1 Samuel Overview Part 8 - Facing Sufferings by Having Vision

Our heart is a test laboratory. We must put the word of God into this laboratory. How do we know that God is pleased with us? It is when our hearts are joyful and free. Do not let our hearts continue to be rebuked. If we have not grasped the mystery, submit to God for 3 days. If we have the mystery, do not be lazy but go into the tabernacle in the morning and evening because Satan will come and tempt us even when we are resting on the sofa.

Passage Reading: 1 Samuel 16

V1 God is pleased if we have mourned for someone because of a spiritual reason. . However, there will come a time when we must stop mourning as God’s will has already been known.

V7 God looks at the gentleness of the Lord and not the gentleness of men.

V11 David may be the least, but he prays for the revival of Israel against the enemies. Who says that only the pastor can see the darkness of this age and thus pray? We become anointed not when we are externally recognized. We will not need a pastor to anoint us but God will anoint us when our hearts are correct and anointed. The heart is anointed when we can see the reason of praying for the fallen nature of the churches of this era and thus pray for this era..

V12 A look at David’s appearance and we will know how bright his eyes and appearance are. The grace of God is upon him. Such is the appearance of a blessed person. The blessed one does not have a messy and chaotic lifestyle.

1. Mizpah Movement

Mizpah Movement is the restoration of the following:

1) Turn To God

Mizpah Movement is the movement of the restoration of the word of God.

2) Receive Life = Shed blood

After turning to God, one will continue to receive life.

3) Converse with God

He uses the life received to converse with God. If I have attended discipleship training or heard a message but have not prayedsuch that the word that came to me is from God Himself, we have not received anything.

4) Evidence

If we have not conversed correctly, we therefore cannot testify. But joy is the result of correct prayers. We can only have evidences when we lead a church-centered life.

5) Teach/Disciples

Finally, Mizpah Movement is the movement of raising up disciples. Samuel went around 3 places, and sometimes, he went back to his hometown at Ramah for this very purpose.

2. Crux

What is the crux that Mizpah Movement will bring about?

Meet God (Born again) -> Relationship builds up (Father and Child of God) -> Discover God’s doing (Past - thanksgiving, present - evidence) -> Believe Jehovah Jireh (Ebenezer) (Big vision - our future). Individual drawing 10 years, 70 years -> Converse (walk with God -> expand relationship, spiritual, logical, emotional characters)

We are not called to be pastors or deacons, but we are called to be children of God. This is the highest calling. Some preachers are in suffering because they think that they are called to be preachers, not as children of God. A lot of believers fail because of this very crux. Be the most successful in this Father-child relationship first!

Then, look at everything through this relationship. There is God’s doing in everything. Have we discovered that our birth is so blessed as God’s work? Therefore my parents must be God’s works? Why can’t we give thanks for our past? It is impossible that we think that we have so many problems now, yet we are called to be in God’s ministry. But the problems are God’s blessings. If we continue to be Holy Spirit-filled, we will surely walk towards the ends of the earth and our life.

This time, during the mission trip to Kuala Lumpur, I blessed Jennifer to see how God will hand the whole Malaysia over to her. However, I put emphasis that we must see. Many times, we only remain at being happy, but we have to see, which means that we must test and seek.

Saul continued to think that it was the end when Samuel was no longer pleased with him. However, David continued in prayer so that he expanded his relationships and developed his characters of spirit, logic and emotions.

We just need to share about 90% of this spiritual message. If we have restored our relationship with God, how can we ever treat our sisters with adulterous eyes, for example? However, upon continually hitting this point, a person will change.

3. Saul’s Failure and David’s Success

Saul’s Failure

1) No root and no foundation <1 Co 3:1>

Everyone judges by looking at external appearances and situations . They have no foundation. At the beginning, there was definitely the grace of God on Saul, as he was humble even in the least of the tribes. However, if we look carefully, Saul had no root. When he was better off, he thanked God for the reason that his gifts and skills had improved. When his condition was worse off , he blamed everyone.

(1) Failure in relationship between the Lord and His servant

After 3 days and 3 nights, Paul, discovered that he had actually been serving himself and a god whom he created himself. This is the reason why he could not sleep, eat and drink upon such great discovery. From thence, he became a different man. Therefore, do not be afraid of the situations we are in or even this warning that we may not be serving the correct God, but there is a need to format or there will be no root or foundation in your belief!

(2) Failure in Sacrifice (Prayer cannot pass through)

What happens when our prayers are not clear through? Our hearts will rebuke us! People tell me, “But I cannot help it!” I tell him, “Pray for 3 days.” No matter what, if your prayers are not clear through, everything we do will be ritualistic. Therefore, no matter what, solve this first! When Saul found that he could not help succumbing to pleasing the crowd rather than God, he slipped by the most important thing of worship and thought that he could also do sacrifice. He had not discovered the depth of why only priests must do sacrifices and why the prophets must reveal the word of God. He thus compromised and looked down on prayer. Many elders and deacons of this era think that it is easy to be one at their position as it doesn’t seem not difficult to just lead a prayer meeting or some shepherding especially when there is no need for much prayers of the blood.

