Tag: obedience

Expressing Our Love for God through Our Service

1 Peter 5:2
Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you. Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly–not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God.

The apostle, Peter, witnessed first hand the servant attitude of His Master, Jesus Christ. Peter saw how Jesus served all people out of the devotion He had for His Father in heaven. In his writings, he was encouraging His fellow followers of Christ to follow the model that Jesus had provided them.

When we were children, many of us joined our parents in the work that needed to be done around the house. We joined them in obedience to their request for help. If we served them because we loved them and wanted to honor them, our work was done eagerly and with joy. If we served them for any other reason – to earn allowance or perhaps avoid punishment – our work probably became tedious quickly.

We may find a similar experience when we seek to serve humanity. No matter how fulfilling the service may be at first, the humanitarian cause will become exhausting if the root of our service is not our love for Our Savior. The secret of our joy in service will be our devotion to Jesus Christ.

Jesus was the perfect model of service. Jesus was able to carry through on His service to mankind all the way to the end because He was driven by His love for His Father first. Honoring His Father with His obedience was His calling. The service that He provided for mankind was the result of His love for His Father.

Let us willingly serve Our Father in heaven with the same passion that was so evident in Jesus’ ministry. Let us eagerly serve those around us out of devotion for Our Savior King. Let our service to the flock that the Lord has given us be marked by the same sacrificial fervor as the Good Shepherd.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for allowing us to express our love to You through our service to those around us. We pray that You strengthen us, Lord, for our work by helping us to grow in our relationship with Your Son. May our devotion to Him be measured by the fruits of our work. May all that we do to serve Your kingdom bring honor and glory to Your Holy Name, the name of Your Son, Jesus, and to the Holy Spirit. We ask all these things in the name of Our Servant King and Savior, Jesus Christ.

God is Challenging Each of Us to Take a Step for His Kingdom

Hebrews 11: 8
It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going.

What an amazing example of living in faith is provided by the story of Abraham. It was a great step of faith for Abraham to leave his family and his homeland in response to God’s calling on his life. He did not even know where God was leading him. Yet he faithfully followed the path that the Lord laid out for him. And for his simple act of faith, he became the father of all nations.

Abraham was called out of his own country. He was called away from his family. He was called away from his father’s house. He was called from the only culture that he knew. It is not likely that God will ask us to follow a similar plan as Abraham. He is not likely to call us away from relatives, friends and acquaintances. He is not likely to call us away from the neighbors and neighborhoods where we find our comfort. In fact, it is quite likely that these are the places that He will call us to serve. But just like Abraham, we can be assured that we will be challenged in some major way by our calling.

In challenging each of us, God will ask us to take simple steps of faith. As we respond obediently, He will put before us the next step which usually will require a little more faith in Him and a little more of letting go of faith in ourselves. We may not become a father of a nation by yielding to our calling, but we will surely gain more than we ever imagined.

Let us step out in faith when we sense the urging of the Holy Spirit. Let us follow God’s calling even when we are not sure where we are going. Let us reap the harvest of our journey.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for having a unique plan for each of us. We rejoice in knowing that the reward that You have prepared for us if we respond to Your calling is beyond our imagination. We pray, Father, that you will give us the strength and guidance to follow the path that you have laid out for each of us. Even though we may not know our destination, Lord, may your Holy Spirit keep us steadfast in our journey to stand before you in the image of Your Son. We pray these things in the precious name of the author of our faith, Jesus Christ.

God Does Not Overlook a Single Thing in Our Lives

2 Chronicles 27:6
King Jotham became powerful because he was careful to live in obedience to the LORD his God.

Jotham became king at the age of 28. He was obedient in all things. Because of his faithfulness, he was given victory in all of his battles and a resting place of honor when he died.

God does not overlook a single thing in our lives. Everything that we do is examined by Him. He delights in our obedience in even the simplest of acts.

