THURSDAY March 7, 2019
Pray for Us!
So Samuel called to the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day; and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel. 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 the evil of asking a king for ourselves.”
Samuel prayed to the Lord and God answered his request––it came to pass! He was an ordinary man, just like you and me––flesh and blood––and yet God answered his prayer––amazing! Samuel’s commitment to God was tremendous. God showed His power to His people, but there was no real repentance. They did confess they had done wrong by asking for a king, but they never really confessed they had rejected God.
It must have been such a sight for God’s people to hear the thunder and see the lightening in the sky. Israel would have known God was giving them a sign of His displeasure. Israel said words of repentance with their lips, but showed no remorse––words are cheap. God wanted true repentance. Notice, Israel did not even have the confidence to pray to God for themselves; they asked Samuel to pray to the Lord for them.
It is so easy to try and appease God with our words, but God sees the heart. It is the heart of man that is the problem:
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings”(Jeremiah 17:9-10).
Christians constantly need to examine their hearts before the Lord. If you find yourself paying lip service to God without any real change or repentance, ask Him to help you change your life by the power of the Holy Spirit. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to live the Christian life.
A great part of your prayer work should be imploring the Almighty for a greater measure of his Spirit.
~Walter Chantry~
For more from Raul Ries, please visit SomebodyLovesYou.com!