Obedience to God

Hello Dear Readers,

  I hope everyone is doing well this week, and you have joy in the Lord, who is your strength. Joy that comes when you know you are doing God’s will, in obedience to Him. This kind of joy allows you to overcome any trouble you face because you are looking to God for your needs; guidance, strength, joy, peace and protection. What joy to have these gifts from God, daily!

   When others are coming against us, or we experience very tumultuous situations, we, as God’s children must remain strong in our faith and obedience to God; because we know Him, and we listen and follow His voice which leads us daily.

   Job was a righteous man who walked in complete obedience to God. Even when God allowed everything to be stripped away from him, even his health, Job did not curse God. No, Job knew God enough to know that He was good, even when he didn’t understand why God would allow such a horrible situation to happen to him. Job’s three friends who came to offer support to Job thought they had the answers for why this was happening to Job, but they came up short in their understanding of God, with only partial truths. Their lack of understanding of God and His grace caused Job more anguish instead of helping him. Job remained strong in his faith and obedience to God. Even in anguish and pain Job trusted in God more than anything or anyone else.

  Once I learned how to seek God daily and throughout my day (which I constantly practice even today) I learned that God is my authority and it doesn’t matter to me what others think. I am only concerned with what God thinks of what I do daily. My desire is to be obedient and bring honor to God in the good times and the very bad times. I know that God allows me to go through bad times to help me grow stronger in Him. I trust Him completely, and I know that His ways are perfect. This is the kind of obedience God desires for all His children to posses because this is when God can use us for His greater purposes. If we are constantly questioning Him about everything He calls us to do, we won’t get very far in our service to God, or our strength in God. I choose obedience to God every day. I pray that this is the desire of your heart too.

  Our strength that only God provides comes as we walk in obedience to Him every day. We might even have other Christians disagree with us when we are doing what God calls us to do. What is better, to follow the wisdom of man, or the wisdom of God? I choose the wisdom of God, because God is perfect and in our obedience, God will provide for our needs in the most difficult of times, if we will put our hope and faith in Him alone. Then when we come out of the difficult time and look back on it, we can see all the blessings and lessons we have learned from God.

  “To God’s elect, strangers in the world,… who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ…” 1Peter 1:1-2

  “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped.” Psalm28:7

  “Brothers, as an example in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.” James 5:10-11

  My hope and prayer is that we all would stand obedient to God; remaining strong in our faith because we know Him, and we listen and follow His voice which leads us. Daily.

  We will start reading Job 15-31, for two weeks.

Have a blessed week in the Lord,

Patricia