Sunday, March 31, 2019
He Can Find A David
Verse of the Day: 1 Samuel 15:27-29, And as Samuel turned around to go away, Saul seized the edge of his robe, and it tore. 28 So Samuel said to him, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. 29 And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor relent. For He is not a man, that He should relent.”
The interaction between King Saul and the Prophet Samuel is truly a pathetic commentary of what happens when we fail to truly repent before the Lord. Saul, in his rebellion and stubbornness, still refuses to admit his wrongdoing. His confession is at best superficial, and his own words give away the motive of his confession. Samuel recognizes the shallow attempt at worship on the part of Saul and initially refuses to oblige in verses 25-26. When the king grabs Samuel’s robe and tears it, Samuel uses the occasion to make it clear to Saul that it was his own actions, lack of obedience and lack of reverence to the LORD, that resulted in the kingdom being torn away from him. As servants of God, we must be careful not to blame God for the losses that are consequences of our own actions and lack of obedience to God’s Word. Verses 28 and 29 should serve as a warning to us who serve God today. Samuel was making it clear to Saul that God did not need him. God chose him at the request of the people to have a king rule over them. However, it was the LORD, the Strength of Israel, who would always deliver His people. God will use us, our talents, and abilities, to carry out His plan and to glorify Himself in us and through us, but the reality of the Christian life is that God does not need us. We are the ones who need Him, and if we become so rebellious and stubborn that we become useless to Him, He can easily replace us with someone who will obey Him and faithfully serve Him. I would like to make something clear at this junction. Just because God puts us on the shelf when we refuse to repent today, does not mean He has forsaken us or that He is not willing to use us tomorrow. Some of us remain in our rebellion and stubbornness for too long, and we end up paying a dear, painful price for that refusal to repent and confess our sins. God already knew that Saul would not turn back to Him, and therefore, He chose a man after His own heart, David, to replace Saul as king. God already knows what is in our hearts. He already knows whether He needs to shelf us to continue working on our hearts, until we turn back to Him; and He also knows when we have hardened our hearts past the point of “no return”. King Saul’s heart, with his empty attempts at worship, was at the point of “no return” and God knew it. In verses 30-31 we read, “Then he said, ‘I have sinned; yet honor me now, please, before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may worship the LORD your God.’ 31 So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul worshiped the LORD.” Note the shallow confession that lacked repentance. How do we know this? We know this because Saul, once again, refers to the LORD as “the LORD your God”. In confessing his sin, he also reveals that his confession was selfishly motivated because he was afraid that the people would turn from him if they saw Samuel forsake him. Sadly, there are far too many of us who confess our sins, not because we truly mourn what we did, but because we are sorry for the consequences. We try to “fix” our consequences and hope they go away if we confess them to God. In essence, we add sin upon sin when we refuse to be truly broken for sinning against the LORD. Ultimately, Samuel makes a wise decision in not causing an disturbance amongst the people, not for Saul’s sake, but for the sake of God and His people. However, we do not see Samuel lead Saul in his shallow attempts to appease God and regain what he himself threw away. As we read this today, let it serve as a warning to us that whatever it is we are doing to serve the Lord can be lost if we refuse to stay our eyes on Christ and serve Him obediently and faithfully. If sin is hindering our relationship with, and our service to, Jesus, then it is time to repent and confess it. We are deceived if we think that God cannot accomplish His will and plan without us. God is God and He can use whomever He chooses. If we become a Saul in our service to God, He can easily find a David to replace us.
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).
Saturday, March 30, 2019
Overcoming Rebellion and Stubbornness
Verse of the Day: 1 Samuel 15:23, For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He also has rejected you from being king.”
The Prophet Samuel, in his rebuke to King Saul, points out that his disobedience and refusal to admit, repent, and confess his sin, is equal to the sin of witchcraft and idolatry. There is no amount of justifying, performance of good works, or performance of sacrificial service (at least by our measure), that will be acceptable to the LORD in place of obeying Him. There are many of us who would not readily admit that we are rebellious or stubborn when it comes to our relationship with the LORD. However, if we are choosing our own way in living for Christ, and we are too proud to admit when we are wrong, then we are behaving no different than King Saul behaved. God rejected Saul from being king because he refused to surrender to God as his King. How then do we avoid being in a place of rebellion and stubbornness? The only way to avoid finding ourselves in such a position is to be completely surrendered to Jesus. Romans 12:1-2 admonishes, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” The greatest sacrifice we can offer God is ourselves, in obedience to His Word. In John 14:15 Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” We show our love for the Lord by obeying His commands. We cannot claim to love Jesus if we are rebellious and stubborn in our hearts. Romans 12 tells us to be living sacrifices. The sacrifices that were placed on the altar were first killed, then placed on the altar. Therefore, if we are to completely, and truly, surrender to Jesus, we must die to self (Matthew 16:24) and die to the world. Romans 6:13 states it this way, “And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.” King Saul’s disobedience came from the fact that he no longer served, as king, with humility. Samuel points out in verse 17 that Saul was once “small in his own eyes”. Now he thinks more of himself than he should. He allowed his greed and love of material things override the task God commanded him to perform in utterly destroying the Amalekites. His pride would not allow him to admit his wrongdoing, and led him to blame the people, who were only following the example of their king. King Saul was trying to serve as king, a position he was appointed to by God, on his own terms, as his own god. There are far too many of us who are trying to live our Christian lives on our own terms, with us established as our own gods. Today, right now, is the time to repent and turn from such rebellion and stubbornness. Instead, let us live as the Apostle Paul did when he wrote this in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).
Wednesday, March 27, 2019
Who Sits on the Throne?
Verse of the Day: 1 Samuel 15:15, And Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen, to sacrifice to the LORD your God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.”
In Exodus 21:3-5, God made it clear to Israel that they were not to have any other gods before Him, and that He was a jealous God. He was not jealous as we are jealous. He is jealous in that He wants the best for us and bowing down to anyone other than Him is less than the best for us, for there is no other god like our God. One of the consequences of pride that we give little thought to is the fact that pride leads us, very quickly, to idolatry. We become the greatest god in our lives. Saul’s pride led him down that path to where he became the god of his own life. He dethroned the LORD and put himself on it. We see this in his statement to Samuel when he was making excuses for his disobedience and says, “for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen, to sacrifice to the LORD YOUR God”. He no longer considered the LORD his God. When we get to the place that we make ourselves our own god, we open the door to make other people and things our gods. Material things become our gods because those gods boost the image we have created for ourselves. We serve the god of money because it enables us to buy the things that make us look more important than we really are. In Matthew 6:24 warns, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” We buy into the whole “prosperity” heresy, and even though we may know some of God’s Word and still go to church, we become hearers and not doers of God’s Word. James 1:22-25 admonishes us, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.” Some of us, like Saul, have become masters at sounding like what we are doing is for God’s benefit, as if God could not be God without our superficial service and empty sacrifices. We quickly forget that God knows our heart and our intentions. Jeremiah 17:10 clearly tells us, “I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.” Our dethroning of Jesus may not even be as blatant as what I have just described. Our removal of Jesus from the throne of our lives may be as subtle as us making decision in our lives based on how we feel and what we think is best, based on our own wisdom, even though it contradicts God’s Word. Any time we choose our preference, opinion, or feelings, over God’s commands and His truth, we have chosen to put ourselves on the throne that belongs to Jesus. Have we allowed our pride to turn into idolatry? Based on how we are making life decisions, who is really sitting on the throne of our lives?
