Emmanuel Okoro (aka MrLift)

A Better Man Than You Are What if God Himself told you that someone else is a better man than you? Not your boss. Not your colleague. Not your competitor. God. That would be a difficult verdict to swallow. We can argue with people, defend our choices and explain our shortcomings. But when God says, “He is a better man than you are,” there is nowhere left to hide. The real question, then, is not “Am I better than him?” It is: “Am I becoming the kind of man God calls better?” Scripture “Samuel said, ‘GOD has just now torn the kingdom from you, and handed it over to your neighbor, a better man than you are.’” ( 1 Samuel 15:28 ) Explanation God had rejected Saul as king. And He did not merely tell Saul that the kingdom would be taken from him; He told him why another would receive it—a man who was better than him . But what does “better” really mean? Is it intelligence? Achievement? Influence? Leadership ability? The capacity to win battles? The ability to relate wel...

Pleasing People The moment pleasing people becomes more important than pleasing God, their approval becomes your prison. It is good to care about people. But when the fear of disappointing them becomes greater than the fear of disobeying God, something is wrong. Saul discovered this the hard way. Scripture “Saul gave in and confessed, ‘I've sinned. I've trampled roughshod over GOD's Word and your instructions. I cared more about pleasing the people. I let them tell me what to do.’”( 1 Samuel 15:24 ) Explanation Saul knew what God had commanded, but he allowed the people's voice to become louder than God's. Earlier, we get a glimpse of how Saul may have struggled with significance. When people saw him prophesying, they asked “What has come over him, who is nobody but the son of Kish?”( 1 Sam. 10:11 AMP ) People saw the son of Kish; God saw the king He had chosen. The Bible does not explicitly say that Saul's people-pleasing came from this ear...

Don't Just Pray Your Frustrations It is possible to pray all night and still pray the wrong thing. When we are hurt, disappointed, angry or frustrated, our natural response is to pour everything out to God. And there is nothing wrong with being honest with God about how we feel. But prayer should not end with our frustrations; our frustrations should lead us back to God's Word. Scripture “I'm sorry I ever made Saul king. He's turned his back on me. He refuses to do what I tell him.” Samuel was angry when he heard this. He prayed his anger and disappointment all through the night. " (1 Samuel 15:11) Explanation There are two people in this verse: Saul and Samuel. While one turned his back on God , the other turned his face to God . Saul responded to God's instruction with disobedience. Samuel responded to the situation by going to God in prayer. But notice what Samuel prayed: his anger and disappointment. It is okay to vent before God. Tell H...

Don't Turn Your Back on God You don't have to deny God to turn your back on Him. Sometimes, turning your back on God simply means knowing what He has told you to do and choosing not to do it. Scripture “I’m sorry I ever made Saul king. He’s turned his back on me. He refuses to do what I tell him to do.” Samuel was angry when he heard this. He prayed his anger and disappointment all through the night.( 1 Samuel 15:11 ) Explanation Saul did not wake up one morning and announce that he no longer believed in God. In fact, he still looked like a man who served God. But God said, “He has turned his back on me.” Why? God had given Saul a clear instruction to completely destroy the Amalekites. But Saul and his men made an exception. They spared Agag and kept the best sheep and cattle. Saul wanted to obey God—but on his own terms . And this is where many people find themselves today. They profess to know God, but they have turned their backs on Him by refusing to do ...

NO EXCEPTION What if the thing standing between us and wholehearted obedience to God isn't rebellion—but the exceptions we keep making? We may obey God in the areas that are easy, comfortable, and convenient, while quietly holding on to the things we don't want to surrender. Saul didn't reject God's command completely; he simply made exceptions. And sometimes, our greatest problem isn't what we refuse to obey, but what we choose to spare. Scripture “Saul and the army made an exception for Agag, and for the choice sheep and cattle. They didn't include them under the terms of the holy ban. But all the rest, which nobody wanted anyway, they destroyed as decreed by the holy ban.”( 1 Samuel 15:9 ) Explanation God gave Saul a clear instruction concerning the Amalekites. There was no room for negotiation or personal preference. But when Saul and his army encountered Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, they made an exception. Interestingly, the...

The First and the Last Kings of Israel The first often fights battles that the last gets to enjoy the victory from. Saul was the first king of Israel. His reign was marked by relentless battles with the Philistines. Solomon, the last king of the united kingdom of Israel, inherited a very different experience—a kingdom enjoying peace, security and contentment. The difference reminds us of a greater truth: what you experience can be determined by who you are connected to. Scripture “All through Saul's life there was war, bitter and relentless, with the Philistines. Saul conscripted every strong and brave man he laid eyes on.”(1 Samuel 14:52) “Throughout Solomon's life, everyone in Israel and Judah lived safe and sound, all of them from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south—content with what they had." (1 Kings 4:25) And concerning Adam and Christ: “One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one man said yes to God and put many in the right...