(3) Shed blood (Jesus’ Name)

Format up first, and then pray. Jesus’ Name means that we must first die with the whole of our life. This is so that we can confirm and submit to His promise. Therefore we meet God with the blood of Jesus. Then we must test and seek God’s perfect will. Our belief is definitely practical. There was one occasion when my daughter cried too much that I beat her. My heart was sad. I cannot always beat her, right? Therefore I prayed, tested and sought for God’s will. When she came home from childcare centre, I told her that God’s will is for her to be an example to her younger brothers. Then I told her that she must know that her fears of leaving parents are due to Satan. Those who have tested and sought the will of the Lord will know how to manage relationships and be different in renewing week after week. When a ministry fails this week, the one who tested and sought will find the reason and will of God and be different the very coming week.

(4) Receive fulfillments

(5) Like to pray even more

After dying, confirming, and testing and seeking God’s perfect will, and having found to receive fulfillments, we will want to pray more. My hope on our coworkers is not on any other but on your prayers. With that, we will be handsome and glowing with God’s grace.

1 Samuel is really one that is very animated. Sunday School teachers must grasp this book.

2) Covertly Love the world

The believers of this age already know that they ought not love the world, but many covertly love the world. There was a person who testified how the Lord had healed him. However, on another note, he exclaimed how he loved online games, spending 3-4 hours on games each night. This is not about legalism, but obviously, he has not fixed his direction. Do not ask me whether we can play games, go for tours or the need and crave to go shopping every week. Think this way: can what the things we do for recreation re-create ourselves with more time and more strength to run a longer road in the Lord? If not, we just need to adjust our living. This is a very practical thing in our belief.

Saul told Samuel that he plundered the spoils instead of obeying the Lord by reasoning that the plunder can be used for glorifying God, though Samuel had an instruction for him from the Lord to totally destroy everything. Do we believers also explain away this way, to fit God into our lavish pleasures of the world?

If we continue like this and ignore the Holy Spirit’s conviction, the Holy Spirit will hide Himself away from us. If a person continues to be promoted and saves a lot, but has not been central to living in church, it can be said that the Holy Spirit has hidden Himself from him when he feels that his commitment in the job and promotions are in sync with the Lord’s will. Be watchful as such peace comes from the angel of light, Satan.

3) Kill priests

Believers like to hear good things or praises from the pastor. If believers continue to love the world and one day hear rebukes from the pastor on stage, what will happen? Do they thus vent their frustration on the pastor? Of course, preachers may not be complete, however, the role of the pastor is like the necessary role of the captain of the ship. Saul killed the priests. The reason was because Saul loved himself and not the Lord. I believe that our church do not have such believers who grind their teeth when the message does not fit their ideals. Our church is still quite pure now. However, treat this as a reminder.

4) Participate in sorcery

If someone has mentioned and spread the “good news” of healing physical illnesses by spiritual means, do not oppose. We just need to tell the truth in the face of this mysticism. A child told his father that he met a person who took a knife in front of him, but dropped the knife when he saw something. The child gave thanks because the angels must had been with him. However, the father told his reason of thanksgiving, which is seeing the grace of God with him through normal days’ affairs. This is what is meant by the word of God being so rare in the days of the era of Judges, where God hid Himself in all things, and people kept searching for God via mystical ways.

5) Family broken up and degenerated

In the end, Saul’s family was broken up.

David’s Success

1) With root and foundation (prayer)

If God says there is success, it only means the success of prayer. When we look at 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel, we will know David’s life. Psalm is all about his prayers, how he gave thanks for his salvation. He praised God every now and then, no matter whether people came to him or left him. This is the prayer in the tabernacle. When the whole nation was united, David wanted to establish and build the temple. It is not about building a physical temple for God to live in, but David knew that what pleases God most is prayer of sacrifice. David’s reason to build a temple was to let all people pray correctly to God.

2) Anointing

This was what even Saul failed to know and what the people of the world do not know. Guorong, how do you know that Patrick is so anointed? (I forgot to ask his mother the evidences why he is anointed when she cannot agree even more.) We judge people by God’s anointing. Is he hungering for God’s word? Does he love to pray? Does he love to evangelize? Does he love the ministry of the Lord? These cannot be forced, as these characteristics of anointing come from the heart. When a person has the Holy Spirit, he already has the potential of being anointed. Then, we have to see how he places his time, interests, etc to judge God’s anointing on him.

(1) Know Jesus Christ and therefore (by this foundation):

Be Born again: I am an honoured priest, and therefore I use this to see everything. Do I believe this and thus am the main character of this era? I tell you, even when though this may sound simple, 95% of the believers in this age is in failure. They have not even treasured the life he has.