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).
Sunday, March 24, 2019
Blind Pride
Verse of the Day: 1 Samuel 15:12, So when Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul, it was told Samuel, saying, “Saul went to Carmel, and indeed, he set up a monument for himself; and he has gone on around, passed by, and gone down to Gilgal.”
One of the most dangerous sins that can enslave us is pride. Proverbs 16:18 warns, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” Pride was the downfall of the most beautiful angel ever created. Ezekiel 28:17 tells us, “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, that they might gaze at you.” In 1 Timothy 3:6 pride is called “the condemnation of the devil”. Throughout Kings Saul’s reign, we see him on that slippery slope downhill, as we begin to see his pride begin to bubble up, until it is overflowing and infecting his life like a cancer. The same man who hid himself when his promotion to king was being announced, in 1 Samuel 10:22, is now the man who is setting up monuments to himself. We must, at all cost, avoid falling into this trap. Far too many followers of Jesus, who start out as humble servants, allow the devils to convince them that they are more than they really are, simply because God has endowed them with talents and abilities that God is using for His glory. Romans 12:3 clearly warns, “For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.” Galatians 6:3 reminds us, “For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” King Saul, in allowing his pride to get the best of him, has now put himself in a position to be opposed by the LORD. James 4:6 clearly states, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Pride left unaddressed will lead to blindness. We become blind to who we really are. We become blind to who we are supposed to be in Christ. We become blind to the fact that who we are, as it concerns our talents and abilities, has everything to do with Jesus and His grace, and not us. We become blind to our arrogance. While we clearly see everyone else’s shortcomings and sin, we become blind to our own. King Saul was blinded by his pride. This is evident in verse 13, “Then Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him, ‘Blessed are you of the LORD! I have performed the commandment of the LORD.’” He was blind to the fact that his “partial obedience” was “total disobedience”. Pride can be a very tricky sin. This is why it is so easy for the devils to steer us down this destructive path. Some of us have a tendency to think that our perspective on certain matters is always the correct perspective, and we have the verses to prove it. We become that person who we complain about, because no matter what you say to them, they are the ones who always have God’s perspective on a matter, regardless of what anyone says. These are the same Christians who then try to explain away why their “wise counsel” did not work the way they thought it would. “Satan is opposing me”, they exclaim! No, Satan is leading you! If we step back and discover that we have become that person, then we need to repent, confess it, and humble ourselves before God. Pride can disguise itself in many ways, and the only way to truly avoid it when dealing with others is found in Philippians 2:3, “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.” Pride will not be able to penetrate our lives if we remind ourselves that as the LORD’s servants that, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30) When the world begins to see more of us than more of Jesus, pride is creeping in. Let us be sober and vigilant to the devils’ tricks, keep our eyes on Jesus, and keep our attitudes humble so that we do not end up suffering from the effects of blind pride.
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).
Saturday, March 23, 2019
Will We Pass or Fail?
Verse of the Day: 1 Samuel 15:10-11, Now the word of the LORD came to Samuel, saying, 11 “I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments.” And it grieved Samuel, and he cried out to the LORD all night.
This is a very sad day for Saul, even though he does not know it yet, and a very sad day for Samuel and the LORD. However, what I would like us to focus on is how God responds to Saul’s disobedience, and Samuel’s response to God’s communication regarding Saul’s forfeiture of the throne. First, we need to understand this one thing; God finds no pleasure in having to discipline His children, and He takes no pleasure in having to take these types of actions against His people. The word regret used in God’s statement means to be “moved to pity”, “have compassion” or “to console oneself”. Even in His anger, the last thing that God desires is to have to punish, discipline, or destroy His creation. His preference is that we come to repentance, as we are told in 2 Peter 3:8-9. This is why we are told that His goodness is what leads us to repentance in Romans 2:4. Knowing this, and all that being said, this should put a different perspective on what it means to love and pray for our enemies, and those who spitefully use us and persecute us (Matthew 5:43-48). Samuel, even though Saul replaced him as God’s leader to Israel, and even though he already saw a glimpse of Saul’s heart and tendency to rebel in chapter 13 when he made the unlawful sacrifice to the LORD, did not take this opportunity to take advantage of the situation and regain his position. Instead, as God was grieved by Saul’s actions, so Samuel was grieved. When we truly have a heart for the LORD, that which bring God joy will bring us joy, and that which grieves God will also grieve us. I say this to point out that many of us have the wrong idea of what it means to pray for our enemies. When we are hurt by others, our first tendency is often to go to God seeking for Him to punish that person who hurt us. We pray that God will allow something bad to happen in their life so they know what our pain feels like. Yet, God’s desire is that we pray in accordance to God’s will, which is that the person repents of what they have done, turn to God in confession, as well as seek to correct the wrong they committed. The fact that God already told us that He would take vengeance on our behalf does not excuse ill prayers toward those that harm us or desire to harm us. Romans 12:20 instructs us to feed our enemy if they are hungry and give them something to drink if they are thirsty. Proverbs 24:17-18 clearly tells us, “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles; 18 Lest the LORD see it, and it displeasing Him, and He turn away His wrath from him.” In other words, let God decide what price our enemy will pay, and if they do not turn in repentance, and God has to carry out His vengeance on them, we are to mourn their lack of willingness to turn from their wicked ways. I will ask this to put this matter in perspective. Let us say that we have someone that we love dearly. What if they were to cause harm to someone, and we know that they have committed this wrong? Would we want God to punish them (if they are not saved) or severely discipline them (if they are saved), or would we be praying that they turn to God and avoid the pain that comes with either situation? I believe, that in this case, we would be praying that they turn to God before it is too late. Would it not be rather hypocritical if we then failed to pray for the person who harmed us in such a way as to seek God’s mercy and grace toward them if that is what will turn them to God? Stop and think about what Jesus said in Matthew 5 when He tells us to “love your enemies”. He is talking about agape love. He is talking about love that is an action; hence, why we are to give our enemy something to eat or drink if they are hungry or thirsty. When we read God’s definition of love in 1 Corinthians 13, if we treat our enemies with the kindness that God commands, pray for them the way that we ought, and refuse to rejoice when we see them suffer the consequences of hardening their hearts, then, and only then, will we be responding with the same heart that God responds to those who hurt us. Yes, they may deserve nothing but God’s judgment, but so did we. Yet, when we called on Jesus, even though we deserved eternal condemnation, He gave us eternal life. That is the heart of God. Are we not supposed to be growing to be more and more like Jesus? This will be one of the most difficult tests of our growth in Christ. When that test comes, if it has not already, will we pass or fail?
