Dear Partner,
In this life that we live dedicated to God and the calling He has placed on our lives, there will be many times He will speak to us (especially daily if we’re paying close attention). And what we do after He speaks determines what happens in our lives. Yes, you read that correctly. What WE do after hearing from the Lord will determine our outcome. The Lord provides the WORD, but we provide the ACTION. We have to act on what He said, that’s called FAITH. (See James Chapter 2, Hebrews 4:2). And that action will determine the fruit we’ll receive. God needs our obedience to bring to pass what He has for us. And as we obey Him in FAITH it pleases Him (Hebrews 11:6). There’s no other way to please God outside of FAITH, no matter how kind, courteous or generous one may be.
Obedience reaps GOODNESS.
Disobedience reaps DISASTER.
Yet we can avoid disasters that we’d bring on ourselves by obeying Him and being highly sensitive to His WORD and the Holy Spirit. And this starts with driving way past “Head Knowledge Boulevard” and turning onto “Bosom Road.” His WORD has to get down IN us.
Obedience just as well as disobedience are both ACTIONS. God doesn’t cause disaster, but disobeying Him sure can bring them on. That’s why whatever our ACTION is will determine the fruit we receive as earlier mentioned.
A perfect example of this can be found in the story of Jonah. (I’d like to encourage you to read the book of Jonah over and over, often). Just as God speaks to us and gives us instructions, so did He do so to Jonah. Many of us know the story; God spoke to Jonah, Jonah ran from God, found himself in the belly of a fish, prayed to God, God delivered him and then spoke that same WORD to Jonah again and then Jonah obeyed God. But in this I want to point out disobedience just as much as I want to shed light on obedience!
You see, disobedience to God will put us in a place where we don’t want to be. And we can’t blame God, we put ourselves in that place by disobedience. Jonah’s disobedience put him in the belly of a fish the very moment he chose not to go to Nineveh as God instructed him to. One could say that the fish was “waiting” on Jonah. I’d like to say it like this…..
“Disasters are awaiting the disobedient.”
While in the belly of a fish, Jonah prayed a beautiful prayer to the Lord. And the beginning of Jonah’s prayer pretty much sums up the entire prayer in Jonah 2:2 NKJV which says……
2 And he said: “I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction, And He answered me.”
That’s good, of course, but this is the main point I want to you to focus on, There doesn’t even have to be a “my affliction” to be set free from if we obey from the start. Hear me out, I am not saying we’re perfect, no one is, but once we get ahold of this “Obedience reaps GOODNESS and disobedience reaps DISASTER” mindset, we’ll make the wise…..RIGHT choice moving forward and that is to obey our Father God. For instance as Jonah said in his prayer in Jonah 2:4 NKJV….
4 Then I said, “I have been cast out of Your sight; Yet I will look again toward Your Holy temple”.
In other words I’ll say it like this on our behalf, “I may not have done the best I could and can think of many times where I did not obey, yet I will look again to you oh Lord and do my best to obey you at all costs moving forward, because I love You!”
Obedience is a choice just like getting up and going to church is a choice. But when you fall in love with the Lord and have a heart after God’s own heart, then you can hardly wait until the next church service and so on. The key to EASILY obeying the Lord is building a solid relationship with Him that comes from fellowshipping with Him and spending much time in His WORD and in prayer. Prayer changes things.
You may have been in the same place as Jonah, God spoke and you did not obey. Was it fear? The unknown? Whatever is was, I tell you now in the presence of God, do not be condemned. (Romans 8:1). Just get it right, your loving heavenly Father is awaiting your repentance and obedience without shame. I heard Pastor Mike Cameneti once say, “God doesn’t call you by shame, He calls you by name.” God loves you and He’s cheering on your willingness to obey. Because He knows EXACTLY what’s going to happen to you if you CHOOSE LIFE/OBEDIENCE……which is a great big manifestation of HIS GOODNESS!
All through the story of Jonah we see God’s grace. After Jonah got delivered from the belly of that great fish, God SPOKE AGAIN the same WORD He spoke to Jonah before! You see, delay is not denied. After we “get it right” with God……His promises still remain for us, His GOODNESS still applies to us. You’re never too far gone or “out there.”
Return. (To God)
Repent. (To God)
Realign. (Your heart and obedience to God)
And watch Him SPEAK AGAIN to you! GLORY!!!!!
I’d like to encourage you to share this WORD with a friend, you may never know what someone is going through but God knows exactly what they need to hear and when they need to receive it!
I am praying for you DAILY!
A BIG HAPPY BLESSED NEW YEAR TO YOU AND REMEMBER THAT ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE IF A PERSON BELIEVES!
Terry Minor Jr