Bible In One Year-Day 107 (Thursday, April 17, 2014)

We just concluded reading 1 Samuel 10-12. Samuel told Saul to let his servant take a step ahead because there was a secret he (Saul) needed to know. Oil was poured on him to consecrate him for purpose, this was the activation code. As soon as the oil was poured, Samuel gave Saul three signs to annul his doubt of what Samuel had told him. The first sign linked him with his ancestry. Benjamin, at birth, his mother died and named him Benoni, i.e. “child of my sorrow”. His father regarded that as a bad name and changed it to Benjamin, i.e. child of my right hand. If you followed the trend of our readings, you will realize that, starting from Joshua, God testified to his choice with a sign to instill confidence in such and to make the people respect his choice of person. For instance, the parting of River Jordan in Joshua3 was an assurance that God was with them. Gideon requested for signs and he was given. Saul’s prophetic signs were these three signs. This is the sign to remember each time you call upon God especially in time of difficulty;

Isaiah 45:11 “…, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.”

Where is the point of your calling and salvation? At that point, you receive a new heart, an exchange takes place there;

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

This is not a matter of profession but a matter of a transformed heart which is evident in actions and attitudes. Your prophetic sign is the banner of your destiny. It is after the code and signs have come to pass that the Spirit of God (Password, grace, which you use as occasion demand) will enter your life which turns you into another man. The first thing that happened to Saul after receiving these prophetic signs was that a new heart was given to him. For a man to fulfill destiny, the most important need is a new heart, a changed, transformed and circumcised heart. Nothing works without this change. The heart, i.e. the soul in this wise, is where spirits operate;

Acts 5:3 “But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back part of the price of the land?”

Once a heart is captured the person is captured. To pleasingly do the work of God we need the heart for that work. God said this in Ezekiel 36:26-27 “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.”

There is no place for the Spirit of God in a stony heart. Seeing visions, revelations or receiving prophecies does not result in fulfilled destiny, they are just your prophetic signs. You need a new heart otherwise one could violate the prophetic signs just as Samson violated his and ended up grinding pepper in the kitchen of the enemy. The computer has an operating system which is different from application software. The operating system is used to run other programs, control and manage the hardware of the computer and other devices, the software or application system is what gives the information you need, the interactive platform. Your heart is the operating system that controls and manages your members while the brain processes. The word of God is the software in your heart which you interact with, just like the software we buy and install on our computers for use; buy the truth and sell it not. The word of God works on the heart; deliverance and healing start within the heart. Jesus’ ministry in Lk4:18-19 deals more with the heart. We err in the heart, serve, give, condemn and do a lot of things first within the heart. The Holy Spirit rests and speaks in the heart of man; 2 Corinthians 3:3 “Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.” The circumcision we need now is not in letters but in the heart. The heart of man is his database where the word of God is stored for the use of the Holy Spirit as occasion demands just as Samuel advised Saul; 1 Samuel 10:7 ‘And let it be, when these signs are come unto thee, that thou do as occasion serve thee; for God is with thee.” If the heart is void of the word of God, what will the Holy Spirit work with? An empty heart are easily carried about with diverse doctrines, very unstable, easily offended, proud and arrogant in thinking, it becomes the devil’s workshop, unteachable and reprobate in actions; Hebrews 13:9 “Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.”

Just as Gideon, Jephthah and the like operated under the influence of the Holy Spirit, Saul also operated under that anointing and grace; 1 Samuel 11:6 “And the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard those tidings, and his anger was kindled greatly.” The Holy Spirit is your password to access the presence of God, to get information from Him. Many are confused today because they have made the mouth of man their source of information from God. You need a new heart and the infilling of the Holy Spirit, Ephesians 2:18 “For through him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.” May the sword of the Spirit of God circumcise out hearts for the Master’s use and for the kingdom. Our next reading today is 1Sam13-15. Keep the fire burning and alive.

Acts 4:32 “And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.”