Obedience

Obedience is not a word most Christians want to hear. It's a word most associated with puppies in a phrase similar to: 6 weeks of obedience class. I heard Charles Stanley do a wonderful sermon on obedience. If you never hear sermons on sin, repentance, or obedience - start looking for a new church. We cannot mature in our Christian walk without obeying the Lord, acknowledging sin, and repenting.

About 3 years ago I was in Victoria for a healing weekend. Earlier that week the Lord had given me a word of knowledge for the priest leading the weekend. It was about 5am and I was drinking my 1st cup of coffee and reading a chapter in the Gospel of Matthew. I heard the still, quiet Voice say tell Jack to teach on this passage. I kept reading. I heard it again, I said I will after I finish my coffee and praying. (Can you tell I have a healthy father image and can sadly be overly familiar with my Heavenly Father?) I drank more coffee, spent more time in the Word, and prayed more. Then I decided to get ready for work.

I sat down at my desk, signed a database to begin a project and thought oh no, I never e-mailed Jack about that passage. I will look it up quickly and let him know about it. Guess what, I could not remember the passage to save my life. I prayed, I repented, I read and read at lunch.

I e-mailed Jack and said I had a word of knowledge, didn't send it to you, and now I cannot remember what it was. The next day I e-mailed Jack and said it's in the Gospel of Luke or Matthew. He called me and said Annette, that certainly narrows it down....I said I am still praying.

Friday afternoon it was time to leave for Victoria, I still did not know what the passage was. We prayed about it when I arrived at the church. I searched for it again that night. The next morning Jack began preaching, I was sitting between my former priest Steve Pope and an 83 year old man. Jack said I need a minute, I was going to teach from Mark, but the Holy Spirit is saying something about stones. I said that's it, that is the passage the Lord gave me earlier this week. It's Matthew 7:9-11,

"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

Jack begin to teach on the passage and the goodness of our Heavenly Father. Thankfully the Father in His mercy, did not let my sin keep the person who needed this teaching from hearing it. It turned out, the elderly man sitting next to me felt he had been given stones to eat his entire life. He didn't think he measured up to his parent's expectations, thought he didn't measure up to his Heavenly Father's expectations and had lived for over 70 years feeling wounded and rejected. He has a wife who loves him, children and grandchildren who think he hung the moon. This man received so much healing that weekend.

I now strive to listen to the Lord and obey Him. Jesus of course is the ultimate example in this area, as He knelt at Gethsamene, He asked for the cup to be taken from Him, though He wanted His Father's will done. Jesus was obedient unto death for us.

Try to remember that the next time you feel the urge to cut someone off in traffic, feel the Lord tugging you out of your comfort zone, you want to tell your spouse what you really think...

Thy Will Be Done