I Samuel 7
Notes by Ivan Ho 27 Apr 2016
I Samuel 7:13-14
So the Philistines were subdued, and they did not come anymore into the territory of Israel. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. Then the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron to Gath; and Israel recovered its territory from the hands of the Philistines. Also there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.
I Samuel 7:13-14 NKJV
This is how cities can be impacted and nations can be transformed, how through one man ie Samuel who carried the word of God, all the lost territories were recovered, all the enemies were subdued and peace was established in the borders, ALL THE DAYS of Samuel. As long as Samuel lived there was peace and order in the nation of Israel!
It has been done before and it can be done again today! If God is with us, who can be against us? We can have the same impact on earth if we can find out the mind of God for our cities and nations and execute the word. When we gather, it’s no longer just singing some songs and hoping God will give us a personal word, but getting right into the throne room of God to receive mandate from above to impact our cities. Set our minds on things above so we can impact things below. Touching heaven changing earth!
For we are no longer just a one man band holding up an entire nation. We have the word, we have the Holy Spirit, and we have each other, a company of people filled with the Spirit of God! Don’t tell me that Samuel was more powerful? The same God that was with Samuel is with you and I today. All things are possible for those who believe!
Notes 4 May 2016
I Samuel 7:3-4
Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, “If you return to the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths from among you, and prepare your hearts for the Lord , and serve Him only; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.” So the children of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and served the Lord only.
I Samuel 7:3-4 NKJV
Samuel basically explained to the Israelites the very reason why they were defeated by their enemies the Philistines, and that was: worshipping multiple gods. A lot of Christians attend church on Sundays to worship God, but the rest of the week they would also worship other foreign gods, and they wonder why they always seem to be overcome by all kinds of attacks of the enemy. Then they go to church and ask their pastors and leaders to pray for them, to ask God for help. After that, however, they would continue to worship the god of Mammon, consult Feng Shui, read horoscopes and so on the rest of the week. And they wonder why they have no victory over their enemies?
If Jesus is our first and only love, why are we flirting with other idols? When I first met Jesus and come to know Him, I never looked at other religions ever since. Before that, I have looked at Buddhism but since I gave my life to Jesus, other religions and philosophies have no appeals to me anymore!
But Samuel said to them: “You need to first put away your foreign gods and return to the Lord and serve him only, then the Lord will defeat the enemies for you!” So the ball was in their court, so to speak. How many pastors will be honest to tell the people the plain truth? Instead of praying for them time and again to sustain their cycle of defeats, all that is needed is to tell them the plain truth: worship Jesus and serve Him only everyday! If we do that, the enemy may still attack us, but God will deal with them and drive them out of our territories. God will not help us if we are all the while seeking help from other sources.
But some pastors are thinking: “What if my words are too strong? People may be offended and not come back to my church …?”. So the leaders would continue to nurse the people and give them life supporting system to sustain them, give them pills for the rest of their life, remove the symptoms but never cure them like how they practice modern medicine. The people would become reliant on their pastors to sustain them, pray for them, preach to them, tell them how God still loves them despite their sins and so on, instead of doing this one thing:
“If you return to the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods and religions from among you, and prepare your hearts for the Lord , and serve Him only; and He will deliver you from the hand of the enemies.”
I Samuel 7:13-14
So the Philistines were subdued, and they did not come anymore into the territory of Israel. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. Then the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron to Gath; and Israel recovered its territory from the hands of the Philistines. Also there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.I Samuel 7:13-14 NKJV
The reason there was peace and order in Israel wasn’t because of the presence of Samuel, or because of his “anointing”, but because of the presence of God, and because the people followed Samuel’s instruction to put away their idols and return to serve the Lord only!
How do I know, you might ask.
Just think about this: Was Samuel around when the Philistines came and attacked Israel? Did the presence of Samuel prevent Israel from being defeated by the Philistines? No is the answer! The Israelites tried all kinds of things including bringing in the Ark of the covenant of God (1 Samuel 4:3). They tried to manipulate the presence of God like how some people tried to call down the fire of God and so forth, but all these religious practices did not help the Israelites defeat their enemies (1 Sam 4:10). In fact, their foolish act only brought judgement into the camp (1 Sam 6:19). The problem was not with God, the problem was with the heart condition of the people.
We want God to change our circumstances but God wants to change our heart first. He wants us to be single-mindedly devoted to Him alone!
Note 5 May 2015
1 Samuel 7:15-17
(Strong’s Concordance meaning in brackets)
And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. And he went from year to year in circuit to Bethel (house of God), and Gilgal (wheel), and Mizpah (watch tower), and judged Israel in all those places. And his return was to Ramah (hill, high place); for there was his house; and there he judged (pass sentence, govern) Israel; and there he built an altar (place of sacrifice) unto the Lord .
1 Samuel 7:15-17 KJV
What happened was: Samuel travelled on a circuit every year, mind you there’s no airplane in his time, on an assignment from the Lord. There was a purpose God used him that way to build governing (judge) churches where he was sent. Not only that, he always returned to his home where his house and family was and built an altar there, and there he judged Israel.
In all the travelling we do, we need a place we call home, not our church (house of God), not a place of wheeling and dealing (workplace), not a place of war to watch and guard against the enemy (watch tower, gateway into the city), but a place of dwelling where our house is with our family (home), a resting place where we can build an altar and worship God, a high place where we can connect with God and see things clearly the way God sees it, a place where we can download revelation, dreams and visions from above (high place). We all need that. We need to build a house for God, but we also need to build a house for our family where we can find rest and where we can meet with God.
We cannot pass judgement until we see things how God sees it.