The Everyday Prayer

Re:Verse reading–1 Samuel 7 (day four)

Samuel was an intercessor for Israel, just like Moses had been.  Both men had been set aside for the Lord from birth and they stood in the gap between God and Israel.  Moses had stood between Israel and the Egyptians, now Samuel stands before Israel and the Philistines.  In both cases, what looked to be overwhelming obstacles to Israel were completely removed from before them.  These two men were held in the highest esteem as intercessors.  Jeremiah 15:1 says, “Even though Moses and Samuel were to stand before Me, My heart would not be with this people;”  God held them up as the ultimate intercessors.

How would you be known to God?  Would you be considered a faithful and true prayer warrior?  Do others see a visible outpouring of God’s Spirit as a result of your praying?  We have a promise…Matthew 21:22…”And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”  Samuel believed it…Moses believed it…do you?

Re:Verse reading–1 Samuel 7 (day three) 

“Do not stop crying out to the Lord our God for us.” 

Samuel stood in a place of agency on behalf of the Lord and in behalf of the people.  This is the essence of priesthood.  When people are weak, they seek out another who is stronger.  In the fellowship of disciples of Jesus Christ, we will each take our turn in the weak seat.  And we become like priests for one another, announcing God’s provision, proclaiming God’s forgiveness, telling the truth when it’s hard, pointing out his presence.  When one who is weak approaches you for help in seeking God, will you rise to the occasion?

Re:Verse reading–1 Samuel 7 (day two) 

Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, “If you return to the Lord with all your heart, remove the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your hearts to the Lord and serve Him alone; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.” vs. 3 (emphasis added)

Repentance can be exhausting. Particularly if you have traveled so far from the Lord that your life bears little resemblance to the place he had called you. We build walls, make excuses, take shortcuts and then wonder why he has removed his blessing from us. When you finally clean house it takes a LOT of effort, but effort for the Lord is never mis-spent. God did hear and deliver Israel, and he will do the same for you. There is not amount of distance that repentance cannot bridge.

Re:Verse reading–1 Samuel 7 (day one)

“In repentance and rest you shall be saved.”–Isaiah 30:15

“Then Samuel took a stone and set it up. . . and named it Ebenezer “stone of [God’s] help”–1 Samuel 7:12

It was a sermon in stone.  An object lesson.  A reminder of the victory and rest that comes when God has all of my heart rather than just part of it.

Samuel traveled the length of the nation preaching his powerful sermon–v 3.  As hearts began to soften, he called the nation to a solemn assembly at Mizpah–a moment of public repentance.  When the Philistines were not amused and sent an army to break up this revolt-in-the-making, God came!  Came to help.  Came to give victory.

After the battle was over,  Samuel wanted Israel (us) to mark and remember the lesson.  When I repent ( honest with God, full surrender, single identity), God comes to help!  What wasn’t possible before, now is.  Then I can rest.

 

Re:Verse reading–1 Samuel 3 (day seven)

Samuel says, “Here I am” five times in this passage: v. 4, 5, 6, 8, & 16, each one directed to Eli.  The first four Samuel calls out to Eli with blind allegiance looking for answers.  The fifth “here I am” was different though. Between verse 8 and verse 16 Samuel changed, and Eli inquires. Samuel had met God.  Every single time you connect with God it changes you and your relationships.

It is like when Moses met with God to receive the 10 commandments.  The commandments were good and necessary for the greater good, but Moses changed too having connected with God, Exodus 34:29-30:    When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord.  When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him.

A meeting with God is transformative, far more transformative than anything else you have planned this week.  May you spend your time wisely seeking out the voice of the Lord more than any other.

Re:Verse reading–1 Samuel 3 (day six)

It is an incredible thing that God spoke to Samuel, but have you ever considered, what if Samuel never shared with others the things God had said? What if he just kept it all to himself out of fear or lack of confidence? Personally, I think God would have moved on and found someone else. God spoke to Samuel precisely because he was chosen to be a prophetic voice to the House of Israel; he was intended to speak into others what God had prepared for him to say.

Truth is we speak because God speaks. As God’s words brought life and conviction to others through Samuel, God does the same through his Church (the people not the building). We were never intended to keep to ourselves; mind our own business. When God speaks, and he is speaking, he has every intention that we in turn speak them to another. You are Samuel; we all are.

Re:Verse reading–1 Samuel 3 (day five)

Then Eli discerned that the Lord was calling the boy. And Eli said to Samuel, “Go lie down, and it shall be if He calls you, that you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening.’“.   Samuel comes with confusion and questions. Eli discerns that it IS the Lord. Yet doesn’t do the work for Samuel. He doesn’t shortchange Samuel by over explaining the situation. He doesn’t give him the answers. He doesn’t tell stories about his own glory days. He simply encourages and empowers Samuel to correctly listen and respond to the voice of the Lord.

This is a great example for parents and grandparents to follow. We must create a relationship and climate where there is freedom and opportunity for our kids and teenagers to ask questions. Then, we can empower and help our children to do the work of understanding and discovering the voice and guidance of the Lord. It could be a spiritual turning point for them as they grow and mature and begin to own their own faith. (See 1 Samuel 2:26)

Re:Verse reading–1 Samuel 3 (day four)

V.7 – “Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor had the word of the Lord yet been revealed to him.”

Philippians 3:8 – “I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing values of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things…”

Henry Blackaby has said, “there is a radical difference between knowing God through experience and knowing God from a theology textbook.”  Samuel discovered that truth.  Until chapter 3 and his experience with God, Samuel served Eli.  Now he served the Lord.  All of Israel recognized the difference.  Samuel’s faithful obedience to God caused God to end His famine of revealing His word to Israel.

Can the people around you recognize that you have experienced the living God?  Is it evident that your relationship with God is more than a head knowledge…that you have a heart knowledge?  Don’t settle for just a head knowledge of God…ask Him to make His Word a living experience in your life!

Re:Verse reading–1 Samuel 3 (day three) 

“The lamp of God had not yet gone out.”  These words refer to an actual lamp with an actual flame—the lampstand at the curtain on the other side of which sat the ark of the covenant.  It was to be kept burning from evening till morning.  This detail of dimly burning fire serves to mark the time as the wee hours.  But it marks something else, too.  It signals to us that God has not given up on saving the human race.  We know that these words indicate God’s intention because we can look at the entire witness of scripture in a way that the people living it at the moment could not.  In every night dimly-lit, in every church persecuted, in every incident of God’s supposed slowness, there rises the providence of God.

Re:Verse reading–1 Samuel 3 (day two) 

And word from the Lord was rare in those days, visions were infrequent. vs. 1b

Samuel was a boy whose life had been dedicated before his birth to the service of the Lord, but he was born into a people who were not attuned to the voice of God. Even Eli the priest was unaware of all the movement, or lack of movement by the Lord among the people. It was a time when God was silent. Or was he? Clearly, God keeps his own counsel and know the plans set out before the foundations of the world, but we cannot become dull to his voice. If a word from the Lord is infrequent in our lives that is likely more to do with our own heart condition. When we dull ourselves to the work of the Lord it would appear that he is uninvolved. Nothing could be further from the truth. If we stop hearing from the Lord or sensing his leadership it is time to examine what is hindering us from hearing him clearly. Beyond that how are we teaching our children to discern the voice and leadership of the Lord? He still speaks.