Obeying god

Obeying God:

Jesus answered him, "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.
[John 14:23]

 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.  If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.
[John 15:9-10]

I want to talk with you today about obedience. Early last year  God alerted me that I have an obedience problem. I tried to resolve it on my own, when I failed to obey or deliberately disobeyed I insisted I wouldn't do that again. I read bible verses on obedience and tried to apply them to my life. I could see where I needed to be and where I was but how to get there was something I couldn't fathom. I still don't have all the answers but I want to share with you what God is teaching me. For some people obedience comes easily, but for those like me who are stubborn and self-willed it is a lot more challenging. Be encouraged though, we can get there with god's help.

First let's look at some points on why obedience is so important.
1: god deserves our obedience.
You must obey all my regulations and be careful to obey my decrees,
 for I am the Lord your God.
[Leviticus 18:4]

Lord, we show our trust in you by obeying your laws;
our heart’s desire is to glorify your name.
[ Isaiah 26:8]


 he is the almighty, everliving God, creator of heaven and earth. more than that, he is the father of our Lord Jesus Christ who gave his life for us on the cross.  We should obey our earthly parents so how much more should we obey our heavenly father our creator, our saviour, our Lord and king?

2. Obedience to God is a way of showing that we love him.

Jesus answered him, "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.
[John 14:23]
by the same token, our lack of obedience shows our lack of love  for him. Ouch!
 Henry T Blackaby in his excellent book  "experiencing God] tells us that if we have an obedience problem we have a love problem. No matter how you look at that we have a problem and need god's help to sort it out.

3: Disobedience shows a lack of trust in god.
The works of his hands are faithful and just;all his precepts are trustworthy;
 Psalm 111:7

[ Trust in the LORD with All Your Heart ] My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments,
[ Proverbs 3:1]
 if we don't obey the Lord we are basically saying that we don't trust God to know what is best for us, that we think we have a better solution. If we think that way it shows we have a problem with pride and need God's help to sort that out as well. God is our loving heavenly father and  he sees things much more clearly than we do. he says:
 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
   so are my ways higher than your ways
   and my thoughts than your thoughts.
[Isaiah 55:9]
and
 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
[Jeremiah 29:11]
 God knows all things and he has a plan for us. We need to trust him and obey even if we can't understand why or what's going on. We may not know all the answers this side of heaven but god is pleased when we obey even when we don't understand.

4: we are God's servants and we must do what he says.
You must obey all my regulations and be careful to obey my decrees,
[Leviticus 18:4]
Can you imagine how it would be if everyone in a company refused to obey their superiors and just did their own thing? the company wouldn't last too long or all those employees would be fired. God is our king and our master and he deserves our obedience. he will help us to obey if we make a commitment to do it.
5: Whatever god may tell us to do is ultimately for our good even if it doesn't seem that way to us at first.
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
[romans 8:28]
Anyone reading this who is a parent can identify with this one. A child may see nothing wrong with putting his hand on the fire but his mother or father knows it is very wrong and tells the child "get away from that!"  The child doesn't understand why Mummy     or Daddy is trying to spoil his fun but he figures he better do what he's told so he comes away from the fire.
God sees things much clearer than we do. He knows if a decision we are about to take is going to be bad or dangerous for us, like the child wanting to put his hand in the fire, and God will tell us no. We don't understand we think "That's ok why won't God let me do it?"  but we figure we had better do what he says so we come away from that. Later on we look back and thank him for not letting us do what we wanted to in that situation. Even if we don't understand before we reach heaven, one day we will be so grateful to god for all the times he said no.


But how do we start obeying God? sometimes we can get discouraged when we see how far away we are from where we want to be. I encourage  you to go before god in prayer and talk to him about your obedience issues, ask his help and he will show you what to do.  There are no quick-fix solutions to a problem like disobedience, it's a process and there will be more falls than successes at first but if we keep going we are bound to see results in time.

Here are a couple of ideas that may be helpful to you.

1: pray about it. Yes that sounds simple but still, take some time each day to pray about it, talk to God about the times you didn't obey and why and ask his  help to do better tomorrow. You may like to pick out a few minutes that you devote to praying about this each day. P.U.S.H. Pray until something happens. The bible says:
 "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks
finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.
[Matthew 7:7-8]

2. Meditate on some bible verses dealing with obedience. this works just as well if you have other issues like fear or needing more faith but I'm using obedience as an example. you can go to
www.biblegateway.com
and do a search for obedience or obey and write down the scriptures that seem to speak to you. Then, ponder them. Go over them in your mind not just once but many times, trying to understand what they are saying and how you can apply them to your life. Speak the verses out loud if you can  because the bible says:
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
[Romans 10:17]
You can even use those verses you find on obedience as part of prayer. Use your own words to pray but here's how it might work: "Father your word says   "You must obey all my regulations and be careful to obey my decrees, for I am the Lord your God."  so please help me to obey your commands and decrees, I ask in Jesus' name, amen.

3: ask someone to pray with you or for you about your obedience troubles, someone who is  a Christian that you trust.  The bible says:
Again I say to you, if
two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.
If you like you can email me and I will be happy to pray with you as well.
Questions:

These questions don't need to be answered except between you and god if you choose to. They are meant to give you something to think and pray about.

1. Why do you think some people have a struggle with obedience?
 2. If you have a problem with disobedience, what have you done about it so far?
3. If you don't' have a problem obeying god, maybe you know someone who does. Would you consider mentioning them in your prayers regularly?

I hope that something I have said has helped someone even a little. Thank you so much for reading this and may God bless you!