Being Men according to God’s Heart, men of revelation, for God to use to Change the Age

It is amazing who see how Samuel, a man who turned the age into the age of the kingdom with the kingship, was fully according to God; his being and God’s heart was one, and we could say that he was the acting God on earth. Amen, we want to be men according to God’s heart, men of revelation, men whom He can use to end this age!

He was consecrated to God even before his birth by his mother, and he was equipped and trained to be one who ministers to God and brings in the age of the kingdom.

We may look at Samuel and be amazed at the final product, for he was fully according to God’s heart; however, the process he went through was not that pleasant.

He grew up under the custody of Eli, and in those days the priesthood was waning. He did not have any proper pattern before him to inspire him in his living and work, but God had a way to equip him and perfect him to be an age-turner.

We should not complain about our situations and environment, saying that it’s much easier for others to be overcomers; Samuel was one whose environment and the trainer were not that positive, but the outcome was very positive.

God came and called him even when he was young, and he listened to God’s voice. It is so important for us to listen to the Lord’s voice and let Him speak to us; there is no other way for us to advance with the Lord and to know what is in His heart except to be in His word and listen to His speaking.

Our life as Christians depends on the Lord’s speaking; every day we need to ask Him to open our ears to hear His voice so that we may have His fresh speaking and receive His supply.

If we don’t have the Lord’s fresh speaking, if we don’t hear the word first-hand from His mouth, we cannot really serve Him or go on in the church life.

These days the Lord’s word is not rare among us in the church life; as long as we place ourselves under the hearing of faith, choosing to be in the Lord’s presence and listen to His word, He has a way to speak to us.

Throughout the day, we need to turn our heart to the Lord and love Him, and we need to listen to Him. Many times He speaks to us inwardly.

Even though we may be in a situation that is not so positive, when many things around us may not be that pleasant, we can still open to the Lord and receive His speaking.

We may even pray that the Lord would open our ears to hear His word.

In Revelation 1-3, when the Lord was writing to the seven churches in Asia, He concluded with, He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit speaks to the churches. Today the Spirit is speaking to the churches; may we have an ear to hear what the Lord speaks today.

Being Men according to God’s Heart, men of revelation, for God to use to Change the Age

Samuel was one who turned the age from the age of judges to the age of the kingdom with the kingship; this matter was great not only in the history of Israel but even in the history of mankind.

He was used by God to anoint two kings – a negative one as a black background to show Israel what a king without God would do, and one positive, which was David.

With the anointing of David, Samuel turned the age into the age of the kingdom with the kingship.

Samuel didn’t rebel against the house of Aaron; he saw the degradation and waning of the priesthood, but he didn’t rebel against them, speak against them, or usurp anything of the house of Aaron.

As Samuel was growing, God arranged the environment to perfect him and to build up his capacity to do everything that was needed for God to change the age into the age of the king with the kingdom.

We may see the degradation in the church today, but we need to be like Samuel, not being in haste or hurry, not staging a rebellion or a coup to claim the priesthood, but being according to God’s heart.

Samuel was submissive; as long as Eli was there, he remained under his authority. He was not in a hurry to have a revolution, to claim something or fight for something; he left all these to God, and God arranged all things to perfect him and build him up to be an age-turner.

May we learn to trust God in His timing, in His environmental arrangement, in His perfecting hand.

We shouldn’t hurry up and try to “help God”; we don’t do anything for ourselves.

If the Lord would use us at the right time, He will; He will arrange the right environment and situations to use us.

We shouldn’t try to change things or manipulate them; we shouldn’t be political or find votes for ourselves.

We don’t need to do anything like that; we should simply love the Lord, take Him as our King, and submit ourselves to Him and His sovereign arrangement, and He will do His work.

As a priest Samuel replaced and, in a sense, terminated the stale Aaronic priesthood; God used Samuel to change the age not through rebellion or revolution but through the way of divine revelation to bring in the kingship.

The human way is to rebel and make a revolution, but God’s way is to prepare us and equip us as the right persons for Him to do what He wants to do.

We don’t need to claim anything or do anything to vindicate ourselves; we need to simply be men of revelation, men under God’s authority, men who are according to God’s heart, and He will do everything.

Samuel was a man of revelation and he did everything according to what he saw. God revealed Himself to Samuel by His word.

Even more, Samuel was a man according to God’s heart – he was a copy of God’s heart, a duplicate of His heart; as such a person, Samuel would never do anything rebellious.

We need to be men of revelation, men who have God’s speaking and are under the divine revelation.

The revelation we receive from God becomes our authority toward man; the more we receive God’s revelation, the more we can serve God according to His revelation and the more this becomes our authority.

May we be those who are according to God’s heart, a copy of His heart, so that we do everything according to His word and according to our desire in a rebellious way.

Instead of trying to do what we think is right, we should simply enjoy the Lord, receive His revelation, and be men after God’s heart and men of revelation so that we may be useful to Him in turning the age.

Lord Jesus, we give ourselves to You to see and enjoy You. Reveal Yourself to us and keep us under the divine revelation in everything we say and do. Amen, Lord, we don’t want to initiate to do anything for You or to change the situation. Make us men of revelation, those who know God personally and intimately and have God’s speaking in a fresh and living way. Amen, Lord, reveal Yourself to us day by day and even moment by moment. Keep us beholding You to be infused with You and be filled with You. Grant us to be men according to God’s heart, those who are a duplication of God’s heart. Oh Lord, we love You and we don’t want to do anything apart from You! Make us those through whom You can change the age!