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).
Friday, March 22, 2019
Wrongs Made Right
Verse of the Day: 1 Samuel 15:2, “Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt.’”
What was so egregious before God that He is now choosing to wipe out an entire nation? Well, in order to understand this, we must go back to the promise God made to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3, when God called Abraham to, once again, leave his father’s house, “Now the LORD had said to Abram: ‘Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’” Essentially, God promised that He would take vengeance on anyone who mistreated His people. Does that promise sound familiar? Romans 12:19 promises us, “Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord.” God is not slack when it comes to keeping His promises. The Amalekites were the first nation to attack Israel when they were being led out of Egypt. Deuteronomy 25:17-19 tells us, “Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you were coming out of Egypt, 18 how he met you on the way and attacked your rear ranks, all the stragglers at your rear, when you were tired and weary; and he did not fear God. 19 Therefore it shall be, when the LORD your God has given you rest from your enemies all around, in the land which the LORD your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance, that you will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. You shall not forget.” This attack prompted this promise to Moses in Exodus 17:14-16, which was essentially the promise God made to Abraham, “Then the LORD said to Moses, ‘Write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.” 15 And Moses built an altar and called its name, The-LORD-Is-My-Banner; 16 for he said, ‘Because the LORD has sworn: the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.’” The thing we must remember about God’s promises is that His timing is not ours. 2 Peter 3:8-9 reminds us, “But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” As much as this next statement might upset some of us who are waiting for God to exact vengeance on our behalf on someone who has really hurt us, the fact of the matter is that God gives room for those who hurt us or offend us to repent and turn to Him; the same mercy and grace we have enjoyed time after time. However, for those of us who have hurt someone else, know that there is a time coming when we will give an account for the wrong we have done. If you happen to be someone who does not know the LORD, then that Day of Judgment is coming when God will make all wrongs right, so the time to repent and call on Jesus is now. For those of us who have already been forgiven in Christ, there will be a day when our works will be judged and we stand to lose eternal reward. The Amalekites were given far more years than they deserved to get their sin right with God and Israel, but they refused. Humanly speaking, in Christ, we are called to forgive, and with time we experience healing. With God, there is no amount of time that passes that erases sin. It was the Amalekites time, in accordance with God’s timetable, to pay for their sinful actions against Israel. This serves as both a national and personal warning for all of us. As a nation, we must never put ourselves in the position where we are standing against God’s nation, Israel. All we have to do is read the end of the Book to see that this is true. Personally, as God’s children, it should encourage us to truly forgive and pray for those who make themselves our enemies. Even though we may not live to see God make the wrongs done to us made right, as the case was with Moses and the people who were led out of Egypt; nonetheless, we can rest assured that a time is coming when God will take vengeance on those who did evil to us, just as He did with the Amalekites.
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).
Wednesday, March 20, 2019
Who Made Us God?
Verse of the Day: 1 Samuel 15:3, “Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.”
In my opinion, if God were to come to one of us today and give us this same command, there would be a lot of rationalizing as to why this would be wrong. As a matter of fact, I am pretty sure that many of us would be just as disobedient as King Saul, if not more so, because we would interject our own opinion that killing anyone, including women, children and animals would just be wrong in all kinds of ways. Yet, the command that God gave King Saul was very clear. Here is where we, even today, walk that fine line of interjecting our personal opinions and feelings, and often conclude that what we think and what we feel overrides what God commands us to do. Some will argue that this is not true, but I will prove it with some examples. God said, in Exodus 20:13, “Thou shall not kill.” Yet, I hear many Christians advocating for “freedom of choice” and murdering unborn babies. Before any of you get upset at that statement, when we vote for those who advocate for this, we are saying that we agree with them. Colossians 3:13-14 clearly commands, “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.” How do we often respond to that? “But Lord, you just don’t understand what they did to me. How can I forgive them for that?” Ephesians 5:22 and 25 read, “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her”, for which we often respond, “But she he doesn’t follow God and act ungodly. He’s a hypocrite!” “Lord, she disrespects me and doesn’t act like a godly wife.” Do I really need to go on? Okay, I’ll give you one more. Jesus commanded us in Matthew 5:43-44, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you”. How long do we go holding on to the bitterness of the wrong done to us, and instead of forgiving and praying for our enemies, we seek for ways to get even and pray that God will cause evil to enter into their lives, “so they know what it feels like”? As Christians, we are too quick to justify our disobedience with our feelings, and what we have been brainwashed to believe is acceptable and right in society, which more often than not is the complete opposite of what is right and true, based on God’s truth. King Saul disobeyed based on what was right in his own eyes, and then blamed the people for his rebellious decision (v.21). He did what we often do. We refuse to obey God’s command completely, so we half-obey, do “some” of what is commanded, and count it as obedience. Yet, God sees partial obedience as complete disobedience. In verse 20, King Saul says to Samuel, “But I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.” Samuel’s response to him in verses 22 and 23, “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He also has rejected you from being king.” We think we can cover up or make amends for our disobedience by our good works, but just as our good works cannot earn us eternal life, good works done as a way to justify our disobedience is unacceptable. To say that we love Jesus, but then refuse to obey His Word clearly demonstrates that our love for Him is lacking. When we decide that we will compromise God’s Word, knowing that we are compromising it, because we deemed that obeying it is viewed as intolerant, or viewed as narrow-minded, or flies in the face of our own emotions and opinions, it says to God that we think we know better than Him what is best, and what is truth. When God called King Saul to wipe out that entire nation of people, He was justified in giving that command. The next time we are faced with obeying one of God’s “tough” commands, before we choose to disobey it, we should stop and ask ourselves, “Who made me God, that I think I now know better than He?”
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).
Tuesday, March 19, 2019
Accepting Consequences
Verse of the Day: 1 Samuel 14:43, Then Saul said to Jonathan, “Tell me what you have done.” And Jonathan told him, and said, “I only tasted a little honey with the end of the rod that was in my hand. So now I must die!”
