Partial obedience is disobedience. Perhaps this the greatest reason for the impotence in the church today .

King Saul's leadership of Israel came under a big test of obedience and we learn that God will only co-operate with leadership that is serious about obedience.

King Saul was given two chances to prove his complete obedience, but he failed both times. The first is where he was told to wait for the prophet to pray and offer sacrifices, but instead of waiting he did it himself. 1 Samuel 13:13 says, "And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee."

The second was when God commanded Saul to "Go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not." However, Saul was only partially obedient because he feared his people and instead spared the king of the Amalekites and the best of their sheep and cattle to offer up sacrifices to the Lord. This sounded a very good idea, but it was disobedience.

After this, Samuel the prophet did not come to visit Saul again and the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul.

Men, we cannot afford for this to happen in our leadership as fathers, or in our business. As the leader of our family, it would do us good to sit up and take notice that God is with our fatherhood and will give us the wisdom we need from day to day to lead our families as we are obedient to Him.

All partial obedience takes God out of the picture. Colin