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Q3. (1 Samuel 17:47) Why do we so often forget that "the battle is the Lord's"? What does that phrase actually mean? How can we avoid the arrogance of pulling God into our battles ("God is on my side"), rather than engaging in His battles ("I am on God's side")? Being raised by one of the "Greatest Generation" I was raised to pullmy self up by my own boot straps. Independence was a highly repsectable virtue. The problem was that often God was left out of that equation. If I needed any type of help for my battles that was a sign of weakness. Even though as I grew older I have realized the error in that teaching I still slip back into that "stinking thinking" at times. "The battle is the Lord's" points to the fact of the soveringty of the Lord. He ask us to come to him and he does so because he wants to be our guide. He knows the way of the Lord and if we depend on Him we will stay in God's will. But we have to remeber that the battle is the Lord's and not ours. It's ludicrous for us to try and fight any battle outside of Jusus's guidance. We must always remember that God is the creator and we are the created. We are responsible to live a life totally committed to him. We are the followers never the leader.

Q1. (1 Samuel 15:22-23). What is rebellion? In what way is rebellion as bad as witchcraft or occult practices? What does rebellion have to do with arrogance? What can we do when we find rebellion against God in our hearts? What happens if we do nothing? Rebellion is putting self or anything else in front of God. In essence it say’s "God I’ve got it under control, I’ll call on you if I need you." That’s the arrogance piece – I’m know better than you. When rebellion sneaks in we need to recognize it and immediately ask God to forgive us. We should examine how we allowed it to come in, in hopes of preventing it in the future. It is as bad as witchcraft and occultism because it subordinates God.