Here is an example of something we very rarely see today. Jonathan, even though his actions violated a foolish command, which led to the making of an even more foolish vow by King Saul (v. 39), took responsibility for his actions and accepted the consequences of those actions, which were done in ignorance. There are many of us today who would say, if this were happening real-time, that Jonathan should speak up and defend his position because it really was not his fault. Any one of us would argue the point, tooth and nail, and insist that the consequences of our actions be forgiven. Sadly, what we see here is that King Saul was too proud to admit that he issued a foolish command. Once he found out that his own son was the one that violated his commanded, he doubled down and continued to avoid admitting his error. How often have we allowed our own pride to keep us from reversing a decision we knew was unwise and foolish? I am sure that many of us have even allowed others to suffer the consequences of our decision, even after we realized we were wrong, because we were too proud to admit it. It is always the old “blame game” we play with God, pointing the finger at someone else, as Adam did when he blamed God for giving him Eve, who disobeyed God’s command, for which Adam was responsible for keeping (Genesis 3). The position that Jonathan took was actually an honorable position before God. He was willing to suffer, even death, for something he did not do intentionally, and something that was not sinful to do, in and of itself. 1 Peter 2:19-20 tells us, “For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. 20 For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God.” A willingness to take personal responsibility for our actions is a rare quality today, even amongst us followers of Jesus. What is even harder to find is someone who is willing to suffer quietly, without reviling others when we are falsely accused, even though this is the example Jesus set for us in dealing with false accusations or dealing with situations where we could potentially suffer wrongfully for a misunderstanding. 1 Peter 2:21-23, “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: 22 ‘Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth’; 23 who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously”. What was the result of Jonathan taking the stand he took, in accepting the consequences of his action, even if wrongly judged for it? God honored his decision and used the people to stand up on his behalf and save his life (v. 45). When Saul, who showed more mercy toward wicked King Agag in chapter 15 than he did his own son, the people came to Jonathan’s defense. I am sure that Jonathan did not know whether anyone would come to his defense, but he was honorable in trusting the Lord to intervene, somehow, on his behalf. So often, we are quick to speak on our own behalf, usually because our pride is what is driving our thoughts and words, but the Word of God tells us in Proverbs 27:2, “Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips.” It is very difficult to stand by and allow ourselves to be falsely accused or judged, but the most honorable stance we can take before God is to simply accept the consequences of our actions, even if we did something ignorantly, than to go out of our way to prove we were right, get angry, speak words that turn into corrupt speech, ruin our testimony and dishonor Jesus. This is especially true if we are persecuted for our faith. It is more of an honor to suffer for doing right than it is to patiently endure hard consequences for our own wrong actions. Jonathan showed that he was far more honorable than his own father, the king, who should have been humble enough to admit his wrong and reverse his foolish command and oath. Instead, Jonathan chose to accept both responsibility for his actions and the consequences that came with that decision, even though it could have cost him his life. How many of us can truly say that our testimony would shine that brightly in a similar situation?
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).
Monday, March 18, 2019
The Private Peaceful Approach
Verse of the Day: 1 Samuel 14:29, But Jonathan said, “My father has troubled the land. Look now, how my countenance has brightened because I tasted a little of this honey.”
In life, regardless of whether we are Christians or not, we will have moments where we will have to confront others. There will be opportunities to resolve conflicts peacefully or cause strife and division. As God’s children, as born again Christians, we are to always seek the path of peace, regardless of the offense. What Jonathan said about his father was true. However, his approach could have been better. Although he ate honey in the presence of the people, in contrast to King Saul’s command not to eat anything, and though the people made him aware of it, his sentiments regarding his father’s decision may have been better express privately to King Saul himself. His statement could have caused the people to become bitter against the king and possibly further complicate the difficult circumstances they were already in. Quite often, I have seen, in churches, that God’s people are too quick to publicly criticize God’s chosen servants, whether pastors, deacons, or other church leaders. Far too often we say things publicly that should be confronted one on one, privately, with the person who caused the offense, but instead, we turn it into gossip, or use it for our own selfish attempts to cause division because we think we know better than the ones who are in leadership positions making the decisions. The Word of God makes it clear that God hates division. In Proverbs 6:19, we are told that God hates “one who sows discord among brethren”. Furthermore, Colossians 3:12-15 clearly says, “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. 14 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. 15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.” In Matthew 18, Jesus gave a step by step process for dealing with offenses. In verses 15-17 He instructed, “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ 17 And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.” In 1 Timothy 5:19, God’s Word gives us guidelines for accusations made against church leaders. It reads, “Do not receive an accusation against an elder except from two or three witnesses.” In the case of King Saul, there were far more than two or three witnesses who could attest to his less than wise decision. However, Jonathan was in a good position, as his son, to bring the matter to him privately. The bottom line is that whenever possible, the first and best approach in resolving conflict is to go to the person who committed the offense and try to deal with them one on one, before bringing others in, so that we can do everything possible to settle the matter as peacefully as possible, without causing division, for the glory of God.
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).
Friday, March 15, 2019
Shallow Religion
Verse of the Day: 1 Samuel 14:35, Then Saul built an altar to the LORD. This was the first altar that he built to the LORD.
Once again, a sad reality of what is seen today. What is even sadder is that there are many who proclaim to know Jesus, but still maintain a very shallow religion, but call it a relationship. The Word of God warns us in 2 Timothy 3:1-5, “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!” Saul, rather than take responsibility for being the cause of the people sinning against God, as they were driven to this by his own selfish command, instead tries to mask his guilt with “religious” rituals. We continue to see evidence that his heart is far from the LORD, in spite of his feeble attempts to mask them with his shallow show of dedication to God. In Matthew 15:7-9 Jesus said, “Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: 8 ‘These people draw near Me with their mouths, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. 9 And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” We saw previously that he waited to ask God’s guidance as a last resort. Now, to correct a wrong that originated in his own selfish actions, he builds an altar to the LORD. He rebukes the people for their sinful behavior, yet he clearly overlooks his own. So often we are quick to judge and criticize other people’s sins, and be completely blind to our own. In Matthew 7:1-5, Jesus said, “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. 3 And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” Saul’s shallow attempts at portraying that he had a relationship with the Lord yielded him nothing. In verse 37, Saul inquires of the LORD, but this is what the Scriptures tell us, “So Saul asked counsel of God, ‘Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will You deliver them into the hand of Israel?’ But He did not answer him that day.” So often we play the shallow religion game, but then get upset with God when He refuses to answer our prayers. If we claim to have a relationship with Jesus, but our relationship looks like this, then we must step back and re-evaluate our intimacy with the LORD. Are we just going through the motions, trying to use our relationship with God for our own selfish reasons? Do we use our relationship with the LORD to make ourselves feel better, looking upon others and pointing out their mistakes and sins, while overlooking, and being blind to, our own? God has no interest in having this kind of relationship with us. He wants a genuine relationship with Him, where we obey His commands, not to look religious, but because we love Him (John 14:15). He wants us to be genuinely broken by the sins we commit against Him, repent of them, and confess them (1 John 1:8-10). God is not interested in our shallow religion. He is interested in a genuine relationship. Which are we involved in?
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).
