Obey: April 16, 2013

TODAYS WORD FOR TUESDAY APRIL 16, 2013

OBEY

DEFINITION:

To comply with instruction or commands; to follow; to respond readily; to submit or conform to; to be obedient.

SCRIPTURE:

Be doers of the Word and not hearers only. James 1:22.

If you obey my commandments you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed My Father’s commandments and remain in His love.
John 15:9

But if anyone obeys His Word, God’s love is truly made complete in Him. I John 2:5-6.

What does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8

This is love that we walk according to His commandments. II John 1:6.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

Take a few moments to begin with today to read carefully the verses we have written for you above. Notice that these verses tell us to obey God by reading and studying His Word. Then we are to obey what we read and the result will be that the love of God will radiate through us. We are to daily walk humbly with our Lord, do just things, love mercy and walk according to His commandments.

Obedience is the result of love and loyalty and they cannot be separated. Obedience to God is a demonstration of our love for Him. Obedience is doing what Christ has commanded us to do and living as He wants us to live. Jesus set the example for us. He was obedient to His father and obeyed His commands. By experience we know that obedience brings reward and disobedience has consequences.

We read in Numbers 20:7-12 that Moses struck the rock to get water rather then to just speak to the rock as God commanded him to do. Moses did not obey God and therefore forfeited his privilege of entering the promised land with the children of Israel, whom he had led for years. Think how painful it must have been for Moses after leading the Israelites out of Egypt and all through the wilderness for forty years and then not to be able to enter the promised land with them.

When we obey God, He uses ordinary people to do extra ordinary things. The disciples obeyed when Jesus said: “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” Mark 1:17.

Trusting and obeying the Lord brings to one’s life true happiness. The noted author Philip Yancey wrote: “Obedience to God and only obedience offers the way out of futility.” The way of obedience is the way of blessing. We must learn to obey.

Have you noticed that children never need to be taught to disobey?  Disobedience is a result of our sinful nature and each one of us --- parents, teenagers, adults and children --- need to learn to obey.

We learned as we were raising our children that the best way to teach obedience was to first set clearly the standards. Then when these standards were not honored and when we had given fair reminders, we would give an appropriate punishment such as taking away a privilege that was important to the child, for not obeying. The punishment had to have significance in the child’s mind, so it had to be painful in the same manner as God’s punishment of Moses was painful and a significant loss and disappointment to him. We also learned that it did not help to yell or threaten; this only built up resentment and never had good results. When giving out punishment for not obeying it is very important to be consistent as well.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Philippians 4:19.

My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

PRAYER:

Help me this day to obey Your Word and to be faithful in studying Your Word so that I may do a better job of obeying Your commands. Enable me to first, personally understand, and then to help my children to understand the importance of being obedient to God’s Word. Protect my children from being led astray by the temptations of Satan.