Tag Archive | Obedience

Genesis 12

Oct9

Good morning y’all.  Today we in chapter 12. Here we see the story of Abram’s call.

Be blessed 🙂

God calls Abram. He gives him specific instruction to do and God also tells him the reward of his obedience to the instruction. He was gonna be blessed  and become a great nation……

“The Lord said to Abram: Leave your country, your family, and your relatives and go to the land that I will show you. I will bless you and make your descendants into a great nation. You will become famous and be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you, but I will put a curse on anyone who puts a curse on you. Everyone on earth will be blessed because of you“. Genesis 12:1-3 CEVUS06

Abram obeyed God’s instruction. He didn’t know where God was taking him to, yet he still obeyed. He left certainty for uncertainty. For so many of us, God is also calling us to serve him but because we don’t fully know what’s gonna happen we choose to sit still and continue to stay in our comfort zone. Had Abram refused to leave all for this unknown place God told him about, there’s no telling what would have happened. Perhaps we won’t be singing Abraham blessings are mine…, Jesus won’t have come from the lineage of David, there won’t be an Isreal….

Abram was 75 years old when the Lord told him to leave the city of Haran. He obeyed and left with his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the possessions and slaves they had acquired while in Haran. When they came to the land of Canaan, Genesis 12:4-5 CEVUS06

Even if you don’t know what’s happening or what God’s plans are, still trust Him. We need to know that He who has called us his faithful. Don’t hold back, trust God today and obey his calling.

Abram took Lot. Gods instruction was to leave his relatives and father’s family. Lot was his nephew so he fell into that category but Abram took him along. Perhaps it was because Lots father was dead and also in chapter 11 we found that Abram father too died. So Abram probably felt responsible for Lot.

I’ve always wondered how did Abram know to head to the land of canaan. The instruction in V1 was to go to a land I will show you. Did God show him it was canaan or did he feel led to go to canaan. Not sure on this one. Sometimes what God requires is for us to take that first step and after that’s done the rest will be revealed. Perhaps that’s what happened with Abram. He took the 1st step of packing and rounding his family up to leave haran and go to this unknown place and maybe God seeing his obedience then revealed to him further that he needed to go to canaan.

So Abram got to canaan and then God appeared to him and told him he would give the land to him and his descendants. Abram in return built an altar to God. That is, he offered praise and worship to God  thanking God for the promise even though he hadn’t seen the manifestation yet. Be thankful in advance.

So there was famine in the land and Abram and his wife decided to go to Egypt. They were foreigners there. It gets interesting because Abram told his wife to lie that she is his sister so that they won’t kill him seeing as she’s beautiful to behold and the men in Egypt have a reputation of killing men for their wives. Abram didn’t trust that God could protect him and his wife in this land. He felt he had to do something whatever it takes to keep them safe. How many times do we find ourselves in this kind of situation, where we feel God can’t protect or fight for us so we take matters into our own hands. What was the end result of those situations….did it end well. In Abram’s case it almost didn’t end well if not for God who intervened.  Pharaoh took sarai in and gave Abram gifts in return for her. God punished pharaoh for his action and pharaoh sent sarai and Abram packing.
Let’s learn to trust God for everything we need and in all situations.

Prayer:

Dear Lord we thank you for today. We ask you give us grace to obey and trust you even when we don’t know what lies ahead. Thank you Lord. We know out today and tomorrow is secured in you. In Jesus Name.  Amen.

Thanks for joining today.  Pls feel free to leave your thots on the chapter.

Have a blessed day and remember to trust in God no matter what today brings 🙂

***With God all things are possible***

3 John Chapter 1

Sep24

Good Morning Y’all. Today we are reading 3 John.

Holy Spirit we ask you open our eyes to see, our ears to hear and our hearts to perceive the truth in the word today. Without you we can’t understand what we are reading so we ask for your help. In Jesus Name. Amen.

