SUNDAY May 5, 2019

Moving Forward in God’s Plan

Now the Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his sons.”
1 Samuel 16:1

Now before us is a beautiful picture of how God anoints a new leader. Samuel had mourned for King Saul for some time, but God was on the move and gave Samuel a mission. He commanded Samuel to fill his horn with oil and anoint the person who would become the new king for His people. Samuel needed to stop mourning for Saul because God was going to do a new work in the life of a new king. David, the son of Jesse, would eventually become King of Israel. Later, we shall see how Saul would become jealous of this young person and seek to destroy him.

In Samuel 16, there are important lessons concerning leadership. First, there is a time and place when God has to deal with a person’s life and He will tell you to stop praying for them. He has moved on and will no longer use them in the same capacity but He will use someone else.

Second, remain sensitive and in tune to the voice of the Lord.  You must be able to know when God is moving forward and what God is doing next. Third, when God calls a person to serve Him, there needs to be an anointing of the Holy Spirit. I can tell when someone is anointed by the Lord––it becomes obvious when they open their mouth and speak.

Understand, when God anoints a new leader problems can arise. Some people will become like Saul, their pride will make them jealous of someone new placed in a leadership position. This can create problems in the body of Jesus Christ, especially among the leadership.

Self- love is, no doubt, the usual foundation of human jealousy… the fear lest another should by any means supplant us.
~Charles Spurgeon~

For more from Raul Ries, please visit SomebodyLovesYou.com!