Put God first and you will never be last *When you know, follow, obey God and practice His word and give Him the first place in every area of your life* You will never lose * You will always win.

Then he waited seven days according to the time set by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattered from him.

So Saul said, Bring a burnt offering and peace offerings here to me. And he offered the burnt offering.

Now it happened, as soon as he had finished presenting the burnt offering, that Samuel came, and Saul went out to meet him, that he might greet him.

And Samuel said to Saul, you have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He had commanded you. For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.

But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.

1 Samuel 13: 8 – 10, 13-14
We serve a God of love, grace, compassion, mercy, peace, patience, and comfort. The above scripture portion tells us that Saul became impatient while waiting for Samuel to offer burnt and peace offerings, and he himself offered the offerings to the Lord instead of Samuel, so the kingdom was taken away from him and given to David a man after God’s own heart.

Patience pays in the kingdom of God, Saul waited with patience for three days when his father’s donkeys were lost, he went and met Samuel the prophet and he helped him find the donkeys and he anointed him to be the commander of Israel. After becoming the commander he became impatient and disobedient and the kingdom was taken away from him. Patience and obedience brought him the kingdom and impatience and disobedience took away the kingdom from him.

Moses was a prophet called and chosen by God to deliver the Israelites from bondage. He had a lot of patience, he was trained by God in the wilderness for forty years in the house of his father in law (Imagine living with in-laws who were unbelievers) and he spent another forty years in the desert with patience in the company of grumbling and complaining Israelites. One small act of disobedience and his weakness of anger costed him, his destiny the promised land, instead of speaking to the rock he struck it twice and God did not allow him to enter the promised land (he saw it from a mountain top). Patience and obedience made him a great leader, but one small act of disobedience and his weakness of anger robbed him of his destiny, the promised land.

Abraham was called by God with a promise to be the father of many nations. He waited patiently for many years, but after waiting for some years his wife Sarah lost her patience, so she introduced him to Hagar and he brought forth Ishmael through her and God didn’t approve him as the promised child, again he waited for some more years and God gave him Isaac the promised child through Sarah as promised by Him. The nation of Israel came from the descendants of Isaac and Jacob, Joseph patience pays in the kingdom of God.

The reason why Abraham’s mistake was not taken into account by God was, because he lived much before the law came into existence. The law came with Moses and ended with Jesus in the new covenant. In the new covenant we don’t live by the law, we live by the grace of God. We live on the promises of God, by the grace of God through faith. The grace of God empowers us to overcome our weaknesses and it converts them into strength.The grace of God is not a licence to sin.

Beloved today give all your weaknesses into God’s hands and ask Him to give you the grace to overcome all your weaknesses and see Him converting your weaknesses into strength. Patience pays in the kingdom of God, wait patiently on the promises of God and see Him bringing it to pass in your life.

Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus.

Roman’s 5:5
But let patience have it’s perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

James 1:4
Heavenly Father thank You for the word, thank You for every good promises that we are waiting and holding onto, give us the grace to wait patiently with faith, hope and perseverance on the promises and see it come to pass in our lives in Jesus name we ask and pray.
Amen and Amen.
God loves you
Blessings

Alfred Joseph
Hyderabad Telangana India.
[email protected].