Sometimes we decide what we think God wants from us and He says, “I do not want or need that. Without love, obedience, faith, and true worship your offerings mean nothing.” God wants our hearts. He wants to be our Lord. Nothing tangible is acceptable.

Some people think they can work hard enough to get what they want or even to please God. Others rely on their dedication. The one with all the heart is the one who succeeds in the end, right? There are people who believe in superstitions, horoscopes, and tradition. But only those who place their faith in God will prevail in the end. So, choose to cooperate with Him and He will work through you to achieve His good and perfect will.

What seems right to us is not always what is right to God. People look at actions, but God looks at the heart. If our heart is aligned with Him, then our actions will be, too. But if our heart is not in the right place, then it doesn’t matter if our actions are right or not. They will not be pleasing to Him.

Because we can’t see God, sometimes we place our faith in people, not realizing that He is the source of their power. Then, because we know people are flawed, sometimes we don’t follow the leaders that God gives us, because again we don’t recognize that it is not through their power that they lead us, but through God’s. So, when we follow them, we are not really following them, we are following the Lord. Ultimately, He is the only One with power and the One we should be serving.

When God chose Saul to be Israel’s king, the Holy Spirit rushed over Him and changed Him from the inside out. His heart was so changed that it could be seen outwardly.

God’s Spirit changes us. When you accept Jesus into your life and commit to follow Him as Lord, you receive His indwelling Spirit. Through the Spirit, we receive power to do the things God has called us to. Then, as we feed His Spirit with the Word, prayer, fellowship with other believers, and worship, it grows within us to produce godly fruit.

God should be the one we serve; the one whose rules we follow; the one we fear; the one we worship. He is our Ruler and King. He protects and .provides. He cares for us like no man on earth ever could. Yet the Israelites rejected Him and asked for an earthly king.

Have you ever let your child win a game? Does that mean that you didn’t have the power to beat him? No. You restrained your power for a specific purpose, but it was never lacking. It may have looked like it to your child, but you could have revealed it at any time.

That’s what happened when God let the Philistines defeat the Israelites. He had a that had to do with the Israelites, but He could not allow the Philistines to think that their god was more powerful than Him. So, He not only revealed His power to the Philistines, but He also revealed how feckless and impotent their god was.

We cannot manipulate God into doing what we want, but the Israelites try to do that in this lesson. First we look at their story then we talk about how we may try to manipulate God into doing what we want by doing good deeds or invoking His name. We can't force God to do things that He doesn't want to do. His will does not bend to ours. Instead, we should bend our will to His. Seek to understand and focus on Him.

God called to Samuel, but Samuel did not know it was Him because He did not know God well enough to know His voice. It can be difficult to know when God is speaking to us. But the better you know Him, the easier it will be to recognize His voice. It is also easier to trust Him when you know Him. So, seek to know God. Then, when He calls, listen and obey.

If you truly know and love God, then you will put Him in His proper place. But if you don’t know Him, you won’t love Him. If you don’t love Him, you won’t keep His commands. This seemed to be the problem that Eli’s sons had. So, at the end of this lesson we talk about knowing God better so we honor God’s ways and live out our calling. But Eli had another problem which we also touch on. He knew and loved God, but he put his sons above Him. When we put others over the Lord, we are seen in the same light as them.