Be Healed: He loves to pray. This is fulfillment. We are not talking about healing of temper or about ridding of dirty things in the mind. But healing is the extent to which he wants to come before the Lord to wash himself, to love the Lord, and in loving to pray.

Serve: Do we have people among us who can evangelize as and when, regardless of whether they are weak or not? What is weakness? Weakness is no longer weakness when one can use his weakness to remind others, which drives one to prayer and intercession. When we see people even weaker than ourselves, why cannot we use this weakness as a means to tell the person about man’s weakness and thus the need for Jesus? But one day, when I realized that I am just a “piece” and a source of blessings, I am no longer afraid of problems.

(2) Drive demons <16:14-23>

Once David sang hymns and or talked, he drove demons. We must restore this very life! It can be when we look at our small group members, our very eyes and joy can immediately quiet people down from thinking that they have problems! Restore till this state!

(3) Receive victory over Goliath <17:1-58>

David triumphed over Goliath by evidence. If our belief has evidences, our enemies shall be won over! When David’s brothers told him to go away, he replied them, “Cannot I fight for the Lord?” When Saul’s armour could not fit David, David told him how he fought with lions, which were evidences gathered in his past which proved the might of the Lord. Sometimes, when I am too busy and a meeting is nearing where I am supposed to lead, I become anxious since a preacher is entrusted by God to pray with his utmost for His sheep. However, I discovered, “If I love the Lord, what am I afraid of?” Moreover, there is not a time where meetings are cancelled and attacks happen to my family to shut down ministries. (Of course, it is a different story if we watch TV for 3-4 hours and did not prepared for ministry.)

(4) All people loved him

When Saul died, David still only governed Judah. If he fought against other tribes, he will surely lose. However, the authority was handed over to him so that he could unite Israel.

(a) Humble

(b) Joyful

(c) Endurance

David endured but at the end he told Solomon to get rid of those who are “corrupted” in the government.

(d) Love

(e) Righteous

Last week, I talked about how 400 won over Amalekites, where 200 were left behind. David shared the plunder equally between all 400.

(f) Loyal servant

David lived in front of God as a servant. Therefore, he received the most loyal followers on his whole life.

(g) Principle

David had a principle in relationships and in dealing with things.

All the above characters are not learnt, but it becomes our character when we received power through prayers. If we love to pray, and our interpersonal relationships are good, there is no problem if people do not like us. Our absolute answer is that we can bless our enemies.

4. David’s sufferings

The purpose of sufferings:

1) Experience

David suffered a lot. The ministry that one will have will not be greater than one’s life. Can your vessel contain the ministry of blessing preachers? When sufferings come, we will then pray. David ran away, but God’s anointing continued to come to David, and chances kept coming to David for him to kill Saul. We do not need to explain sufferings. If we are able to explain to love the Lord in the midst of sufferings, why shall we be afraid if we can be strong in thanks? Joseph, Daniel, David were such people.

2) Acquire people

For Paul who laboured so hard for the Lord in his whole life, he was martyred in the end. However, Paul actually enjoyed living. He could see the help of the Lord always. Therefore, he is not in suffering at all. Jesus Christ is like this too. If you really like to compare, compare your life with Paul or Jesus Christ. We will not have the face to bring these sufferings we have to the Lord in prayer already. Such sufferings only serves to allow us to understand the very common point in man so that we can help bless them.

3) To prove: David is one whom God wants to help

God continually wants to prove that David is the one whom God wants to help! Only when our hearts are correct, God will be so zealous to prove to the whole history that He is our Helper using our lives. God is actually weaving an era’s main character.

* Facing Sufferings

How do we face sufferings?

1) Use Vision

Use this vision to face your sufferings: love God’s sheep. I tell you, if you do not have vision, a small suffering will cause you to fall. If your sufferings are great, you must pray to have a great vision.

2) Meditate: Jesus, Paul, David

Though they are dead, they are alive. They are like clouds of witnesses among us. Sometimes, people may think that we are ignorant youths. When I meditate, I think that our sufferings are not as big, compared to Jesus at Golgotha. Do not be resigned to one’s backwardness or continue not to have hope. You are this era’s great vessel and you must endure.

3) Sufferings -> Rewards

Job endured sufferings. Sufferings affect the physical or the things of the flesh, such as emotions, etc. However, it allows us to understand people and to open fields of evangelism, etc. God will surely have an exchange of reasons so that if He lets us suffer at this place, we will gather rewards in another area. If we have vision, we can surely confirm this. Really confirm this way. The rewards that are given to me beyond my flesh come this way. God never walks wrongly but blesses. He blesses our path of our tomorrow.

We must be clear to receive God’s word. If we are immune to God’s word, we will continue to be so. If our hearts rebuke us, do not let it continue to hurt us. Cut the hurts off and open to God. Then all that you pray for, God will fulfill for you.

Taken from Discipleship Training 16^th February 2007, 1 Samuel Part 8.