All tagged obey
Do you feel called to serve the Lord, but just can’t seem to satisfy yourself in the answer to His calling? Do you answer, “Here am I!”, and yet doubt the significance of what you are giving towards the effort? Well, forget the grand desires you may have, and concentrate on giving all of yourself to Him, not to bring Him glory in the earthly sense, but in every little thing He asks of you. Do His will as He would have you do it.
In the name of Jesus Christ rests great power. We call upon it in faith, and by so doing it heals, saves, and provides for our forgiveness of sin. No other name has such strength in it, or reaches the Father’s ear with such clarity, but before we can call on His name we must believe in the man, the Son of God, and obey. We can add nothing to His name that will improve upon it. So, call His name, but call it in faith, precision, and with certainty.
Reading and remembering the Word of God is very important, but unless we actually do those things we have read then we have gathered nothing but useless knowledge. To be enamored by the words contained in the Bible without putting them to good use by doing God’s will in them is sheer foolishness. Do you live out the life you read? Do you not only hear God’s voice, but obey it?
Do we seek out the will of the Father and obey it as we go about living each and every day of our lives? Do we say that we do the things which Jesus taught, and yet neglect to ask, seek, and knock on the door of God in search of His Holy will? If this is true then we are in dire straits, and Jesus will know us not when we stand in judgement. Nothing is more important to Him than to know and obey His Father’s will.
Do you seek the will of God in everything that you do? No? Then how often do you ask the Lord what He would have you do? We are inclined to wake up in the morning, get dressed, and go about our daily duties as we see fit while either assuming we are already within God’s will, or not giving it a second thought. However, this is not what He would have us do.
Jesus loves us, this sounds like such a simple statement, and is indeed the repeating theme of a childish worship song whose lyrics begin “Jesus loves me this I know”, but do we really know this? Do we understand the depth and complexity of His love for us? A bigger question is, how do we experience this love?
Do we search for God with all our heart, and in so doing are we seeking Him by His terms, or is our motivation our own self-gratification? As we pray and call His name are we continuously obeying His beckoning voice “come”, or are we calling Him to where we are, and asking Him for favors on our own terms?
If we live according to the commandments, are we owed righteousness and everlasting life? How can we be so bold as to feel this way after Jesus walked into the vile pit of worldly sin and human debasement, suffered for us there, took on our sin, died, and was raised again... all for us in our undeserving and fallen state. He loved us first; he chose us in love before the creation of the world and knew us while we were yet in our mother’s womb. So, how is it then that by simply being moral or working at following God’s commandments that we feel entitled to redemption and eternity?
When God speaks do we answer Him straightway? When He says “Come” do we immediately go to Him? When Jesus says “Go do this...” are we willing to drop whatever we are presently doing and go? By our very nature we are procrastinators, some of us more than others, but all of us have some degree of this trait within us. When God reaches out to us He expects action and not excuses and asks for us to obey His will exactly as He has instructed us without delay. Are we able to do this?
Do we identify ourselves as missionaries? Is that what we do as a vocation, or is it a part of our everyday routine as we go here and there in life, and mix with all those we come into contact with each day? Being a missionary is not just an amazing calling for the few but should be the goal of every Christian. Spreading the gospel to one or one hundred thousand makes no difference in what we are asked to do, nor in what we are called to do. Whether we refer to ourselves as evangelists, missionaries, or simply Christians... spreading the gospel is what we are meant to do.
Am I willing to abandon myself to Jesus Christ? Can I put down my own self-interests and pick up the cross? If I can't answer "Yes" to these questions then I am confined, at best, to being an onlooker in the audience as Jesus teaches, and not a disciple that follows Him wherever He leads...
In Nashville we had a total eclipse of the sun in the year 2017, and although it took a while to reach its totality, or the period of time in which the moon totally covers the sun, the totality itself lasted for two minutes or less. Quite often the period of time in which God shines His light of opportunity on us is short as well. If we miss the chance to see or to act upon the calling God presents us, we may never experience that particular opportunity again.
Does Jesus preach in your city? God often tells us to do a certain thing; to reach out to someone, or to establish a church in some place, but once we experience the power of that happening, we are inclined to remain there in that moment or place and bask in the glow of it. How often do we get in God's way once our job is done? How often does Jesus come to take the pulpit only to find us stubbornly standing there?
My goal is to live in my faith for this precise moment. Looking into the future distracts me from the here and now and what God has for me to do right this minute. Do you have long term spiritual plans that take up most of your time and prayer? Well, drop your sail and look at what God has surrounded you with at this exact point in time; He will tell you what He has planned for your future when the time is right! Don’t worry about what is to come, or what has been, concentrate on the present and listen to God’s voice right now.
Does God have to move something, or someone, out of the way before we will see Him? Is our attention focused somewhere other than on Him? Our God is a jealous God... He told us so, which begs the question... why do we taunt Him with our inattention? This is my concentration today and I invite you to join me. I am asking myself if there are people or things in my life that keep me from Him or draw my attention away from His desire for me.