“From the Heart” teaching by Drs. Rodney & Adonica Howard-Browne.

In Genesis, God created man – Adam and Eve – and gave them authority and responsibility over the earth. Because they were tempted by the devil to relinquish their authority to him, Jesus had to come to buy it back by shedding His blood and by His death and resurrection. He conquered and defeated the devil, took all earthly authority away from him and took back the keys of death and hell. Jesus, before He ascended back into heaven, restored this authority to every believer.

If you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you have the right to use the Name of Jesus to walk in divine authority over devils and circumstances! With this authority comes a responsibility to do not our own will, but God’s will. God uses people to carry out his will on the earth.  If you are a Christian, you are God’s representative on the earth. You are His instrument – His mouth, His hands, and His feet – if you don’t do His will on the earth it won’t be done. If you don’t say it, pray it, and do it, it won’t be done! How important is it to obey God promptly and exactly? Saul learned this lesson, too late.

Then came Amalek [descendants of Esau] and fought with Israel at Rephidim. (Exodus 17:8 AMP) And the Lord said to Moses, Write this for a memorial in the book and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under the heavens. And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The Lord is my Banner; And he said, Because [theirs] is a hand against the throne of the Lord, the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation. (Exodus 17:14-16 AMP)

In Moses’ day, God spoke to Esau’s rebellious descendants, the Amalekites, and promised that every remembrance of them would be blotted out from under the heavens.

Samuel told Saul, The Lord sent me to anoint you king over His people Israel. Now listen and heed the words of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, I have considered and will punish what Amalek did to Israel, how he set himself against him in the way when [Israel] came out of Egypt. Now go and smite Amalek and utterly destroy all they have; do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and donkey. (1 Samuel 15:1-3 AMP) And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, Blessed are you of the Lord. I have performed what the Lord ordered. 14 And Samuel said, What then means this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? 15 Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but the rest we have utterly destroyed. 16 Then Samuel said to Saul, Stop! I will tell you what the Lord said to me tonight. Saul said to him, Say on. 17 Samuel said, When you were small in your own sight, were you not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed you king over Israel? 18 And the Lord sent you on a mission and said, Go, utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites; and fight against them until they are consumed. 19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord, but swooped down upon the plunder and did evil in the Lord’s sight? 20 Saul said to Samuel, Yes, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag king of Amalek and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. 21 But the people took from the spoil sheep and oxen, the chief of the things to be utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal. 22 Samuel said, Has the Lord as great a delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim (household good luck images). Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king. (1 Samuel 15:13-23 AMP)

Saul was God’s chosen vessel to carry out His judgment on Amalek. However, Saul did not obey God – he did not kill every living thing as God had ordered – he left the king and the healthy animals alive. God was furious. He had made a declaration to Amalek and He always keeps His word. In Saul’s disobedience, he made God out to be a liar – which He is definitely not! Because of the seriousness of this offence, Saul lost both his anointing and his throne. How many times have you asked God to come through for you with something specific in a specified time frame? Who did God use to answer your prayer on time? Aren’t you glad that they obeyed God? What would have happened if they had not? We waited six months for a new van in 1988, because five people were disobedient to the Lord. Finally the sixth person obeyed God and helped us get a brand-new van! We sure were happy about it!

What has God asked you to do that may have been the answer to another person’s prayer? You most likely had no idea what they asked for, just that God told you to do something for them or say something to them. As you obey God immediately and specifically, you carry out His will and His plan in the earth. If you don’t, you make God go out and find someone else. If you continue to disobey God, He will cease to call on you and you will lose your rewards. Don’t be the one God has to bypass – be the one that God can depend on to carry out His will and purpose in the earth.