Blog

A new day dawning for you?

1 Samuel 3:13, For I told him(Eli) that I would judge his family for ever because of the sin he knew about; his sons made themselves contemptible and he failed to restrain them.

We have already seen how God first spoke to Samuel in the night time when everything was silent and still. Samuel needed the optimum conditions to learn to hear God’s voice. No doubt later as prophet of the Lord it was much easier for him, but in the beginning he needed peace for the word to come through.

Eli, the priest, knew that God was speaking to the young boy Samuel which made the word doubly difficult to receive. God had already told Eli that he and his family were going to be judged and removed from the priesthood.

We may think we are getting away with things because God doesn’t judge at once, but God is a God of justice and if we don’t confess(say the same as God) and repent(turn around or think again) then judgement will eventually come.

So the first word God spoke to Samuel was to tell him judgement was coming to the house of Eli the priest. But this word was also important for Samuel, it began to establish him as a prophetic voice for Israel in Shiloh.

1 Samuel 3:19,20 The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up and He let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel recognised that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord.

It also set the course for his life as the coming prophet and judge in God’s tabernacle in Shiloh. It was a new day for Samuel and for the people of Israel.

Is God speaking to you today? Does He have something new for your life in the year ahead? Maybe for you this season of training is over and it’s your turn to step up into a new level of calling for your life. Don’t be afraid, He won’t let your words fall to the ground either.

Be bold and determine to enter into all that God has for you today.

God bless you and God bless Israel on Hanukkah.

Switch off from the world and switch on to God today.

1 Samuel 3:1-4
The boy Samuel ministered before Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.
One night Eli….was lying down in his usual place. The lamp of the Lord had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple/tabernacle of the Lord where the ark of God was. Then the Lord called to Samuel.

The first time God spoke to Samuel was in the night time, while everything was still. The duties of the day were over and the place was quiet, no distractions. Samuel had to learn to hear and know the voice of the Lord for himself, so it makes sense that He began to speak when everything was quiet.

Samuel was lying down where the ark(presence) of God was. We could say he was in a place where God could speak to him. He was living in an atmosphere where the worship of God was ongoing. The chapter begins by saying that the word of the Lord was rare, people were observing religious rituals but the rhema (living, spoken) word of God was rare. Samuel had a calling from God and God began to speak to him directly, but even though he had the calling he had to be in a place to hear from heaven.

The Indian prophet Sadhu Sundar Selvaraj, talking to young people in this generation, told them they needed to spend the last hour before going to sleep with the Lord. Worshipping, reading the word and praying, getting into the atmosphere and presence of the Lord before sleep. In doing this the Lord would be able to speak to them more readily during the night time. I don’t think we realise how pervasive and contaminating the world is in our lives, especially today with TV, internet, phones, tablets etc.

We need to switch off from earthly things and switch on to the things of God!
It’s said when we read God’s word we think His thoughts after Him. Like the young boy Samuel we need to be in the presence of God to hear Him speak.

God bless you, may you know His love and His voice in your life today.

1 Samuel 2:30
Those who honour Me I will honour,
but those who despise Me will be disdained.

There are no qualifications or conditions to the unknown prophet’s statement from 1 Samuel 2, “those who honour Me I WILL HONOUR”.

Eli, the priest at Shiloh, received a message from the Lord regarding his sons. He and his whole family would be judged because of their sin before God at the place where Israel worshipped. But at the heart of the prophet’s word is this promise from the Lord, a promise that God Himself will honour those who honour Him.

It’s noteworthy that Hannah’s husband Elkanah, despite all the wickedness that was going on at Shiloh, returned year by year with his family to worship there. He was faithful to God, honouring of God and God chose his family to receive the son who would lead all Israel.

In the movie Chariots of Fire, the famous Scottish runner Eric Liddell refused to run in one of the heats of the 100 metres, his best event, in the 1924 Olympic Games. The movie highlights that the heat was to be held on the Sabbath and Eric, coming from a missionary family wouldn’t compete. He eventually ran in the 400 metre event after a fellow team member stepped aside to allow him to run.

Before the race began, someone gave Eric Liddell a note with this scripture written on it, “those who honour Me I will honour”. He went on to take the gold medal in a race where he was not expected to feature and set a new world record. It was a very touching moment in the movie when he won his victory.

