The Lord said to Abram, “Leave your country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land I will show you. I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you. I will make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you, and I will place a curse on those who harm you. And all the people on earth will be blessed through you.” So Abram left Haran as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. At this time Abram was 75 years old. (See Genesis 12:1-4, NCV.)
Sometimes, it may not call to heart nor occur to us to examine our hearts in regard to our obedient life towards God, and try to weigh it with the manner the men of faith before us or the holy men of old that had walked with God responded to God, which resulted in them winning divine commendations for their lives of service to God.
We heard of their account and life records, …and Enoch walked with God, and he was no more, for the Lord took him…But Noah found favor with God… Satan have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him… And after David had served his generation in the Will of God, he slept… How did such men who were never taught obedience, CRK, nor in Churches so much excel in obedience with God? Obedience is more of a life style than praying it or singing and dancing it. We don't sing obedience, it is what we must do, it is what must be evident through our daily business of life.
Obedience is personal. Except we treat it like that, we will either be seen or found either not obeying God enough, or not obeying at all.
It may surprise you too that, these men never sat to be taught divine obedience at any point in their lives. Only what they had was their conscience. Except an angel of God came to them with instructions from the Lord through dreams, or a prophet delivered to them the oracles of God, their spirits were not in constant fellowship with God to hear God for themselves unlike us. Yet, they seem to have surpassed us when it comes to responding to God by lifestyle, life purpose, and life focus.
We have been so privileged to have listened to the subject of obedience preached and taught severally, but to a very large extent, I am of the opinion as evidently proven in our fruits that, we are more knowledgeable in theoretical form of divine obedience, responding to God, faith and trust, than obedience is shown in our practical lives.
To ensure you don't justify yourself in this matter, if you are saying, "for me, I know I always obey God". As good as that may sound, it is also very vital you ask or examine your heart on what and what you might have obeyed God on.
God is not a living being without desires. God has Will, desire, pleasure, and ambition. Don't forget, men have desires because they are created after the image and likeness of God. So, if you wish to say, I am OK in obedience to God; then what exactly has the Lord demanded of you, and you have done? And the problem might not be that you have done it, but did you do it accordingly, how he will have you do it?
One of the cardinal ways of testing our obedience to God is to first of all know what He has asked us to do. Obedience is not about us doing what we might have assumed the Lord would be happy if we do it. Just imagine Abraham leaving his country home, a place he knew to an unknown place because he wanted to please God. Which place exactly would he have known the Lord had prepared to give to his descendant for an inheritance – that will be termed blind obedience. God will simply say, I have not called, yet, he has answered.
Don't ever deceive yourself, and never submit yourself to people's deception to think that because you pay your tithes and offerings regularly, that is the obedience we are talking about here. Far from that Sir!
Ma! If financial supply is not the burden the Lord has called you to bear for Him in His kingdom business, even if you like single handedly build a whole church edifice to the honor of His name; you wouldn't be different from a man whom the Lord has called and sent to one village or town as an evangelist, but refused to go for the Lord.
Please, I want you to get this right, it will neither profit God nor you if you are by any chance ignorant of what obedience means to God. Because whether your life will be pleasing to God or not, it depends on whether you have discovered or responded to God on what He will have you do for the glory of His name specifically.
Obedience to God requires that you first of all know what the Lord will have you do, either in business, politics, kingdom ministry, in civil services and public ministries, in a particular nation's economy. And you are obediently there as heaven's representative doing the work there as the Lord will have you do, not because you pursue money there, but because you have chosen to please God with your life. (that's obedience, pleasing Christ with the life He gave you.)
Brother Saul of Tarsus, who was later called Apostle Paul, did not ask God, what He will have them do, but what the Lord will have him do. And later on in his life, he was bold to say, concerning the heavenly vision, he was not disobedient to it. Obedience is personal. He concluded, I have finished the race, not we have finished the race. He was sure of what the Lord will want to have him do, and he obeyed. By the time he was done with it, he knew he finished it. No assumptions. If you know what you are meant to do, you will measure your obedience with it. Don't justify yourself by saying, there is nothing the Lord asked you to do specifically. Yes, you are right. But, hope you are not expecting God to add a work for you to do for Him while you are already busy?
Any professing Christian, a believer, who is still enjoying sin: hatred, lies, self pleasure, self pursuit, alcohol, smoking, envy, malice, Gossip, bitterness, fornication, adultery, evil look, night clubs or party, quarrel and the likes is an unavailable believer. Anytime the Lord Jesus reaches out His hand like when a man stretches his hand to pick a vessel to use, such a believer is pre-occupied, unavailable, defiled, dirty, not useful, or has been damaged.
Friend, you cannot serve self or Satan and God at same time. You can't be available for Self or Sin, and be available for God. God wouldn't endure meeting with sin. It is a matter of making a choice, everyone of us is to choose whom he must please; either to keep pleasing himself or seek after the Will God to please Him.
The LORD is looking down from heaven on the sons of man. He is looking to see if there is anyone that understands. He is looking to see if anyone is looking for God. But everyone seem to have turned away from God. They have all become evil. Nobody does anything that is good. (See Psalms 14:2-3 EASY.)
To be continued…
#PEACE
#LIVING TRUTH
#GOD'S SERVANT, JOHN