Thursday, March 14, 2019
Selfish Motives
Verse of the Day: 1 Samuel 14:24, And the men of Israel were distressed that day, for Saul had placed the people under oath, saying, “Cursed is the man who eats any food until evening, before I have taken vengeance on my enemies.” So none of the people tasted food.
The more we observe King Saul’s actions, the more we see his selfishness and how far his heart was from God. When we examine his words closely, we see the selfish intentions of his command to the people. The Lord had just given them a great victory, and there was great cause for celebration. Yet, we do not see him give any special attention to the fact that God had just delivered them from their enemies. In life, we will have occasions where God will give us victory in very challenging circumstances, and we will have many opportunities to exalt and praise God in our lives. Will we use those moments to lift the Lord up before people, or will we rob God of the glory that is due Him? On every occasion where we have the opportunity to give God glory, we must have the same attitude John the Baptist had in John 3:30, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” As God’s children, people must see more and more of Jesus, while seeing less and less of us. For all intents and purposes, King Saul forced a fast on the people. Yet, this was not a fast that was intended to be a fast to the Lord. The basis of this fast was so that King Saul could succeed in taking vengeance on his enemies. Note that this was all about Saul. God had already shown them that He was willing to fight on their behalf and take vengeance on those who opposed them. Yet, Saul was seeking vengeance for himself. Had this been a true fast, and had he been truly seeking God in this, he would have fasted personally, and would have continued to lead his army as God led him, without the people even knowing that he was fasting. In Matthew 6:16-18 Jesus gave these instructions regarding times of fasting, “Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 17 But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.” In 2 Chronicles 20:1-4 the Scriptures tell us, “It happened after this that the people of Moab with the people of Ammon, and others with them besides the Ammonites, came to battle against Jehoshaphat. 2 Then some came and told Jehoshaphat, saying, ‘A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, from Syria; and they are in Hazazon Tamar’ (which is En Gedi). 3 And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. 4 So Judah gathered together to ask help from the LORD; and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.” Note the difference in these two occasions. King Saul told the people to fast for his own selfish motives, while Jehoshaphat called for a national fast in truly seeking God, not for his own selfish reasons, but for the deliverance of God’s people. Because King Saul’s command was selfish, it had adverse consequences that led to the people eventually sinning against God. Not only did it lead to God’s people sinning against Him, it implicated the one person who was the hero of this story, humanly speaking, Jonathan. Saul’s actions were also a way for attention to be drawn away from how the Lord gave Jonathan the ability to perform such a great feat, along with his armorbearer, for God’s glory. Once again, King Saul’s selfishness robbed God of the glory over Jonathan’s actions of faith that could have been celebrated for the glory and praise of God. As followers of Jesus, we must be careful to examine our motives for the things we do, that seem spiritual on the surface, but are selfish in nature. When we fast, do we blow a horn and announce how spiritual we are because we are fasting, or do we keep it as something that is between us and the Lord? When we have to opportunity to praise God for something He is doing, or has done, for us, whether directly or through someone else, do we try to draw the glory and praise toward ourselves? Do we draw attention to our own role and how we used our talents, abilities, and our “godly” wisdom, to bring forth a successful end to a particular circumstance, or do we lift the Lord up before everyone who will listen to our testimony? King Saul’s actions and command were selfish, and robbed God of the glory He deserved, as well as caused others to sin in their actions that were a response to his selfishly motivated fast. Let us always seek to humbly exalt the Lord and His Name; and in His time and His way, He will exalt us in due time.
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).
Tuesday, March 12, 2019
In the Enemy's Camp
Verse of the Day: 1 Samuel 14:21, Moreover the Hebrews who were with the Philistines before that time, who went up with them into the camp from the surrounding country, they also joined the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan.
What we see here is exactly the thing that hinders Christianity today; and before we become critical of others doing what I am about to speak to you about today, we must admit that many of us have done it also. Many Israelites, in estimating that they were better off on the side that would profit them most, defected over to the side of the Philistines. Israel is facing their enemies and could use all the help they can get from their own people, but many of their own people are either hiding or cozying up to the enemy. It is not until they see that God is giving Israel the victory that they betray the enemy and come running back to their people Israel. How sad it is when we, or those we call brothers and sisters in Christ, defect to Satan’s side, after being delivered from his slavery. Many of us would probably protest and say, “I have never, and would never, side with the devils!” Really? Well, let me ask you this, “Have any of us, as Christians, ever been more of a friend to the world, than to Jesus?” “Have we ever been involved, or even been the instigator, of some conflict within the body?” “Have we ever strayed from Jesus because we were too busy chasing after the things of this world, whether it was material gain, greater status in society, at work, or even chose to trade Sunday morning fellowship and worship for our favorite hobby or sporting event?” I would like us to stop and consider the answers honestly. James 4:1-4 says, “Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? 2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. 4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” The fact of the matter is that God’s church lacks unity. We have allowed the body to be divided over silly and useless, arguments. We have allowed the world to lure us away with its empty promises, and have fallen for the lies that what the world has to offer will bring us “true” happiness. Far too many Christians have bailed out because things did not go the way they thought it would in giving their lives to the Lord. When things went bad, they ran to the world, until things went really bad in the world and they were re-enslaved to the very things Jesus freed them from. 1 Timothy 6:6-10 should serve as a warning for those who are thinking of jumping ship and defecting to the other side, “Now godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8 And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. 9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” Romans 6:15-16 tell us, “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? God forbid! 16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?” The one thing we can be so thankful for is the fact that even if we have turned our backs on Jesus and gone back to the enemy’s camp, we have a Savior who promised never to forsake us. Like the prodigal and his father, our Savior welcomes us back with open arms (Luke 15:11-32). So, if today any of us are living like these Israelites, who turned their backs on their brothers and have made ourselves friends of the world and enemies of God, we can repent of it, confess it, and turn back to Jesus. If you are reading this, it is not too late. As long as we are living and breathing, God desires that we turn back to Him. Do not wait, for we are not guaranteed tomorrow, and in case you have not heard the news or read the end of the Book…we have the victory! Come back to the winning camp where the LORD has given us the victory in Jesus!
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).
Sunday, March 10, 2019
A Time to Pray and A Time to Act
Verse of the Day: 1 Samuel 14:19, Now it happened, while Saul talked to the priest, that the noise which was in the camp of the Philistines continued to increase; so Saul said to the priest, “Withdraw your hand.”