Be blessed 🙂

1) God’s desire is for us to prosper and be in good health both in body and soul. That is physical prosperity and spiritual prosperity. Physical prosperity alone is perishable – here today gone tomorrow hence why John says we need physical as much as we need the spiritual. Spiritual prosperity is imperishable – It lasts forever.
Spiritual prosperity means:
a)To have Jesus living in our hearts. Not just living but allowing him have full reign of everything in our lives.
b) To have his word engrafted in our hearts. James 1:21 NLT says “So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.”

Our actions thoughts and words will be shaped by Jesus if we invite him into our hearts to live and allow him have full control. That is total surrender of every aspect of our lives to him. When we do this we will experience the spiritual prosperity John prayed for in V2.

2) We are to support missionaries. Let’s support them in prayers and any other way we can physically. By doing this we become partakers in their ministry as they spread the gospel around the world.

3) In v9 and 10 we see Diotrephes refused to obey the instructions laid out to support missionaries. He appointed himself as the leader and therefore instructed his followers to not obey the command.  Those who obeyed the command, he put them out of the church.
Few things to glean from those verses:
a) As a leader you need to be careful the example you are setting for your followers.  The bible says to whom much is given much is expected. Don’t abuse your position of authority.

b) As followers, let’s know God for ourselves.  Let’s stop relying on pastors or spiritual leaders to tell us everything we need to know about God. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good to learn from our pastors but we also need to go back to the source – God- His word to confirm what we have been taught is in line with God!. Rem in 2 Peter 2, we were told to be weary of false prophets and I tell you there are so many of them around today. A lot of Christians have fallen into their trap because they are too lazy to find out the truth for themselves in Gods word or they just gullible because they want fast results and this so called prophet has promised fast results when you pay him 1000 bucks to buy healing water (that’s just an example I have witnessed myself). Where in the bible did Jesus sell healing to anyone? Let’s wake up from this slumber and take charge. Let’s be like the berean Christians in the book of acts who always went back to the bible to confirm what they’ve been taught (Acts 17:11). Plus we have the spirit of truth in us, he tells us when things are just not right or contrary to God. We need to learn to listen to his voice and obey him.

c) Sometimes as Christians we will pay dearly for choosing to do the right thing as oppose to doing wrong. In the verse we see that those who chose to help the missionaries were excommunicated from the church. We have to trust God enough to know that when we obey him, even if it costs us dearly, he will SURELY reward us. It might be very tough but if we persevere, he will surely come through for us. Look at the Hebrew boys in the book of Daniel, they refused to bow down to idol. They were thrown into the fire but the fire didn’t consume them! Infact as a result of their obedience, the King came to accept God as the one true and living God. Guys the world is waiting for us. They are waiting to see if we will take a stand for this God we claim to serve. Today lets make a decision to obey God even if it will cost us everything we have.
Ponder on your life, be honest with yourself and ask what price am i willing to pay for God today. It could be a small thing such as holding your tongue when you are tempted to curse or scream at someone. At that point your flesh is not happy and wants to have its way but when you choose to do right you will feel better and at peace. I believe when we learn to sacrifice the small things for God and enjoy the benefit of the obedience, it makes it easier for us to be willing to sacrifice the big things when the time comes.

4) Imitate the good that we see in others and not the evil. People think its okay to do wrong because the leader or someone you place in high esteem is doing it. Just because they are, doesnt make it right.  John in verse 11 is reminding the people not to imitate the bad example set by Diotrephes but to imitate only what is good. He went on further to say those who do good prove that they are Gods children  and those who do evil prove that they do not know God or have an understanding of him. Remember,  we are all going to stand individually in front of God on judgement day. Saying my pastor did it and that’s why i also did it, just wont cut it on that day.

Prayer
Dear Lord thank you for today. Thank you for allowing us learn at your feet. We pray that we prosper and be in good health even as our souls prosper. We ask for the grace to take a stand for you even when it will cost us dearly. Thank you Lord. In Jesus Name. AMEN

Thanks for joining us today.  Feel free to share your thots on the chapter.

Tomorrow we will be reading the book of Jude.

Have a blessed day. Remember, when we obey God even if it costs us dearly, He will surely reward us.