Thursday, March 27, 2014

Lent: Day Twenty-three ~ Obedience

 Heb 5: 8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

Obedience ~

I woke up this morning and thought wow day 23. Maybe I’ll skip a post. I need a break. WHAT? Skip a post? Break?

Can you imagine God waking up and saying, “I think I’ll skip answering that prayer. I need a break!” ???

Well as you’re reading this, you can see I shrugged that silly thought under the rug. I made a promise and I’m sticking to it. Just as God makes promises and sticks to them, we have a duty to stick to our promises to Him.

1 Cor.15:58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.

I get tired too. I sometimes just let off steam and rant my loose lips and just want to give up. But it is momentary, I’m telling you, I am an obedient servant of God and as I go through my day I watch as people say they are obedient Christians be anything BUT obedient to Christ. “Is all this in vain Lord? Why do I seem to be the only obedient one here?” I feel alone in the world sometimes and then a small sliver of light shines down in way of another obedient Christian. I see them, embrace them and for a moment I feel hope wash over me like a rain shower on a warm spring day.

Galatians 6:9-10 Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.

That was it, I had a momentary lapse of weariness. I felt overwhelmed with a task; I felt isolated and alone so I did ask God, “Is this all in vain?” He assured me that any task for Him wasn’t and gave me a shoulder of His to rest on so I would feel revitalized today and as ready as ever to move forward.

I think what is happening in the world is that men and women don’t look down at their moral compass often enough. They go on with their day, make sure they put their mask on before being seen in public, and go about their day lusting, wanting, needing, fulfilling their need to satisfaction and asking for forgiveness day after day, sin after sin. Why not, God is a forgiving God after all.

To me, obedience is nurturing the spirit. And I do mean nurture not just feeding my body of all that it craves. Sometimes depriving the body is just the right tool to move you into an obedient spirit.

Say you’re a chocoholic. You crave chocolate daily and every day you give into that craving and eat a piece here and there. No harm, no foul? You are satisfying YOU. Deprive yourself of that urge every single day for a month or two. You are now nurturing you and satisfying the spirit.

Now some of you will cheat and say, “I can’t afford to eat chocolate every day, so a month with none is pretty easy for me.” That is cheating. And who are we cheating? Our soul!

You need to find something that you get the urge for on a daily maybe even an hourly basis. Like say coffee? Can you obediently deprive yourself of coffee for a month? I know, you think I’m insane. Why in the world would you do that, willingly? Sometimes to nurture our spirits and become obedient to Christ, we need to deprive ourselves of urges we get and sacrifice them for the Lord.

I’m not saying ‘you’re going to go to hell’, I’m not saying ‘oh look at you, you’re a bad Christian!’ What I AM saying is that to nurture your soul, to hear God speak to you personally, sometimes we need to be willing to sacrifice for HIM to draw closer to Him.

A lot of times I hear people say, “God doesn’t talk to ME!” like they’re offended or something because I hear Him talk to me. Maybe because I don’t consume to satisfy ME. I don’t ‘click’ to satisfy MY urges. I don’t purchase things for ME! I’m not about ME, I’m about being an obedient servant. I’m about guiding my moral compass in the right direction and staying on that direction. I’m not about giving up, taking breaks and resting from my duties, I’m about fulfilling my promise to God knowing full well, He will fulfill His promise to me.

Ephesians 6: 7-8 With good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free.

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