“I REGRET THAT I HAVE MADE SAUL KING”

MEMORY VERSE: Then came the word of the LORD unto Samuel, saying, It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the LORD all night. 1 Samuel 15:10-11

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Psalm 111 - 113

God in His infinite mercy can make the last to become the first. In 1 Samuel 16, He anointed David, the last born, to be king over Israel thereby making him the first, not only in his family but, in the nation of Israel. He can turn a prisoner into a prime minister (Genesis 24). 1 Samuel 2:8 says, “He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the LORD'S, and he hath set the world upon them.” In 1 Samuel 9:21 the Lord chose Saul, a young boy from the least family in Benjamin (smallest tribe in Israel) to be king. Several months later, the Lord sent him to destroy the Amalekites. When Saul got there, he spared Agag, king of the Amalekites, and killed others. He destroyed the worthless things and kept the good things for himself. 1 Samuel 15:10-11 says, “Then came the word of the LORD unto Samuel, saying, It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the LORD all night.”

Just as God regretted that He made Saul king, God is regretting over some of His children. Many of them were close to Him when they were looking for visa to travel abroad.They rarely missed church service; they ran from sin especially fornication. The moment they got their visa and traveled abroad, they became a totally different person. They stopped going to church. They began to live in sin – they now smoke, drink, party late night, fornicate and so on. Many used to win souls before they traveled out of the country, but today , they no longer have time for bible studies. Before God provided jobs for some of us, we were punctual in mid-week service. Before God provided jobs for some of us, we used to evangelize and do outreaches. Now, we no longer have time to do those things we used to do. Before many of our single sisters got married, they used to attend workers meeting. Several years into marriage, they no longer go to church. The Lord is regretting over some in ministry. Before the Lord called them into ministry, they used to have time for Him. In the beginning, the ministry was all about Jesus. Today, it is no longer so. The Holy Spirit no longer has a say in the ministry. His ways are now counted as old fashioned. The Lord is saying i regret calling 'so and so' into ministry. God is regretting over some of us because the same gift He gave to us to populate His kingdom is what we are using to populate the kingdom of hell. Friend, have you changed like Saul? For those who are yet to change like Saul i.e. still standing, ask the Lord to give you the grace to remain standing. If you sense in your spirit that God is regretting over your life, you better repent and ask for mercy.

NOTE: Man has a history of disappointing God. Are you going to add to the list of those who will disappoint God in this generation or you will be one of the very few He will say thus concerning, "I am happy I created ‘so and so’"

PRAYER: Father, help me never to disappoint you.

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Bro Samuel | Reaching the world

REGRET, REMORSE & REPENTANCE

MEMORY VERSE: and rend your heart, not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil, Joel 2:13

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 1 Sam 17, Rom 15, Lam 2, Luke 22

Why do people in the bible ‘rent their clothes’ or tear their shirts when something happens? They do that as a way of showing extreme anger for example after interviewing Jesus, the High Priest tore his garment and shouted blasphemy to show he was angry with the response of Jesus (Matthew 26:59-66). People also rent their clothes as a way of showing deep sorrow for example Reuben rent his clothes when he found out that Joseph had been taken from the pit and sold (Genesis 37:29). The third reason why people rent their clothes is to show regret and remorse like we read in Joel 2:13-and rend your heart, not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

God is not interested in regret that does not lead to a change of heart. Actually we have learnt that regret profits nothing anyway. Regrets only leads to emotional pain. It can lead to rash decision. It can also hinder one’s progress, cause stagnancy and if care is not taken it can lead to death as we saw in the case of Judas Iscariot. God is not interested in the death of any sinner so regret is not what God is looking for. Remorse is been sorry about ones action but never putting measures in place to stop it from happening again. Saul did everything in his power to kill David. Every time David had the opportunity to kill Saul and he didn’t, Saul will start to cry. He would say I am terrible person, you are a good man. The next minute you find the same Saul chasing after David to kill him. This is remorse. 

Repentance is not only about feeling sorry but putting measures in place to ensure that you don’t fall again. For example as an individual, you know that too much talking gets you into trouble – you say things you should not say. What you do is minimize the way you talk. You know there are one or two things you do not like doing, but you find yourself doing them. Instead of crying for forgiveness every night, investigate the cause or what circumstance leads to them. Take for instance masturbation and pornography, 99 per cent of the time people masturbate when they are idle. What you do is avoid idleness and keep yourself busy. Not only that, distance yourself from nude pictures, music where they talk of sex or movies where they have sex. How about fornication? It is impossible to fornicate when people are watching, what you do is avoid going to visit the opposite sex alone. If you find yourself alone with the opposite sex at your place or any where make sure the doors are open and the windows are all open with the curtains up so that everyone can see what is going in the room. If it is at night, don’t sleep in the same room with the opposite sex alone. If internet pornography is the problem always use the internet when people are around. If it is gossiping, avoid the company of those that gossip and if you find yourself in their midst whatever they say just tell them nobody is perfect. Lastly, you also need to take your bible studies very seriously and fast for mercy.

FACTS: Identify what causes you to sin or the circumstances that leads to them and deal with it.

Bro Samuel – Reaching the world for Jesus