Open Heavens 2017 Sunday 19 February 2017:- God has substitutes

GOD HAS SUBSTITUTES – Sunday February 19^th 2017

Memorise: For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and his bishoprick let another take. Acts 1:20

Read: 1^st Samuel 15:16-16:1 (KJV)

¹⁶ Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the Lord hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on.

¹⁷ And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed thee king over Israel?

¹⁸ And the Lord sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed.

¹⁹ Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the Lord?

²⁰ And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.

²¹ But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal.

²² And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.

²³ For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

²⁴ And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.

²⁵ Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord.

²⁶ And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee: for thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee from being king over Israel.

²⁷ And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent.

²⁸ And Samuel said unto him, The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou.

²⁹ And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent.

³⁰ Then he said, I have sinned: yet honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord thy God.

³¹ So Samuel turned again after Saul; and Saul worshipped the Lord.

³² Then said Samuel, Bring ye hither to me Agag the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came unto him delicately. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past.

³³ And Samuel said, As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.

³⁴ Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house to Gibeah of Saul.

³⁵ And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death: nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul: and the Lord repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.

16 And the Lord said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons.

Bible in one year: Genesis 1-2, Isaiah 41:8-20, Hymn: Sing hymn 14

MESSAGE:

One truth that everyone born of God must have at the back of their minds is that God has substitutes. He can therefore never be held to ransom by anyone. Whenever God decides to use a person, if that fellow does not yield to God at the time of His requisition, God will move on to use another person to fulfil His purpose. More often than not, such substitutes are better than the original recipients of God’s mandate. Such was the case with King Saul.

“And Samuel said unto him, the LORD hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou.

1^st Samuel 15:28

When a man feels too big to obey God’s instruction, he is not fit for God’s use. Open Heaven 2017 Sunday 19 February 2017:- God has substitutes. In the family of the works of the flesh, pride, stubbornness and rebellion and kinsmen, with witchcraft as their first cousin (Galatians 5:19-21). The Lord through Samuel reminded King Saul that there was nothing special about him before He made him king over Israel. King Saul himself did not see himself as qualified, yet God’s grace preferred him, despite the fact that he came from the least of the tribes of Israel (1^st Samuel 9:21). This is the reason why whosoever God decides to use should not allow himself or herself get carried away by the glamour of the office he or she is occupying. The fellow should always keep in mind where he or she is coming from and what he or she used to be. God does not use the qualified; rather, He qualifies the fellow He wants to use.

When King Saul began to feel too big to obey the Lord’s commandment, he was replaced with a ready-made substitute, whom the Lord declared to be better than King Saul. Open Heavens 2017. My prayer for you is that you will not be replaced in the scheme of things in God’s kingdom in Jesus’ Name. Beloved, we should know that God has substitutes that can readily replace us if we fail to yield to His instructions. Never see yourself as being indispensable before God. Take heed to what the Lord Jesus Christ said concerning this in Matthew 3:9:

“And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.”

Prayer Point

Father, please help me to overcome anything I am doing now that may eventually make You find a substitute for me in Your Kingdom. Please don’t replace me with anyone or anything.

Open Heaven Daily Devotional, written by Pastor E.A Adeboye,

The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, one of the largest evangelical church in the world and also the President of Christ the Redeemer's Ministries. 

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