Diligently Obey

“… This will happen if you diligently obey the Lord your God.” Zechariah 6:15 b

Diligent obedience to the Lord is a command for the follower of Jesus Christ. We have the responsibility, the opportunity and the obligation to obey. What a joy to receive marching orders from Jesus. He is the Commander in Chief. What He says and expects matters dearly, as obedience can be a matter of joy or despair and life or death.

Our obedience facilitates God’s will for our life and the lives of those around us. We cannot handle the blessings of God if we are not obedient to the commands of God. He blesses our hard work when we apply our skills and gifts well. However, what keeps us successful and creditable is our character. When we sow obedience, we reap character. When we sow disobedience, we become a character. Thus, diligently obey the Lord.

Obedience matters to your family. Your example of obedience propels them to do the same. It may mean a job change or a change of churches, but explain to your family the Lord’s leading. Share your fears with your family. Then pray together and ask God to empower you to obey. Diligent obedience also matters to your work associates. They follow what you do, not what you say. Obedience pays dividends now and for eternity.

“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to

please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life” (Galatians 6:6-8).

How do you know if you are obeying God? His word is your first indicator. Ask Him to reveal His truth and ways to you. He is looking for a hungry heart of obedience. It delights God to instruct His teachable child in His will. Let the word of God seep into your soul through prayer and meditation. Memorize it, learn it, and, most importantly, apply it. Be volitional in your obedience. Obey even when you don’t feel like it.

Your emotions may betray you and tell you it's ok to not obey if you feel a certain way. Flee from this faulty thinking. God’s word is living and active. He will speak into the deepest recesses of your heart. Listen intently, then diligently do what He says. Do not hold back or be distracted. He may be saying to meet with the ones you have offended. You need to take the first step in reconciliation. There is a purpose much greater than your hurt feelings. By God’s grace, forgive and let Him heal your hurting heart.

Do not jeopardize the bigger vision for your own selfish needs. It may take a wise mediator to listen to both sides and make a recommendation. Do whatever the mediator suggests. This is a way of diligently obeying God. Yes, it is humbling. Yes, it is a little humiliating, but this is God’s plan. Do not allow the severed relationship with family or friends to fester. You may win the short-term battle of wills, but there is a good chance you will lose the long-term relational war. Diligent obedience requires a humble faith.

“I call with all my heart; answer me, LORD, and I will obey your decrees. I call out to you; save me and I will keep your statutes” (Psalm 119-145-146).

Prayer: Where is the Lord calling me to diligently obey with humble faith?

Related Readings: 2 Kings 22:13; Jeremiah 11:4-7; Matthew 8:27; Hebrews 4:2

Post/Tweet today: When we sow obedience we reap character. When we sow disobedience we become a character. #diligentlyobey


© 2013 by Boyd Bailey. All rights reserved.

Persistence Pays Off

“Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’” Luke 18:1-5

Has rejection caused you to give up on an opportunity or a person? Are you tired of trying to do the right thing, without experiencing positive results?

 It is precisely at this point of frustration and fear that God calls us to persevere in prayer and continue to graciously engage individuals and circumstances. Those who give up—give up on God.

Like an oscillating fan your faith may waver back and forth between confidence and uncertainty, so hit the button of belief and stay focused on the Lord.

 Go forward by faith to love an estranged relationship—call the company who went with a competitor and see how you might still serve them—reach out until your requests are not ignored anymore.

A faithful man or woman in the hands of God has the attention of heaven and earth. When you are on His assignment, rejection has to first go through Almighty God’s agenda. It's not the individual full of energy at the outset who outlasts others, it’s the wise ones who conserve their vigor over the long haul—strengthened by their Savior’s stamina.

The fortitude of faith is what forges great relationships and gets long-term results. Anyone can start a race with excitement and anticipation, but few are the runners who climb the hills, overcome the adversity of the elements and finish the course. You may not be the fastest—you may not finish first—but by God’s grace you will finish well.

