The Word 10/26

BEING VALIANT FOR GOD with a HEART FOR GOD

Any conversation about King Saul is almost always going to be negative.  After all, he is one of the few who ever gets the admission from the Lord that He “regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel.”  (1 Samuel 15:35c)  As King of Israel he is known for acting foolishly and disobedient toward God. 1 Samuel 13:13 has Samuel saying to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which He commanded you.”

Yes, King Saul is not one to look at or study for WHAT ONE SHOULD DO.  He utterly failed to fulfill his stated purpose of defeating the Philistines.  In 1 Samuel 9:16, God tells Samuel about Saul with these words: “Tomorrow about this time I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him commander over My people Israel, that he may save My people from the hand of the Philistines; for I have looked upon My people, because their cry has come to me.” 

Saul was supposed to be an ANSWER TO PRAYER.  But in the end, the Philistines defeated him.  

Yet with all the negatives, I find that at his beginning he had VALIANT men with him, men in whom God had touched their hearts and it is worth exploring these two very descriptive descriptions. I am hoping that the readers of the DAILY DATE THE WORD DEVOTIONAL would be desiring to be known as VALIANT men and women, men and women whose HEARTS  have been TOUCHED/influenced by the Lord. 

VALIANT. It means “possessing or showing courage or determination.”  BRAVE!  No backing down.  No quitting! 
It is a word you will find 29 times in the NKJV.
Another instance of the word valiant associated with Saul is found in 1 Samuel 14:52 “Now there was fierce war with the Philistines all the days of Saul. And when Saul saw any strong man or any VALIANT man, he took him for himself.”  

Give Saul credit here that he did know what to look for in finding soldiers!

The word is also found in the HALL OF FAITH passage in Hebrews 11:34  where people of faith “quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.”

Our verse tells us about VALIANT men and it tells us about men whose hearts God had touched.  This means they had a heart that God could guide, that God could influence.  Their hearts belonged to God as opposed to the false gods around them.  

So, what type of person are you?  Are family and friends, associates, and neighbors, able to describe you as VALIANT?  One who is not afraid of the battles against the evil forces of this world.  Would they describe you as one whose heart belongs to the Lord?  

I challenge you to live and act in a way that you have as a descriptive word of your character that you are VALIANT, a man or woman of VALOR!!  And that there is no question your heart has been touched by God!

Verse to DATE the Word on October 26 (10/26) is 1 Samuel 10:26. It says, “And Saul also went home to Gibeah; and valiant men went with him, whose hearts God had touched.”

Continue STRONG as a person of VALOR!
And remember to DATE THE WORD