Obedience is the Key
Acts 5:29 – Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.
John 14:15 – If ye love me, keep my commandments
1 Samuel 15:22 – And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
1 John 2: 3-6 – And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
John 10:27 -28 – My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
Obedience is key to being a child of God. In fact, when we look at 1 Samuel we see that the prophet of God says that obeying the voice of the Lord is better than to give sacrifice. This alone should convey to us that we MUST obey. We hear about, or we might even know, people that will rather sacrifice their time, money, possessions for people in need, be part of a group from church, or come consistently to the house of God throughout the week for service rather than obeying the simple voice of God.
We believe that because we have sacrificed something to God, that God will look over the rest, the rest being obeying His Word. Rather than stopping the sin in our lives or the transgressions over His law, we think sacrificing something else precious to us will suffice.
Maybe it’s drugs, addiction to alcohol, or obscene shows or movies, gluttony, or whatever sin it might be, we assume ignorance on God’s part, because we think it’s such a small thing. This has become the concept that we hear many say today, “God is love,” and because God is love He will forgive us and we can still go to heaven.
The thing is, the WORD OF GOD does not teach us this. It teaches us that if we do not obey Him we are not of Him and that we do not love Him. In fact, Jesus says, “you will know that they are mine for they will follow my voice [these are the Words of God] and if they follow me then will I give them eternal life and then no one will be able to pluck them out of my hand” – John 10:27-28.
In addition to this, in 1 John 2:3-6, it tells us that we know Him and the truth is in us if we follow His commands and when we continue to follow His commands that means that we know Christ and we are in Him and He in us. This is something that is important to know.
In the life of a child of God there is the process of learning and knowing the Word of God (the truth) –we don’t know all His commands or all that is written as we go through this process and because of this we need to also depend on our brothers and sister in Christ to keep us accountable of what we should, or not, be doing.
Because of this, we must not act prideful or think we know better than others, but if we know Christ we will be willing to learn and change when a brother or sister tells us that we are doing something wrong, according to the Word of God. If we do this then we will not only grow but we will also show maturity as a child of God.
Obedience to Gods commands
Deuteronomy 30:15-16 – See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.
Deuteronomy 10:12,13 – And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?
Romans 5:19 – For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
Hebrew 5:8-9 – Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him…
The Lord God puts before you and me life and good, and death and evil and he tells us to choose to walk in His ways. In this life many know what is wrong and what is good but we must still choose. In Deuteronomy, we see that God tells them this and He says to them if they follow His commands and obey Him that the Lord God will bless them in the land which He has promised them. On top of this, in the same book 10:12-13, we see that by keeping or obeying His voice to keep His commandments and His statues that what He has commanded us to follow is for our good and benefit.
In Romans we see that through the disobedience of one man (Adam), many were made sinners, but by the obedience of another (Jesus Christ) many were made righteous. Because of His obedience, He became the author of eternal salvation for all who obey Him.
I want all to understand that when we obey, we never know what may happen; what blessing might come our way or around you or even to the world.
We see that because the Apostles were faithful and willing to obey the word of God, the rest of the world was blessed to know Jesus Christ and have the truth be revealed. We have seen time after time again that who is willing to commit, to discipline their life for God, and obey the Word of God that many blessings come afterwards. Let’s become true disciples of Christ.
Obedience for Growth
Joshua 1:8 – This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
Matthew 5:19 – Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
The above passages speak about us obeying the Word of God. It says that if we obey the Word of God that it will make our ways prosperous and we will have success. Matthew writes that if we do and teach His commandments that we will be called great in the kingdom of God.
When we look at the passages above as well as the passages below, the one thing you will notice a pattern of is that the ones that obey, will actually have not just a successful and prosperous life with God, but obedience will also bring a peaceful life, a life that will create less stress and pain.
Life already has more than enough pain and problems for us to make it any harder, but when we start obeying the Word of God we will start seeing that the life it brings has joy, peace, and prosperity. A life that is filled with more than what we could imagine. There are many people that live a life of stress, pain, anger, frustration, complications, chaos and much more because they decide not to obey the Word of God.
Now, the more and more that we obey what the Word of God tells us, the more love and peace we will find; the more we obey the more we will have a life that is calming, stressless, and simple A life that is no longer a problem, mixed up like in a blender, but is a table that is organized and easy to follow, because the Word of God is direction, instructions on how to handle situations in life. It directs us to a simpler and easier way of life through God’s commandments.
Lovingly Obedient
John 14:15,23 – If ye love me, keep my commandments. 23. Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
Acts 5:32 – And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.
If we look at the above passages, we see that if we love God, He says to keep His commandments and keep His Father’s words. Furthermore, if we obey Him, He gives His Holy Spirit to us. These passages are very specific, they tell us that if we truly love Him we should obey His words. This is a sign, you can say, that will show us to be the true children of God.
The great and amazing thing is that if we obey the Holy Spirit in us, He will give us the strength and guidance for us to follow and obey the Word of God. If it is necessary, He will also convict us and rebuke what is sinful in our life, to turn from it. He does not just convict us and let us know what is wrong, He will also give us the strength to remove it out of our life and truly repent of it.
This is something we must give thanks to God for. That He loves us so much that He gave His only begotten son for you and me and He has also promised us the Holy Spirit.
Glory to God!
Conclusion
If you have had trouble following God or obeying His Words and have had a hard time crucifying your flesh, then ask God today, this moment. Come in repentance and ask God for forgivenessand strength to obey His Words and commandments.
So that you can be able to say no to the devil and his force; put on the armor of God to be able to fight and become true victors of the battlefield with God’s strength The Word of God teaches us that it’s not through your might or your power but it is through His Holy Spirit that we shall become truly victorious. If you believe this, it shall come to pass.