Most of all stay persistent in prayer. Respond to God as the violin responds to the bow of the master. The Lord makes beautiful music on the strings of a life surrendered to Him. Persist through the pain of rejection and to the pressures of responsibility—all the while remaining in an attitude of prayer. Persistent prayer to Jesus produces His best outcome. Persistence pays off when you are prepared to move forward on behalf of your Master.

“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

Prayer: What relationship or opportunity calls for my focused attention and persistence?

Related Readings: Numbers 14:38; Daniel 6:10; Acts 20:22-25; Romans 2:7

Post/Tweet today: Fortitude of faith is what forges great relationships and gets long-term results. #persistencepaysoff


© 2013 by Boyd Bailey. All rights reserved.
Wisdom Hunters Resources / A registered 501 c3 ministry

Money’s Betrayal

Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The one I kiss is the man; arrest him and lead him away under guard.” Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Rabbi!” and kissed him. Mark 14:44-45

Money betrays with false promises and conflicting loyalties. Seductively, it lures in a once godly ambition and converts it into a scheme to secure cash at all costs. Once firm boundaries between work and home were in place but drifted through circumstantial suggestions, eventually to be ignored when more money could be made. Ironically, someone can spend a lifetime consumed by accumulating wealth, only to lose their health and exhaust their net worth paying for their physical care. Judas betrayed a friend for financial gain. Beware of those enamored by the image of being wealthy.

How do we know if we have been betrayed by money? How do we know if we are being betrayed for money? If our lifestyle has surpassed our modest means and handcuffed our home, we have been betrayed by money. If we worry more about stuff and having a status symbol, we have been betrayed by money. Moreover, we may be in the process of being exploited for money if our company or boss owns us. No margin for relationships, health, hobbies, emotions, family and faith is a warning sign to slow down, stop and objectively evaluate. Money’s betrayal steals.

But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages. John 12:4-5

Cash is the number one competitor with our devotion to Jesus Christ. Some even spiritualize their intentions to get rich by declaring that one day they will have a benevolent heart, once they acquire excess cash. However, generosity is not governed by the amount given, but by the capacity to give. This is why a widow’s mite means much more to God than a rich person who publicly tips the Lord only to be seen. Yes, the remedy to money’s betrayal is generous living in the moment.

By God’s grace we release the unrighteous motivation to make money and replace it with devotion to Jesus and generosity to our community. We rest in who we are in Christ, not being tossed back and forth emotionally by feelings of letting people down, because eventually, we will let them down. Our heart is to fear the Lord, not fear what people say, do or think about us. The reality is people think very little about us anyway. So, we die to self and stuff, and we live for Christ. We turn our backs on money’s betrayal and turn in trust to God and His loyalty.

Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted; propose your plan, but it will not stand, for God is with us. Isaiah 8:10

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I turn from money’s betrayal and turn toward You in trust of Your loyalty to me.
 
Related Readings: Psalm 118:6; Luke 12:18-21, 16:13; Acts 5:3-5; Hebrews 13:5; 1 Timothy 6:17-19

Post/Tweet today: Generosity is not governed by the amount given, but by the capacity to give. #moneysbetrayal


© 2013 by Boyd Bailey.

Home in Christ

 

  

Jew and Gentile Reconciled Through Christ

¹¹ Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— ¹² remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. ¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

¹⁴ For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, ¹⁵ by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace,

 ¹⁶ and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. ¹⁷ He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸ For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.







¹⁹ Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, ²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.
²¹ In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. ²² And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.  Ephesians 2:11-22

 

I once accepted a job 600 miles from my family’s small farm in Tennessee. After arriving, I gazed at the bare apartment that would become my new home. It was dreary.

 


The final heart-wrenching moment was watching my family drive away as I stood alone in an unfamiliar city. My misery began to dominate and detach me from my faith. I had not merely changed my residence; I had pushed God away.




Weeks later, a smiling couple knocked on my door and invited me into their church family.
Their Sunday afternoon visit became a blessing to me. Encouraged, I began unpacking

and came across an envelope of seeds from the cherished tomato plants that my family planted every spring. I placed the seeds sparingly in potting soil and positioned them carefully in my apartment window. These seeds began to flourish just as if they had been planted in my family’s Tennessee garden.

