn't hear of it, and so he continued to pursue him. The consequence to Asahel not heeding to the warning resulted in his death. Abner and Joab were both powerful warriors. Joab and his other brother pursued