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January 27 2024
FILL YOUR HORN WITH OIL
In the book of 1 Samuel chapter 9 there is a story about a man named Saul, When Saul’s father lost his donkeys, he sent Saul and his servant to find them. They went from town to town but the donkeys were nowhere to be found. The servant told Saul that there was an honorable man of God in that city, and everything that he says comes to pass. This man was the Prophet Samuel.
They now began searching for Samuel, and asked some women along the way if they knew of him. The women replied, yes there is a sacrifice of the people today on the “High place.” Go and you will find Samuel at the high place before he goes to eat. This was a place where the people went to sacrifice and worship.
The Lord spoke to Samuel, and informed him that he would meet with Saul the following day, and that He would reveal everything that was in Saul's heart. When they met, Samuel anointed Saul to be a prophet, and the first King of Israel. He prophesied to him with such accuracy and precision. Saul joined with a group of prophets and the Spirit of God came upon him and he began prophesying. But Saul’s story doesn’t end well.
Although he was truly called and chosen by the Lord, Saul's disobedience and lack of trust in God led to his downfall. God had given Saul specific instructions, but Saul chose to do things his own way. He rejected the word of the Lord, he made sacrifices without a priest, and disobeyed God's command to destroy the Amalekites completely. The Lord told Samuel that He regretted choosing Saul as King, and this grieved Saul for a long time.
After he lost his Kingship he even consulted fortune tellers and witches for guidance (1 Samuel 28). That word is necromancer, one with a familiar spirit. He did which is forbidden by God rather than seeking God for wisdom. Later on Saul made several attempts to kill David when David became King and Saul eventually committed suicide by falling on his own sword. It’s sad how something that was ordained and anointed by God could turn so tragic.
We need to see this. In the New Covenant, we are not under the law but under grace. Jesus bore our sins in His body, however, it's important to remember that as believers, we must continue to be led by the Holy Spirit to avoid operating in the flesh or operating by a familiar spirit. It is crucial to stay vigilant and guard our hearts so that we don’t lose the anointing to someone else.
It’s imperative to stay alert, stay in the Word of God and prayer so that we will not fall prey to the enemies’ devices and deception. Some are no longer led by the Holy Spirit and they find themselves straying further and further away. Paul told the Galatians church that they were foolish because they started out in the Spirit and went back to the flesh. We must be sober and vigilant, because our adversary walks around like a roaring lion seeking who he may devour.
Samuel mourned for Saul for a long time until one day the Lord told him to stop mourning, fill his horn with oil and go to Bethlehem to anoint one of Jesse’s sons to be the next King. As Samuel was going through each of Jesse’s sons, he first thought that Eliab would surely be the one as he was looking at his outward appearance. But the Lord said to Samuel: “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
As each of Jesse’s seven sons passed before Samuel, he told Jesse that the Lord has not chosen these. When he asked if there were any other sons, Jesse said yes the youngest who is tending the sheep. When Samuel had seen David, the Lord said to him, “Arise, anoint him; for this is the one!“ Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.
As believers, we have been blessed with a unique calling and anointing from the Lord and we must value and protect that which the Lord has entrusted to us. You may not be called to the fivefold ministry but every Spirit filled believer has a valuable treasure on the inside of them. This anointing is a precious gift that cannot be bought with money. As Kathryn Kuhlman famously said, it costs everything but it is worth it.
1 Samuel 10:1
Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head, and kissed him and said: “Is it not because the LORD has anointed you commander over His inheritance?
1 Samuel 15:10-11
Now the word of the LORD came to Samuel, saying, “I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments.” And it grieved Samuel, and he cried out to the LORD all night.
Galatians 3:3
Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?
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