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THE GREATEST WEAPON ( Part 2))

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. 1 Samuel 15:22 KJV . Our preliminary article has established that of all the weapons, including prayer, praise/worship, knowledge and faith, obedience is the greatest. Faith is proved by obedience. As the popular adage is, ” practice makes perfect.”, so knowledge itself is also not complete without obedience. Prayer, praise and worship are all forms of sacrifices, yet God says obedience is better than them all. Today’s piece reveals why Obedience is God’s number one ! As quiet as obedience is, it remains the loudest tone of faith amongst prayer, praise and worship. The three Hebrew boys had not even the slightest hint of deliverance from God if they disobeyed the king’s orders.But their faith-oriented obedience was voiceferous in the ears of God ! How about Daniel, Job and Joseph? They equa...

RIZPAR

Rizpar was one of Saul's concubines. She stood and witnessed the gruesome murder of her two sons -  Armoni and Mephibosheth.  More disdainful to her is the fact that the two were not burried; they were left to rot contrary to the prevalent tradition of burrying the dead within the next 24hours.  With sorrow, Rizpar spent days and nights with the corpses ensuring that they were neither swamped nor dragged away by any animals. Soon enough, King David noticed her discomfort, and was moved by her attitude; David ordered for the burrying of Rizpar's sons, the remains of their father, Saul and that of Jonathan. BACKGROUND:  Joshua promised that Israel would be at peace with the Gibeonites. But Saul broke that oath, killing as many Gibeonites as he could in his time. In retallating, the Gibeonites asked David for seven of Saul's son whom they murdered in the presence of Rizpar. LESSONS:   1. Customes can be broken; protocols are skipable. If only we consistently...

DEBORAH

  MEANING OF NAME :  Honey Bee CHARACTER :  Deborah was not just a political leader, but was also one who trusted in the faithfulness of Her God, resulting in their victory over foreign oppressors. HER REGRET :  Herpeople's faith had grown weak after deviating from their God. HER JOY :  Through her courageous and faithful leadership, God, again handed them victory over their opposers. STORY IN BRIEF :  Following the reign of Joshua and Rahab, was DEBORAH - the prophetess. Deborah was not dispirited like her fellow Israelites but rather remained loyal and strong in God.   Israelites, would practise idolatory after conquering the gateway to Caanan ( Jericho). Thus, they became timid and discouraged in the face of the uprising Canaanites led by their king, Sisera. But Deborah would keep her trust in the God that brought them this far. She joined Barak and his thousands of men in an attack at the Canaanites. And God was faithful - He granted them Victory a...

LISTEN CAREFULLY !

    " Be careful therefore how you listen..."  Luke 8:18. Words do not only have the efficacy to colour our thoughts; with their forceful potency, they simulate and propel our Spirits into a certain direction. Whereas some words deepen our fears, others expand our faith depending on their source. God-originated Words do not only invigorate us with His POWER; they also never disappoint when we live them out. So we are charged from our opening verse to listen to God alone. And when we do, we must also understand Him so we can aptly effect His Words. Here's the reason for the failure of some prophecies -  The Prophet of God might be mistaking another voice for God's voice or he misinterpretes what he actually heard God say leading to an erroneous application. It's the reason why James says, " be quick to listen but slow to speak". James 1:19. Ezekiel, the Prophet of God, full of this wisdom, would never prophesy until God first commanded him. And when he di...

KEEP THE FIRE !

  ” The fire must never go out,…” Leviticus 6:12 God’s kingdom as recorded from Genesis to Revelation, is fire-dominated. Moses, first, encountered Him in a burning bush; Elijah got swallowed up by horse-like chariots; his servant, Elisha, wasn’t left out when he witnessed similar chariots of angels surrounding him later, and the list is endless. So Paul, The Apostle, simply concludes that God ( in whom we live ) is a consuming fire – Hebrews 12:29. The fire of God is that zeal, passion or heated and burning urge contained in our spirits for The Lord. It originates from God, yet He charges us to keep it from going off, as revealed from our theme scripture above. This piece will, therefore, not be complete without unveiling a few ways of sustaining God’s holy fire. THE WORD ” Is not my word like fire…?” Jeremiah 23:29. Then, the Prophet affirms, “… His word is in my heart like fire…” Jeremiah 20:9. So you can imagine what the Word offers our Spirit as we commune with it. They’re woo...

ELI

 


MEANING OF NAME: Jehovah is high or my God 


HIS JOY: His good personality earned him admiration and corporation from his fellow Israelites during his ministry.


HIS REGRET: His two sons let him down by their low quality characters.


STORY IN BRIEF:

Eli, a Levi, was from the family of Ithamar. He served as the priest and a high judge of Israel for about 40years.


Though Eli himself was a good man, his two sons were not. Yet He made them occupy the Priestly positions. And when they went wrong, Eli would only warn them. He did not rebuke them. 


Eli paid deerly for lack of proper parental control when his two sons were slaid in the battle with the Philistines, where the Israelites also lost the ark.


Eli, on hearing this, fell over his back and died breaking his neck. And because that Glory was departed from Israel, Eli's daughter-in-Law  named the son she immediately brought forth, " Ichabod " which means, " without Glory ".


SCRIPTURE REFERENCES:

I Sam. 1–4; 14:3

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