The Choice to Obey

Charles Spurgeon once wrote, "The first thing God requires of His child is obedience." But human nature often rebels against obedience.

The Bible is full of examples of individuals who disobeyed God. Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. Lot's wife blatantly looked back to see the destruction of Sodom. Jonah refused to go to Nineveh. Moses struck the rock, instead of speaking to it as God commanded.

We all can remember incidents when we have disobeyedwhether it was against an authority figure, a law of the land, or a biblical principle. Most likely we even remember our punishment or the consequences we suffered. The act of disobedience brings guilt, sadness, and shame.

There is no long-lasting pleasure in getting our own way. It brings grief to our heavenly Father because He longs for us to walk with Him. Our disobedience separates us from Him. Yet God extends His grace toward us even when we disobey His Word. Therefore, our response should be to seek His forgiveness with a repentant heart and to learn from the consequences of our disobedience.

When we face a hard decision to choose between what is right and what we want, how do we respond? No matter how you may be ridiculed or how hard it may be to follow God's guidance, obedience is its own reward.

Jesus lived a life of obedience. His earthly ministry was to do the will of His Father. Like us, Jesus had a choice, and He said, "Not my will, but yours" (Luke 22:42). The Lord desires our obedience, but He never demands it. The choice is ours.

 

Prayer: Lord, I pray that my love for You would not be based on feelings, but evidenced by my obedience. Thank You for the grace and patience You show me as I learn to walk in obedience to You. Amen

 

“And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands” (2 John 1:6).

(Via By Michael Youssef, Ph.D.) 


BE BLESSED!
DAWN

 

The Secret Place

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.  —Psalm 91:1   When you were a child, did you ever have a hiding place — a place you would run to when you were afraid or wanted to be alone?  God wants to be your hiding place. The good news is that you can retreat to this hiding place wherever you are. When you are tied up in bumper-to-bumper traffic, you can retreat there. When you are having a conflict at work and don't know what to say or how to deal with it, you can immediately retreat into that secret place of the Most High as you live in fellowship and  communion with God.   It is not only dwelling there, but it is living under the shadow of the Almighty. Have you ever tried to walk in someone's shadow? It can be done, but you have to stay really close. That is exactly the picture here in Psalm 91:1. God is saying, "I want you to be so close that you are actually in My very shadow." If you do that, it will give you the courage to face life.   Remember the story of the great prophet Elijah, who boldly stormed into the court of wicked King Ahab and Queen Jezebel and declared that it would not rain, except at his word? Where did he get the courage to pull off something like that? Though Elijah was in the court of powerful monarchs, he recognized that at the same time, he was in the presence of an even more powerful Monarch. He was dwelling in the secret place of the Most High.   If you kneel before God, you can stand before any man. Are you walking in this fellowship with  Him? [Via James MacDonald]