Walking in True Obedience
Exodus 19:5-6a “So now, if you are really prepared to obey me and keep my covenant,
you, out of all peoples, shall be my personal possession, for the whole world is mine.
For me you shall be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation…”
What is obedience? It is carrying out the Word and will of God.
It carries the meaning of hearing and obeying…
Exodus 19:5-6 ---- indeed obey MY (God’s) voice and Keep MY (God’s) covenant
When we walk in obedience to God and His ways - we submit to God, do what He says and He will keep us whole! Spiritually, physically, mentally and materially!
So many Christians think being successful takes no action on their part.
They receive salvation, confess Jesus as savior, get baptized (maybe), read a few verses in their Bible each day, come to church once a week, pray 5 minutes a day and wonder why they don’t succeed as a Christian! Believe me! I know it doesn’t work that way!!!
God gave Himself for us- to redeem us - He expects and deserves so much more!
God wants us consecrated to Him! The question I ask is “are you willing”?
We are separated unto God just as the Children of Israel were chosen and separated in the wilderness! We are a chosen generation - for this time, this hour!
God wants a people right now who want to be victorious and who are willing to do whatever it takes to gain that victory! Something about a victorious Christian causes the law of multiplication to work. People see what you have and they want it. God wants a people who are willing tow;
- Separate themselves from the world’s ways. 2. Commit them to obey Him!
2Cor 6:17 “That is why the Lord has said, ``Leave them; separate yourselves from them; don't touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you,”
-you come out- you separate - you do not live in the natural world.
We are to do it! We make the choice! We do our part.
What is our part?
- Become born again.
- Be filled with the Holy Spirit.
- Walk in love.
- Give your tithes and offerings.
- Stay in God’s Word - meditate on the things of God.
- Learn to hear God speaking to you.
Your goal to a victorious Christian life is to live, think, act, and talk the way God wants you to. Everything God asks you to do is do-able!
But you won’t hear God direct you if you are living a cluttered, critical and carnal life!
What is your life cluttered with? Is it your job, your family, sewing, reading, eating, cooking, running here and there, working two jobs to make ends meet? We have to give up things to be closer to God. If you don’t have time to spend with God, then you need to readjust your priorities. Are you a critical person? Do you always spend time watching others, talking about others, criticizing others? Remember, Jesus told us to get the beam out of our own eye first! Would you rather spend time eating, watching TV, going to a movie, drinking alcohol, partying or would you rather spend time with the Lord?
It is a choice you must make!
Satan’s worst nightmare is a victorious Christian!
Deuteronomy 8:1-3 “You must obey all the commandments I give you today. If you do, you will not only live, you will multiply and will go in and take over the land promised to your fathers by the Lord. Do you remember how the Lord led you through the wilderness for all those forty years, humbling you and testing you to find out how you would respond, and whether or not you would really obey him? Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to both you and your ancestors. He did it to help you realize that food isn't everything, and that real life comes by obeying every command of God.”
We are to live by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, not just our favorites!
You have to read the Word and study it to know what God wants for your life:
Look up these scriptures, study them, memorize them.
Deuteronomy 11:18-21, Joshua 1:8, Romans 12:2
We are to keep God’s Word before us, meditate on it and renew our minds with it everyday.
One of the most important ways to gain and keep victory is to walk in love.
Why? Because God loved us… Love is not only one of God’s attributes; it is also as essential part of His nature. Love is the glue that holds everything together. It is the leaven that starts the Christian growth to victory. It is the oil of the wheel of obedience. We are talking about the agape love of God. God’s love! When you were born again, the Zoë life of God came into you, that is all the life God has, it is His nature and character. It is the life and love that now dwells in you!
John 17:26: “ And I have revealed you to them, and will keep on revealing you so that the mighty love you have for me may be in them, and I in them.''
(This is Jesus’ prayer for the disciples.) It is the nature of the love of God for Jesus. This is the love that is in you.
Agape love is the love we as believers have for each other!
It is the evidence of our salvation!
John 13:34: “ A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; even as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”
It is the new commandment Jesus gave us that fulfill all the other commandments.
It is not “Jesus in me loves you”!
1John 4:7-9,11: “Dear friends, let us practice loving each other, for love comes from God and those who are loving and kind show that they are the children of God, and that they are getting to know him better. But if a person isn't loving and kind, it shows that he doesn't know God--for God is love. God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into this wicked world to bring to us eternal life through his death….Dear friends, since God loved us as much as that, we surely ought to love each other too.”
We love one another because God loved us. Love is of God and from God.
If you love your brothers/sisters in Christ you are God’s child - it is the evidence of your salvation… When you walk in love you are acting like the Child of God that you are!
You are growing progressively in understanding of God, when you walk in love - why?
Because God is love! God’ s love was manifested in Jesus. We are to love each other as God loves us! I urge today, dear brother and sister, examine your life, are you spending time with God, do you know God as your Father, Friend, Provider?
Do you love others as you should.? If you cannot answer yes to these questions, than I urge you to yield to the leading of the Holy Spirit in your life and make some changes.
Prayer for Change in My Life
Heavenly Father, I know that there are areas in my life that I need to change.
Lord, I spend too much time doing the things of the world and not seeking You. Father, I don’t spend time reading Your Word, Praying and seeking You.
Forgive me of this, Father.
Give me a hunger for You, Father. Give me a hunger for reading your Word, for a closer walk with you. I know I can have this, Father, because your Word promises us close fellowship with you. Your Word promises you will never leave me or forsake me, Help me now, Father to yield to your presence in my life and make you Lord of My life.
I renounce the things of this world that hold me captive, Father, and I yield completely and totally to you. You are the Lord of My life, You are the Strength of My Salvation, You are my Strong Tower, You are My Provider, My Health, My Peace, My Joy!
Thank you, Father, Thank you Jesus!
Amen.
If you want to know for sure that you are a child of God, then I would like to invite you to earnestly pray this prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, I come to you in the name of Jesus. Your word says, “…and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.” (Jn.6:37), So I know You won’t cast me out, but You take me in, And I thank you for it. You said in your Word, "whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.'' (Ro. 10:13).
I am calling on Your name, So I know You have saved me now, You also said, “…that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation.” (Ro.10:9,10).
I believe in my heart that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I believe He was raised from the dead for my justification. And I confess Him now as my Lord, Because Your Word says, “… with the heart one believes to righteousness…” and I do believe with my heart, I have now become the righteousness of God in Christ. (2 Cor. 5:21),
And I am saved! Thank You, Lord!
I can now truthfully say, I see myself as a born again child of God!
Glory to God!!!! Amen.