I grew up in a house where I was taught – AND TOLD – to obey. Not just to obey God, but to obey all elders in my family. Generally speaking, I was a good girl! I seldom did without anything at all that I desired and I was never pushed away from the family. When I entered my teen years, this did not stop. I obeyed, mostly; and when I didn’t, my desire was hardly kept from me … I even got a car at 16, as I requested … and their love for me did not decrease. When I became a grown woman, I still had to obey my parents and all elders in my family; I did that … mostly! 🙂 But when I fell short, nothing I desired was kept from me and no one cut me off from the family.
What I’ve experienced not that I am in ministry is that all that is for the sake of His glory … he leads us to do. He guides us to know what we should do and what we should think; in how we should walk and how we should talk; in where we should go and what we should see. As a missionary, I’ve seen that going in obedience was coupled with what we were to do when we got there. And as we said, ‘YES’ to what He told us to do, we saw amazing victories over and over again! He opened our eyes again and again in ways that we could not ever have done on our own.
When we yielded to Him, there was not a ministry failure to be faced. We wanted everyone near us to see Him, and not us; for that He was glorified and He was was pleased with us – we knew it because we felt it in so many areas of our lives that could only have made it with His touch. But … we weren’t perfect!
There were times when we heard someone else, and did what they felt was best. There were times when we just felt like we couldn’t, and moved another direction. There were even just a few times when we truly did not listen completely. Each and every time, once we repented to Him … we could feel His forgiveness and love and were, once again, blown away by His work in the ministry that is His! He never took His joy from us! I bless His name for that!
I do want to encourage your heart today. As His children, we surely do reap great joy and peace when we walk in the way He tells us to. But, as His children, when we fail Him and feel the distress and despair; we will feel it fully that our joy and peace will not be taken away. We only have to repent to Him, not to any man. We only have to fall before Him admitting our faults, and the forgiveness will be felt. I’ve heard of people that hold grudges against people for a lifetime!!! But, Our Father does not do that.
Walk in righteousness … walk in Him. This brings peace and a feeling of safety. When you walk in Him, you’ll know that falling into anything that is not of Him, cannot take away His hand from your life!
Loving Christ - Living Christ 