May our Being, Doing, Living, and Work be According to God to be the Acting God on Earth today

Because Samuel’s entire being, person, doing, living, and work was according to God, his being and God’s heart were one.

For this reason, we may say that Samuel, who was a man according to God, was the acting God on earth. Wow, the acting God on earth!

He was so one with God that he represented God and acted on behalf of God on earth.

This is our aspiration today, to be the acting God on earth, a corporate person who expresses and represents God in everything. God needs such ones today; He needs His corporate Samuel today still.

May our whole being and person – not just our doing, living, and work – be according to God so that His heart and our being would be one; this will constitute us into men according to God’s heart, even the corporate acting God on earth.

God’s mind was Samuel’s consideration; he had no other thought, consideration, or thinking but rather, his living and working were for the carrying out of whatever was in God’s heart.

What is in our mind and heart today? Do we want to do something for the Lord, or do we allow Him to duplicate His heart in us?

We need to be men according to God’s heart; we need to know God’s heart and do everything according to our heart, not according to our intention or desire.

God is looking for men according to God’s heart, those who are both priests and prophets and kings to express God and represent Him in their living.

He found such a one in Samuel, who was the acting God on earth; He found such a one in David, who was a man according to God’s heart.

Samuel anointed Saul and David to be kings (1 Sam. 10:1; 16:1, 13); this was according to God’s ordination that Samuel should go before His anointed continually (2:35) to supervise the king, observing what the king was doing.

This indicates that Samuel, the acting God on earth, was greater than the king; Samuel could be qualified to such an extent because for many years God had been perfecting him uniquely for his economy.

We all are in God’s perfecting hand, and He is perfecting us throughout the years to make us men according to God’s heart, even the acting God on earth.

The more we spend time with the Lord and open our being to Him, the more He infuses us with Himself; as we allow Him to work Himself into us and are under His infusing, we become men according to His heart.

May the Lord make us like Samuel today, those who have no self-seeking nor any thought of self-gain (Matt. 16:24-26; Luke 9:23-25).

May our heart be a duplication of His heart so that we would have no heart for anything besides God’s heart and His elect; may our heart be a reflection and duplication of His heart (see Phil. 2:19-22; 2 Cor. 3:16-18).

May we even ask Him about this, asking Him to do this in us; in ourselves, we are full of self-seeking and opinions, but when we allow Him to work Himself into us, His heart is duplicated in us.

In Samuel’s case, he considered that not praying for God’s people was a sin against Jehovah (1 Sam. 12:23).

He realized that the people of God are His personal treasure and possession (Exo. 19:5), so he prayed for them every day, not committing the sin of not praying for them.

The more we behold the Lord in our personal time with Him, the more we will reflect Him; He infuses Himself into us, and His heart becomes our heart.

What He desires will be what we desire, and what He wants will be what we want; we will love God’s people, realizing that, no matter what their condition is, they are His personal treasure.

The people of God are His peculiar treasure and possession; they may not be that good in our eyes, but God loves them, and He made a covenant with them and He is faithful to them.

Although it wasn’t easy for Samuel to stand for God in his particular environment, he cared for God’s interest and turned the age; according to Jer. 15:1, Samuel is ranked with Moses in being for God and for God’s interest.

No matter what our environment and situation are, we need to care for God’s interest; no matter what our situation is and what is the condition of those around us, we simply need to care for God’s interest and need in this age.

May we live by such an all-fitting life in our spirit, being the acting God on earth to represent Him in what we do.

Lord Jesus, may our whole being and person, together with our doing, living, and work, be according to God and not according to ourselves. Amen, Lord, may Your mind become our consideration. May we have no other thought, consideration, or thinking except what is in Your heart. We aspire to be men according to God’s heart so that You may gain the acting God on earth to represent You and express You. We open to Your perfecting and equipping us to make us useful in Your hands for Your interest on earth. May our heart be a reflection of Your heart to the extent that we do not sin against You by not praying for Your people. Amen, Lord, we do not look at our environment but to You; we want to behold You so that we may reflect You and represent You as the acting God on earth today!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Minoru Chen, and portions from, Life-study of 1&2 Samuel, pp. 29, 45-46 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization Study of 1 and 2 Samuel (2021 winter training), week 3, entitled, Spiritual Principles, Life Lessons, and Holy Warnings Seen in the History of Samuel.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Through the church’s degradation, / Saints this office desolate; / Through the weakness of their spirits / Preaching doth predominate. / Most are leaning on the message / And the preaching emphasize, / Yet neglect the priestly praying / And their spirits’ exercise. / Deal with me and make me balanced, / As in preaching, so in prayer; / Leading others oft in praying, / As Thy Word I too declare. (Hymns #848)
  – O Lord, against these days, / Inspire some for Your building, / Just as in David’s day— / A remnant who are willing / To come and work in Your house, / Oh, what a blessed charge! / Your heart’s desire, is our desire— / We come, O Lord, to build. (Hymns #1248)
  – O Lord, have Your expression; / Do not let me win today. / Duplicate Your heart in my heart, / Your life saturates and permeates. / Your love is the burning fire; / Things of my self You burn away. / Do gain in me what You desire— / A loving Bride to match You in every way. (Song on, Lord I am Willing to Let You)