Obeying God, Pt. 3

It is always a blessing to obey God. He leads His people, giving assignments & opportunities. Obedience brings blessings; disobedience never ends well.

Obeying God, Pt. 3

"He replied, 'Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.'"

(Luke 11:28)

I was having breakfast with our church's executive pastor and deacon officers a few weeks ago. As we were sharing with our waiter and praying for him, I noticed a young man watching us. Later, that man approached our table and told us he noticed how we interacted with the waiter. He asked us, "How do you know when God is leading you to do something like that?" I answered that if you feel led to share Jesus with someone, the devil is not leading you to do that!

It is always a blessing to obey God. The Lord leads His people and gives us assignments and opportunities to obey Him. We can choose to say yes to God and join Him in His work, or we can say no and choose to disobey God. The Word of God is replete with examples of both reactions. Each time someone obeyed God, he or she was blessed; however, when they chose to disobey God, it never turned out well for them. The same can be said for us today.

Psalm 24:1-5 states:

"The earth is the LORD'S, and all its fullness,
The world and those who dwell therein.
For He has founded it upon the seas,
And established it upon the waters.
Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD?
Or who may stand in His holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol,
Nor sworn deceitfully.
He shall receive blessing from the LORD,
And righteousness from the God of his salvation."

God is awesome. He created everything, and though He is transcendent and above all He created, He in His kindness and immanence allows us to approach Him, to know Him, and to hear from Him. Verse 4 clearly describes the characteristics of the one who can approach God; we must have clean hands, pure hearts, not worship idols, or tell lies. Verse 5 says that person will be blessed by the LORD. God grants righteousness to that person.

Dr. Stanley asked the question, "What is a blessing?" He defined a blessing as anything that falls in the category of an expression of God's goodness and love toward us. Scripture bears witness of the fact that obedience always brings a blessing. But the opposite is also equally true: disobedience brings difficulties and chastisement. To obey God is always the better choice!

Let me encourage you to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit speaking to you today. Keep in mind: God loves people. He desires everyone to know Him, repent of their sins, and live eternally with Him in heaven (2 Peter 3:9). Ask the Lord to lead you to the ones He is drawing to Himself. What a blessing it is to be on mission with Jesus as He seeks and saves the lost.