I believe all of us have been at that point in our lives when a trial or some challenging circumstance has presented itself and we just sat, not knowing what to do. Maybe it had nothing to do with a trial, but had more to do with God trying to move us to get something done for Him or on His behalf. It could be that He wants us to serve in some area, or be a blessing to someone by investing some time or resources in someone’s life who is in need. I often find that our desire to avoid serving God outside of our comfort zone drives us to sit and not pray or pray as an excuse not to serve or sacrifice. Here is what I mean. We know that there is a need within the local church or we become aware that someone has a need. Rather than act and respond to those needs, we use prayer as an excuse not to act. “Well, let me pray about it and see if this is God’s will for me.” Seriously, do we really have to pray about whether giving of our time, talents, abilities, or resources, in order to bless God’s people is part of God will for us, the Christian? Yet, that is exactly what too many of us do. What usually happens when we delay a prompting by God to do something is that He uses someone else to carry it out. Saul, the king, sat under a tree, doing nothing, while his son Jonathan and his armorbearer began to be used mightily by God. What a missed opportunity by Saul to accomplish something great in the Name of the LORD and bring glory to God. Israel did the same thing when God told them to go in and take the Promise Land. Rather than trust God, they looked at the giants that already occupied the land. The spies that were sent into the land came back and gave a bad report (with the exception of Joshua and Caleb) in order to discourage the people from going forward. Once their sin was pointed out to them, in spite of Moses’ warning that the opportunity had passed, they went in of their own accord and were humiliated (Deuteronomy 1). Here, after the action was long underway, Saul calls for the Ark to be brought to him in verse 18 (a bit late I might add) to inquire of God. As the noise of what God was already doing increased, Saul realized that at this point it was a waste of time to inquire, and now it was long past the time to act. As God’s children it is of utmost importance that we know the difference between when it is time to pray and when it is time to act. As a matter of fact, because we are called to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18), it is always best to pray, take action, and pray some more while we are taking action, so that we know when God is changing our direction. The fact of the matter is that a lot of Christians, including self, will often “jump on the bandwagon” of what God is doing, after God has gone and used someone else in something He was first trying to beckon us to do. In this case, Saul and the rest of the Israelites enjoyed the victory that came out of one man’s faith and courage to move forward and tackle a challenge he knew God would bring him through successfully. What are we “praying” about today that needs action, rather than more prayer? In other words, what should we be doing that we are putting off and using prayer as the excuse for not doing it? Will we wait until God uses someone else before we decide to “jump on the bandwagon”? Will we take the step of faith and just take action as we pray for God’s direction, already knowing very well that it is God’s will for us to go ahead and be that blessing that will bring glory to His Name? Has the time to pray already passed, and we are twiddling our thumbs when we should have already been up and putting God’s plan into action? Well, what are we waiting for?
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).
Saturday, March 9, 2019
Nothing Restrains the LORD except…
Verse of the Day: 1 Samuel 14:6, Then Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, “Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; it may be that the LORD will work for us. For nothing restrains the LORD from saving by many or by few.”
I want to ask a question that is almost rhetorical. “Is anything impossible with God?” Well, we all know the answer to that, especially since in Matthew 19:26 the LORD Himself said, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” So is there anything that restrains God? Jonathan’s faith came from the fact that he knew in his heart that God is omnipotent, or all-powerful. There is nothing created or anything that exists that is more powerful than the LORD, since it is the LORD who created all things. None of us have the power to create, give salvation, resurrect anyone, or understand the depth of all God does or allows to happen in this world. God, on the hand, is Creator, Savior, has the power to resurrect, and has understanding that is far beyond our own. Isaiah 55:8-9 clearly explains, “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the LORD. 9 ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.’” Nonetheless, as far as the power of God goes, nothing can restrain it, except one thing. We said in a previous devotional that we cannot please God without faith (Hebrews 11:6), and all we need is faith the size of a mustard seed to tap into God’s power in our lives (Matthew 17:20). So what is it that can possibly restrain the immeasurable, exceedingly mighty, power of God? Jesus gave us that answer in Matthew 13:58 where it says, “Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.” Our lack of faith is the only thing that restrains the power of God in our lives. Jonathan and his armorbearer were about to undertake a task that was far greater than they were. This was a challenge that would require complete trust and faith in the power of God. James 1:2-8 tell us, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” In the Book of Mark there was a man who approached Jesus seeking healing for his son. The disciples were not able to heal him, and Jesus said this to the man just before healing his son in Mark 9:23, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” What is happening in our lives today that requires the power of God for us to be able to endure it, learn from it, and gain valuable knowledge about who God is in our lives and who we are in Him? What are we going through today that will only be resolved by the power of God working in us and through us, that we might be hindering because of our unbelief? I tell you now that the only thing that restrains the power of God in our lives is our unbelief. So, let us have faith, even as small as a mustard seed, and watch God move that mountain that has been taunting us for so long. Remember, with God all things are possible…all things.
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).
Friday, March 8, 2019
Humility, Faith, Pride
Verse of the Day: 1 Samuel 14:13, And Jonathan climbed up on his hands and knees with his armorbearer after him; and they fell before Jonathan. And as he came after him, his armorbearer killed them.
Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a Rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” What a magnificent demonstration of faith we see in Jonathan’s approach to the Philistines’ garrison. Prior to approaching them, Jonathan first sought confirmation from the Lord that He would fight on their behalf. Verses 8-10 tell us, “Then Jonathan said, ‘Very well, let us cross over to these men, and we will show ourselves to them. 9 If they say thus to us, ‘Wait until we come to you,’ then we will stand still in our place and not go up to them. 10 But if they say thus, ‘Come up to us,’ then we will go up. For the LORD has delivered them into our hand, and this will be a sign to us.’” Upon receiving the confirmation from the Lord by the Philistines’ response to them, Jonathan and his armorbearer went forward to humbly, yet boldly, face their enemies (v. 12-13). I say “humbly” because of how they went forward to face the Philistines. Keep in mind that the Philistines saw them coming and called them to come up and fight them. So, they were keenly aware that Jonathan and his armorbearer were coming up that hillside. Yet, Jonathan had such faith that God was going to deliver them into their hands that he went up on his hands and knees. How many of us would have dared approach such a situation without a sword or some weapon in hand? This is the kind of faith that pleases the LORD. The kind of faith that seems foolish to the onlooker, but speak volumes of how much we trust God to deliver us in difficult circumstances or times when our enemies try to destroy us and our faith. This is the kind of faith that will move mountains (Matthew 17:20). On the other hand, we see the pride of the Philistines. Although they outnumbered Jonathan and his armorbearer, twenty against two, they experienced a great slaughter. 1 Peter 5:5-7 clearly states, “‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ 6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” James 4:6-7 also clearly states, “‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ 7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” The Philistines made the same prideful mistake that Goliath later makes when David approaches him. Far too many of us, who claim to be God’s children, fall because of our prideful attitudes and thoughts. Proverbs 16:18-19 tells us, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. 19 Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.” We allow our talents, abilities, material riches, and own worldly wisdom, convince us that we are self-sufficient. We mistake our “religiosity” for godliness and begin to look down on others who do not practice the religious rituals we have put in place in our lives, yet our hearts are far from the LORD. In Matthew 15:7-9 Jesus said this relative to the religious leaders, “Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: 8 ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. 9 And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” Faith takes great humility. When we truly have faith, and act in faith, what we are saying is, “LORD, I cannot do this on my own. This is impossible for me, but I know that all things are possible with You; and because you are sending me, I know it will be done, regardless of what I have to go through to succeed.” Faith means total submission to the LORD. Jonathan not only spoke encouraging words of faith to his armorbearer, but he proved it by going ahead of him in the most vulnerable position anyone could be in under such circumstances, on his hands and knees. Do we have this kind of faith? Is someone in our life looking to see if we lead with this kind of faith? Does our life and actions, the way we serve the LORD, speak loudly by the way we approach life’s challenges, on our knees, completely trusting in the LORD?
