Turned Into Another (Wo)man

I've been reading through 1 Samuel lately and paused a few places in the life of Saul. Yes, we all know that Saul ended badly but that doesn't mean I can't learn anything from him. He did start well; he was picked out of all the men of Israel to be the first king. And God picked him.

If God picked him, I would think he was a pretty good guy. Wouldn't you? Then I was reading along in chapter 10 and came upon verses 6 and 9.

And the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man. And it was so, that when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart: and all those signs came to pass that day.

The Spirit of the Lord would come upon him and he would be "turned into another man"?! That really popped out at me! Now we receive the Holy Spirit at salvation but that wasn't the case in the Old Testament. They had to receive the Holy Spirit from the Lord. (Note the instances in Judges where the Holy Spirit came upon Samson.)

But I didn't write this to scrutinize Bible theology. What struck me was that he needed to be a different man. God picked him out of all of Israel to be king and he needed change. He needed help that only came from God: not trying harder, not having rules, not following a formula.

God picked me to be a wife to my husband. God picked me to be a mother to Micah and this little one on the way. But I need to be a different lady. And you know what I've discovered? I can't do it on my own! I need God to change me. I know the Holy Spirit can be a "tricky" subject. Our Pastor has been preaching a wonderful series on being filled with the Holy Spirit. And you can listen in!

Sermon Podcasts:
Speak to Yourself
Give Thanks
Submitting Yourselves

Isn't that practical? And uncomplicated? Being filled with the Holy Spirit isn't about repeating some creed or trying to prove how much I love God. I simply have to obey God. (I say that tongue-in-cheek because sometimes that's not so easy!)

And we all know what's coming... my disclaimer about how I've not mastered this, it's something that I'm trying to put into practice. Can we just assume that I said this next time? ;)