“Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say?” Luke 6.46 NIV
What looks like foolishness to one is nothing short of obedience to the Father to some. It doesn’t have to make sense to you what He is asking of her, it only has to make sense to her (and even that can be iffy at times if we were to be honest). So many of you claim that you are obedient to Him, but yet when something comes up that He asks of you that is hard, heartbreaking or seems just flat out un-doable, you either tend to turn cheek to it or you drag your feet on doing it until it’s well past the time to accomplish what it is He asked of you.
I believe that many of you only think that being obedient to God falls under following His precepts and commandments. You don’t realize that oftentimes He asks of you to sacrifice and alter your life and lifestyle, oftentimes rather regularly. The problem is the majority don’t take the time to learn to listen for His voice, or to learn to discern His voice over our own within our head. I think you’d be shocked at how many of those small inner conversations you have with yourself aren’t really your own.
And for those that do know how to discern the difference, it’s easy for us to pick and choose when we want to listen to what He’s asking of us. When it’s something that we don’t want to do, or something that may be hard or uncomfortable, we tend to ignore Him and act like we didn’t hear it at all. We are usually on board to complete the small tasks He sets forth for us, but those big things or those hard, uncomfortable things, yeah we act like we can’t hear Him.
Y’all realize He knows you’re picking and choosing when to acknowledge and when to be obedient to Him, right? And what is the funniest part of it to me, and probably not as humorous to Him, is that those hard things that you are choosing to ignore Him over, if you would only ask Him for help with the task it wouldn’t be nearly as hard, nor as intimidating as it seems when He asks you to take it on. It wouldn’t be as heartbreaking, because He will heal your heart and replace the hurt with something new. He isn’t asking you to sacrifice anything that He isn’t planning on replacing with something better.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3.5-6 NIV
How often do we find ourselves struggling to be obedient to God and trusting Him when he’s asked us to do something, but then after the fact we sit and reflect and realize that had we not been obedient we would have never achieved the bountiful blessings He had in store for us? How many of us struggled for years with something and once we surrendered to God and became obedient to Him, what we had once struggled with suddenly became easy to overcome? And we tend to kick ourselves because had we only surrendered whatever it had been all that time ago we would have saved so much energy to start with?
God is testing… calling His people to be obedient in ways that we never thought we would have to before. The coming days He is going to be testing a lot of His people on our obedience because He needs those that are going to do what He calls and commands us to do, when He does and without questioning, hesitating or allowing our flesh to interfere. He is calling His army together, the ones that will answer to His call above all else and won’t allow anyone or anything to interfere with that.
“We must obey God rather than men…” Acts 5.29 ESV
I think so many of us shy away from what those inner conversations tell us that we need to do because it sounds hard, or if I were to be honest, down right frightening at times. We think to ourselves there is absolutely no way I can do that, or there is no way that will happen. I’m not smart enough, strong enough, or brave enough. We tend to automatically rely on our own thought processes verses running to our Lord and relying on Him above everything else. We need to utilize Jesus’ actions as our own goals and to focus on the promise set forth as in Hebrews 5, verses 7-9 ESV,
‘In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him…’
There is coming a day where His children are going to find out that there is a huge difference in the levels of obedience He is asking of us. He wants his people to remember how obedience played a vital role for Noah, Moses, Abraham, Daniel, Paul and even Jesus himself while he was here. He isn’t looking for lukewarm, when it is convenient for you Christians. He is looking for devoted, all or nothing, 1 John 5 type Christians…
“This is how we can be sure that we love the children of God: by having a passionate love for God and by obedience to his commands. True love for God means obeying his commands, and his commands don’t weigh us down as heavy burdens. You see, every child of God overcomes the world, for our faith is the victorious power that triumphs over the world. So who are the world conquerors, defeating its power? Those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.” 1 John 5.2-5 TPT
Billie is a 40-something stay-at-home momma of five beautiful children and Grammy to three grandchildren. When not wrangling the littles, she babysits for her two adult children. You will find her gardening, canning, baking, and making the most delicious meals for her family. Billie is a multitasker juggling a team of miniature tyrants, a cat, a snake, two dogs, two rats, and nine chickens. In her spare time, she enjoys reading and studying her bible. Her passion is sharing the gospel through her writing! So, whether she’s feeding your body with delicious meals or feeding your soul through her writing, join Billie as she takes you on a journey providing you with “Food for Thought.”
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