1 Samuel 3
When God calls, it is an honour. Be prepared, however, for that honour to cost you something. The honour is in that God has chosen you.
The truth is, however, before you can walk in what He has desired for you, there are tests of your love, your true love of God. Nothing will test you more than when God asks you to bring a difficult message to someone who can directly impact your life. This test is a test of the fear of man vs. The fear of the Lord. There is no guaranteed result, you may be received, but your message may not. You may be rejected along with the message, or both may be received, but nothing happens, because the person won't do what is necessary to change. Often the issue is one of the heart and involves repentance. Where there is a self-serving spirit there is pride, where there is pride there is blindness, where there are idols there is deafness. What can cut through that? Failure. But God is compassionate and His word tells us that He doesn't do anything without first telling His people. Eli was forewarned by an unnamed man of God, then God called Samuel and Samuel delivered the same message of warning to Eli.
If God desires doom, why does He warn, why not just smite? He desires all to come to repentance and be saved. Why are we so hard headed? Why so hard hearted? Why is it so hard to see that we need to humble ourselves before God and repent of our sins? Is it fear? Fear of change? Fear of failure? But He has promised us power – not for our own comfort, but to be transformed. We cannot transform ourselves, but surely we can say,”Father forgive me for I have sinned! Change my heart oh God!” Why is this so hard? Because we do not truly know God. We don't know His true character, we are not spiritually minded, but carnal, and we often hear Satan before we hear God. Satan is loud and appeals to our carnal desires, shouting deceit to our souls, we are deafened to God by all the other things we focus our attention on.
When was the last time we lay down in the presence of God, like Samuel? When we seek Him, we will find Him. We seek what we focus our attention on. When we seek God, our ears will hear and our eyes will see. Eli could barely see, his eyes were weak. So was his spiritual condition before God. In those days the word of the Lord was rare, there were not many visions, until Samuel, who's name means, “God heard” or “answer to prayer”. God found Samuel lying down in the tabernacle (dwelling place of God) where the ark of God was (God's presence). Then the Lord called Samuel.
How often have we prayed to the Lord for something and the heavens seem as brass, no changes in whatever situation we are praying into and then to add insult to injury here comes some so and so (young buckaroo, inexperienced, no schooling, no formal position...you name it) and tells you you're doing something wrong and you may need to do it this way, or have you thought of this or that, and perhaps you need help? How do you respond? Do you give a religious pat answer of false humility (“Well, God's will be done”), do you give them the silent treatment and hope they go away? Do you ask the Lord to search your heart and reveal any wickedness and remove your strongholds? Perhaps you've been blinded by something that has grown over the years, have you been accountable to someone lately?
I have heard that God will offend the mind to change the heart, but that only works if you recognize that your flesh just got offended – if the flesh is dead, it doesn't get offended. If you feel offended, ask God to show you, expose the area where the flesh is ruling. Our flesh, carnal nature, does not want to be de-throned and it will react at the hint of a threat. This is how God often exposes these things. If your reaction to something is less than the fruit of the Holy Spirit, chances are you have some flesh ruling you. Go to God, find it out, be prepared for a fight, and surrender to God's will. If you truly want to be free and not the puppet of a stronghold, which is susceptable to Satan's control, be prepared to let things go by handing them over to God. Take your hands off. If it is His will for you to have it, then He will give it back to you, but let it be His call. If you are truly surrendered to Him it will be His call, when you are ready, and then the testing and forging will come, to produce in you a weapon fit for it's work, an able instrument in God's hand.
Disclaimer:
Not all messages you feel for someone - or are brought to you by someone, are from the Lord. Sometimes they are from our flesh/soul or from the emotions of others (we may be picking up other people's stuff). God can confirm this for you. Everything must be judged and discerned. If you are bringing a message – what is the motive? Is it love for the person? Have you spent much time in prayer over it? Are you compelled by emotion? Let someone (a mature and trustworthy confidant) judge the word before you deliver it. If the word is to someone in leadership, be sure you are submissive and honouring in how you bring it. If it is from the Lord, once you deliver it, leave it in God's hands.