On the other hand, we can miss out on the promises of God in our lives simply by not complying to the small things of life that the Holy Spirit may place on our hearts. How many times have we passed up the opportunity to assist a grouchy neighbor, lend a helping hand to a needy stranger or respond politely and with love when receiving poor service? Each time we passed on one of these or numerous other Holy Spirit led opportunities, we deprived God of His delight in us. It is quite possible that we also limited the release of His power in our lives. It is important that we seek and give full consideration to the will of God concerning all elements of our daily lives.

Let us listen to the urgings of the Holy Spirit as we go through our daily activities. Let us surrender ourselves to being vessels of the perfect love and forgiveness that we have received from Our Heavenly Father. May the fruits of our obedience delight the Lord.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us the opportunity to bring honor and glory to Your Name when we allow the marvel of Your grace to be exhibited in our lives. Teach us, Father, to recognize You and Your love in the simplest of tasks that are performed in service to others. Lord, we pray that You release the fullness of Your power in our lives as we learn to share Your perfect love and forgiveness with the world around us. We ask all these things in the name of the Lord of Our Lives, Jesus Christ.

Moving Toward Our Manifest Destiny in Christ

John 13:17
If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

God told Moses to speak to the rock and it would yield water. But because the water did not come quick enough to suit Moses, in anger he struck the rock. Water came forth for the people to drink, but God was not pleased. Because Moses did not trust in God’s timing, he tried to make things happen his own way. In the process, he disobeyed God. Moses later suffered the consequences of his disobedience. He was not permitted to enter into the land of Canaan with his people.

What “promised land” are we missing because we are not being perfectly obedient in what God is asking us to do? God allows us much room for choice in our lives, but He also changes His rewards when we make poor choices. This is especially true if God has laid out a specific path for us to take, but we choose to take a different path.

Moses missed going into the promised land because he was not perfectly obedient to God’s direction in his life. We certainly risk missing our promised land when we are anything less than fully submitted to God’s direction in our lives.

Let us draw near to the Lord. Let us seek earnestly the guidance and instruction of the Holy Spirit. Let us move without hesitation when the Holy Spirit directs us toward our manifest destiny in Christ. Let us receive the fullness of the rewards that the Lord has in store for His obedient children.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that You direct our ways through the urgings of the Holy Spirit in our lives each day. Prepare our hearts, Lord, so that we may be alert and obedient to Your calling on our lives. Teach us how to hear and respond to the Holy Spirit so that we may know the things that You ask of us. We pray that we will have the strength and wisdom to comply in accordance with Your plans for our lives. May we receive the fullness of the blessings that You have set aside for us. We ask all these things in the name of the Lamb without Blemish, Jesus Christ.

Whom Shall I Fear?

Psalm 27:1
The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

Many of the Psalms were written by David. David was proclaimed by God to be “a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do”. Because David proved himself to be obedient to the Lord’s calling on his life, sought God in all things and trusted God in all things, God made him king of Israel.

The first we read about David, we see him as a young man who believed God would give him victory over the giant, Goliath, when everyone else cowered in the face of the giant. The men of the day tried to provide David with their armor to fight the giant. David refused. He knew he only needed God on his side.

The same God that helped David slay Goliath is the God that helps us to slay the giants in our lives. The giants in our lives are not named Goliath. They are named such things as addiction, fear, worry, depression, confusion, manipulation, control, bitterness and anger. We do not need to turn to the world to defeat our giants. We only need to go to Our Heavenly Father in the name of His Son, Jesus.

Let us not be fearful in any battle that we are fighting. Just as David did, we can go to the Father to be perfectly prepared for the battle. Let us confidently proclaim victory against whatever giant or giants we are facing. Our ultimate victory has already been set aside for us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us Your Son, whose death on the Cross gave us victory over all things. We exalt the name of Our Savior King who opened the gateway to heaven for us. We are so grateful that Jesus stands beside us as we face our giants. We pray that the Holy Spirit will teach us to trust in You, Lord, just as David trusted in You. We ask all these things in the name of Our Lord Mighty in Battle, Jesus Christ.

