Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
5/23/2022
Sundays Prophesy – So What comes first faith or obedience?
“Stay Obedient. Be Obedient! Stay strong in your temptation. Speak to them my words of light! Stand on my words – Trust me and I will deliver you.
I promise to walk with you through the storm. Know that I hold your hand and I will use this to ultimately bless you and work my purpose in it. Be obedient and my faith will show itself in you. By faith, I will hear you as you obey. Your obedience opens the gateway to my blessings. If you have slipped or fallen, cry out in humility and repentance and faith will lead you to obey and you will walk in the answer to your prayers”.
I think too many Christians struggle with obedience because they stumble in their faith running on the world's scale of what it takes to be a success. In a similar fashion, they are willing themselves and/or pushing themselves to be obedient to Christ in the same way. “I” Can Do This! Not that it's wrong to work hard but you can’t manhandle faith to get your way.
You can’t force something in the spirit just by naming and claiming it. It requires the same Holy Spirit that saved us and revealed eternal life through Jesus Christ. He gave us the gift of faith so we could be obedient to God’s ways and lay aside the distortions and perversion of our old way of thinking.
So we can truly be free. So it is with things of the Spirit.
First comes faith. Step one, is wanting to believe in what is right and good and true. That happens through faith… not from willing for it, or striving for it but giving oneself over to it….Christ in you!. Col 1:27 Surrendering our ways to his higher way… Then comes obedience – because all of a sudden, what we used to cleave to we no longer desire. The hunger for it continues to diminish, all through faith which produces obedience in us to what?
Obey God! Love God.
Step two. As we increase in our faith, we are obedient to more principles of the gospel, and as we are more obedient, our faith is increased yet again. How do you strengthen your faith and obedience to God? Faith comes by hearing the word of god. Rom 10:17 It grows in you as you read his word and God's power and freedom are released within you to be obedient. The more you learn of God the more you willingly give up your old life to God’s spirit-filled life leading you to… Freedom and more freedom.
When we realize that God is speaking to us through His Word, it encourages our faith. But, we are also greatly encouraged in our faith when we share what we have learned from Him with others. So, spending time with other believers, sharing our findings, and listening to theirs, does the same thing, so you both can enjoy God’s freedom and grow with someone you can walk through life with.
When you break obedience down, it is simply a direct command, often used by a person in authority. Examples include a child who cleans his or her room when told to do so by a parent and a soldier who follows the orders of a superior officer. It is no different with our heavenly Father. His word directs us to freedom. He shows us the roadmap to eternal success and how to navigate the potholes of living in a lost world. Why, so we can really know the freedom of God and walk in the strength of it and
enjoy the joy and peace of it along the way.
The Our Father gives us the example: "Bless our food daily and forgive us our sins as we forgive our trespassers daily". I hope you didn’t miss that. As we ask him to bless our food daily, we daily ask him to forgive us our sins that separate us from God. Every day! Read 1 John and Romans
While ignoring both God's wisdom and biblical instructions has consequences…obedience to his commandments has rewards —
even “great” rewards. Psalm 19:7-10
Choose you this day who you will serve and obey… When you do the Holy Spirit will show you both the faith and obedience to live in real Freedom!
You Raise me Up. Only Men Aloud
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88RUGzmxOdA&list=RDVhrxRccU3Lw&index=3
