Alignment with God is the key to a free flow of power from heaven through God’s instruments on earth.  We are those instruments.  Most of us have had the experience of placing a sprayer on the end of a garden hose, turning the faucet wide open, dragging that hose across our yard in an attempt to water a flowerbed or tree. We have also had the experience of pulling the trigger on the sprayer to see only a tiny stream trickling from the end of the hose.  Typically, as we backtrack we find a kink in the hose obstructing the flow.  The problem was not in the water or the valve; it was in the delivery system which was the hose. Somehow the hose became twisted or misaligned and that twist restricted the flow of water.  Once the kink was eliminated and every part of the hose was realigned, then water flowed powerfully from the hose.

In essence, once the kink was removed, life flowed through the hose to the plants where we directed the water. We are God’s delivery system on the earth. When we are aligned with God, his authority and power flows easily through us as his instruments.  Sin and disobedience however, create kinks and greatly restrict that flow.  As we move toward a new year we need to reflect on the past twelve months to see if any “kinks in the hose” have developed in our lives.  If you read this blog, you probably have a desire for God to work in you and through you in greater and greater ways.  You probably want 2014 to be your greatest year of fellowship with the Father, the Son, and the Spirit and you want it to be a year of breakthroughs in your exercise of spiritual gifts that you have earnestly desired.

As I look back on this past year, I can see kinks that have formed in my life as well as in the lives of people I know, people I have prayed with, and people I have counseled. First of all, 2013 was a year of distractions.  I don’t know when I have felt pulled in so many directions by ministry, family, crises in the life of friends, cultural shifts and so forth.  It was a year in which it was hard to find a consistent spiritual rhythm.

And yet when I look at Jesus, I see a man who knew he faced a brutal death within 36 months of his baptism.  I see a man pulled on by thousands of people clamoring for more healing and more deliverance with each group or community pleading with him to stay longer.  Others pressured him to have political aspirations and to step up and take charge of Israel’s promised destiny.  In addition, he had the responsibility of training twelve rough-cut disciples to be leaders of a worldwide church that would face temptation and persecution at every turn. The twelve alone were a constant source of frustration without everything else that was going on.  On top of that, Jesus was always in the crosshairs of satan who sensed some imminent threat to his kingdom in this Galilean. In the midst of all those potential distractions, Jesus stayed on course and never seemed to be hurried even as the clock ticked quickly toward his death.

This year I need to find his secret. I think that secret was in knowing who he was, having a simple sense of what his life was to be about, and spending extended times with the Father realigning his thoughts, emotions, and vision with heaven, I need to do that more and do it better this year.  I also need to examine my heart to seek if kinks have formed there.  Those kinks may be small offenses I have picked up or resentments about demands others place on me.  They might be ways of thinking that have drifted out of alignment with God’s truth or laziness that has crept into my discipline of study, prayer, writing, and good health.  It could be small fears and anxieties about the future, about financial security, about health care options, or even loss of religious freedoms in our culture.  All of those things can create kinks in the flow of life and power moving through me.

For others I know, grief at the loss of loved ones, serious health challenges, secret addictions, lustful fantasies, unforgiveness and bitterness towards those who wronged them in 2013, etc. can create serious kinks in their spiritual lives. As life dings us, it is even easy to pick up small offenses toward God as well that need to be resolved.  As 2014 arrives in just a few days, it would be good for all of us who desire more of God and more of his Spirit to scan our lives to look for even the smallest things that are out of alignment with God’s heart and God’s truth.  It would be good for each of us to realign our lives through repentance, confession, and the reordering of priorities or whatever it takes to stay in step with heaven this year.

This coming year will undoubtedly be a year of continuing challenges in our culture and in our lives. But it will also be a year of unprecedented opportunities for Jesus to shine in our lives through our faith and obedience to him.  It will be a year of unprecedented opportunities for the power and authority of Jesus to bless others through our spiritual gifts and boldness.  It will be a great year to put down deeper roots into the heart of God so that the winds of change don’t move us.

So…over the next few days you may want to ask God to shine the light on any kinks in your life that might be restricting the flow of God’s love and power through you.  Where kinks have formed, God is quick to forgive, quick to realign, quick to restore and quick to begin to release heaven through his people once again.  There is no reason to hesitate.  We can all begin the year with the unrestricted flow of God’s Spirit moving through us.  Why would we not?  May this upcoming year be an amazing spiritual year for each of us.  Be blessed in Him.

The Gospel of Matthew takes us into the desert with Jesus immediately after his baptism.  As soon as the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus, he was directed into the bleak landscapes of Israel surrounding the Jordan River.  There he fasted for forty days. The NIV says that the Spirit led him into the wilderness.  One translation said that he was driven by the Spirit into the desert.

I believe that Jesus, operating as man, had been given glimpses and impressions of his mission as Messiah but after his baptism he spent forty days fasting and seeking a much clearer picture of the Father’s purposes for the next three years.  He also denied his body for forty days to break the power of the flesh so that the Spirit could rule the day every day.  The entire eternal future of humanity hinged on that very thing.

After forty days of fasting, when the body begins to devour itself, the enemy happened along just as he had happened along in the Garden of Eden. Some scholars believe Satan knew exactly who Jesus was while others think he was trying to determine who this man might be. Three times Satan said. “If you are the Son of God….”  Those same words could be translated or understood as, “Since you are the Son of God…” Either way, Satan was out to derail whatever mission this man or Messiah was on.

You know the story.  Satan tempted Jesus to satisfy the gnawing in his stomach by turning small, desert stones into bread.  He then challenged him to throw himself off the highest point of the temple mount to be protected by angels.  Finally he simply offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if he would simply worship the prince of darkness.

Philip Yancey put it this way. “As I look back on the three temptations, I see that Satan proposed an enticing improvement.  He tempted Jesus toward the good parts of being human without the bad: to savor the taste of bread without being subject to the fixed rules of hunger and of agriculture, to confront risk with no real danger, and to enjoy fame and power without the prospect of painful rejection – in short to wear a crown without a cross” (Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew, p. 72).

It seems that at the heart of our fleshly nature is a hunger to have everything we desire without cost – the cost of waiting, suffering, or transformation. In short, we want a crown without a cross as well. In one sense, Adam and Eve fell for the same ploy. Take one bite and all wisdom will be yours along with other undreamed of pleasures. Why wait for it or work for it when it can be yours right now without breaking a sweat? It’s the dream of simply rubbing the lamp and the genie giving you what you always wanted or it’s winning Power Ball against all the odds.

Jesus came to win the hearts of men for God and to take his rightful place as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Satan offered him all that instantly and without the pain and humiliation of the cross. Why wait three years when he could have it then?  Why risk failure when the goal was within reach as Satan spoke?  Undoubtedly the natural man in Jesus was offering every rationale imaginable for saying, “Yes” to these offers. But it wasn’t the Father’s will or the Father’s way.  Something very poisonous and perverse was imbedded in those shortcuts.

First of all, the shortcuts offered a self-sufficiency that would separate Jesus from the Father. Like seeking wisdom from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil rather than from the Father, the act in itself would separate man from the divine.  In his own way, Satan was seeking to step into the role of God by offering to be the source of provision and promotion in the life of Jesus.  When we want the gifts more than the giver, we will be tempted by shortcuts, but Jesus wanted the Father more than anything else.

Secondly, God always considers timing and connection with other events in the fulfillment of his promises. Shortcuts put us “out of sync” with God’s timing. When Abraham and Sarah decided to “engineer” their own version of the fulfillment of God’s promise of a child, 3,000 years of war were spawned by the enmity between Ishmael, the son born of natural means and the father of the Arab nations, and Isaac, the son born of supernatural means as the child of promise and the seed line of the Jewish nation.

Thirdly, the process of waiting, struggling and even suffering develops the character in each of us to steward the destiny God has promised. We are told that even Jesus learned obedience though his suffering. “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him” (Heb. 5:7-9). Waiting and struggling teach us things worth more than silver and gold.

How often are we tempted to take shortcuts in our walk with the Lord and the fulfillment of his promises in our lives?  How many have sensed God’s promise for a spouse but were unwilling to wait for the unfolding of the promise. Rather, they forced a relationship toward marriage only to find that the marriage that occurred in the natural did not live up to the marriage of promise. How often have we done that in career building when positions that pushed us to compromise Christian values offered the provision and success we believed God had for us, but rather than waiting on God’s promotion we grabbed the first thing offered without seeking God’s approval?  Even in the arena of sexual fulfillment most Christian singles want to experience the promise before the marriage and are unwilling to wait and to struggle for the “oneness” God promises in the marriage covenant.  It always costs the marriage and our relationship with God something when we take the shortcut.

Satan always offers the crown without a cross. But the cross perfects us, draws us closer to the Father, and places us and the fulfillment of promises in God’s perfect timing.  As Americans, we are not good at waiting. Though the average life span is close to 80 years, we can’t seem to wait six months or six years for the promises of God to bear fruit in our lives. We even want easy or instant spirituality.  I think I’ll right a book entitled “The Spiritually Empowered Life of Amazing Intimacy with God in Five Minutes a Day or Less.”  It should be a best seller because that’s what we all want – myself included. But, it doesn’t work that way.

Satan will offer to satisfy your hunger in a moment or give you overnight fame and fortune or power and influence in the world. He will even remind you of all the good things you can accomplish when the “end justifies the means”.  But there will be serious strings attached and the worst is that our shortcuts will create separation between the Father and ourselves.  We may end up like the prodigal who couldn’t wait for his inheritance but took the shortcut to the good-life but ended up in the pigpens. The Father never stopped loving him and his place in the house was still available when he returned, but the “shortcut” turned out to be a long and painful detour in his life.  The Father’s way was so much better.  Beware of shortcuts today and be blessed.

Knowing who we are in Christ is essential to receiving all the inheritance and kingdom privileges that Christ has purchased for us. A few of us prayed with a lady a few weeks ago who obviously loved Jesus with all her heart but who was failing to know who she was in Christ.  She had been suffering with severe health issues for several years but they had taken another turn for the worse in the past few months.  The doctors were uncertain of the cause of her recent symptoms of seizures and extreme fatigue but they were telling her she would never work again.

She is a very gifted person and her work has been a place where she was able to use her gifts as “her ministry.”  The idea that she could not longer touch people with her gifts was emotionally devastating to her as well as the pain she was in.  She had asked a small group from our church to come pray for her healing.  She was not a member of our church but her church was not very confident in God’s willingness to heal in this day and age.

We began by asking about her illness – when it started, the symptoms, etc.  She quickly began to download a litany of symptoms and suffering that began in her childhood.  She spoke about her emotional brokenness and disappointments and even the struggles in her marriage. What struck me the most was how convinced she seemed to be that her suffering was God’s way of bringing her to a complete place of brokenness so that she was asking for more brokenness while she was wanting us to pray for healing.  She went on about how undeserving she was and how she just wanted God to use her but she knew that she needed to be even more broken more so that he could use her in great ways. All the time she was weeping and wondering when God was going to answer her prayers for healing and restoration.

In her mind, God was humbling her so that at some point he could lift her up. In her mind she was trying to achieve humility by focusing on her insignificance, by devaluing herself, and by accepting this suffering as something she deserved because she was unworthy of anything God might do for her. At the same time her heart yearned for healing, God’s assurance of her significance to him, and release from her sense of isolation and despair.

Our friend had fallen prey to the misconception that humility is coming to the place of denying that you have any value or worth in the kingdom of God and that it is only by God’s grace that your are artificially assigned any value at all.  You’ve heard the expression that you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.  Many of us have been taught that God’s grace is the lipstick, but we are still just pigs. We have also been taught that once we accept our “pigness” then God can begin to use us and bless us.  My experience has been, however, that once we accept our “pigness” we feel so unworthy of God’s love and blessings that we pray with little faith and lower our spiritual expectations to avoid more disappointment in our “piggy” lives.

Biblical humility is maintaining an objective view of who we are rather than denying that we have any value or capacity for achievement. But in that objective view we must know that we are, in fact, sons and daughters of the King, members of his royal priesthood, God’s anointed representatives on the earth, the vessels of God’s Holy Spirit, dispensers of his power on the earth, and that at all times we are his chosen ones and more than conquerors. Humility is not denying our value and significance but rather knowing who we are and being confident in that, while at the same time not feeling as if we are superior to all those around us.

Think about Jesus.  Our goal is to be like him in everyway.  Jesus walked on this earth being confident of who he was to the Father – the Son of God, the beloved, the Messiah, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  When he commanded demons he did not question the authority the Father had given him.  When he prayed over a little bread and a few fish to feed five thousand, he did not doubt his significance to the Father and so did not doubt that his prayers would be answered.  We see Jesus having time for the lowliest of people and yet never denying his significance in the kingdom of God. Actually, knowing who we are and believing it releases us to be servants and to hang out with the lowly, the powerless, and the impoverished. Knowing who we are releases us from the need to be part of the “in crowd” because we are already part of God’s “in crowd” and you can’t get anymore “in” than that.  Knowing who we are releases us from the need to appear to be significant because we are significant. Confidence in our significance in Christ allows us to walk in humility which is actually strength under control rather than denying our strength.

As our friend kept speaking about her brokenness and a desire for God to break her even more, I stopped her in mid-sentence.  I began to remind her of who she was in Christ and the promises that were hers because of that. I began to remind her of the healing, provision and joy that had been purchased for her by the blood of Jesus.  There is a time for brokenness but that is usually reserved for the prideful, the arrogant, and the self-sufficient of this world, not for the suffering and brokenhearted.  As I began to remind her of what she had once known but had forgotten, her countenance changed and her prayers and declarations for healing changed. Instead of whimpering before the throne and pleading her lack of worth and value, she began to approach the throne of grace with boldness.  That night she received freedom from the demonic and a significant amount of healing.

We always know that the source of our value, giftedness, and anointing is by grace and from God through Jesus.  But when Jesus makes you an ambassador, you are an ambassador. You don’t deny your ambassadorship, but you exercise it with confidence because you know Jesus has made you that. To walk around declaring that Jesus gave you the post because of how amazing you have always been would be arrogance. But to accept the position as a reality is required before you can fulfill your calling. To think that Christ calls you an ambassador but that you really aren’t an ambassador undermines everything he appoints you to do because you will only act like his representative, conveying his power and authority, when you believe that you truly are his authorized representative on the earth.

So…today be humble.  Know who you are in Christ, know your significance in the kingdom; know your significance on the earth. Be confident in who God has made you to be and live with that confidence. Faith is not just knowing who Christ is but also who you are in Christ.  Pray with confidence and expectation because you have great standing in the courts of heaven.  Believe it. Be blessed.

Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. (1 Chr.16:8)

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. 35 Cry out, “Save us, O God our Savior; gather us and deliver us from the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name, that we may glory in your praise.” (1 Chr.16:34-35)

The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song. (Ps.28:7)

I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving. (Psm.69:30)

Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.

For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. (Ps.95:2-3)

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. (Ps.100:4-5)

I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation. (Ps.118:21)

But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the Lord.” (Jonah 2:9)

In that day you will say: “Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. (Isa. 12:4-5)

Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Eph.5:19-20)

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil.4:6-7)

Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. (Col.1:12-13)

I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior. (1 Tim.2:1-3)

On this Thanksgiving weekend we should not forget that every day should be a day of thanksgiving for God’s people.  We are both commanded and encouraged to give thanks and the practice of giving thanks is firmly woven throughout the Bible. Since the flesh always pushes us toward self-sufficiency it’s easy to begin to take blessings for granted and to act as if we are the cause of every good thing in our own lives.  The practice of giving thanks accurately reminds us that every good and perfect gift is from the Father and that what we have is not to be possessed but to be stewarded.

Secondly, giving thanks is a form of praise and worship because it acknowledges the goodness, the grace and the provision of God that is freely given to us by our heavenly Father.  Under the Old Covenant, animals were sacrificed as “thank offerings” in recognition of God’s blessings in a person’s life.  Sacrifices are worship and so giving thanks is an essential form of praise and worship.

We are also told that when we pray with thanksgiving the peace of God will guard our hearts.  Peace comes because as we give thanks we fellowship with the giver of all good things. Being in the presence of God brings peace.  Our giving of thanks also reminds us that God has been faithful in answering prayers and meeting our essential needs in the past and, since he is unchanging, we can expect the same in the future.  When David was preparing himself to face Goliath, he declared that God had already delivered him from a lion and a bear that had attacked his sheep.  Faith operated on the assumption that God would continue to be with David whenever he was in danger. Thanksgiving reminds us of God’s faithfulness in the past so that we can rest in the faith that God will also meet our needs in the future. That assurance brings peace.

Thanksgiving is also a great spiritual weapon because it declares the goodness and faithfulness of God over our lives.  Satan is always whispering the lies that God will not be there for us when we need him or that God is stingy with his blessings.  He constantly assails the character of God in an effort to undermine our belief in his power, goodness, and faithfulness.  A life that takes note of every blessing and every answered prayer from the Father through giving thanks pushes back against the lies of the enemy.

Additionally, relationships flourish when individuals  thank one another for even the small gifts and acts of service that loving people give  one another.  Even those who love unconditionally like a “thank you” from those they love because they know then that their gift was enjoyed.  It is not so different with God.  If we want our relationship with him to flourish, abundant “thank you’s” will be in order.

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving yesterday.  My wife Susan and I were blessed with the presence of family, fun, and too much food. That doesn’t sound very spiritual but remember that God loves a good party. I’m certain the he was present at many homes yesterday where people loved God, loved one another, and gave thanks.  That sounds a little bit like heaven.  The challenge is to carry that spirit with us year round because our God is a God worthy of praise and thanksgiving every day.  Be blessed!

John Bevere begins a chapter in his book. Drawing Near, by saying, “The fear of the Lord is the foundation of intimacy with God.”  He goes on to say that the church has lost the “fear of God” and so has lost the presence of God in much of what we do.

That statement launched an hour of great conversation in my Thursday morning men’s group that meets at 6:00 a.m. every week.  It usually takes us 15-20 minutes and at least two cups of coffee for things to get rolling but the idea of the fear of God and what that means seemed to energize us right away.

The truth of Bevere’s statement hinged on the meaning of “fear” for each of us. If we only meant that we shuddered at the voice of God as the Hebrews shuddered at the base of Mt. Sinai, then our fear of the Lord might hinder our intimacy rather than promote it.  As you recall, as God settled on the top of Sinai in smoke and fire and spoke with a thundering voice, the Hebrews began to question having a relationship with this God.

On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently, and the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder. (Ex. 19:16-19)

When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.”

Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.  (Ex. 20:18-20)

In my men’s group we discussed the death of Nadab and Abihu for offering “strange fire” and the death of Uzzah who took hold of the Ark of the Covenant in David’s day. We also got around to Ananias and Saphira who died suddenly in the Jerusalem church for lying to the Holy Spirit.  Each of those events were sobering and if left alone would push us away from the presence of God rather than drawing us in for a moment of intimacy.

On the other hand, in scripture, God also called certain men his friends and often went out of his way to meet with them and even share his heart with them.  Jesus said that he no longer calls us servants but friends and the writer of Hebrews tells us that we can approach God’s throne of grace with boldness in time of need. We are called children of God and are affectionately called “his saints.”  So what do we make of these extreme positions?  On one side it seems that coming into the presence of God is a very fearful and risky thing while on the other side we are invited to “sit in his lap,” so to speak.

Bevere had made the point in his statement that the fear of God was foundational to intimacy.  Fear of God, then, is the beginning point for an intimate relationship, but it is not the end. More than anything, God relates to us as a Father.  Earthly fathers who love their children also seek a balance between respect and familiarity and often have to work to maintain the balance.  We never want our children to tremble when we enter the room, but we also want them to obey us when we get serious. If they do not “fear” us or at least fear our discipline, then they will play in the street whenever they feel like it and place their lives at risk.

We have all had the experience of playing with our children and in the midst of that intimacy (playing promotes intimacy), we find our children being disrespectful or ignoring some hard and fast safety rules that still apply even though we are playing.  In those moments, we have to call a timeout and remind our children that we are not just a playmate but we are still their father. That seems to be the tension in scripture that calls us to a middle ground between the fear of Sinai and the familiarity of “Abba” father.

To lose an awesome respect for God and the mindset that he his still holy can move us to a place of being cavalier about the commands of God.  We can begin to take advantage of his grace and treat him with a bit of disdain.  Not only is that offensive to a holy God but it also begins to place us at risk because we become careless with sin.  In a sense, we begin to play in the street.

Children initially obey fathers out of the fear of discipline. As they grow, they begin to obey out of love and respect which still stand on a foundation of healthy fear that was laid years earlier.  I have often thought that we can’t truly love a person we don’t respect – especially in marriages.  When we are mature that respect is built on the qualities of character of the other person, but when we are children it begins with a healthy fear that keeps us out of the street.

If we forget the holiness and the discipline of God, out intimacy will suffer.  Unrepented sin will creep in and create separation between us and the Father.  We will become careless with his commands, which says something about our hearts for we are told, “If you love me you will keep my commandments.”

As the perfect Father, God seeks a balance between fear (awesome respect for who he is and his authority) and familiarity and comfort in his presence. The Hebrew writer tells us that our God is a consuming fire while at the same time inviting us to approach his throne with absolute confidence.  We can do so because of Christ and his blood that washes away our sin. That sacrifice purchases a positional relationship with the Father, but God wants much more than that. He wants intimacy, friendship, and even playfulness.

However, in the midst of that let’s not forget that he is holy and the creator of the universe.  That balance keeps us in a place where we can enjoy the presence of God.  The more respect we maintain for the Father, the more familiar he can be with us because we will not take advantage of that familiarity or become careless with our lives.  It would seem to be a healthy regimen to regularly reflect not only on the love and grace of God but also his power, authority, and holiness.  Be blessed today.

Sooner or later, we all “blow it” in our Christian walk.  Sometimes we are the only ones who know (other than God) and sometimes everyone has seen or heard about our failure. I have spoken often in the blog about keeping our hearts aligned with God as a key to keeping Satan at bay and for accessing the blessings and the power of heaven.  Staying in alignment with the Father is just as much about our response when we do sin, as it is when we avoid sin.

There are two individuals in the O.T. that model the best and worse response to the inevitability of sin while we walk in the flesh.  One was Saul, the first King of Israel and the second was David.  If you look at their spiritual failures David’s would seem to outweigh Saul’s failings by far but God had a different view.

Saul had a good start.  He, like David, was called from obscurity to be king.  He initially displayed faith and a humble heart.  But when the chips were down he failed in a way that might seem to us to be of little consequence.  In   1 Samuel 10, Samuel the prophet instructs Saul to go to Gilgal and wait seven days before proceeding with his plans to march against the Philistines. Samuel’s plan was to meet Saul in Gilgal, pray on his behalf, and offer sacrifices to God for Saul’s victory. Samuel was not only a prophet but also a priest as well from the tribe of Levi so his presence for the sacrifice was essential. However, in Chapter 13 we find that Saul had gathered an army, gone to Gilgal, and waited seven days for Samuels’ arrival. But as Saul and his men waited, the courage of many failed and they began to slip away from the ranks.  Saul, rather than waiting on Samuel as the Lord had commanded, took it upon himself to offer the sacrifice to keep more of his men from leaving. Of course, just as the smoke from the final sacrifice feathered out into the air, Samuel arrived.

The text says: “What have you done?” asked Samuel. Saul replied, “When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Micmash, I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the Lord’s favor.’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.” “You acted foolishly,” Samuel said. “You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure.” (1 Sam.13:11-14).

Saul had received a clear word from the Lord through the prophet and clearly knew that sacrifices were to be offered by priests only.  But out of fear and ambition for success, he had ignored the command and the law. But notice Saul’s response to Samuel’s rebuke. He excused his decision and blamed others for his sin.  He rationalized what he had done as being necessary under the circumstances – “the men were scattering.”  He then deflected the blame to Samuel – “you did not come at the set time.” He then argues that he couldn’t help himself in that situation – “I felt compelled.” Finally he imputes a godly motive to his actions – seeking the Lord’s favor.

In essence, Saul had disobeyed God’s clear command out of fear and ambition but argued that he really hadn’t sinned because circumstances did not permit him to be obedient.  God’s command just wasn’t working for him and if Samuel had gotten there on time (which he actually did) none of that would have happened. Saul rationalized, minimized, and excused his sin.  The result was the loss of his kingdom because he did not honor God.

David was also called from obscurity. God gave him numerous victories in battle, removed Saul from the throne, and established a solid kingdom for David. Yet in a moment of weakness he committed adultery, tried to cover his sin through deception, ordered the murder of Bathsheba’s husband, and then took the grieving widow as his wife.  In my estimation, David’s spiritual failure seems a little more substantial than Saul’s.  Yet David’s kingdom was not taken away while Saul’s was.   Why?  I think the answer lies in David’s response to his sin.

Without question, David had to be confronted by Nathan the prophet before confessing anything.  But when he was confronted, his response was, “I have sinned against the Lord!” In Psalm 51, David reveals his heart regarding his sin.  If you will scan that Psalm you will see that David makes no excuses, blames no one else, and refuses to rationalize or minimize what he has done. Instead he owns his failure, calls it sin, declares that God’s standards are just and right and then leans on the unfailing love and mercy of God for forgiveness. At the same time he asks God to transform his heart so that he would not sin again.

Too often, we are convinced by the enemy that God only accepts us if we have it all together so when we fail we excuse it, deny it, minimize it, justify it or find someone else to blame.  That is not what God desires.  God desires a heart that honors God’s standards rather than claiming that they are unfair or unrealistic. He wants a heart that wants to live up to his righteous standards rather than giving up on them because “they don’t work for us” or don’t get us what we want.

Alignment with God’s heart is having a heart that believes that God’s ways are true and right and that believes Christ’s blood is sufficient for all of our failings.  To believe that God exists is not enough for a victorious life. We must also believe that he is full of grace, love and mercy for us…not just the first time we sin but every time we sin if we will honor him and be honest in his presence.  We need to give our sins and failures to Jesus every day but cannot give away what we don’t own. We don’t own it if we don’t take personal responsibility for it. God is not keeping score of our failures but is looking for a heart that trusts his word and his love.

Satan wants us to believe that the last time we sinned was the last time God’s grace, forgiveness, and love was available. When we believe that lie, we have aligned our hearts with Satan rather than with God. Our Heavenly Father wants us to believe that his mercies are new every morning and that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 Jn.1:9). In many respects, David’s sin was much greater than Saul’s.  But the heart was the issue. David humbled himself daily so that God could lift him up.  Saul, in his effort to justify his failings, attempted to convince God that his standards were out of touch with Saul’s realities.  Once you open that door, Satan will have a field day. You will take of the tree and eat every day, justify it in your own mind, and then blame God when life is not working out.

David was called “a man after God’s own heart” not because his heart was always perfect, but because he desperately wanted his heart to be like the Father’s. Even when he failed, his goal was to have a more righteous heart shaped by God’s Holy Spirit rather than to convince God that his sins weren’t so bad or that he had no choice in the matter.

The way to experience the blessings and power of God in our lives is not just to live a righteous life, but to make a righteous response in the face of even great failings. Trust God to love and forgive no matter what.  Demonstrate that trust with a honest response to God that always honors his character and his standards.