May 26, 2024 – 1 Samuel 13:1-7 13  Saul lived for one year and then became king, and when he had reigned for two years over Israel,  2  Saul chose three thousand men of Israel. Two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin. The rest of the people he sent home, every man to his tent.  3  Jonathan defeated the garrison of the Philistines that was at Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear.”  4  And all Israel heard it said that Saul had defeated the garrison of the Philistines, and also that Israel had become a stench to the Philistines. And the people were called out to join Saul at Gilgal. 5  And the Philistines mustered to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen and troops like the sand on the seashore in multitude. They came up and encamped in Michmash, to the east of Beth-aven.   6  When th

May 25, 2024 – 1 Samuel 12:19-25 19  And all the people said to Samuel, “Pray for your servants to the  Lord  your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king.”   20  And Samuel said to the people, “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the  Lord , but serve the  Lord  with all your heart.   21  And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty.   22  For the  Lord  will not forsake his people, for his great name's sake, because it has pleased the  Lord  to make you a people for himself.   23  Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the  Lord  by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and the right way.   24  Only fear the  Lord  and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you.   25  But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you

May 24 2024 – 1 Samuel 12:6-18 6  And Samuel said to the people, “The  Lord  is witness, who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt.  7  Now therefore stand still that I may plead with you before the  Lord  concerning all the righteous deeds of the  Lord  that he performed for you and for your fathers.  8  When Jacob went into Egypt, and the Egyptians oppressed them, then your fathers cried out to the  Lord  and the  Lord  sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your fathers out of Egypt and made them dwell in this place.  9  But they forgot the  Lord  their God. And he sold them into the hand of Sisera, commander of the army of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab. And they fought against them.  10  And they cried out to the  Lord  and said, ‘We have sinned, because we have forsaken the  Lord  and have served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. But now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, that we may serv

Jesus never promised we wouldn't have problems. In fact, He promised we would have problems. In John 16:33 He says: "I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." He tells us not just problems, but tribulations. Tribulation is defined as: grievous trouble; severe trial or suffering. So Jesus tells us we will have not just trouble, but severe suffering. But He also reminds us that He has over come the world. He also reminds us that in Him we have peace. His peace is always with us because He is always with us. I'm sharing this post today because I want to apologize for the past few weeks of sporadic posting. My hope is to get caught up today or tomorrow, but I don't want to just throw it against the wall. I want it to be from our Heavenly Father. I want it to be His words, His guidance, His peace. I have been very distracted as my family has been experiencing some

May 23, 2024 – 1 Samuel 12:1-5 12  And Samuel said to all Israel, “Behold, I have obeyed your voice in all that you have said to me and have made a king over you.  2  And now, behold, the king walks before you, and I am old and gray; and behold, my sons are with you. I have walked before you from my youth until this day.  3  Here I am; testify against me before the  Lord  and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Or whose donkey have I taken? Or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Or from whose hand have I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it? Testify against me [ a ]  and I will restore it to you.”  4  They said, “You have not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man's hand.”  5  And he said to them, “The  Lord  is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand.” And they said, “He is witness.” These verses make me think of how important our reputation is when we represent Jesus.   Oth

May 22, 2024 – 1 Samuel 11:12-15 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. Don’t you love how Saul give the glory to God and recognizes the Lord has worked salvation in Israel. May we also give our God the glory as he reigns in our lives and works victoriously in us, His children. Heavenly Father, help me celebrate like these men of Israel did, but let it be that I live my whole life celebrating You, and not just in the good times.   Help me remember You are at work every m

May 21, 2024 – 1 Samuel 11:1-11 11  Then Nahash the Ammonite went up and besieged Jabesh-gilead, and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make a treaty with us, and we will serve you.”  2  But Nahash the Ammonite said to them, “On this condition I will make a treaty with you, that I gouge out all your right eyes, and thus bring disgrace on all Israel.”  3  The elders of Jabesh said to him, “Give us seven days' respite that we may send messengers through all the territory of Israel. Then, if there is no one to save us, we will give ourselves up to you.”  4  When the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul, they reported the matter in the ears of the people, and all the people wept aloud. 5  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.  6  And the Spirit of God rushed upon Saul when he heard these words, and his anger was greatly kindled.  7  He took

May 20, 2024 – 1 Samuel 10:17-27 17  Now Samuel called the people together to the  Lord  at Mizpah.  18  And he said to the people of Israel, “Thus says the  Lord , the God of Israel, ‘I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’  19  But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses, and you have said to him, ‘Set a king over us.’ Now therefore present yourselves before the  Lord  by your tribes and by your thousands.” 20  Then Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot.  21  He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its clans, and the clan of the Matrites was taken by lot; and Saul the son of Kish was taken by lot. But when they sought him, he could not be found.  22  So they inquired again of the  Lord , “Is there a man still to come?” and the  Lord  said, “Behold, he has hidden hims

