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Passage: 1 Samuel 1
Today: When we say one thing and do another!
27 I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. 28 So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.” And he worshiped the Lord there. (1 Sam 1, NIV 84)
The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions. (1 Samuel 3: 1, NIV 84)-emphasis added
Lack of prayer, lack of the word of God and lack of vision or gifts of the Holy Spirit are the major issues affecting the church folks today. Prayer is the starting point of revival. The word and the Spirit of God will keep the fire up!
As Hannah prayed, God answered her one by one; a son and a prophet, who would make up for the spiritual shortage/poverty in the land!
Today, many churches are actively into materialism and liberalism, engaged in teachings like “how to become a millionaire” (by using God) and so on…
When materialism creeps in, spirituality walks out; so, when a church tries to attract people with materialistic or liberal teaching, it is a recipe for a spiritual disaster. True spirituality is full of enthusiasm, faith and hope in God. When we are not able to live our spiritual life to its full, we tend to go to carnality. We don’t have to be people without hope. When we have God, we have it right!
When the lust of the flesh, lust of the eye and pride of life take precedence, Spirit of God will just back up. It is one or the other, not both.
God does not care about the things that man holds in high esteem; that is why real men and women love God. They are wise enough to make the right choice!
13 “No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” 14 The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. 15 He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight. (Luke 16, NIV 84)- emphasis added
God can’t be wrong; He means what He says. You can’t serve both God and money simultaneously, no matter how smart you are; it is one or the other
America’s downward economic spiral continues, in proportion to its losing morality
When the “state” does things against God’s word, it is bad; but when church does the same, it is worse. God takes it very, very seriously!
No matter how prominent our church or building is; what is prominent to man need not be so, to God. God is about people, not stones. The magnificent church buildings will remain here even after the coming of Christ
See the words of Gary Hall, the Pastor of the prominent Washington National Cathedral
“I read the Bible as seriously as fundamentalists do,” Hall told the AP. “And my reading of the Bible leads me to want to do this because I think it’s being faithful to the kind of community that Jesus would have us be.” (quoted from an article by By BRETT ZONGKER, updated 1/10/2013 1:50:43 AM ET –( emphasis added)
The right way to interpret a book is to interpret it the way the author would interpret it
When we read and interpret the Bible in our way and do things based on our thinking than our assurance/faith, truth is compromised
It is time to pray!
BG
Prayer: Father God, you see what we see. I pray that you will open the eyes of many, to see things as you see them, and to shed some tears, seeing what is going on! I pray that you will do something about it. In Jesus’ name I pray; Amen
“We trust in God” makes sense to us, but may not make any sense to God, the way we live and do things!