Yesterday I talked about approaching God with willing obedience. When Saul was selected as King, he was told “the Spirit of the Lord will come powerfully upon you, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person.” God took a man that hid amongst the supplies and made him a great King but God required one thing; obedience. Saul’s disobedience changed his heart back and he lost everything. Somewhere along the line, the church has lost this fear of disobeying God. I think many reason because of God’s grace He will let it slide. This is not the case as God is the everlasting God, Psalm 90:2 “Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” Hebrews 13:8 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” God demands total obedience from us just as he did then. In the case of Saul, God had changed his heart but at the same time gave him this order in 1 Samuel 10 “you must wait seven days until I come to you and tell you what you are to do.” When he did not wait 13:11 Samuel asked “What have you done?” Saul replied, “When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Mikmash, 12 I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the Lord’s favor.’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.”13 “You have done a foolish thing,” Samuel said. “You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time.” He was told to wait but he did not wait the full seven days, close but he did not wait till Samuel arrived. Later Saul disobeyed again by not obeying the command God gave him when was told to attack the Amalekites. Instead of destroying everything he kept the best of the plunder, everything that was good. 1 Samuel 15:9 “Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?” 20 “But I did obey the Lord,” Saul said. “I went on the mission the Lord assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. 21 The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal.” Not only did Saul not wait he disobeyed. As we think about returning to the heart of worship we must understand that God requires a willing and obedient heart and nothing less. Many people think they are obeying the mission but are not following God’s command completely. 1 Samuel 15:22 “But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.” Saul lost his kingdom because of his rebellion. We have been told by God to turn from our wicked ways. Having an unwillingness to obey is rebellion before God. 1 Samuel 13:14 “But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.” Acts 13:22 “After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do” We do not want to loose out on what God has for us because we are unwilling to obey. Will you wait for God to show you what to do and when he does will you obey his command completely?

Prayer: Change my heart Oh God, make it ever true. Change my heart Oh God, may I be like You.