Jesus Accepted Public Hatred, Ridicule, Scorn, Suffering and Death for All Mankind

Philippians 2:8
Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

The fact that Jesus left His divine state to become a man illustrates an act of humility that surpasses anything that any human could imagine. Accepting the lowliness of man, it would have been reasonable by any human standard that He would a least appear as a king. Not so for this divine man, He took not a royal station but accepted a position in a lowly manger. His state within humankind never advanced to any level above the lowest elements of society. He worked His entire ministry in the streets and hillsides among the common people.

Aside from His transfiguration before Peter, James and John, His splendor was never to be seen by man until He ascended to His seat beside His Father in Heaven. In the meantime, He endured a life of poverty and suffering which ended in an exposition of public hatred, ridicule and scorn. Then, having no place for personal pride, He accepted death so that we may have life.

Let us lie at the foot of His Cross each day and learn from Our Savior King. Let us take note of His complete obedience to the Father under all circumstances. Let us allow our personal pride to dissolve in the face of knowing why He made these choices – to save us from our sinful and prideful nature. Let us be inspired by His faithfulness and His promises. Let us humble ourselves to the point of putting the old man in our lives to death so that our new man in Christ may live.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we humbly bow before Your throne, asking Your forgiveness for our sins. We thank You for providing the way for us to overcome our sinful nature. May we cling to the Cross of Our Savior. May we learn to set aside our pride and serve those around us in the manner that You call us. May we ignore the scorn of the world as we are obedient to Your calling on our lives. We ask all these things in the name of The Captain of Our Salvation, Jesus Christ.

Small Obedient Steps Are Essential in Moving Higher and Sustaining Growth

2 Peter 1:3
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

God sets the vision for our lives and puts everything in place for us to fulfill the plan. He provides His Holy Spirit to stand by us, to guide us and to instruct us in the person, the grace and the righteousness that is Jesus Christ. There is absolutely nothing in this world that can stop us from meeting the plans that Almighty God has set aside for us.

We must, however, take all the small steps needed to move from one place to the next higher place that God has planned for us. We must be obedient to the urgings of the Holy Spirit as we overcome the callings of our flesh. We must allow the Holy Spirit to move us from a knowledge of Our Savior into a meaningful relationship with Him.

Along the way, Satan will challenge each and every step. And once we really start making progress, Satan will turn his evil on those around us, especially those close to us. Built up by our faith and strengthened by the Holy Spirit, we will overcome. As we surrender to the whispers of Our Helper, our tiny steps of obedience will take us to our special calling and allow us to live godly lives through the One who has called us.

Let us make the Lord, Jesus Christ, first in our lives. Let us learn to seek His counsel in all things. May the voice of His Holy Spirit drown out all the noise that the world sends to keep us from our manifest destiny in Christ.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your promise to complete Your good work in our lives. Thank You for the faith that You provide us through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We pray that You will help us to build a relationship with Your Son and His Holy Spirit who has been sent to be Our Helper. Help us to become tuned in to every tiny whisper from the Holy Spirit that reminds us of Your promises and guides us in faith on our journey of sanctification. We ask all these things in the name of the Anointed One, Jesus Christ.

The Freedom of Serving Without Concern for Outcome

1 Corinthians 3:9
For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.

The first day on any job is generally very exciting and also somewhat stressful. Immediately, we are naturally concerned about the results that we are going to be able to produce in our new job. Consider how liberating it would be if the first thing our new boss told us was, “Just follow my instruction and do not worry about the results. I will be responsible for the results. You will be richly rewarded for following my instruction no matter what happens.”

If the boss we choose to serve is Our Father in heaven, then we have found the liberating boss that we have always longed for. More importantly, this is where God wants us. He wants us to serve Him without any concern about the outcome other than to have the faith that He will fulfill what He asks us to do for Him. He simply wants us to be instruments of His work, living vessels of His perfect love and forgiveness.

