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HELEN SANDERS
3-13-22023
THE SPIRIT OF SAMUEL
Hannah was a barren woman. Her husband, Elkanah, had another wife, Peninnah, that bore him children. It was very difficult for Hannah not to have a child. Peninnah provoked Hannah over this issue, and it made her very sad. Her husband took his wives yearly to the house of the Lord in Shiloh. Once there, Hannah made a petition to have a child before the Lord and the priest thought she was drunk. She told him she wasn’t drunk, but sorrowful over not having a child. The priest told her to go in peace and that God would grant her petition to have a child.
Hannah did conceive and bore a son and called him Samuel, which means “asked of God.” She had made a vow to bring this child to the temple to be trained and used by God, and when she weaned him that is what she did.
The priests at the temple, Eli, and his sons, were in a backslidden state. In 1 Samuel 3:1, it tells us, “….there was no open vision.” Verse 3 tells us that the lamp of God had gone out in the Temple. Things were not the way they should be. While under the tutorage of Eli, the priest, Samuel heard the voice of God calling and did not understand it was God. After going to Eli, twice, telling Eli that someone called his name, Eli realized it was God calling him. He told him to answer with, “Speak, LORD, for thy servant heareth.” (vs. 9.)
Samuel did that, and God spoke to him. Now remember, he was just a young child, but he was raised up to be a prophet from birth. God spoke and told Samuel what he would do with Eli and his sons, and it came to pass. Samuel had told Eli what the Lord said, and Eli responded with, “It is the LORD, let him do what seemeth him good.” (vs. 18.) Eli and his sons died, and Samuel was raised up to be the prophet – the voice of God in that season.
Samuel was used mightily by God. He anointed Saul to be King, and also told him the Lord had departed from him. He anointed David to be king. He would show up and declare what God had to say. Many times the words were hard words for the hearer to hear, but Samuel was faithful to God in delivering these messages.
In 1 Samuel 16 he goes to anoint David per God’s orders, and upon entering Bethlehem the elders of the town said, “Comest thou peaceably?” He was the kind of prophet that when he showed up peopled feared what he had to say because he would put things into order.
The anointing of the spirit of Samuel is upon true prophets today. They are willing to say what God gives them regardless of what the word is. Often the word given is unpopular, but it is necessary. Those that carry this anointing of Samuel today are often mocked and most often disliked. They walk a very lonely path, but the ones that are true to God will do as HE says. They are God pleasers and not man pleasers. If that anointing is on you, count it a high call. It means that God entrusts you to bring forth His Word knowing that you are willing to pay the price to deliver it.
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