John 20- 1 Samuel 7-8

John 20-
22And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit.
Prior to Jesus’ death on the Cross, the Holy Spirit wasn’t able to dwell inside of people. (John 14)

29Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
Jesus was speaking to Thomas in this verse but God is referring to US today! We are believers who haven’t physically seen Jesus!

2 Samuel-
3 And Samuel said to the whole house of Israel, "If you are returning to the LORD with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the LORD and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines."

For 20 years the Israelites mourned and sought after the Lord YET STILL they had idols in their homes!!! How often do our actions not match up to what we’re saying??? Vs 4 says they “put away their Baals and Ashtoreths”, really they needed to DESTROY them!

3 But his sons did not walk in his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice.

Samuel was the son of Hannah who’d prayed for a son and gave her son over to full time ministry at the temple under Eli. We see that Samuel had sons and vs 3 “but his sons did not walk in his ways.” It is imperative that we teach and train our children Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it. I still remember Lisa Reed’s message at WBS last year on Hannah and how she only had a few years with her son! We need to make the most of the years that we have with our children, raising them up in the Lord and praying for them.

The people of Israel asked Samuel for a King. Vs 7 And the LORD told him: "Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.

8 When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day." 19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel. "No!" they said. "We want a king over us.

Here they had the ultimate ruler, God as their King. They were able to consult with Him through the Priest yet still they looked at other nations and wanted what other men had! They rejected God as their King.

Lord, thank you for this new day. Help me today to remember you are King and in charge of my day-to-day activities! Help me to instill I my children what you want them to know God and I thank you for giving me the opportunity to teach them.