How do you become an individual after God’s own heart?

 14 Apr 26

Today's devotional: taken from YouVersion, Devotions on F.I.R.E. Year One


Readings:

1 Samuel 15

1 Samuel 16

Luke 14:25-35


The LORD has sought for Himself a man after His own heart (1 Samuel 13:14). 


How do you become an individual after God’s own heart?


Godly Samuel is sent to anoint a king from Jesse’s house. Israel wants a king who looks like kings of other nations. It seems that Samuel believes that Eliab is the Lord’s choice based on his height. Yet the Lord points out to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). Unlike Saul, David is committed to obeying God; that is what establishes him as an exemplary king. The Lord chooses David, says Paul, “a man after My own heart, who will do all My will” (Acts 13:22). 


Employment Point: Become an individual after God’s own heart by doing all His will.

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Reflections

“Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’ ” Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: “I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the Lord all that night.”

‭‭1 Samuel‬ ‭15‬:‭3‬, ‭10‬-‭11‬ ‭NIV‬‬

  • sometimes I feel like we are like Saul as well. The Lord has obviously told us things and given us commands to obey. And like Saul, after we had gained victory, we forgot His words and start doing things our own ways. 
  • Job’s words ring in my head. The Lord gives and He also takes away. Whatever we have and given are all Lord’s grace. We cannot claim that it is us or our efforts that we made it. Of course not! The Lord deserves all our praise and be given all the glory!


“Saul answered, “The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.””

‭‭1 Samuel‬ ‭15‬:‭15‬ ‭NIV‬‬

  • This reminds me when the Lord said that it is not the sacrifices that He wants. “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Matthew 9:13
  • This verse may not truly reflect the truth behind it but one thing is for sure, the Lord lacks nothing because He is the creator. Which part of us thinks that saving the choicest or best stuff we think we want to save as a sacrifice to the Lord is going to make Him happy when His command is to kill EVERYTHING? We may think we are trying to do good here, but that is not what the Lord is after. He wants an obedient heart. A heart that fully trusts in Him and obeys what He says. Nothing more, nothing less. 
  • “But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.”1 Samuel‬ ‭15‬:‭22‬ ‭NIV‬‬ - this is exactly the gist of what things should be


“For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.”1 Samuel‬ ‭15‬:‭23‬ ‭NIV‬‬

  • this ought to remind us never to rebel against the Lord, as He equates it to the sin of divination. You seek other gods but Him. And because of this, we are being arrogant because we think we know better than God. 


“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.””1 Samuel‬ ‭16‬:‭7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

  • The Lord uses all kinds of people. We are all God’s child and nobody is too small to be used by God. Throughout the scriptures there are evidences that God tends to choose the least, smallest of all to do great things.. And indeed the Lord looks at our hearts. Appearances does not matter if you are beautiful or handsome but has evil in your hearts. 


“Whenever the spirit from God came on Saul, David would take up his lyre and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.”1 Samuel‬ ‭16‬:‭23‬ ‭NIV‬‬

  • aren’t you amazed what the Lord can do? Even playing an instrument can help serve a king!


“In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭14‬:‭33‬ ‭NIV‬‬

  • we cannot take everything at face value. In this instance Jesus is talking about putting Him first, choosing Him first amongst other things. Other things too, cannot become more important than Him. For example, money. If we hold onto money and make it our idol, we definitely cannot follow Jesus. One cannot serve two masters.
  • The commentary wrote the following: 

i. We can never give people the impression that they have to clean up their lives before they come to Jesus; that is like washing up beforeyou take a bath.


ii. Yet likewise we can never give people the impression that Jesus won’t want to clean up their lives with their cooperation after they come to Him.


iii. It is important for every potential disciple – those of the great multitudes that followed and heard Jesus (Luke 14:25) – to consider the cost of being a disciple of Jesus. Yet those who choose to reject and resist God should count that cost as well. What possible good can come from opposing God? It costs something to be the disciple of Jesus; it costs more to reject Him

————————

Inspired Invincibility

BY OSWALD CHAMBERS

April 14


Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. — Matthew 11:29


“The Lord disciplines the one he loves” (Hebrews 12:6). How petty is our complaining! Our Lord begins to discipline us, bringing us to a place where we can have communion with him. We should be delighted. Instead, we whine and say, “Oh, Lord, let me be like other people.” Jesus wants us to be unlike everyone but him. He is asking us to take one side of his yoke so that we can learn to bear our burdens lightly: “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:30).


“He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak” (Isaiah 40:29). When we fully identify ourselves with Jesus, taking up one side of his yoke, our complaining will turn into a psalm of praise. The only way to know the strength of God is to know the yoke of Jesus.


“The joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). If we didn’t know some saintly people personally, we might be tempted to think that their pleasant and peaceful demeanor means they have nothing to bear. Lift the veil. The fact that the peace and the light and the joy of God are there is proof that the burden is there too.


If your burden is weighing on you just now, remember that no power on earth or in hell can defeat the Spirit of God inside a human spirit. To be born again in the Spirit is to gain an inner invincibility. Recall this to your mind whenever you find yourself beginning to grumble. If you have the whine in you, kick it out. It is positively a crime to be weak in God’s strength.


1 Samuel 25-26; Luke 12:32-59


WISDOM FROM OSWALD

The great point of Abraham’s faith in God was that he was prepared to do anything for God. 

———————-

Reflections

I read this devotional seemingly with a new heading. “Drawing strength from the Lord”. 


There were just too many times where our focus was not on Him but on the storms and waves around us. We totally forgot who is the creator of this universe and who has the power to calm the waves. We kept our Lord in a box and limits what He can do by what we think He can do, often times undermining His true power over all things.


We kept relying on everything else other than Him. We try different ways of doing things instead of committing it to the Lord and asking Him for guidance. This is not something that is really natural of us to do but it is something we can train ourselves to do.


Whenever we think that we are falling, stressed, weak in whatever aspects, our Abba Father should be the first one we go to for help. He should be where we ought to draw our strength for He is indeed our strength and our fortress, someone whom we can count on and He will never fail.


Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well. 


Let’s pray:


O LORD, help us to be like David, to be a person after Your own heart, to have a close relationship with You, always choosing You above all else and letting nothing else come between us and the love of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen 🙏🏻 

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