“Then the Lord called Samuel.
Samuel answered, ‘Here I am.’ And he ran to Eli and said, ‘Here I am; you called me.’
But Eli said, ‘I did not call; go back and lie down.’ So he went and lay down.”
“So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him. Then Eli said, “He is the Lord; let him do what is good in his eyes.”
The Lord has never spoke in an audible voice so that I can hear Him. No, for me He has chosen to speak in a still small voice (1 Kings 19:12). It is the voice you hear in the back of your head. The voice you can easily drown out with more pressing issues currently at hand. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit will reveal the hidden mysteries of the Word of God to us. He will guide us and teach us and lead us into all righteousness. This Holy Spirit is not a third left out person of the trinity but, as Robert Morris puts it, He is God the Spirit. The very presence of God in spirit form living inside of you and, yes, He does speak to you if you will listen.
My wife and I have made decisions before about many things together. One key factor in our decision making is confirmation. Confirmation is simply when you hear the Holy Spirit, that still small voice, tell you something and you ask your wife if she heard the same thing and she says yes, that is confirmation. We get this most of the time when dealing with money and gifts and such, but it goes way beyond that. The Lord is into confirmation when He speaks.
Chapter 3 opens up with Lord calling Samuel, Hannah’s boy, that was living in the temple with Eli. The Lord calls Samuel three times and on the third time Eli directs him to say “Speak, for your servant is listening.” Side note: If we start doing this when we hear the Lord, our lives will change drastically. We will start listening to the Lord before we do things and not after, a huge difference. What the Lord tells Samuel is the exactly same thing the man of God had told Eli. Anxious to hear what the Lord said to Samuel, Eli asks him to tells him. At first Samuel is afraid to do so, but Eli directs him to tell him what the Lord said and he relents. Verse 18 of chapter 3 tells us that Samuel “told him everything, hiding nothing from him”. Eli’s response, “He is the Lord; let him do what is good in his eyes.” Confirmation!
This is not the most rosy way to bring up this subject but it is right out of the Bible. The Lord is into confirmation and this story in 1 Samuel is just one example of it. One more story of confirmation is when Peter denied the Lord. If you remember, Jesus told him he would deny him three times and Peter pushed it off only to remember what the Lord had said after it had happened.
Today, first make time to sit and pray to the Lord every day. Ask the Lord, the Holy Spirit living inside of you, to show you what you should before you go off and do something stupid. Listen for that still small voice and log it in the back of your mind “this is what the Lord has told me.” Look for confirmation about this or that and don’t move on it until you get it. This will save you some heart ache and feeling like you have just done something stupid. When you get confirmation from the Lord, proceed with what you have been directed to do and you will be blessed. This does apply to everyday things like where to eat or what to wear, but I have mainly seen this kind of confirmation in dealing with money or big decisions in my life.
One story before I close. I have been a tither for a long time. The Bible says if I tithe, God will rebuke the devourer from all kinds of things in my life. Case closed, I tithe, end of debate! Years later I we were struggling financially and I was mad at God. Mad a barely making it. Angry with all the extra money flying out of my pocket like it had wings and it was getting to me big time. This tithing promise was stupid and it does work I told myself. So I cried out to God and shook my fist at Him. Not getting an answer after all that whining, I let it go and continued to move along in life still tithing with a bad attitude. One day, I was praying and the Lord gave an answer to my angry outburst earlier. He told me, “Have I not had my hand over you? Has the devourer taken your family? Has he stripped you of all money and possessions? Are your kids not well taken care of? Does your wife still love you?” He went on but I got the picture. Confirmation! The word of Lord in Malachi was right, He did fulfill His promise and I repented of my anger and lack of faith in the Lord. No matter what, you can count on God to fulfill His promises.
Let It Go 
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