May 19, 2024 – 1 Samuel 10:1-16 10  Then Samuel tookin   a flask of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him and said, “Has not the  Lord  anointed you to be prince over his people Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the  Lord  and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies. And this shall be the sign to you that the  Lord  has anointed you to be prince over his heritage.  2  When you depart from me today, you will meet two men by Rachel's tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah, and they will say to you, ‘The donkeys that you went to seek are found, and now your father has ceased to care about the donkeys and is anxious about you, saying, “What shall I do about my son?”’  3  Then you shall go on from there farther and come to the oak of Tabor. Three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you there, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine.  4  And they will greet you and g

May 18, 2024 – 1 Samuel 9:1-27 9  There was a m.an of Benjamin whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, son of Zeror, son of Becorath, son of Aphiah, a Benjaminite, a man of wealth.  2  And he had a son whose name was Saul, a handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he. From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people. 3  Now the donkeys of Kish, Saul's father, were lost. So Kish said to Saul his son, “Take one of the young men with you, and arise, go and look for the donkeys.”  4  And he passed through the hill country of Ephraim and passed through the land of Shalishah, but they did not find them. And they passed through the land of Shaalim, but they were not there. Then they passed through the land of Benjamin, but did not find them. 5  When they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant who was with him, “Come, let us go back, lest my father cease to care about the donkeys and become anxious about us.”  6 

May 17, 2024 – 1 Samuel 8:19-22 19  But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us,  20  that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”  21  And when Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the  Lord .  22  And the  Lord  said to Samuel, “Obey their voice and make them a king.” Samuel then said to the men of Israel, “Go every man to his city.” And God said, “ Obey their voice and make them a king.”   Do you think that Samuel ever got exasperated with the Israelites? I think of my own children. As I was raising my own children, there were times when they wanted their way and I knew the consequences were not going to be pleasant. If I knew they could suffer the consequences and not be permanently harmed, and that I could act as their safety net, I would let them have their own way. They learned pretty quickly that I tr

May 16, 2024 – 1 Samuel 8:10-18 10  So Samuel told all the words of the  Lord  to the people who were asking for a king from him.  11  He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots.  12  And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots.  13  He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers.  14  He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants.  15  He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants.  16  He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys, and put them to his work.  17  He will take the tenth of your flocks, and yo

May 15, 2024 – 1 Samuel 8:1-9 8  When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel.  2  The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beersheba.  3  Yet his sons did not walk in his ways but turned aside after gain. They took bribes and perverted justice. 4  Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah  5  and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.”  6  But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the  Lord .  7  And the  Lord  said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.  8  According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are a

May 14, 2024 – 1 Samuel 7:5-17 5  Then Samuel said, “Gather all Israel at Mizpah, and I will pray to the  Lord  for you.”  6  So they gathered at Mizpah and drew water and poured it out before the  Lord  and fasted on that day and said there, “We have sinned against the  Lord .” And Samuel judged the people of Israel at Mizpah.  7  Now when the Philistines heard that the people of Israel had gathered at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the people of Israel heard of it, they were afraid of the Philistines.  8  And the people of Israel said to Samuel, “Do not cease to cry out to the  Lord  our God for us, that he may save us from the hand of the Philistines.”  9  So Samuel took a nursing lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the  Lord . And Samuel cried out to the  Lord  for Israel, and the  Lord  answered him.  10  As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to attack Israel. But the  Lord  thundered with a mi

May 13, 2024 – 1 Samuel 7:1-4 7  And the men of Kiriath-jearim came and took up the ark of the  Lord  and brought it to the house of Abinadab on the hill. And they consecrated his son Eleazar to have charge of the ark of the  Lord .  2  From the day that the ark was lodged at Kiriath-jearim, a long time passed, some twenty years, and all the house of Israel lamented after the  Lord . 3  And Samuel said to all the house of Israel, “If you are returning to the  Lord  with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your heart to the  Lord  and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.”  4  So the people of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtaroth, and they served the  Lord  only. Oh the Israelites! They operate in such a cycle of rejection of God and then they turn around and seek God yet again by serving Him only.    Twenty years pass before they lament and seek God, putting away their Idols and tu

May 12, 2024 – 1 Samuel 6:1-21 6  The ark of the  Lord  was in the country of the Philistines seven months.  2  And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the  Lord ? Tell us with what we shall send it to its place.”  3  They said, “If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty, but by all means return him a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why his hand does not turn away from you.”  4  And they said, “What is the guilt offering that we shall return to him?” They answered, “Five golden tumors and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines, for the same plague was on all of you and on your lords.  5  So you must make images of your tumors and images of your mice that ravage the land, and give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps he will lighten his hand from off you and your gods and your land.  6  Why should you harden your hearts as t