Obedience & Blessings

While I was mowing the grass this morning, the word Obedience came across my mind and stuck. I began praying for God to show me areas in my life where I need to be more obedient to Him. Areas that I need to cover in prayer so that I am walking on His path and following His Word. When we are obedient to Christ, he blesses us in ways that we would never know if we were disobedient.

What is obedience?

Main Entry: obe·di·ence
Pronunciation: \ō-ˈbē-dē-ən(t)s, ə-\
Function: noun
Date: 13th century
1 a : an act or instance of obeying b : the quality or state of being obedient
2 : a sphere of jurisdiction; especially : an ecclesiastical or sometimes secular dominion
3: the state, fact, or an instance of obeying, or a willingness to obey; submission

What does the Bible say about obedience?

Deuteronomy 4:1 Obedience Commanded

¹ Hear now, O Israel, the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.

Deuteronomy 28:1 Blessings for Obedience

¹ If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth.

Romans 5:19 (NIV)

¹⁹For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

1 Peter 1:2 (NIV)

²who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

2 John 1:6 (NIV)

⁶And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.

Obedience to God is one of the ways we show him we love Him. He will bless us when we are obedient, when we walk with Him. Life will fall into place if we obey, if we listen and seek His guidance, his wisdom, his strength, his will. What part of your life do you need to be more obedient to Him in? For me, the first one that crosses my mind is financially and physically. I dont mean just tithing regular--but all areas of our finances. Physically, I have not been taking care of my body---which the Bible says is Gods temple, because if we are Christians, he lives inside of us---I need to be obedient at exercising and eating more healthier choices. I also need to be more obedient with my time. My quiet time lacks. I have a hard time developing the habit of sitting down with God during the day to read His word, pray, and seek Him. I worship him through song throughout the day but I need to set time aside to delve back into the Word. I need to spend time petitioning God, going BODLY to His throne (thanks Ms. Debbie), and seeking Him and His will for my life. God is our Father, our Friend, our Savior, our Life, our Stronghold, our Strength, our Love, our Teacher. He is our Wisdom, our Provider---He is there when everyone else turns away. Why then do we not spend more time with Him? Why then do we not petition God for our wants and our needs? For the desires of our hearts? He knows them! But he WANTS us to spend time with Him. He created us for fellowship; He created us in HIS image! HE CREATED US!!!

I want God to be my first love. I want Him to be above all else in my life! Am I perfect? No! Will I succeed with this overnight? No! But I have a lifetime ahead of me to constantly work at perfecting it....no I will NEVER be perfect--I'm human, I'm a sinner.....but I believe that all God asks of us (as far as perfection goes) is that we STRIVE daily to be like Him! That we lay down our cross DAILY to be more like Him! That we make decisions based on "What Would Jesus Do?"!

My challenge to you, and to myself, is to pray that God would open our eyes and show us what area (s) of our lives that we need to work on 'perfecting' our obedience to Him in!!