Will you Obey? The choice is yours...
But when the young man heard that saying he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Matthew 19:22 Your life is the sum of the responses you have made toward God. Once God makes Himself known to you, what you do next is your decision. Your reaction reflects what you believe about Him. The rich, young ruler lived a moral life. He was well versed in Scripture and the laws of God. But his response to Jesus’ invitation clearly showed that, although he possessed a head knowledge of the teachings of God, he did not know God in an experiential way that could be demonstrated by a response of faith (Matt. 19:16–22). Whenever the Lord speaks to you, it will require an adjustment in your life. This truth can dramatically affect your prayer life. Every time you pray you must be aware that if God answers your prayer and reveals His will to you, it will immediately require you to reorient your life. Each time you read your Bible, you must be prepared to obey what God tells you. Why did God use Peter and James and John so significantly to turn their world upside down? And why were others, like the rich, young ruler, never heard from again? Choices! The disciples chose to believe, and their belief was proven by their obedience. The rich, young ruler could not bring himself to obey, and Scripture tells us that he “went away sorrowful.” You are faced with the same question as the rich, young ruler. What adjustments are you willing to make in order to respond positively to Christ?
-- Blackaby Experiencing God Day by Day
My dear reader...look at your life...look back on it...look at it now. Really let it sink in the question that Blackaby poses. The choice to obey is in your hands. But remember this...persistence is in God's hands.
Persistence? Yes. You see, when you come to Christ, your life is no longer your own. You were bought with a price. The blood of Jesus. He is making a new creation out of you. You have a mission to complete. God has things for you to be doing. It is not about you getting saved, then going off to live your life your way. Paul wrote in Romans warns of those who do that.
So when you are 'planning' your day...are you including obedience? Are you including time with God? Are you including God at all?
I got up early one morning and rushed right into the day. I had so much to accomplish that I didn't have time to pray. Problems just tumbled about me, and heavier came each task. "Why doesn't God help me?" I wondered. He answered, You didn't ask," I wanted to see joy and beauty, but the day toiled on, gray and bleak. I wondered why God didn't show me. He said, "But you didn't seek.: I tried to come into God's presence. I used all my keys at the lock. God gently and lovingly chided, "My child, you didn't knock." I woke up early this morning and paused before enter the day. I had so much to accomplish that i had to take time to pray.
What is your day starting out like? What are you allowing into your mind each day, each moment of your day? Are you seeking after what God wants? Are you obeying?
The decisions are yours to make. So are the lessons. If the Disciples had to repeat lessons until they got them and obeyed, you think your life will be any different?
We indeed live in a world that is dying. Before the fall of man it was indeed meant to last. But after sin happened, there was a limit put on this universe.
In our personal lives we need to be ready to obey. It's not always easy, since our sin nature seems to find the absolute worst times to rear it's ugly head. Pray for forgiveness, get back up and get moving again.
In the slightly larger scheme of things, remember, God's Plan for the ages IS working itself out before our eyes. If you're in God's Word, you can find it. Mankind can and will try in ever more complex ways to figure out how to put Satan on the throne of this world. That's Satan's plan. He wants to be God. He wants the worship. He wants the glory. He wants God's Throne. Scripture tells us plainly that evil men will proceed from bad to worse. The sad part is way too many professing Christian's have their heads in the sand about Bible Prophecy. They don't want to focus on it. Don't want to teach it. It's scary. Well, yeah. It's offensive. Well, yeah. It's horrific. Well, yeah. They can't see how a loving God would do such things. Sorry, you'd better start back at Genesis and start reading again about just what the Lord has already done concerning mankind and trying to show them the way.
Obedience is a decision YOU have to make. It's a choice YOU have to contend with.
You can sit there and listen to the mainstream media all you want. But the fact is GOD is in control.
Nobody else. No matter what the evil schemes you read about are like, GOD is in control.
GOD writes the history of mankind. Not Satan. Satan STILL has to obey Scripture. Easter is the most vivid answer to whether or not even Satan hast to obey Scripture. He could NOT stop Scripture from being fulfilled. He could not stop Jesus from coming back from the dead. He could not stop the Word of God from being fulfilled.
BUT YOU CAN. ME?? Yes YOU. If you willfully disobey, and willfully decide not to obey then YOU will answer for your disobedience. You won't stop it in the long term but in YOUR life you can lose blessing after blessing by living in disobedience. You can lose out on the blessing of someone coming to Christ due to your telling them at the proper time. You can lose out because you chose to disobey. Then that blessing will go to another because someone else will be willing to obey.
Some may say "but they still got saved, even if I didn't speak up". True. However, YOU will be held accountable for your actions. I'm in that same boat as you when it comes to obedience. Every Christian is in that same boat. We choose to further the Kingdom or we choose to let someone else do it, but however it's done, it's in our obedience that the Kingdom moves forward.
So my friend, look at your obedience. Every single human being has their excuses before Christ. But remember...what excuse is going to be acceptable to Jesus to hear? He sets the standards, we do not.
Pray for one another. Be in the Word. God's giving you time right now to get at least those 2 things right in your life. Pray for your neighbors, pray for the harvest. Because my dear reader, right now it's a repeat of the time in the Gospels. The harvest is ripe, the workers are few.
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