Heart Of Gold

1Sa 16:7 (NIV) But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
>> The heart of the matter is the matter of the heart. The Lord does not look on outward appearance but on the heart. We can’t see people’s hearts unless we are heart surgeons. What we can see are the works and hear the words of the person. You can almost gauge a person’s heart by their works and words but the bible says the heart is desperately wicked. Who can know? That’s why in Pro 4:23 it says “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” God needs someone after His own heart. Love God with all your heart and serve Him  wholeheartedly. A generous, kind and well mannered person is sometimes known as someone with a heart of gold. That’s the kind of gold I desired to have. Amen! ¿><

The Mentoring Paradigm

1Sa 15:35 (NIV) Until the day Samuel died, he did not go to see Saul again, though Samuel mourned for him. And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.
>> It was the saddest time in the life of King Saul. He had lost a mentor. Samuel was the one who anointed Saul as king of Israel. He was the one who hear from God and spoke to Saul. He had the permission to speak into Saul’s life. The day Samuel left King Saul was the day God had rejected Saul as king due to his disobedience. It started with impatient in waiting for Samuel in offering sacrifice and the last was outrightly disobeying God by not killing King Agag. He began to step onto that slippery slope. The lesson to learn is that in every stages of life we need to look for godly individual who had gone ahead of us and seek their wise counsel. That’s where the need for mentoring comes in. When you come to a point in your life when you think you can do whatever you decide to do without seeking counsel, you are stepping onto that slippery slope just like King Saul. ¿>

Keystone Habit

1Sa 12:24 (NCV) You must honor the LORD and truly serve him with all your heart. Remember the wonderful things he did for you!
>> This chapter was Samuel’s farewell speech. The crux of his farewell speech is remember the wonderful things God had done. He reminded them of how God had delivered them from the Egyptian, the Philistines and the Ammonites. In the book, “The Power Of Habits” by Charles Duhigg, he mentioned the concept of keystone habits – keystone habits lead to the development of multiple good habits. They start a chain effect in your life that produces a number of positive outcomes. If you develop the habit of remembering what God had done –> you will obey, honor and serve Him only. Doing soap daily is my keystone habit in remembering God. ¿>

The Upside of Being Angry

1Sa 11:7 (NLT) He took two oxen and cut them into pieces and sent the messengers to carry them throughout Israel with this message:“This is what will happen to the oxen of anyone who refuses to follow Saul and Samuel into battle!” And the Lord made the people afraid of Saul’s anger, and all of them came out together as one.
>> This was the pivotal moment for Saul. He was hiding when Samuel came to anoint Saul as king (1 Sam 10:22). He was not the “kingly” material. The Spirit of God came powerfully upon him and he became very angry (vs 6) because of what the enemies had done. His holy discontent caused him to challenge the people to fight the Ammonites. The people were afraid of Saul’s anger and came together as one. A positive type of anger that propel Saul to do something and this courageous act propel him eventually to be the first King of Israel. As Bruce Banner (hulk) would have said it -“you won’t like me when I am angry.” Be angry but sin not. Be angry for a good purpose. ¿>

Return To The Altar of God

1Sa 7:17 (NIV)But he always went back to Ramah, where his home was, and there he also held court for Israel. And he built an altar there to the Lord .
>> It is interesting to note that after finishing his work as judge Samuel will always returned to Ramah, his home but it was this place that he built an altar. An altar is a place of worship and a place of remembrance – remembering what the Lord had done. Ministry can be tough, heart rendering sometimes and even discouraging. It is those moments that we need to return back to the altar of God again to worship and to remember the call and what He had done so far. Don’t work so hard for God that you forgot why you did it in the first place. Return again and again to the altar and throne of God where we can find grace and mercy in times of help. Amen! ¿>

Empowered By His Spirit

1Sa 10:6 (NLT) At that time the Spirit of the Lord will come powerfully upon you, and you will prophesy with them. You will be changed into a different person.
>> When the power of the Spirit comes, we changed. Saul was changed. He was given a new heart (vs 9). Saul was to be the first king of Israel. He has no other kings to take reference from and thus God imbued him with His very own Spirit to be able to lead His people. When we lack the capability to do the work that God had called us to do, He will give us the empowerment and the Holy Spirit gave that empowerment. In the building of the tabernacle, God’s Spirit came upon “Bezalel son of Uri, grandson of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. I have filled him with the Spirit of God, giving him great wisdom, ability, and expertise in all kinds of crafts” (Exo 31:2-3). We can’t do much till God empowered us with His Spirit. Lord, empower us by Your Spirit! Amen.¿>

My Utmost For The Highest

1Sa 6:19 (NIV) But God struck down some of the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, putting seventy of them to death because they looked into the ark of the Lord. The people mourned because of the heavy blow the Lord had dealt them.
>> The ark of covenant represents the very presence of God. It had to be handled with strict requirements. Only the Levites are allowed to handle it. When the ark of covenant is not handled properly, disaster happens (people die). Foreign gods (Dagon) had to bow to it. Our God cannot stand equal to any other gods and that His very presence demand our honor and respect. The truth of the matter is God wants to be in a place where He is honored and respected and where people are yearning for Him. Lord grace us with Your awesome presence daily! Amen.¿>

Season of Fruitfulness

1Sa 2:21 (NIV)And the Lord was gracious to Hannah; she gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord.
>> Hannah was once barren – unable to bear children but she prayed to God that if God blessed her with a child, she would gave the child in service to the Lord. God answered her prayer and Samuel was born. It must have caused her much emotional pain to gave away her first child to God. But in was in the giving away of the first child to God that God blessed Hannah with three more sons and two daughters. Once barren but now fruitful. God wants us to be fruitful bearing fruits in due season like the tree mentioned in Psalms 1. It’s the season of fruitfulness in the year of Jubilee. Amen. ¿>

God Of Generations

Rth 4:22 (NCV) Obed was the father of Jesse, and Jesse was the father of David.
>> Someone asked this question jokingly “What would Boaz be without Ruth?” The answer that came back was “Ruthless”. A greater truth was that without Boaz and Ruth, there would not be King David and down the line all the way to Jesus. What an amazing story of the kinsman redeemer which often gave us the picture of Jesus redeeming us from a life of despair and bitterness to one that is of great significance just like that of Ruth. The story of Boaz and Ruth also speak to me about generational blessings as seen from the genealogy. I wondered what the genealogy of the generations after me would be like. My only prayer for my children is that they will finish well – fulfilling God’s purpose in their lives which will definitely impact the generations after them. Amen! ¿>

Divine Intervention & Appointment

Rth 2:3 (NCV) So Ruth went to the fields and gathered the grain that the workers cutting the grain had left behind. It just so happened that the field belonged to Boaz, from Elimelech’s family.
>> The phrase “it just so happened” speak of something happening randomly without any planning whatsoever. But in the grandeur scheme of things, I believed God is at work. Nothing happened by chance or coincidence but by the divine appointment and intervention of God. Naomi and Ruth may not see any of these but God’s hands are in the circumstances of their lives orchestrating the events to eventually take place. You may not see the things you wanted happening now but God is at work behind the scenes so that His ultimate purpose He had for you is achieved. The only thing God needs from us is the faith to believe no matter what happened. Amen! ¿>