The Lord has been speaking to me about being obedient. This has been on my heart for some time now. I know when some of us think of obedience, we think about the Ten Commandments or other scriptures in the Bible that instruct us on how to live our lives for God. The type of obedience I am talking about is when God personally instructs you to do something.
The Lord spoke to me about certain things he wanted me to do and not to do. Some of those things were hard for me to grasp. For example, to stop going to the movies, this was a hard one for me to understand. I was talking with the Lord to make sure it was Him! Like why would he want for me to stop going to the movies? But later I understood that He was keeping me from being idle and actually spending more time on Him and His Word. Now, I am not saying that everyone should stop going to the movies but this is just the conviction that God put on my heart.
I want you to know how God revealed to me that disobedience will hurt your relationship with the Lord. Now because you are born again you have a personal relationship with Christ but it will not grow if you are walking in disobedience.
There was a time when I was in a state of confusion and depression about why I was not where I wanted to be in Christ. I knew that I was called to serve the Lord and to be used as an empty vessel. But I felt like God was not using me at my job, ministering to friends, family members or people on the street. I did not have that boldness I had been praying about. I felt useless. I was constantly comparing myself to the great patriarchs, prophets and apostles in the Bible, friends and people in my church. I would ask God “Why can’t you use me like you use them?”
Then at a prayer meeting at my church, one of the pastors said that we must walk in love and obedience in order to fulfill our call and to have a deeper understanding of who God is. Then I remembered that my friend told me once that in order to love Christ you must obey Him. In John 14:15 Christ said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” And in John 14:23-24 He says, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. 24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.”
That is when I realized that I was walking in complete disobedience. I was not doing what the Lord told me to do and that is why I was stagnant. I was not showing my love for God because I was not obeying Him. How can God use me as an empty vessel if I still had stuff inside of me that had to be dumped out. All the great holy men and women in the Bible became who they were by obeying God! They had a deep personal relationship with God and it was based on the fact that they trusted and obeyed Him. Obedience is the only way and the key to having a abundant relationship with God. We obey God because we love Him and not out of fear. We do it because He knows best and He tells us what to do or not to do out of love.
I encourage you stromriders to trust and obey God when He commands you to do something. You will be shocked and amazed to see what God can do in you and through you. Praise the Lord!!!!