Eric Liddell returned to China as a missionary in 1925, the year after his Olympic victory and served there, with two furloughs, until 1943 when he died in a Japanese internment camp. The movie concludes with a note of his death and the simple epitaph, “all Scotland mourned”.

You may not seem to have much honour in your life at present, but God’s Word cannot be broken, honour God today and He will honour you!

Be blessed today as you seek to honour the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Overflowing and bursting with joy for what God has done!

1 Samuel 2:1-10, We read Hannah’s prayer of thanksgiving. Everything changed for Hannah and she was saying God would change it for others as well.

Her Prayer/song acknowledged God had done these things, God had intervened.

My heart rejoices in the Lord;
in the Lord my horn is lifted high.
My mouth boasts over my enemies,
for I delight in your deliverance.

There is no one holy like the Lord;
there is no one besides you;
there is no Rock like our God.

Two women who gave birth to sons with a calling of heaven on their lives, Hannah and Mary. 1 Samuel 2 is cross referenced to Luke 1, Mary’s song.
Both expressed delight in God, thanksgiving for what God does, there is no one like Him!!

Luke 17:11-19
Jesus healed ten lepers but only one came back and he a Samaritan to THANK HIM! Would the rate 1 in 10 be any better for Christians today?
Hannah and Mary were jubilant, buzzing, and their exuberance led to prophetic outpouring of the goodness of God. God had taken the least and made them the most honoured.

Both uttered prayers of thanksgiving inspired by the Spirit for their sons.
Both began with worship to God and continued with a series of contrasts or reversals of fortune! He deals with both high and low, no one is beyond His reach. He is Lord over all!

Take some time to read Hannah’s prayer and lift your heart to heaven today to give thanks!

May you have much to thank God for today.

 

Hannah got her breakthrough outside her own home, in the place where God was worshipped. It was also the place of her greatest torment, as if the enemy was making that place so hurtful that she wouldn’t want to go there. But it was at Shiloh that God saw her tears and heard her prayer for a son. Sometimes we need to press through our pain to get into God’s presence, indeed our pain and greatest needs can take us to the place of deepest intercession. We literally cry out to the Lord, just as Hannah did.

I believe it was Rees Howells, or his son Samuel, who said that, intercession only begins where prayer ends.

1 Samuel 1:24
After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was,(must have been a real trial for a first time mother to leave her only son with the priests) … and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh.

V27,28 I prayed for this child and the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.

Hannah certainly kept her vow to the Lord and He honoured her with more children, 1 Samuel 2:21.

It’s said that in an oyster it’s a small piece of grit or sand that brings forth the pearl – the constant irritant helps form something of beauty and great value. In our lives, God may have allowed an irritant for a time to form something which would never have come any other way. The pain causes us to turn to God in a way that nothing else could.

Just like Hannah and the oyster, it takes time for the deeper purposes of God to come to fruition in our lives.

May God bless you today and may you have grace in all the circumstances of life.

1 Samuel 1 What is your Samuel?

Sounds like bad English I know, not who, but what?

I had a friend who was head of a very successful international ministry and was on boards of other prominent organisations. He was mature in the things of God and a real blessing to the body of Christ in many nations. His counsel was widely sought after, including by other Christian leaders. However, there came a time in his life when things began to get very difficult for him and he was afflicted by deep depression. He actually started to leave meetings immediately after his messages so that he wouldn’t have to speak to people. He received prayer from other leaders he knew and trusted but nothing changed. Then a good friend told him ‘God wants something from you and He won’t relent until He gets it’!

In 1 Samuel 1:3 & 7 we read that Hannah’s trial of barrenness went on, ‘year after year’, it was a prolonged period of misery. Eventually it led to her vow;

V10,11 In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the Lord. And SHE MADE A VOW, saying, “O Lord Almighty(He certainly is), if you will only look upon your servant’s misery …. and give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor(mark of the Nazirite)will ever be used on his head”.

God wanted something from Hannah, a childless woman, her first born son. Once she made her vow to give God His portion, then He blessed her.

V22 Hannah said to her husband, “I will take him and present him to the Lord and he will be there always”. (In the Dead Sea scrolls and Masoretic text it says, I have dedicated him as a Nazirite — all the days of his life). Samuel was completely set apart for the Lord from before his birth.

