01/05/2026
There is a moment in Samson’s life that should shake every believer.
“He awoke from his sleep and thought, ‘I will go out as before and shake myself free.’ But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.” (Judges 16:20)
It didn’t happen overnight.
It wasn’t one mistake.
It wasn’t one bad decision.
It was a pattern.
Compromise.
Disobedience.
Dishonor.
Playing with what God told him to guard.
And eventually… what was once on him… lifted.
This is the danger many don’t talk about.
You can still have the look…
You can still have the language…
You can still go through the motions…
And not realize the anointing has lifted.
Not because God is cruel,
but because we slowly walked out of alignment.
Disloyalty will cost you more than you think.
Disobedience will take you further than you planned.
The scariest place to be is thinking you still have it…
when it has already departed.
But here’s the mercy of God:
You can come back.
Repentance restores what pride destroys.
Alignment reopens what compromise closed.
Don’t play with the presence.
Guard what God has given you.
Because the anointing is not automatic…
it is sustained by obedience.
~ Derek Dunn
