Wednesday, January 27, 2016

OT DAY 431 - How Did Saul Become King (Please click here for English podcast)

Silence

1.   Put on your “brakes” and stop for a moment of silence
2.   Wait for God. Breathe deep for God's peace and feel His presence. Exhale your worries.

Praise and Thanksgiving

1.   Think through your day, all the times that made you smile
2.   Thank God for all those moments, and for all those people
3.   Open your heart to praise the Lord

         Praise the Lord!
        Praise the Lord from the heavens;
           praise him in the heights!
        Praise him, all his angels;
             praise him, all his hosts!
                    Psalm 148:1-2

Confession and Repentance (Subjective Shifting Devotion Method http://bishopsilas.blogspot.ca/2009/08/count-down-5-subject-shifting-devotion.html)

1.  Pray for the Holy Spirit to work in you:

     “Dear Holy Spirit, shine your light into the places of darkness in my life. Show me my sins, everything that blocks me from encountering God. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”

2.  Through the Holy Spirit, examine yourself for a short silence and then pray:

     "Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for our sins and being victorious over death and sin. I confess my sin to you(pause, to tell Jesus what the Holy Spirit has shown you). Forgive my sins by your blood and help me follow you. Holy Spirit, fill me that I may be able to receive your gift to love God and His people. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen."

The Word (1 Samuel 10:16-11:15)


       
       Now, behold, Saul was coming from the field behind the oxen. And Saul said, “What is wrong with the people, that they are weeping?” So they told him the news of the men of Jabesh. And the Spirit of God rushed upon Saul when he heard these words, and his anger was greatly kindled. He took a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces and sent them throughout all the territory of Israel by the hand of the messengers, saying, “Whoever does not come out after Saul and Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen!” Then the dread of the Lord fell upon the people, and they came out as one man. When he mustered them at Bezek, the people of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand. And they said to the messengers who had come, “Thus shall you say to the men of Jabesh-gilead: ‘Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you shall have salvation.’” When the messengers came and told the men of Jabesh, they were glad. 10 Therefore the men of Jabesh said, “Tomorrow we will give ourselves up to you, and you may do to us whatever seems good to you.” 11 And the next day Saul put the people in three companies. And they came into the midst of the camp in the morning watch and struck down the Ammonites until the heat of the day. And those who survived were scattered, so that no two of them were left together.
     12 Then the people said to Samuel, “Who is it that said, ‘Shall Saul reign over us?’ Bring the men, that we may put them to death.” 13 But Saul said, “Not a man shall be put to death this day, for today the Lord has worked salvation in Israel.” 14 Then Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and there renew the kingdom.” 15 So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal. There they sacrificed peace offerings before the Lord, and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.  
                                                                 1   Samuel 11: 5-15


Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage we have just read. Offer this time up to Jesus as you listen to him, while listening to "Gabriel's Oboe"

My Listening

          When we read chapter 10 and 11 of 1 Samuel, we learn that Saul is a kind of timid person without any initiative. How come he became king? 


Let's see how Professor John Goldingay tells us: 
    
           Once again God demonstrates a sovereign involvement in the process whereby Saul becomes king. As in the first story it involves God's spirit erupting on him and making him act in a way that would not come naturally. Common to these stories is a portrait of Saul as a person who by nature does not take initiatives. He likes to sit in the back row and keep quiet. So God takes hold of him rather than some man who thrusts himself forward. God inspires a monumental anger in him; anger is an appropriate reaction to the enormity of the way the Ammonites propose to treat the men of Jabesh. Anger is here a fruit of the Spirit, because it energizes a mild man into being someone who takes the kind of action that is needed in the situation. 
          
John Goldingay. 1 and 2 Samuel for Everyone. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011, p.60.




         Do you think God is using similar method to challenge you so that you have the courage to do His Kingdom work? What have you learned today to follow our King more closely so that you can be more like Saul in today's passage? 

Dear Lord Jesus, 
    Challenge us just like you challenged Saul so that we can do your Kingdom work. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Reflect on these questions:
    1. Do you think God is using similar method to challenge you so that you have the courage to do His Kingdom work?

2. What have you learned today to follow our King more closely so that you can be more like Saul in today's passage? 

    3. What have you got from Jesus today?



Today's Time with Abba daily reading:




Photos of my copying the Bible today using Time with Abba passages 






Photo of today 6:30a.m. Copying Bible to pray and 7a.m. Prayer Meeting














Praise and Thanksgiving





Let's give thanks for God with us. Let us praise Him:
10,000 Reasons

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誰能使我們與基督的愛隔絕呢?

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