Obedience Brings Blessing

If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land; but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Isaiah 1:18, 19

Obedience isn’t a popular topic today. In fact, it probably never has been. One morning during a time of worship the above verse began to rise in my Spirit. I began to think about the blog I had just written, Rewards for Those Who Seek God. I felt that this verse ties in with us being obedient and receiving rewards for doing so. We have so easily gone over to the other extreme that we don’t think we need to be obedient anymore. Most people just want to ask Jesus into their heart and live as they always have.

Recently I read John Bevere’s book entitled “Killing Kryptonite” and one thing he talks about is how we have lost the importance of repentance. We need not only accept Jesus into our hearts, we need to repent first. Without repentance we aren’t being obedient to Scripture.

Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 2:38

God is calling us to obedience. As we seek Him we will have His heart. We will want to be obedient. As we are made more into His likeness, we will act more like Him. This should be our desire to become more like Him every day.

Sheer Willingness Isn’t Enough – Obedience is The Key

We can’t just say that we are willing, we must be obedient. We must do what God told us to do. Too often we make excuses for why we’re not being obedient or why we can’t change. We make it seem impossible or that we can’t really change. We take all the onus off us and blame our disobedience on anything and everything else.

Going back to the verse in Isaiah 1:18 we see that when we are obedient we will eat the good of the land. God, therefore, places the key on obedience. If we want good things and all God has for us we must be obedient. We must do what the Bible tells us to do.

Of course, we need a balance. We need to understand God’s Word. Yes, Jesus fulfilled our sacrifice on the cross. Jesus is the only way we can live in obedience. However, we can’t just blame our disobedience on the fact that Jesus was obedient for us. If we want all of God’s promises, we must be obedient to His Word.

Often, we say we want to change but when it comes to making the change we don’t. We have become accustomed to the way we live. We continue to live the same way. Jesus has set us free and freedom is ours, but we don’t want to obey Scripture. God wants us to make the change. Be obedient. Walk in righteousness. You will eat of the good of the land.

Seek First – Obedience

Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.

Matthew 6:33

Once again God tells us we must do something first. We must first seek His Kingdom and His righteousness. When we do that, we will get everything that Jesus talked about in the above verses.

Just as in my last blog, we need to seek God. If we want His benefits and the things that He has for us, we must seek Him. This should be a daily thing in our lives. God wants us to seek after Him and to live a life of obedience.

Allow Jesus to live His life through you. This is the way that you can be obedient. We can do nothing in our strength, but don’t make that an excuse. God wants to live through you today. Be obedient in the seemingly insignificant things.

2 Comments

  1. […] need to do to walk in freedom. These aren’t the ‘good works’ that I talked about in my last blog. These are strategies to help you walk closer to Jesus. As we do, we will see greater freedom in […]

  2. Daphne Stewart

    Thank you for this beautiful reminder to walk in obedience.
    The Lord spoke to me tonight in prayer about respecting & honoring my husband. I was praying for my son & daughter in law and for my day in law to respect & honor my son more, which I don’t know that she doesn’t. It just looks that way sometimes.
    Well, the Lord silenced me when He brought to my mind my own marriage.
    I have a very hard time respecting my husband because I don’t trust his decisions or choices.
    But, I know that our marriage affects so many others’ lives.
    My own obedience to The Lord’s word can change my marriage and bring blessing.
    I googled that and it’s how I found this message.
    Thank you so much!
    Daphne Stewart

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