Has God ever given you instructions and you didn’t follow them? Maybe you were having a hard time “making it make sense”. Maybe you felt as if your will and your way would be the best route. Did you regret taking your route? Did you eventually think, “I should’ve just followed God’s instructions”? Or maybe you decided to do a portion of the instructions instead of being fully obedient? Did you not know that completing a portion of God’s instructions is considered disobedience? Let’s Talk about being obedient to God’s Words, voice, and messengers.
At the age of 13 years, my interest in the opposite sex was on the rise, and I had began to give thought to the whispers into my ear regarding becoming sexually active. My mother was (and still is) a God-fearing woman who DOES NOT PLAY so I was afraid to have a direct conversation with her regarding my thoughts and the pressures I felt. I began attempting to find every way possible to throw hints at her regarding my desire to get on birth control, but she was not entertaining any of the hints. Needless to say, I finally acted on my thoughts and the pressure. Shortly afterwards, my mother began to repeat what I thought was a cliche phrase, “Obedience is better than sacrifice”. To give you some insight, my mother was (and still is) an intercessor who hears God’s voice. During my childhood, she would pray so loudly that even the passerbys in our neighborhood would hear her. When she began to say that phrase, I would casually brush it off mainly due to a lack of understanding and a disobedient spirit. That phrase eventually was coupled with, “Warning comes before destruction” which I must admit put some fear in my heart but not enough fear for me to become obedient. That disobedience led to my teenage pregnancy.
Let me give you some background on my upbringing. My mother’s main rule of the house was as long as we were under her roof, we would follow her rules. When our church had any type of service, my mother ensured that my sisters and I were in attendance whether we desired to be or not. At a young age, I received the Holy Spirit after tarrying on the altar during one of our church services (iykyk). After that encounter, God began to speak audibly and directly to me. As I grew older and started “smelling myself”, I began to become less interested in my relationship with God and more interested in fitting in with my friends. Fast forward into my adulthood years, as I was “laid up”, God simply said, “Don’t get distracted”. Needless to say, I was DISOBEDIENT to His voice, and shortly thereafter, I found myself in the worst space of my life. It took me years to overcome that space. I still wonder how life would’ve been if I had only been obedient to God’s voice and messengers. But even in that, God has been able to make the “bad” work out for His good (Romans 8:28).
Back to obedience is better than sacrifice. You can reference that in 1 Samuel 15:22&23. My mother was speaking the word of God not some cliche phrase. As mentioned, by this time, I had already received the Holy Spirit, but I was not in relationship with God or in the proper position to hear Him for myself anymore. I am sure that God had given my mother insight on my behaviors and given her the words to say to me. Let’s Talk about obedience! When I made the decision to fully surrender to God, I knew that obedience was essential. After all, I had been disobedient several times and saw where that had gotten me. I was (and still am) determined to live a fully surrendered and obedient life to God. As I’ve remained in the proper position to hear God’s voice, I’ve also remained obedient when He speaks to me. God requires us to be prompt when He speaks, and He also requires complete obedience. Now this isn’t an easy task during times when the natural mind and flesh attempt to override the Spirit. I am naturally a thinker, and things need to “make sense” to me. But as I’ve increased my trust and faith in God, I’ve witnessed that God’s words often do not make sense, and it’s not for me to attempt to make sense of them (Isaiah 55:8-9). Recently, I’ve found myself just focusing on being obedient and not attempting to rationalize what God is attempting to perform.
My only question for you today is: Are you willing to place your will down, pick God’s will up, and be completely obedient to God’s will?
I encourage you today to make your relationship with God your number one priority. I encourage you to position yourself into the proper alignment with and posture before God. I encourage you to receive the Holy Spirit. I encourage you to be obedient; for it is better to be obedient than to give a sacrificial offering (1 Samuel 15:22&23). You can rest assured that God will equip you to carry out HIS will for your life (Hebrews 13:21).
Read, dissect and meditate on the above mentioned scriptures as well as Proverbs 16:18-20 and Ezekiel 3:17-19.
Real Talk with Keve 