Obedience, Our Outward Expression Of Love For God

Obedience is our outward expression of our love to God, it displays our love relationship with Him. He identifies our love for Him by our obedience. Yes, it's by grace (unmerited favor) and through faith that we are saved, but faith requires obedience in action ~ without faith, there is no life. Without faith it's impossible to please God. If we love Him, through obedience (faith in action) then He seals us with His Spirit, forever ~ the Spirit of Truth. We are His, His Spirit lives in us!

John 15:14-21 says,
"If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever ~ the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot accept Him because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love Him and show myself to him."

Jesus says that those who obey His commands are the ones that love Him. He says that those who love Him, the Father will, also, love and God rewards our obedience by showing Himself to us.

How can we know we have come to know Him?

1 John 2:3-6 says,
"We know that we have come to know Him if we obey His commands. The man who says, 'I know Him, ' but does not do what He commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. This is how we know we are in Him: Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did."

Obedience, to God's Word, walking as Jesus did, is the outward expression of our love for God, it displays our love relationship with Him. The lack of obedience is a love issue!

When we come to that moment of truth, that point of decision of whether to obey God or not, it will show what we truly believe about God. We will not obey unless we believe Him and trust Him and we won't believe and trust Him unless we love Him, which requires recognizing the depth of His love for us and we cannot recognize His love for us and love Him unless we first know Him.

God's commands give us a new knowledge and understanding of Him and His character as He draws us and reveals Himself to us. As we come to know His Word, His commands, we come to know Him, more intimately. As we come to know Him and love Him, we will obey Him and come to know Him by experience; if we do not obey Him, it indicates that we do not know Him.

Jeremiah 7:23 says,
"Obey me, (our part) and I will be your God and you will be My people. (His part) Walk in all the ways I command you, (our part) that it may go well with you." (His part)

Deuteronomy 28:1,8 says,
"If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow His commands I give you today, (our part) the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth~ The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to."(His part)

Deuteronomy 28:15, 20 says,
"If you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all His commands and decrees I am giving you today ~ The Lord will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking Him."

Obedience is the difference in success and ruin!

Luke 6:46-49 says,
"Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears My words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete."

Obedience is important! It's our love language to the Lord! It's the difference in rock or sand! Is your house built on a firm foundation, are you saved by grace through faith (obedience in action) or is your house built on sand, you do not hear God's words and do not put them into practice!

Faith without action is dead. Faith requires the action of believing God to the point of obedience. Without faith it's impossible to please God!  Obedience expresses our love for God and displays our love relationship with Him to others. Others see God in our obedience. As we follow Him we experience Him working in us and through us in many ways. To follow God requires the total surrender of the will. May God bless you as you seek Him, may you find Him and understand the depth of His love for you, then you will obey Him fully!

In Matthew 12:50 Jesus said,

"For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."

We have to know His will to do His will and those that do His will become His family! 

To Go With God Requires Sacrifice and Change

As believer's we all look forward to God speaking and giving us the big assignment. The problem is that when God speaks and gives us an assignment it always requires big changes! We, often, don't want to move out of our comfort zone, but to follow God we can't stay where we are.

Since a God assignment is always only what God can do, it will look too big, as we look at our ability and resources, but if we choose to believe God will do what He says He will do, in us and through us, we will respond in faith. We will have to make big adjustments to follow Him in obedience.

When Jim and I felt God was calling us to return to Homer, Alaska to help plant a church, first we had to believe it was God speaking to us and that He would do what He said He would do, to respond in faith. We, also, had to believe God could use us to be apart of what He was planning to do. We had no experience, but only God's call. It was big deal! We would have to leave family and friends behind, move 4,933 miles away from where we were. We would have to believe God would provide for us to make the move, as well as provide housing and jobs. There were alot of adjustments to make. He told us where we were going, but we had to trust Him to provide housing and jobs when we got there.

We felt led to pay off all our bills before going and to have a moving sale to down size. By making these adjustments, we were putting faith in action. We were believing and acting on that belief that we had heard God speak and that He would use us to be apart of what He was planning to do. We always want to move from the hearing of the assignment to doing it, but there are always adjustments to make and God always brings the character up to the assignment.

Abraham had to make huge adjustments in what he was doing to follow God. He was living in Ur and would have to leave all his goals and dreams he had there behind. He had to leave family and friends, huge sacrifices were made to do God's will. There was much he had to do before, actually, setting out for the place God said He'd show him. He would have to decide what to do with what he was leaving behind and prepare for travel that which he was taking with him. Adjustments take time!

Unlike us, Abraham didn't know where he was going! Ever set out to go somewhere, but didn't know where you were going? This wasn't a surprise birthday party, "Cover your eyes, we're going for a short ride, open your eyes!" This was leaving for life, and moving to a place you didn't know, to do what God you'd never done before; trusting God to reveal His will, one step at a time! This was a big deal!

To go with God requires faith! Faith requires action, believing God will do what He said He'd do and that He can do it through you! It requires big changes, total surrender and it requires obedience, no will of your own, but simply to follow His desired will. We all want the big assignments, but are we really willing to make the big sacrifice, to move out of our comfort zones, to leave so much behind?

Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Gideon, the disciples, Paul, etc. all had to sacrifice and leave what they were doing, their plans, their goals, their lives and make huge changes to obey and follow all God was asking them to do. God given assignments require big change, you can't stay where you are and go with God. Doing God's will, will have great costs and require big sacrifices, but ask anyone who's done it and they will tell you, it was worth it all!

To go with God is to know His Presence and to witness God doing what only He can do! God shows you Himself, in ways you've never seen Him! You get to see Him as Provider, because God always provides for what He's doing! The sacrifice is a great, but the blessings far out weigh the sacrifices! May God bless you, as you seek to follow Him in full surrender to His will!

The Wow Factor, Beyond Our Ability And Resources

When Moses agreed to join God in a task that was far beyond his own ability, He got to experience God doing something only He could do! (But so did those around him) His brother Aaron, Pharoah and his army, the Egyptian people, the Israelites; all got to see God at work in and through Moses, doing something only God could have done. Mose was just the channel through which He did it! Moses was God's mouthpiece, His hands and His feet!

Pharoah experienced what only God could do through the signs and miracles Moses did before him; as well as the plagues, which God turned on and off at His will. God would announce the consequences for not letting His people go and it would happen just as God said.

The Egyptian people experienced God through the going and coming of the plagues, but, also, being plundered by the Israelites. God said they'd plunder the Egyptians when they left; the women were to ask for clothing and articles of silver and gold. Don't you wonder, after the Israelites left, if the Egyptians asked themselves, "Why did we give them all that?"

The Israelites were told by Moses, what God said He was going to do before He did it and then got to experience God fulfilling all He said He was going to do. They experienced more harsh treatment at first, but God had mercy on them. They experienced the plagues happening to the Egyptians, but not in their own towns. (Think about that a minute! That's amazing in itself) They experienced the Egyptians giving them clothing and articles of silver and gold, as God said they would. They, also, experienced God opening up a road through the Red Sea and walking across on dry ground, as the Egyptian army was pursuing them; at God's command the waters returning to their place taking the Egyptian army out with it. There was the manna and quail and water from a rock. Clothes that didn't wear out! Moses and the people around him were impacted as they experienced God doing only what He could do. They experienced God's Presence with them!

People, often, look at God's people today and may see them doing nice and kind things; but, how is the world going to get excited about God, if we aren't joining Him in any activity that is beyond our own ability and resources? When people see God at work, and come face to face with Him, by experience, they believe! They come to know Him as the Living God, present with us!

Are we at a point of faith and obedience in our Christian walk that we would be willing to abandon our life, our wants and dreams, to join God in what He's doing to save a lost world, that only He could accomplish through us? When God's character is revealed to the people around us, by experience, they will believe and be saved! Are they coming to know Him by His living presence in our lives? Are we allowing the wow of God to be seen in us?

God is doing something in my life right now that only He could do! He is impacting those around me for His glory! He is doing the unimaginable, the unexplainable, that could only be of God! People have tried to explain it away, but you can't ignore the impact of the unimaginable! He is impacting lives! He's impacting me! I am in awe of His amazing love and what He's done for me! When God is experienced people's lives are changed! I will never be the same! It's impacted my sister, my niece, my cousin. It's impacted my friends! (Not me, God, God is doing the impacting!)

I want to spend the rest of my life, in full surrender, joining God, in what only He can do, but I need God's help to do that! If you're like me, I can want to be a living sacrifice, but be found crawling off the altar. It will requires faith to join God in His activity, it will always be bigger than us, it requires faith. Faith requires action! God's work will not be something I dream to do for God, it will not be in my ability or with my resources, but in Him, alone. Daily, I will need to look for His activity, to be able to join Him in what only He can do! It will mean laying down my life, my dreams, my self centeredness and focusing on His will, what He's doing, being God centered! It will mean adjusting my life, daily, to Him!

I cannot cause a person to be inquisitive about the things of God, but when I see someone asking questions, like my mail lady and my cousin, I know God is at work, doing what only He can do; He's drawing them! (I need to drop what I'm doing and be apart of what He's revealing to me that He is doing!) When I see someone like my sister and my niece on fire for God, young in the Lord, digging in the Word and asking questions, I know this is God at work, something only He can do! It's my invitation to drop what I'm doing and to join Him! He's doing it, not me, He alone is glorified!

A life sealed in God's Spirit, walking in obedience to His truths and in complete surrender to His will is a powerful life! Ordinary people like you and like me, are extraordinary because of God in us! We are here as a living testament that God is alive and came to save the lost. We are to be a channel in which His love and forgiveness can flow to a lost world! Have we heard the call or are we, distracted by many things?

As a believers in Christ, we are the armies of the Living God! Our response to our daily struggles speaks louder than our words, it tells others what we really believe about Him! What do our actions and responses to this life tell others we really believe? Do we really believe God can do something in us and through us, that goes far beyond our abilities and resources? If the people around us are only seeing what we can do, they are seeing us, not God! Experiencing God, through us and in us, doing what only He can do, brings the "wow factor" right into the lives of others and they will never be the same, when they come face to face with the LIVING God!

Are we moving beyond self centeredness to make ourselves available to do what only He can do? Is our love relationship with God impacting the lives of those around us! It should be, what happens in worship doesn't stay in worship! God's Presence in our lives should wow those around us and cause them to question the hope we have in Him! People are looking for hope, for answers! Truth and Hope are a person, we need to let His Presence in us, been seen by others! It will be life changing!