Is the Lord asking something of you today, something for himself first before He will bless you? What is ‘your’ Samuel? God wants His portion first, He knows if He can’t bring us to that place that we’ll probably back away.

My friend had written letters of resignation from several ministries because he couldn’t go any further. He was going to mail them the next day and God spoke to him and things turned around. He’d been a very well organised individual, very efficient, but God had to break something in him, so that his ministry was more dependent on the Lord.

The Nazirite is set apart for the Lord, his whole life is to serve Him. He is like a tool in the hands of God, nothing for self.

Has God been asking you to surrender something? Jacob wrestled the angel all night(dark time) but IN THE MORNING he had a new name with God.

I urge you to make to make your surrender today, He wants you for Himself.

Blessings to you today.

Jonah 1:3
But Jonah RAN AWAY from the Lord and headed for Tarshish.

Canon Andrew White, also known as the Vicar of Baghdad, called Jonah the ‘reluctant evangelist’. Andrew White was for a long time based in Baghdad, Iraq and the city of Mosul in present day Iraq was the site of ancient Nineveh. The 2003 census for Iraq showed a population of around 1.5 million Christians, before ISIS came. The Christian community in Iraq was recognised as one of the oldest continuous Christian Churches on earth, so Jonah influenced generations of their people.

The story of Jonah begins with him running in the opposite direction to his calling from God. The Bible actually says he ran away from the Lord or from the Lord’s presence. Derek Prince pointed out that from the time Jonah began to run from God he continually descended, things went downhill badly. He went from the hills to the port of Joppa, to the ship and finally into the belly of the fish in the sea. God had chosen him and equipped him to preach repentance to Nineveh, 120,000 people. Unlike others chosen by God, Jonah didn’t say he couldn’t do it, he knew God was merciful and if the enemies of Israel repented he would forgive them.

I wonder how many people today have a calling on their lives. Maybe there is something niggling you and you’ve been ignoring it for a long time, but things aren’t getting any easier, perhaps getting worse. Can I urge you today to sit down and ask God why things are as they are in your life? Has God been asking something of you and you’re going full steam your own way, maybe heading for shipwreck like Jonah nearly caused. Putting off addressing the issue He’s been trying to raise with you. Jonah had to come to a place of personal surrender. God is persistent but sometimes we just don’t want to listen, whatever our reasons.

God wants to use us and bless us but the first step for us has to be going His way, allowing Him to set the course for our lives. He may ask something that we don’t want to give but ultimately it will be the best way for us and for others.

May I urge you today not to run, or to stop running, before things become more difficult. Jonah’s accusation against God was;

Jonah 4:2
I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents in sending calamity.

You can trust God, no matter what your circumstances, He’s waiting to help you today.

God bless you

I woke up this morning with the words of this chorus in my head.

Well, I went to the enemy’s camp and
I took back what he stole from me (x3)
I went to the enemy’s camp and
I took back what he stole from me

You know
He’s under my feet (x6)
Satan is under my feet

In 1 Samuel 30 we see the story of David and his men living with the Philistines in Ziklag, an occupied town in southern Judah.

Poor David, it seemed things couldn’t get worse, living with Israel’s enemy to escape Saul. Then his camp was attacked by Amalekite raiders and everything stolen including their wives and children.

Amalek was originally a grandson of Esau, a type of the flesh and therefore continually at war with Israel. They attacked the weakest, the stragglers in Israel as they came up from Egypt. Moses commanded Israel to completely wipe out Amalek, Deuteronomy 25:17-19. Apparently Haman the Agagite in the book of Esther, who attempted to destroy all Israel, was an Amalekite.

The Amalekite spirit attacks soft targets, like David’s unguarded camp when all the men were away to battle. More like hyenas than lions, hunt in packs and take the weakest.

Wilson’s Bible Dictionary online says, ‘its a spirit that takes away all’, exactly what happened to David’s camp. Neither can we afford to compromise with the flesh in our walk as Christian believers, the flesh wants everything its own way and nothing to do with the things of God.

1Samuel 30:6
David and his men were distraught and there was talk of stoning David, they needed someone to vent their anger on and David was the leader, blame him.
‘But David found strength in the Lord his God’.