It may be entirely possible that we are taking on work for which no man is sufficient. Yet in submission to the Father, we are only asked to be diligent and faithful in carrying out our calling. We are certain to find that we have a co-laborer in Christ. Our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, will look over us, direct us and strengthen us as we do our part in bringing in His harvest.

Let us humbly sit at the feet of Our Master, Jesus Christ. Let us join Him in the work that He does for His Father in heaven. Let us rejoice in the service that we are called to do.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for allowing us to join You in Your work. We rejoice in knowing that You receive great honor and glory when Your children surrender to the rule and reign of Jesus Christ in their lives. Open our eyes so that we may see what You are calling us to do in Your kingdom. Release in us all the power and authority that is ours through Jesus Christ. Shield us from taking on destructive personal pride as we see success when doing Your work. We ask all these things in the name of the One who saved us and called us to join Him in serving His Father in heaven, Jesus Christ.

The Victories That Are Secured by Obedience

Matthew 16:21
From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.

Jesus fulfilled everything that He was called to do. Even though He was tested beyond human imagination, He never faltered once in His obedience to the plans of God for His life. Through the process, it was a blessing to us all that Jesus did not listen to the voice of others around Him. Peter specifically rebuked Jesus for proclaiming such a tragic ending to His life. Jesus let Peter know that he spoke Satan’s language when he suggested that Jesus step away from His mission.

It is very easy to say, “I give up. I cannot do it.” This is especially true when we allow others in our lives to suggest that the values of man should be given more weight than the callings of God upon our lives. In essence, if what we are pursuing is of God, then giving up is denying the promises of God Himself.

Jesus overcame all of His trials because He was one with the Father and He trusted in the promises of the Father. And indeed, He did rise on the third day, fulfilling all of God’s promises for mankind. In the same way, we are to be anxious in nothing for God promises to take care of our every need and He promises to finish anything that He has called us to do. Our victories are in fact complete before we are even aware of our calling to their pursuit.

Let us stand firmly on the promises of God Almighty. Just as Jesus did, let us surrender in complete obedience to God’s calling on our lives.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing Your Son to be the guarantor of Your promise of eternal life available to each of us. We exalt the name of Jesus for His complete obedience to His calling as Our Savior. We pray for the strength and guidance of the Holy Spirit so that we may be obedient to the completed purpose and plans that You have set aside for our lives. May we stand firmly on Your promises. We ask these things in the name of the One who secured our victories on the Cross, Jesus Christ.

Complete Submission to the Father’s Will For the Good of All Mankind

Matthew 26:39
And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”

Jesus fully accepted His assignment of death on the Cross. He knew that His sacrifice was necessary for the salvation of all men. He knew that His death on the Cross was the reason He was sent to earth. The thing that overwhelmed Jesus was the impending separation from the Father when He would take on the sins of all men. Yet Jesus was fully obedient to the will of the Father for the good of all mankind. And He was received in all His glory by the Father.

According to this example of Christ, we must drink of the most bitter cup which God puts into our hands. Even though our flesh will seek immediate relief from all trial in our lives, we must recognize and accept the will of Our Father as we go through our trials. For, as God allowed the unspeakable trial of the Cross for the benefit of all mankind, He allows each of us to go through our trials for our ultimate eternal gain. Through our faithful obedience, one day we will be standing sinless before Almighty God and we will be received into glory by Him.

Let us face each cup of bitterness in our lives with hope and confidence in the promises of the Cross. Let us rejoice that Almighty God loves us so much that He works every detail in our lives for our eternal good. Let us exalt the name of Jesus for accepting His cup of bitterness so that we may have victory over every trial in our lives.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that You allow the trials in our lives that prepare us to be received by You. May You provide the grace we need for our spiritual maturation so that we are able to take our cup of bitterness and rejoice in our submission to Your will and plan for our lives. We pray that the Holy Spirit will guide us and strengthen us so that we may overcome the weakness of our flesh. We surrender to Our Savior and ask that we live in the fullness that He has made available to us through His sacrifice on the Cross. We ask all these things in the name of the Word made flesh on our eternal behalf, Jesus Christ.