Promise for Today - Partial Obedience is...

So Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him.

Genesis 6:22 (NLT)

If you're going to make it to the finish line in life and fulfill the vision God has given you, then you’re going to have to make a choice: Even while facing setbacks, you’re going to have to do exactly what God tells you to do—without taking shortcuts.

God gave Noah specific instructions about how to build the ark: He told Noah to build it with cypress wood and seal it with tar. Make it 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high, with three decks and stalls throughout the interior, one door, and an 18-inch opening all the way around the boat just below the roof. He told Noah how many animals and how much food to load on the boat. “So Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him” (Genesis 6:22 NLT).

At any stage of your life, you're going to be tempted to cut corners. You're going to be tempted to take the easy way, skimp a little here and there, skip a step, or fudge a little on the accounts. God will tell you what to do, and you’ll think how much easier and faster it would be to do it your way or that you know better than God. You’ll follow through, but on your own terms.

That kind of thinking will cause you to miss your purpose and God's plan every time. Why? Because partial obedience is disobedience.

Can you imagine Noah trying to accomplish what God told him to do in his own way rather than God's way? I can imagine Noah had some questions, like, “Are the bugs really necessary?”

But a dream from God will require God’s blessing. And you cannot get God’s blessing when you are disobedient. God’s vision for Noah was too big for Noah to accomplish with his own power and his own plans. He knew he couldn’t do it without God’s blessing, and so he did everything exactly as God had commanded him. When you’re tempted to take shortcuts, you need to remember this paraphrase of Genesis 6:9: Noah “tried always to conduct his affairs according to God's will” (TLB).

Do you want this to be true of your life? You have to decide that you will choose God’s way for God’s blessing, even when it doesn’t make sense to you.

Talk It Over

Think of the dream God has given you for your life. In what ways have you been tempted to take shortcuts morally, financially, or relationally?

When you have to decide about how to pursue your dream, how can you know if you are following God’s way or your own way?

Do you think it’s okay to ask for God’s blessing on your dream? Why or why not?

- by Pastor Rick

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Prayer:

Father,

       We ask for willing and obedient hearts. Remove every resistance within us that makes us reject Your instructions. Let our hearts delight in doing Your will, even when it challenges our desires. Teach us to love obedience and to daily walk in alignment with Your Word. We desire a willing heart to obey You. Fill our hearts with love for Your commandments. Let obedience flow from love, not obligation or fear. Remove anything in us that despises or ignores Your instructions. Help us to cherish Your Word and follow it faithfully. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

They Were Not Willing

What is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice...
1st Samuel 15:22 NLT

This was the prophet Samuel speaking to King Saul right before he pronounced God's rejection of Saul as king. Why? Because Saul had taken matters into his own hands and did not follow God's command. It seemed to Saul that it would be okay because he said he was going to use what he kept to sacrifice to the Lord, but that's not what God had said to do. Saul was disobedient.  In this particular passage, I can almost hear Saul ask Samuel, "What's the big deal?"

In verse 9 (AMP), it reads, Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and everything that was good, and they were not willing to destroy them entirely; but everything that was undesirable or worthless they destroyed completely. But God had told them to destroy everything. In verse 23, Samuel told Saul, Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols.

Solomon wrote in Proverbs 14:12, There is a way which seems right to a man and appears straight before him, But its end is the way of death.

Jesus told His disciples in John 14:23-24, NLT, All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them. Anyone who doesn’t love me will not obey me. And remember, my words are not my own. What I am telling you is from the Father who sent me.

It's about obedience. Obeying the voice of the Lord God. Pastor Alan Neel made the statement, "We're not responsible for the results; just the obedience." Oftentimes, we go through life doing "good enough" - not our best effort, not our whole-hearted attempt, but what we consider good enough. Close enough. And the world accepts that. However in the Word, we're taught, Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:2 NLT

Good and pleasing and perfect. Obedience. Anything less is not good enough.

Prayer:

Father,
            As we delve into Your Word, wash us with it. Renew a right spirit within us. Transform our hearts and minds. It is our heart's desire to fully follow You in obedience, to be good and pleasing and perfectly in Your will. Help us, O God. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Something Different for May - Day 22 - Mercy for All

I want you to understand this mystery, dear brothers and sisters, so that you will not feel proud about yourselves. Some of the people of Israel have hard hearts, but this will last only until the full number of Gentiles comes to Christ. And so all Israel will be saved. As the Scriptures say,
“The one who rescues will come from Jerusalem, and he will turn Israel away from ungodliness. And this is my covenant with them, that I will take away their sins.”

Many of the people of Israel are now enemies of the Good News, and this benefits you Gentiles. Yet they are still the people he loves because he chose their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn. Once, you Gentiles were rebels against God, but when the people of Israel rebelled against him, God was merciful to you instead. Now they are the rebels, and God’s mercy has come to you so that they, too, will share in God’s mercy. For God has imprisoned everyone in disobedience so he could have mercy on everyone.

Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!

For who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to give him advice? And who has given him so much that he needs to pay it back? For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen.

Romans 11:25-36 NLT

Prayer - Day 22

Father, 

             There’s mystery in the way You work. You’ve promised to save Jew and Gentile alike - and Your gifts and call are irrevocable. Our disobedience is no match for your mercy! Today, Lord, please have mercy…again. Amen.

Praying Through Romans       www.crosswalk.com

What's Keeping You?

Then Joshua asked them, "How long are you going to wait before taking possession of the remaining land the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given to you?"
Joshua 18:3 NLT

God had given them the land, but they failed to enter and possess it by faith. To take possession means to occupy the land completely, own it, control it, which is much more than just crossing the boundary line. Possessing it is an act of obedient faith based on the promise of God given back in Joshua 1:11, loosely paraphrased here - "Get ready, cross Jordan, take possession of what God has already given you."

Life Lesson by Charles Stanley - "Israel's partial obedience was disobedience toward the Lord and ungratefulness for all He had already given them." Yes, Israel had subdued the land, but by faith, it still had to be possessed.

And let's face it, I'm sure Joshua was eager to complete his assignment, which included the division of the land among the tribes BEFORE he took possession of his own. Joshua had been patiently waiting for OVER 40 YEARS!

What keeps us from claiming the territory God wants to give us? What is holding us back from acting on His promises?

Prayer:

Father,
          We know You are with us. Help us to walk in the courage You have commanded we have, and to step forward in faith to honor You. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Obedience

But Samuel replied, “What is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams. Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols." 

1st Samuel 15:22-23a NLT

Right here (in this passage) is where King Saul was deposed. God told him to destroy everything of the Amalekite nation, but Saul didn't follow through. Oh, he did most of it, but not all of it. When confronted with the livestock that he kept, Saul replied they were going to use it to sacrifice to the Lord. It sounded logical. Seemed reasonable to Saul. However, there was a problem. Disobedience.

NOT doing what God said to do is disobedience. Wanting to do it your own way instead of His is being stubborn. Doing your own thing - or picking and choosing what part of it you want to do instead of what He said to do is rebellion... as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols...

Simple obedience... Is it an oxymoron? Sometimes it seems very difficult to fully obey, but anything less than fully obedient is disobedience and will get you deposed.

Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Never a question of whether or not it will be done, or how much of it. There is no "close enough" in the kingdom of Heaven. It's simple, really. Thy will be done... Immediately, completely and without hesitation.

Simple Obedience.

Prayer:

Father,
            Open our eyes to see our disobedience. Change our hearts to rid us of our stubborn and rebellious natures. Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen