Samuel: The Second Divine Principle - Bakht Singh

[Jim Watt]

“*TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE” MINISTRIES*

*Jim & Marie Watt*

*Tel: 253-517-9195 - Email: jmbetter at gmail.com*

*Web: www.2rbetter.org*

January 31, 2012


 *(Jim & Marie Watt – Beth Chesed, Tacoma*

*December 7, 2006)*


 *“THE RETURN OF GOD’S GLORY” – Bakht Singh*

*Samuel: The Second Divine Principle*


 *INTRODUCTION: *In a former mailing we looked at “Hannah: the first Divine
Principle” in the progress of the Return of God’s Glory. Through Eli and
his lack of discipline towards his two wicked sons – God lifted His Glory
off of Israel when the Ark of the Covenant was taken by the Philistines.
The wife of one of the slain sons of Eli named her firstborn “Ichabod,” –
The Glory has departed. But in God’s thinking He desired to return His
Glory to His people again, and initiated His desire through Hannah, a
woman. Then He followed up with three more Divine Principles, starting with
Samuel. And what is the Divine Principle that God used through Samuel? Read
on as Bakht Singh unfolds the revelation that God gave him.


 “*And the Lord appeared again in Shiloh: for the Lord revealed Himself to
Samuel in Shiloh, by the Word of the Lord.” 1 Samuel 3:21*


 This is the second divine principle which has to be fulfilled if we want
God to send His glory into our midst, if we are going to allow God to
reveal Himself. We need the fearless, faithful witness of men like Samuel.
We have good Bible teachers, and many scholars who can write very good
books and some very good preachers also – but not many Samuels.

We want men of God, men who are actually the mouthpiece of God; Men who can
say boldly and freely: “Hear ye what God says,” and “Thus says the Lord.”

God’s Word came to Samuel as a small boy. God first told him, “You go and
tell Eli.” How could he, a small boy, go to an old man – his master, and
give him God’s message? But even though it was a difficult and terrible
message, he obeyed God and gave it.

We find that there are very few people who are prepared to give God’s
message. We think we have to be so polite and diplomatic in what we say, so
that no one knows what we are talking about!

There was a man in England, known as Lord Asquith, a very fine speaker, and
with a fine command of language. Yet he spoke in such a way, that no one
knew what his views were!

Some years ago, I was in Ahmedabad. One Saturday night I began to pray for
God’s message. Very clearly God spoke to me saying, "You have to speak on
the blood of Christ tomorrow morning.” I said, “Lord, I will do it on
Monday, because there is one leading person on the committee who is a
staunch member of the Oxford Group.” There were pastors and missionaries as
well as myself invited to dinner on this occasion. I said, “Lord, if I give
that message they will be so angry that they may even cancel the dinner: so
let me have the dinner, and I will give the message on Monday.” But God
would not leave me! So when the time came, I gave what God had given to me
– and that day they gave me no food! They were so angry with me that they
left me without any food the whole evening.

The third day, the same person came to me. I asked, “Are you a member of
the Oxford Group?” “Yes,” he answered. “And why were you so angry with me?”
I asked. He said, “Because you spoke those things so bluntly.” I said,
“Don’t you believe in perfect love? Is it not one of the rules of the
Oxford Group, to love your enemies? And if I be your enemy, you must love
me also. You invited me here yourself, and I accepted your invitation – why
don’t you love your enemy?”

He saw the point – that he needed practice and not only theory. They all
repented, and the Lord saved them.

Now unless we give God‘s message at the proper time, the enemy will gain
ground. We have a desire to be very polite lest we lose a chance to speak
again. We reason this way: If I give God’s full message they will never ask
me again. Does it matter? It doesn’t matter. Are we here just to be popular
speakers, or do we want to be God’s messengers with God’s message? God
wants a man who will be His mouthpiece, who will not be afraid of any man’s
face. I feel that in these days there is a serious need for a man like
Samuel.


 Before the work began in Madras, I prayed for a whole month, and God would
not speak to me. I fasted too, but still no answer came. One night, I said,
“Lord, I promise Thee I will pay the price, even though I get no more
invitations to speak anywhere, I don’t care!” I had been saying, “Lord, now
I have four hundred invitations for campaigns in India, Burma and Ceylon.
See Lord, there is an open door in every part of India – they are all
asking me for meetings. I can go anywhere now with the message and somebody
else can do the follow-up.” But God would give me no message. Now I prayed,
“Lord, I will be satisfied even if you keep me in one lonely place. I don’t
want big campaigns, I only want to be sure I am in Thy will. Nothing else
will satisfy me.” When I said that, like a flash God spoke to me, “Behold,
I make a covenant; I will do marvels.” And from that day He gave me more
than seventy verses of assurances of how He would work.

I believe with all my heart that unless we are men like Samuel, we will not
see God’s power fully manifested. He may use us, but not fully; He may
bless us, but not fully; He may work among us, but not deeply; unless, we
are men like Samuel, and God’s Word can come and go out freely as He gives
it.


 In 1 Samuel 13:5-14, we see how God used Samuel when His people were in
trouble. Reading this passage, you will agree by human reasoning that Saul
was justified in his action.

Their enemies had gathered in large numbers; and all Saul’s men were
trembling in fear. Samuel had said that he would come within seven days.
But they could not wait. Saul had waited seven full days but still Samuel
did not come; so he forced himself to offer a sacrifice, which he had no
right to do. He ignored the law of God. He knew full well that he had no
business to offer a sacrifice. That was Samuel’s job, not his. So Samuel
had to rebuke Saul and at great cost.

Many of us may demand that God must work, or answer our prayer within a
certain period, perhaps within seven days. God will not work according to
our plan. In the first place, it was God that delayed Samuel in coming. We
do not know the details; but God was evidently proving and testing Saul. He
wanted to show Saul what was in man’s heart; and also that a man like
Samuel would implicitly obey God.

When we find the enemies coming against us like Saul did, and when we find
things becoming very difficult to bear, we often go against the mind of
God. Our argument may be: It is the work of God; -- it must not suffer for
want of money. Now we have prayed with faith for so many months and no
money has come in. So let us go and beg for it!

Even in groups who began on a faith basis I find they have started begging
and giving many hints for money. Why is it? Because the work is great?

“In the olden days there was not so much work,” we say; “but now with so
many missionaries throughout the world, the work has grown great. We must
have more money and thus there is no harm in begging for it!”

CAN GOD NOT WORK TODAY? Why did Samuel delay his coming? At God’s command,
he delayed. God may delay in sending help for some time. We cannot change
the divine principle – Faith means faith! If we say we have faith – it must
be living faith.

Now Saul knew full well that God was going to deliver them through Samuel.
This was not the first time God had worked such a miracle. Saul knew that
Samuel was God’s prophet and that in the Name of God he would defeat the
enemy, and not by their own strength. But the people trembled and were so
frightened when Samuel delayed to come, that Saul forced himself, and
offered the sacrifice.

Now we want men like Samuel, that whenever God’s people depart from the
truth, whenever they are acting against God’s Word, God’s servant will have
courage to say: “You are wrong, brother; do not depart from your first
vision.”

We find that God has prophets, and even today, through His prophets His
mind is revealed, and we must obey His word even though it may be hard and
faithful.

In 1 Samuel 15:23-31 and 16:1, you will see that Samuel had to say a hard
thing to King Saul:

“Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you
from being king.”

You will see also from these verses that Saul shed tears over his sin, so
much so, that Samuel, even though he was a prophet of God, mourned for him
and pleaded to God for him. But it was of no use. God had refused him!

You have very false hopes if you think you will bring reformation among the
denominations. You may argue about it as much as you like.

Let us learn the lesson God wants to teach us in this passage: His command
to Saul had been to destroy the enemy utterly, but Saul had spared Agag and
the choice of the flock and thus he failed God.

God had to refuse Saul for two great failures. Firstly, he changed God’s
order for sacrifice. Secondly, he gave partial obedience to His command.

The very same thing is happening also among the people of the denominations
– a continual change of God’s order. They think that there is no harm in
having some human way in their church life.

For example, it is entirely unscriptural to appoint elders by vote. They
all know that by having elections in their system they bring strife in the
churches. It begins by election. One party wins, the other party loses. How
can we justify that practice when we know it is unscriptural. Also, in this
way, ungodly men are elected to hold offices!

That is why God does not work fully in these groups. There can be blessing;
no doubt God can use them to save souls, and spread the Gospel. But He
cannot fully bless them. In the same way God allowed Saul to remain as king
for some time; but he was no longer really His anointed vessel.

And Samuel began to weep, being an old man. He felt sorry for him, and he
must have prayed: “Lord, please forgive him – forgive Saul. I know he has
done wrong: but he has done good also.” But God said to him, “How long will
you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him?” (16:1).

You may think that by giving some cooperation to the denominations, you can
bring more light and help to them. It will never work. You may see some
blessing but you will never see God’s glory, as the Scriptures show.


 We see further what God was looking for. He wanted the people to come to
His full glory. He not only wanted them to overcome the Philistines, which
would be for only a short time, but He had a far greater plan for Israel as
a nation. They must be brought into their full inheritance in Canaan, and
they must see God working fully in their midst. This was God’s purpose. God
wants men after His own heart, and even Samuel himself had to learn this
lesson.

In 1 Samuel 16:2-3 he said: “If Saul hears it, he will kill me.” And the
Lord said, “I will show you what you shall do: and you shall anoint unto Me
him whom I name unto you.”

Here is another reason why God wanted Samuel – that God’s anointed vessel
might be found. Even though Samuel wanted by human wisdom to give Saul one
more chance, God refused it. God wants those whom He has called and
prepared for a particular service. And you are not likely to find this
happening in a group who depend upon election – they only want the persons
of the preference to be the ones appointed for this or that.


 Now please note verse 4: “And Samuel did that which the Lord spoke, and
came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and
said, Do you come peaceably?”

Why did the elders tremble at the coming of Samuel? He did not go with a
sword or a stick. He was not going to say what they thought he was going to
say. He would say what God told him, for he was a man of God – God’s
prophet. And whatever they had done wrong, it would be uncovered by his
coming. This is why they were trembling. If we had men like Samuel, we
would find this type of thing happening today and men would be trembling.
But while we remain so careful and so diplomatic and so cautious of every
word, lest we hurt someone, we will not see anything happing – There will
be no conviction! Samuel was a man of God who brought conviction wherever
he went. He went peaceably; yet, MEN TREMBLED.

Let us look further at verses 16 and 17 of the same chapter where we are
shown the divine principle of choosing leaders: “for the Lord sees not as
man sees: for man looks on the outward appearance. But the Lord looks on
the heart.”

In the work of the Lord we have to be very, very careful never to be
governed by nationality, nor by appearances of any kind.

Now it is possible that you have appointed a man as leader of your mission,
who has never been called of God, -- and now you are paying the price for
it! You may have said, “He is a very nice man, a qualified man, let him be
our leader, preacher or co-worker,” but you have gone only by outward
appearance – NOT BY GOD’S CHOICE.


 *NOTE:** Gene Edwards founded “SeedSowers”, Christian Books Publishing
House, 4003 N. Liberty Street, Jacksonville, FL 32206 – Call:
1-800-Act-Book – **www.seedsowers.com*

* They have recently announced the Biography of Bakht Singh. *

* *Bakht Singh was, perhaps, the greatest Christian worker ever to emerge
outside the traditional church. This is ironic in that he is virtually
unknown in the West.

When Bakht Singh died in 2003, at the age of 96, some 600,000 people
attended his funeral. In his lifetime he raised up over 60,000 churches,
the total number of believers in these assemblies running in the millions!

It is important to know the Bakht Singh story and *how *he did what he did!
Such biographies have been key influences which have changed great men’s
lives and are absolutely necessary for the passing of the torch from one
century to another.

If you come across some hot-hearted man or woman who does not quite “fit
in” to the way things are, please pass this book on to him or her. As
surely as Watchman Nee and Singh were affected by the lives of men who came
before them, so the story of men like Nee, Singh and T. Austin-Sparks will
light a fire in the hearts of young men and women of whom we have not yet
heard.



 *TO SUBSCRIBE - Please Email: mailing-subscribe at 2rbetter.org*


 *TO UNSUBSCRIBE - Please Email: mailing-unsubscribe at 2rbetter.org*


 *FOR ARCHIVE ARTICLES - Web:http://2rbetter.org/pipermail/mailing/*
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://2rbetter.org/pipermail/mailing/attachments/20120131/2e0348eb/attachment.htm>