Soon I began to enjoy the plump red harvest. I realized from this experience that the foundation of home begins in the household of God. We can cultivate home by sharing the love of Christ with the people around us.

 

The Author  John Winfield Lee (Tennessee, USA) from The Upper Room

Thought for the Day

God will provide home wherever we may live.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, help us to understand in our hearts that we belong to you and forever reside in your household. Amen.

Prayer focus  Those living far from family

God Provides

So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. Say to the owner of the house he enters, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.” Mark 14:13-15

Often God’s provision includes specific instructions of what we need to do or not do. Jesus instructed His disciples to find a man with a water pot and follow him to his master's house. The Lord had already moved the heart of the generous master to have an upper room prepared for Christ’s work. Indeed, the Holy Spirit is at work all around us in preparation for God’s people. Many times He uses people as a channel for His provision. He blesses them to bless others.

So, we first listen intently to the Spirit’s instruction, before we move forward to discover where He is working. Wait and don’t worry that the timing may be too late. A premature provision lacks the fulfillment that patient prayer brings. If we short cut the Spirit’s work we strive in our own strength and we trade God’s glory for our ego. Also, waiting gives other giving hearts time to position their stuff for sharing. Yes, God provides in His way, so we celebrate Christ’s salvation!

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 1 Timothy 6:17

Furthermore, God’s provision is normally a process of trust and obedience. We meet one new relationship that leads to another resourceful acquaintance, who has been praying about how they can support their Savior’s work.

 

The Holy Spirit directs us as we move by faith from one genuine God fearer to another. Like a multicolor, intricate tapestry the Lord weaves His people together on the loom of His love. The Spirit brings us together in a spirit of generosity for His purposes.

Most of all, place your hope in Christ, who richly provides you with everything for your enjoyment. Do not feel guilty because God gave you more stuff than other good souls. Use your platform of belongings to brag on Jesus and be hilariously generous. The genuine joy you find in aggressive giving will be someone else’s nervous laughter. Keep both hands open to be a pass through of trust for God’s blessings. He provides for you to be His gracious provision for others!

If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. 1 Peter 4:11

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I trust You for Your provision in Your timing. Use my life to be a pass through of Your provision to other needy souls.

Related Readings: Exodus 15:22-27; Job 38:41; Luke 12:24; 1 Corinthians 10:31; Ephesians 6:10

Post/Tweet today: A premature provision lacks the fulfillment that patient prayer brings. So, wait for God’s best. #Godprovides


© 2013 by Boyd Bailey.

In Love with the World?

 The Way of the Cross

³⁴ Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵ For whoever wants to save their life^[a] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. ³⁶ What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? ³⁷ Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? ³⁸ If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”  Mark 8:34-38  New International Version (NIV)

 

Jesus said, “Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I will also deny before my Father in heaven.”  - Matthew 10:32-33 (NRSV)
 

For most of my adult life I was a devoted atheist. I would tell anyone who would listen that God made no sense; it seemed easy to defend my views. Shortly after my conversion, however, I was presented with the opportunity to defend Christ to a co-worker who was espousing the same views I had once held. I choked. Suddenly, I was more concerned about what my friend thought of me than what was important to Christ. In that moment I discovered that I was more in love with the world than with God.

 Scripture teaches that those in love with the world do not have the Father’s love in them.  Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father^[a] is not in them 1 John 2:15. Too often we Christians are concerned about what our peers will think if we share our faith in Christ Jesus. However, Christ instructs us to boldly share our faith and promises to be with us always. ¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matt. 28:18-20.




 I regret those days when I hesitated to share my faith; I regret having ever turned my back on Christ. There are no magical words or formulas needed to tell others about our faith in Christ. All that’s needed is honesty and a willingness to tell others what Christ has done in our lives. In the end, we will be rewarded for loving God more.

The Author  Clark Goble (Ohio, USA) from The Upper Room

Thought for the Day

We can ask God for courage in difficult moments.

Prayer

Ever-living God, give us confidence to be your witnesses in the world. Grant us the courage to love you more than we love the world. Amen.

Prayer focus Giving strength to New Christians