Be ready and willing to obey
We want to see revival touch our church and our nation. My late father used to say that his definition of revival is a ‘return to obedience.’ We need to be ready and willing to obey the leading and the voice of God in our lives. We should do what He tells us to do. Is there something…
What has God said to you?
1 Samuel 3:17 ‘What is the thing that the LORD has said unto you?’ The next morning Eli is up and goes straight to Samuel and asks this question. Eli wanted to know what God had said to Samuel. God was no longer communicating with Eli the priest and he knew that God had spoken to…
When God speaks we are changed
Samuel’s story reminds me of Mary after the angel had brought her the message from God. Luke 2:19 ‘Mary kept all these things in her heart and (pondered) thought about them often.’ She thought about what she had heard, she let her mind dwell on what she had heard, in her heart she tried to capture…
Sometimes the word of God cuts to the heart
The word that Samuel received from God was a difficult word. Not every word we receive is going to be easy. Sometimes the word of God ‘cuts to the heart’. I read this quote recently: ‘There was a time when people went to church, heard the truth, and wept over their sins. Today … people go…
Ask God to speak to you
Initially Samuel did not realise that God was speaking to Him. 1 Samuel 3:7 ‘Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD: The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.’ He thought it was the old priest Eli. 1 Samuel 3:10 The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the…
God still speaks to us
Even in times when He may feel afar off, He will still speak to us through His Word. As we read the Bible He can speak to us with something that ‘jumps out’ at us and becomes a revelation because His Spirit has come and made it living and real to us as individuals. The Bible is…
Communication is in God's very nature
The Lord is a communicator. He desires to communicate with us and for us to communicate with Him. John 10:27 ‘My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me.’ Hearing from God is part of the way in which we were designed and destined to live. We were not designed to live our…
God continues to speak
The Lord may not have been speaking directly to Eli, but He still spoke. Even in times when we may not be hearing from the Lord, He is gracious enough to still speak to us, but it may be through others or even from unlikely sources, as in this case it was the child Samuel. Perhaps…
When God stops speaking
Read 1 Samuel 3:1-19 Eli was the priest and he should have been the one hearing from God. Due to his personal situation, which God disapproved of, the Lord had stopped communicating with him. The question is what had Eli, the priest, done? 1 Samuel 3:13 ‘…his sons blasphemed God, and he failed to restrain…
What should we do right now?
Don’t get discouraged by the troubles that may be around you. We need to lift our vision high. Don’t get stuck in the current troubles. Look to what God has promised. Know the fact that He is thinking about you right now and He wants to come through for each one of us. 2 Corinthians 4:18…