More
Than Recovering
By
Shannon
Parish
1 Sam 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?
“It
was inevitable. The pastor had heard from more than one fellow minister that
churches in this area of town had a tendency
to grow for a few years, then slide into
oblivion.
However, being the optimistic fellow
that he was, he, along with his talented wife,
had embarked on their vision to build the one
church that would not follow after all the
others.
Now, after so many years
of hard labor and faithful service, he had
come to the place where he felt that he could
go no further.
A place where all that had come to him
had the appearance of being lost. He
and his wife were wringing their hands on
where to look next for that ‘magic’
program, or advertisement, or sermon that
would cause his church to recover from the
constant recycling of church members that
plagued the pastors in his small town.
Where had he gone wrong?
He had tried everything he knew to meet
the needs of the people, yet, after all these
years, the church was no further than when
they had first begun.
In fact, they were physically,
emotionally, mentally, and spiritually
exhausted. They had failed to impact their community after all, let
alone their own congregation.
In the beginning it had
been so clear – without a doubt, he knew
that he had heard the Lord tell him in his
heart to begin a work in this end of town that
would change their community and even the
world. On
their path to their promise, God’s leading
had been confirmed in many ways.
Doors had opened to them that had not
opened for others, people came to their church
that had talents and finances that out matched
any other church in their area.
They had done everything that had been
taught to them – and done it well. However, a few years back, things began to get bogged down
with petty fighting, gossip, apathy and
strife. All
it seemed to take was one sinful flaming mouth
– and their church began to tail spin into
oblivion with all the others. The services now seemed dry and as if you had to plow through
thick air just to get a few morsels of
spiritual food into the ears of his sleeping
congregation.
Where was the presence of the Lord?
The pastor just had a hard time
believing that all was lost …
Another young man in
scriptures had been instructed by his father
to go and recover his lost herd of donkeys
that had gone astray.
Faithfully, the young man went his way
and along with his servant, searched for some
time to recover the animals.
After a long journey they found
themselves filled with discouragement
and despair.
The young man had come to the place
where he no longer had the strength to
continue to chase the wandering animals, and
had no other option but to seek the local
‘seer’ or prophet as where his donkeys
might be.
Face to face with the
prophet, something happened that changed this
young man forever.
If you want to follow along, open your
Bible to 1 Samuel 9-10.
The story is of Saul, the future king
of Israel. When Saul met Samuel, he had
physically come to the ‘end of his rope.’
His provisions were gone, he had failed
in his mission and felt he had nothing left to
give to the prophet.
The servant found a small offering,
however, which gave them just enough to
proceed.
Samuel knew ahead of time
that they were coming, and now, standing
before this handsome young man, he raised the
anointing oil and poured it out upon Saul’s
head, assuring Saul that his donkeys would be
found.
Then, as the anointing oil flowed down
upon Saul, Samuel said, in Sam 10:1-7
"Is it not because
the LORD has anointed you commander over His
inheritance?
When you have departed from me today,
you will find two men by Rachel's tomb in the
territory of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will
say to you, 'The donkeys which you went to
look for have been found. And now your father
has ceased caring about the donkeys and is
worrying about you, saying, "What shall I
do about my son?" ' "Then you shall
go on forward from there and come to the
terebinth tree of Tabor. There three men going
up to God at Bethel will meet you, one
carrying three young goats, another carrying
three loaves of bread, and another carrying a
skin of wine. And they will greet you and give
you two loaves of bread, which you shall
receive from their hands. After that you shall
come to the hill of God where the Philistine
garrison is. And it will happen, when you have
come there to the city, that you will meet a
group of prophets coming down from the high
place with a stringed instrument, a
tambourine, a flute, and a harp before them;
and they will be prophesying. Then the Spirit
of the LORD will come upon you, and you will
prophesy with them and be turned into another
man. And let it be, when these signs come to
you, that you do as the occasion demands; for
God is with you.
NKJV
Did you catch what had
transpired in Saul’s life once he received
the anointing?
He became commander over his
inheritance!
That put him in authority over his
prosperity.
No longer would he be poor and in need.
What followed after
receiving his inheritance?
He was given direction.
Detailed direction that told him where
he would be going, who he would meet, what
provisions would come his way, and that he
would have favor with men.
His donkeys would be found and he would
recover all that he had lost and would come to
a place where he would become a new man!
It’s true, we know the
end of the story in Saul’s life – how he
became obsessed with pride and power, and how
threatened he felt when another young man
appeared on the scene with an obvious
anointing for authority and a call from God to
rule. Saul’s
choices could have been different than what
they were and as a result of those choices the
events that transpired could have been
entirely different than what led to his
eventual self destruction.
Can you think of a better
example for pastors?
Like the pastor mentioned above, we are
sent out by the Father to go and seek the
lost, to recover all, to prosper in all our
hands touch and to change the world.
We too, like Saul, have choices in our
positions that may lead to bloated pride,
mindless emotions over the fear of competition
by other anointed men of God, which may
eventually lead to our own self destruction.
I encourage you to ask
God where YOUR anointing lies.
If what you are doing now, and what you
have done in the past has not brought about GOD
results, then obviously, God is not in what
you are doing.
Could it be your METHOD of ministry?
Perhaps it is in your PLACE of
ministry?
Is it WHO you are ministering with?
One thing is obvious, if you do not
seek the anointing then you will loose all.
It is only by the anointing that you
will more than recover what was lost.
It is only under the anointing that you
are given authority over your inheritance,
will gain the detailed direction you yearn
for, be given provision for your journey, have
favor with man, be restored all that was lost
and in your journey, become another man.
BOOK
REVIEWS
"Come
My Little Angel" by
Diane Noble
Review by
Pattie
Reitz
This is a small,
beautiful-looking book.
It came to me as part of my reader’s
club selection, and the cover immediately
captured my attention.
It is a small book, about the size of The
Prayer of Jabez, and the images on the
cover include a little girl, a church, and a
violin. The
back cover’s blurb says “Daisy James
believes in angels. It’s a good thing, too,
because if there’s one thing the town of Red
Bud needs, it’s heavenly help.”
I don’t know about you,
but books about angels have always captivated
my imagination. Now, I’m not saying that the
modern worship of angels and angelic-type
beings is a good thing; we should worship the
God the angels worship and serve, not the
angels themselves. However, God using His angels to minister to us at opportune
(and inopportune) moments is a fascinating
subject.
Daisy is fascinated by
angels as well.
Her dear hardworking mama, bless her
heart, doesn’t have faith in God or angels
anymore, and discourages her daughter from her
beliefs under the guise of trying to protect
her from being hurt.
Daisy refuses to give up hope, and the
story encompasses not only the James family,
but also the mining town of Red Bud that so
desperately needs the love of Christ.
I hope you’ll give this
little book a try.
I think it is one of the best stories
I’ve read in a while.
It would make a great gift for the
holidays as well.
For more information,
visit our BOOK CLUB page at:
http://www.sarahstent.com/Books/Featured.htm
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