SCRIPTURE

Obedience

Saul

Obedience is important, think of the time Israel was in a battle. GOD said don’t take anything, destroy it all. The king decided that it was ok to take the cattle, because they might need it¹1 Samuel 15. GOD was very angry and he was punished. Remember our ways are not His ways. Satan and our evil hearts will tell us we can’t know His will. That it is something nebulous. Scripture tells us what His will is. It is known and available to us.

GOD is our heavenly father. If our earthly father tells us to do something specific and we do otherwise how does that go over? The book of Malachi addresses this. When he reminds them and us that we have stolen from Him and not honored Him²Malachi 3.

With Covid, there is a lot of fear, because of the unknown and how little control we have in it. I had been reading the case studies since late January and based on what we had seen in Feb and March, along with all the uncertainty in the reports, I was in fear. I had this visual of me finding a rock or digging a hole and hiding in it till the crisis had passed. Till the all clear was given. But through others I heard from the Lord repeatedly that a candle is not lit to be hid³Matthew 5. We are not given a spirit of fear but of courage⁴2 Timothy 1.

There is a spiritual death which is unseen. The candle is the light of Christ, the Word. This is his light, not ours, it is shown when we follow Him in His Word, so that others will be brought to repentance and follow Him.

Prisoners, widows, orphans and the needy. We get distracted in this world by things that make us feel like we have done good. TV is like that, movies also. You come away feeling like you had a great battle, but you’ve really done nothing. We are called to be a comfort specifically mentioned are prisoners, widows and orphans⁵James 1.

Jesus did as His Father told Him. All His Words were from the Father⁶John 8. So should our word be. Our words must be His words⁷John 17. We need to follow Him as He followed the Father. This is how we fulfill our life in Christ.