Samuel's Conversion
by
Kendall Boutwell
On 01-10-00 Samuel Boutwell was born to Kendall and Vicki Boutwell. We had settled in our heart that we would diligently teach him the Word of God. As the scripture says in Proverbs 22:6 (KJV)
6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
Even before Samuel's birth he was prayed for many times. The name Samuel means asked of God.
My wife and I had cried out to God for a child because the doctors had told her to have a hysterectomy because she was in severe pain due to a disease that she didn't even know she had at the time. After getting pregnant despite what the doctors had said. Vicki was having problems with the pregnancy and was very grieved. So Vicki called upon the elders of the church.
James 5:14-15 (KJV)
14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
Out of God's goodness he gave us Samuel.
James 1:17 (KJV)
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
Psalms 84:11 (KJV)
11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. At Samuel's birth we began to diligently teach him the Word of God.
Psalms 19:7 (KJV)
7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.
So believing the law is perfect to convert the soul we taught him as God's word commands.
Deuteronomy 6:1-9 (KJV)
1 Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it:
2 That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.
3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.
4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
9 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
We believe that teaching him the Ten Commandments at a very early age is what drove him to the foot of the cross, so he could see his sin against God, and desire to be saved.
Early one Saturday morning as I was getting ready to eat breakfast Samuel came into the kitchen and asked me would he go to hell if he died. Stopping for a second to think, I then asked him if he had sinned against God. He said he didn't know. But I knew that he had already began to rebel against authority. So I asked him had he always obeyed his mother. He said no and I told him that he had sinned against God and that he would go to hell if he died unless he repented and trusted Jesus. At that instance without me saying anything else he confessed to God that he had done wrong and asked Jesus to forgive and save him. Then after being terrified of water he could hardly wait to be baptized. So after discussing what had went on with his mother we decided to baptise him as the scripture commands.
Mark 16:16 (KJV)
16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be ^.
God has already used him to proclaim his word. Samuel already declares that God has called him to preach. Our prayer is that he would bring Glory to God and reach many for Jesus Christ. I don't know what God will do with him in the future, but I know what he is doing with him now. To God be the glory.
A Prayer for a Courageous Soul - Your Daily Prayer - April 26
We have been given a remarkable gift through God and His redemption story. Not only have we received eternal life with our Creator, but we have received courage in Christ that will change the trajectory of our lives and the lives of those around us forever.