God has promised us that He will lead us. But we have to do something if we truly want God to lead us forward. We need to be obedient to His calling. It may seem impossible to do sometimes (and is, without His help). It may sound simple and unexciting. Whichever the case may be, without obedience, we cannot really be giving God our everything unless we submit to His will. An example would be the relationship between our parents and ourselves. When we love them, we are prone to obey them. "Obeying" our parents when we have no respect for them, is very hard to do. But when we love them, we find it much easier to listen to them, follow their advice, and do our best to please them (but even more so, with God ;)).
We all probably had those experiences as children that when we disobeyed our parents, we were spanked or had a specific time frame in the chair in that maybe all-too-familiar corner. We "paid the piper", so to speak. It's the same when we disobey God. No, He won't make us sit by ourselves, facing a blank wall; but just think of all the wonderful experiences we could have had, if we had obeyed Him. We miss out on His blessings when we say, "God? Forget it. I ain't doing that." I know I've said those kinds of things before, to then later regret my rebellious response. "God, I'm ill-equipped.", God, I'd rather do this", "God, don't make me do that; my way is easier." As humans, we can only take so much stress, temptations, failures. And God knows exactly where the limit is. Not that He will try to "max it out", but we can trust that God will only allow us to go through trials and temptations that are necessary for our Spiritual growth.
And as we look at the above statement, we must come to the realization that through unleashed obedience, we can experience the rewards of pursuing God's will for our lives. If we listen to His voice, we may not believe how tremendous the outcomes can be. Our obedience does not only make Him happy, but by listening to what He says to us and following through, we will be blessed. We can only see this side of the mountain; but God sees the other side, too. When we truly rely on His wisdom and His power to see us through, we can faithfully obey Him even when we think no good can come of it.
Deuteronomy 28:1 "Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all his commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth."
In Jeremiah 7:23, God says, "But this is what I commanded them, saying, 'Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you'."
1 Peter 1:13-14 "Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance."
As believers, we are to listen to His prompting and obey His words though we may not feel like it. We cannot expect to fully commit ourselves to Him and then back away when He calls us to keep working at a job that is too demanding, a relationship that doesn't seem worth fighting for anymore, a visit to an elderly person's that demands too much time out of an already overly filled-in schedule. But just what does the outcome look like? We'll never know unless we submit to what He is asking us to do and completely surrender ourselves to His will. This calls for the necessary obedience that He asks us to have.
Sister in Christ,
Anna
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