The story ends with a long chase after the Amalekite raiders, a sick Egyptian slave guided them and he did as the chorus says, ‘took back what he stole from me’.

The enemy may come against us in a moment of physical or emotional weakness, but even in our weakness God can and will give us victory and even better, fight for us when we need Him.

Don’t fear the enemy today, Christ is our victory in all things!

May you be blessed today as you walk with your mighty, victorious Lord.

Your character will determine your destiny. In today’s church in the west there is much seeking after the nine gifts of the Spirit but there are also nine fruits of the same Spirit of God.

In Genesis 49 we have the account of Jacob/Israel’s final words over his sons. His eldest, Reuben, was demoted, “Turbulent(stormy or unstable)as the waters, you will no longer excel “. As well as the dishonouring of his father’s bed it seems his character was flawed and he lost his blessing as the first born.

The next eldest brothers were Simeon and Levi, so Reuben’s blessing could have passed down the line to them, but in Genesis 49:5-7 we read;

Simeon and Levi are brothers —
their swords are weapons of violence.
Let me not enter their council,
let me not join their assembly,
for they have killed men in their anger
and hamstrung oxen as they pleased.
Cursed(Israel didn’t bless them) be their anger, so fierce,
and their fury so cruel!
I(sounds like God speaking directly through Jacob)will scatter them in Jacob
and disperse them in Israel.

Genesis 34:26, Simeon and Levi killed the Shechemite men after their sister Dinah was raped and plundered their city. They obviously felt justified in avenging their sister, Genesis 34:31, but because of the intensity of their anger and fury they too were passed over and received no blessing. Levi was however mightily blessed by Moses in Deuteronomy 33.

In our western society today, acts of immortality and violence are endemic. Everything from road rage to terrorism, such explosive acts of violence on our news daily, which no doubt feeds the frenzy.

God, however, did not overlook these failures of character and instead of their father’s blessings they were passed over. Judah the fourth son received the, ‘ruler’s staff’.

When God chose David to be Israel’s king He told Samuel, 1Samuel 16:7, that God doesn’t look at the outward appearance but the heart! Surely He’s still looking at hearts today for people He can trust.

I’m not at all sure where I heard about the recently departed Reinhard Bonke, but I have something in my head that this wonderful brother was the Lord’s third choice for the evangelism in Africa. That means others did not accept or were passed over.

We need to be careful how we walk before the Lord, even small actions can make the difference between being Heaven’s choices or being passed over.

May you be blessed today and may your character be like that of Christ, a servant heart for the King and His soon coming Kingdom.

The law of the Nazirite, a vow of separation to the Lord.

Some time ago I spoke on the Nazirite vow, Numbers 6 and one young man was particularly touched by the message. I was explaining that God was calling some people to a closer walk with him and although something might be all right for their friends it may not be what God wanted for them.

The vow was voluntary, between a person and God and usually for a set time, (like a period of fasting) though Samson was a Nazirite from birth. Throughout the duration of the vow the person was not allowed to drink wine or eat of the grape, cut the hair on their head(no razor allowed) nor go near a dead body. The person was to be set apart to God for a period of time, basically the same idea as being holy, set apart.

The book of Amos starts with a series of God’s judgements on different peoples. When He comes to Israel, He says they are guilty of two things;

Amos 2:11,12
“I also raised up prophets from among your children
and Nazirites from among your youths.
Is this not true people of Israel?” declares the Lord.
But you made the Nazirites drink wine(break their vow)
and commanded the prophets not to prophesy.

Prophets and Nazirites are linked together and God judges Israel for for attacking both groups. It seems that wickedness has a real problem with these two groups who are serving God, they want them to stop. Prophets would be known because of their speaking out revelation and Nazirites because of their hair and refusal to be take alcohol or be near dead bodies. Would we be so readily recognised today as people of God? There may be a price to pay, as not everyone will be comfortable being around people who are committed to God, not even respectable, religious people.

It is interesting that in Numbers 6, the 21 verses on the law of the Nazirite is followed by the priestly blessing;

The Lord said to Moses , tell Aaron and his sons, “This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:
“The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you
and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn His face towards you
and give you peace”.

“So they will put my name on the Israelites and I will bless them”.

Is God calling you and I to draw nearer to Him today for something He has for us?

May the words of the blessing be yours today.