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).
Thursday, March 7, 2019
The Power of God
Verse of the Day: 1 Samuel 14:2-3, And Saul was sitting in the outskirts of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree which is in Migron. The people who were with him were about six hundred men. 3 Ahijah the son of Ahitub, Ichabod’s brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the LORD’s priest in Shiloh, was wearing an ephod. But the people did not know that Jonathan had gone.
The contrast between King Saul and Jonathan is very obvious when we read this passage. Jonathan, trusting the Lord, has moved against those that sought to oppress Israel, with the help of one man. King Saul, who was Israel’s leader and should have been doing something to stop this possible attack, sat under a tree, with about 600 men and a priest. However, in all of this, before we forget, we also have God. The one thing that does not readily stand out here is that it was God’s power and will that restrained the Philistines and kept them from attacking Saul and his few men. I believe that there will come a day, when we will stand before the Lord, and He will show us how often His powerful hand kept back many evil things that Satan and his demons desired to bring into our lives; things that He restrained, as He did in Job’s life. In Job 1:12 we read, “And the LORD said to Satan, ‘Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.’” Then again in Job 2:6 we again read, “And the LORD said to Satan, ‘Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life.’” In God’s restraint of the Philistines, we have the opportunity to see the character of both Saul and Jonathan, as one is moved to action by his faith in God, while the other sits idly, without knowing what to do, although he has all he needs to have victory, if he will only trust the Lord. Note that King Saul not only has more than one man, but he has a priest. He has the opportunity to call upon the Lord by way of this priest and seek God’s guidance and help. Instead, he chooses to sit and do nothing. I do not even want to begin to think about how many opportunities many of us have missed because we failed to go to the Lord in prayer and seek His guidance, or how many times we let opportunities pass because they appeared to be too big for us to accomplish, even though we knew God was nudging us to go and do it in His Name. When we take a closer look at the victory that is had by King Saul and his men, we see that it began with the simple faith and obedience of one man, Jonathan. Once he put feet to his faith, God’s power moved in a great way. In verses 15-16 we are told, “And there was trembling (terror) in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. The garrison and the raiders also trembled; and the earth quaked, so that it was a very great trembling. 16 Now the watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked, and there was the multitude, melting away; and they went here and there.” In verses 20-23 we are also told, “Then Saul and all the people who were with him assembled, and they went to the battle; and indeed every man’s sword was against his neighbor, and there was very great confusion. 21 Moreover the Hebrews who were with the Philistines before that time, who went up with them into the camp from the surrounding country, they also joined the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan. 22 Likewise all the men of Israel who had hidden in the mountains of Ephraim, when they heard that the Philistines fled, they also followed hard after them in the battle. 23 So the LORD saved Israel that day, and the battle shifted to Beth Aven.” The actions of one man, who trusted the power of God to see him through seemingly difficult task, not only had victory, but encouraged others to get involved. Lest we forget, Satan and his demons is an organized army. The church is supposed to be God’s army. Yet, we often experience defeat because we fail to go into battle together and spend far too much time fighting amongst ourselves over things that will be insignificant when we stand before our Lord to give account. The most important thing to note about this victory is read in verse 23, “So the LORD saved Israel that day”. Although Jonathan acted bravely and with great faith, it was God who delivered His people. Jonathan was the instrument God used to motivate an idle king and his people into action. What are we doing as individuals to encourage others to get into this spiritual war we are fighting here on earth? If nothing, what are we waiting for? Do we not know that we have the power of God in Christ Jesus who has already overcome the world (John 16:33)?
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).
Wednesday, March 6, 2019
The Few
Verse of the Day: 1 Samuel 14:1, Now it happened one day that Jonathan the son of Saul said to the young man who bore his armor, “Come, let us go over to the Philistines’ garrison that is on the other side.” But he did not tell his father.
Here is both a sad fact and a glorious truth. The sad fact is that there are going to be occasions, maybe more than we desire, when we will find little to no one to walk this path of life with us. In this chapter we have some key players, King Saul, his son Jonathan, Jonathan’s armor bearer, 600 men, and the priest. Which also begs to question, “Where are the 3,000 men Saul chose?” It screams loudly the reminder that when we depend on men, rather than God, we will be disappointed in our greatest moment of need. Yet, what is about to take place is carried out by two men. The sad part about this situation is that it echoes loudly of what we often see today in our churches. We gather with a bunch of fellow believers, sing some songs, and hear a message, then go about living our lonely lives, facing life’s challenges and troubles alone. The one place we are told not to forsake in Hebrews 10:24-25, is the one place where we often find discouragement. Yet, it is the one place we are supposed to gather together to find encouragement. Hebrews 10:24-25 read, “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 clearly tells us, “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up. 11 Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; but how can one be warm alone? 12 Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” Jonathan undertook a great feat, as we will see, but did not inform his father. Most likely, because King Saul would have restrained him and viewed Jonathan’s idea from a human standpoint, discouraging him. Far too often, we have a desire to serve God, and know that He is moving us to do something that may seem impossible, and when we express that to others, they apply their own lack of faith to our situation and discourage us. Although there is much wisdom in seeking godly counsel, there are times when we are called to simply go and do what God has called us to do, even if we have to do it alone with the Lord’s strength and guidance. In this case, the only one who Jonathan called upon to follow him was his armor bearer. The bright spot in this potentially dark situation was the faith and friendship of Jonathan’s armor bearer, who expressed his faith in verse 7 where it says, “So his armorbearer said to him, ‘Do all that is in your heart. Go then; here I am with you, according to your heart.’” Jonathan was about to embark on a mission from God that would require faith and courage, and only had one person, out of the 600+ people who were with King Saul, to follow him on this mission from God. How do we know this was God’s doing? The evidence was in how Jonathan and his armor bearer accomplished an impossible feat against great odds (v.14ff). The fact of the matter is that there will be times when we will have to go forward and serve God alone, or with very few who will partner with us. However, this is the glorious truth that I mentioned earlier. The truth that when God sets us on a path to accomplish something in His Name, it will be accomplished, whether it is just us and God alone, or whether there is one more, two more, or a thousand more. The most important Person who could ever partner with us in any venture is God Himself. Jonathan knew this, and because He put His faith in God to deliver them, he could confidently tell his armor bearer to follow him. As we go along, we will examine the extent of Jonathan’s faith as he marched forward to accomplish that which God called him to, even though it meant that it was going to be accomplish with just a few; for with God, a few is much.
