Have you been keeping something alive that God told you to kill?

Partial obedience is disobedience. When God tells you to do something, He already knows what's best for you before you even understand why. What He's asking you to let go of might be the very thing standing between you and your life. I'd rather obey any day of the week. Obedience is better than sacrifice, and I'm about to show you why.

THE KING WHO GOT THE ASSIGNMENT

Turn with me to 1 Samuel 15. Samuel comes to Saul with a word straight from the Lord. God says, "I have decided to settle accounts with the nation of Amalek." Amalek had attacked Israel while they were coming out of Egypt, while they were weak and exhausted. They struck the ones who couldn't defend themselves - the children and the elderly and the sick. And God said, "Never forget."

Now hold on, because this matters. Forgiveness doesn't mean forgetting. You can forgive somebody and still keep your eyes open. Jesus forgave his enemies, but He didn’t trust them. Forgiveness clears the debt, but it shouldn't shut off your discernment.

So God gives Saul the assignment: completely destroy the Amalekites. Everything. Every last thing. No negotiation. But Saul did not completely obey God.

WHEN THE STAKES GET RAISED

Here's something you need to understand about leadership: the moment God calls you and anoints you, the stakes go up. To whom much is given, much is required (Luke 12:48). Saul wasn't just fighting his own battle - he was carrying out God's justice on behalf of an entire nation. That's a weighty assignment. That's do-or-die. Sink-or-swim. Make-or-break.

And Saul had every soldier he needed. Two hundred thousand from Israel, ten thousand from Judah. He even warned the Kenites to get out of the way because God remembered their kindness. God doesn't forget the good you've sown either. He's keeping record of that too.

But when it came time to execute the assignment - completely, fully, all the way - Saul flinched. He spared King Agag. He kept the best of the sheep and the cattle and the fat calves. Everything that looked good to him, he kept. He destroyed only what was worthless. That's not obedience. That's negotiation. And you cannot negotiate with what God told you to let go of.

THE LIE SAUL TOLD HIMSELF

Saul convinced himself that sparing Agag and keeping the best livestock was actually generous - even godly. "We'll sacrifice it to the Lord," he said. But God never asked for a sacrifice. He asked for obedience.

Saul feared man more than he feared God. He admitted it later: "I was afraid of the people, so I did what they demanded." He was a people-pleaser. He was more concerned about what the crowd would think about him than obeying God. And that is a trap so many of us fall into. We compromise the clear word of God because we're afraid of what people will think if we go all the way.

I'd rather look like a fool and obey God - and leave the consequences in His hands - than spend my life trying to impress people and miss His perfect will for me.

SAMUEL FINISHES WHAT SAUL STARTED

When Samuel arrives, Saul greets him like a man who got away with something: "May the Lord bless you. I have carried out the Lord's command." Samuel doesn't even argue. He just asks one question: "Then what is this bleating of sheep I hear?" Your sin will always find you out.

What Samuel says to Saul becomes a message you'll see over and over again throughout Scripture: "To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. Rebellion is like the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is like the evil of idolatry." Because you rejected the word of the Lord, the Lord has rejected you as king.

Then Samuel does what Saul refused to do. He calls for Agag and finishes the assignment himself.

WHY THIS STILL MATTERS

Here's the chilling part. Years later, in 2 Samuel 1, a young man comes to David claiming he killed King Saul who was wounded on the battlefield. And when David asks who he is, the man answers, "I am an Amalekite."

Think about that. The very group Saul was told to completely wipe out came back around and was standing over his death. What you don't fully deal with when God tells you to deal with it doesn't just disappear. It waits. And sometimes it comes back to finish what you left unfinished.

WHERE THIS LEAVES US

God is speaking to somebody reading this letter right now. There's an Agag in your life - a compromise you've been keeping alive because it looks valuable, because letting it go feels like too much, because you're afraid of what people will say if you finally obey all the way.

Partial obedience is disobedience. Not almost-there. Not I-did-my-best. God isn't asking for your best effort. He's asking for your full trust. And when you can't trace Him, that's exactly when He's asking you to trust Him anyway.

I'm asking you this week: what has God told you to completely let go of that you've only partially released? Don't compromise. Finish the assignment. Go all the way with God.

BECAUSE GOD IS STILL SETTLING ACCOUNTS

Here's what I know. The same God who told Saul, "I have decided," is the same God saying it over your life right now. God isn't just showing you the problem, He's already working the solution. And He doesn't stop at your breakthrough. He wants to use it.

Because God dealt with Amalek for Israel's sake... because God is dealing with the compromise in your life right now... God wants to use this ministry to go deal with what's holding somebody else captive too. Right now, all over this world, there are families still in bondage - still under attack from an enemy that doesn't quit. Somebody's marriage needs deliverance. Somebody's child needs to be rescued. Somebody's mind needs to be set free. That's why we preach this word without compromise. That's why we don't water it down.

WHERE WE'RE BELIEVING GOD

We are believing God for our own building - a place with 24/7 access where this word can go out uncompromised, where families can find deliverance, where the next generation can be raised up in truth. We are believing God for this transition into the city He's calling us to. We are believing God to reach more homes, more marriages, more children who need to hear that full obedience will bring them into their promise.

None of that happens without you.

WILL YOU SOW INTO THIS WITH US?

If this word has ever strengthened you... if you've ever been sitting where you are right now and felt the Holy Ghost confirm something in your spirit... if you believe in what God is building through this ministry... then I'm asking you today - don't just receive this word. Sow into it.

Together, we get to be a part of somebody else's deliverance. Together, we get to fund the next revival meeting, the next miracle service, the next family that walks in a service broken and walks out whole.

Whether God places $25, $50, $100, or something greater on your heart - sow it. If you've been meaning to become a monthly partner, let today be the day you say yes.

Will you sow a seed today and help us reach more people with the Gospel? Give now at:

By Mail:
Sean Pinder Ministries
P.O. Box 2726
McKinney, TX 75070

A BLESSING OVER YOU

Thank you for standing with this ministry. As you sow today, I speak increase over you in the name of Jesus. I speak breakthrough where you've been believing. I speak that what you release in obedience, God will multiply back into your life. As you stand with us, we believe God will bless you, strengthen you, and increase you as together we advance His Kingdom.

We love you. We're believing with you.

God Bless,

Pastors Sean and Aimee Pinder