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).
Sunday, March 3, 2019
Proper Preparation
Verse of the Day: 1 Samuel 13:22, So it came about, on the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people who were with Saul and Jonathan. But they were found with Saul and Jonathan his son.
This was a shameful position for Saul to be in, and a stressful position for Israel to be in. In spite of a previous victory over the Ammonites, King Saul failed to acquire weapons for his army. Israel, who adamantly insisted on having a human king, is now found defenseless because they trusted man over God. How often do we find ourselves in this position because we put more trust in ourselves, our finances and resources, our talents, abilities, or someone other than God? Our greatest failure when we find ourselves in spiritual battle is that we failed to properly prepare. Far too many Christians wait until they are in the heat of the fight to begin preparation. The typical response is panicked prayer. Saul and the Israelites were not prepared to go up against the Philistines. The Philistines had systematically put themselves in a position to control Israel’s ability to obtain weapons of any kind so that they would be able to easily defeat them if necessary. What is even worse is that this war seems to have been brought on by King Saul, possibly as a result of his own pride in attempting to make a name for himself. In verses 3-4 we see what appears to be an unprovoked attack on the Philistines, it reads, “And Jonathan attacked the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. Then Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, ‘Let the Hebrews hear!’ 4 Now all Israel heard it said that Saul had attacked a garrison of the Philistines, and that Israel had also become an abomination to the Philistines. And the people were called together to Saul at Gilgal.” As I read this chapter, and what the Philistines had done in their strategy against Israel, it reminded of the fact that the devil does the same thing to us. 1 Peter 5:8 says, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” Have you ever watched a lion hunt? Lions have a greater success rate when they hunt in numbers. They stalk their prey and attack in such a way as to cause panic, dispersing a herd and going after the weakest in the herd. Interestingly, lions prefer to hunt in the dark. Does this not sound like our enemy? Knowing this, and having read the verse in 1 Peter 5:8, do any of us take the time to prepare daily? Sadly, what happens is that we become complacent simply because life is going well and there is nothing troubling us. Life is good, everyone is healthy, and we are financially secure. We stop reading our Bibles, praying, and even start to take time off from going to church. Life is grand. Well, there is one thing wrong with this picture…the devils are still watching. They are stalking, waiting, and watching us drift further and further away from God and relying on self, our resources and others (who will probably not be there for us when we need them most). We set ourselves up for our own spiritual attack and defeat. James 4:7-8 reminds us, “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” Jesus said something to Peter that is still true today and applies to each and every follower of Jesus Christ, in Luke 22:31 He said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.” Knowing this, it is our own failure if the attacks come and we are not prepared. There was a time when everyone bought into the “What Would Jesus Do” craze. However, my question was always, “How are we going to know what Jesus would do, if we are not even trying to live like Jesus?” What is a bracelet with “WWJD” going to do for us in the middle of demonic attacks if we are not already living for, and living like, Jesus? I will tell what it will do… “Nothing!” The best way to prepare is to practice putting on, and using, the armor God has provided for us, daily! Not just once in a while, but every single day. Ephesians 6:10-12 warns, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Finally, we must pray without ceasing (1Thessalonian 5:16-18), and pray as instructed in Ephesians 6:18, “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints”. The bottom line is that in order to stay in the battle, and not panic when the surprise attacks come, we must put on Jesus every single day. We may stumble, we may fall, but we will always get back up, if we are continually putting proper preparation into practice in His strength.
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).
Friday, March 1, 2019
Beyond the Sin Itself
Verse of the Day: 1 Samuel 13:13-14, And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which He commanded you. For now the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. 14 But now your kingdom shall not continue. The LORD has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.”
Saul’s beginnings were very humble, but here we see the ugliness of his pride emerge. When we compare Saul’s transgressions against the LORD in what he did, and compare it to the sins of others in the Bible, his sins seem small in comparison. This is how we, as human beings, judge the sins of others. We judge their actions. We give a pass on certain sins because those sins are not as wicked in our thinking. We will give a pass to those who cause division or are gossipers, even though everyone sees it, but we will publicly crucify others who, in our estimation, have committed the “big sins”. For this reason, we must be very careful about how we judge the actions, even the sinful actions, of others. That is why God tells us to approach those who have sinned, with humility and a heart to restore, rather than with a prideful and judgmental attitude (Galatians 6:1-3). When we take the “religious” approach, we put ourselves in the place of Jesus, who is the only Judge (John 5:22). Here, Saul’s transgression may seem small, but God went beyond measuring Saul’s actions, God measured Saul’s heart; something we are incapable of doing. Proverbs 21:2 clearly states, “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the hearts.” Saul put himself in the place of Samuel, which he had no right to do. His role as king of Israel did not automatically give him the privilege of appointing himself prophet. His position as king did not give him the freedom to overstep the boundaries of his authority before God. Not only was he now filled with pride, but he was unrepentant for what he had done. When Samuel confronted Saul, Saul made excuses, blaming Samuel’s delay, and in doing so, also blamed God, because Samuel was God’s prophet. His accusation was no different than Adam’s accusation in the Garden, in Genesis 3:12, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” In essence, Adam was blaming God for giving him Eve, who brought this trouble upon him. Like Adam, Saul refused to take responsibility for his sinful actions in his disobedience to God’s command and instructions. Although Saul’s physical actions may seem small in comparison to David’s sins of murder and adultery, God looked beyond the sinful actions to what was in the heart of each man. So it is with us today. God still judges our sinful actions the same way. We see evidence of this when we see someone who commits a grievous sin (in our estimation of things), yet they seem to suffer little consequence for it. Sadly, far too many Christians take offence to God’s choice to show mercy and grace, and decide that we have to take matters into our own hands and show that person how bad their sin was. On the other hand, we see someone we have given a “pass” to, on their sinful action(s), because we already decided that in the grand scheme of things their sin was not as bad as the other person we crucified; but then we see that God chooses to allow harsh consequences for their seemingly “small sin”. We need to be very careful about how we judge the actions of others, because only God can judge the intentions with which they were done. We must also be careful to examine our own sinful actions and ask God to reveal to us where our heart was when we sinned against Him. It may be that we are suffering harshly for a seemingly “small sin”, when all along we have harbored a greater sin in our hearts…pride or an unwillingness to repent (which usually stems from pride itself). The men and women who were forgiven greater sins than the one Saul committed were men and women who recognized that they sinned and truly repented. God therefore, seeing their hearts, measured their actions by what was in their hearts and not the actions alone. However, let us not forget that every action does result in some kind of consequence, whether good, bad, great or small.
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).
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