“Submit therefore to God…” (James 4:7)
Apr 26, 2019 15:00:23 GMT -6
Post by Gene Whitehurst on Apr 26, 2019 15:00:23 GMT -6
To the extent you trust in God, you will obey Him. Trust is integrated into obedience. This is true with God and with others.
You are to submit to the Word and Voice of God. He is our Sovereign King and Lord. Submitting to God means that you obey what He commands or instructs you to do. His most obvious commands are written in Scripture – such as to encourage one another, for husbands - love your wives, etc. There are times that He speaks with the still small voice directly into your heart – something specific for you to do – such as instructing Philip to go south on the road to Gaza (Acts 8). God’s voice will always be consistent with what Scripture teaches.
Further, He speaks through conscience. The conscience is not always safe to trust. The Scripture teaches that the conscience can be and is most often corrupt. Sometimes people are raised in a culture where the conscience (approving or disapproving) is not aligned to what Scripture allows/disallows. Your conscience (trained by pastor, parent, government, culture, etc.) should be adjusted to be aligned with what Scripture teaches. Part of growing to spiritual maturity is the aligning of the conscience with Scripture.
God is speaking. He speaks through the Word, He speaks directly into your soul by the Spirit, and He speaks to you through the conscience that He has placed into every man. He may speak through a donkey, a pastor, a friend, or countless other ways. Be prepared to hear his voice. Do not limit the Almighty’s ways that He can speak to you.
We should not wonder ‘is God speaking?’ Surely, God is speaking! The problem is ‘are we listening?’ So let me ask a few questions?
· Do you intend to obey when He speaks? If not, why should he speak?
· Do you make the time to listen to God? Could He feel ignored by you?
· Do you make time to study the Word? Are you growing in knowledge of God’s Word? How can you expect to obey Him if you do not know His word?
· Do you have a quiet time and place? Eliminate distractions so you can hear God speaking. He does not yell! He most often speaks in a ‘still small voice.’
When Abraham was called by God (Gen 12:1), he obeyed! But surely, this was not the first contact Abraham had with God. As soon as God spoke, Abraham recognized the voice and call of God. He had previously heard the voice sufficiently to distinguish it from other voices in his head. He was so absolutely certain, that he obeyed as the Words from God came into his ears.
For some time before God’s call, Abraham had built stillness, sensitivity, and loyalty to the voice of God. Over time! What kind of progress are you making? And keep in mind hearing the voice of God means obedience. He left family and friends and moved to an unfriendly country. So hearing the voice of God and the faith to obey brings honor to your God. Your walk with Him will not be free of trials, but you will have His peace that accompanies obedience.
Of course, most of us already know these things. Yet we push on in our busy lives and too many times we are not taking the time to listen and then obey God even when we know it is best. We venture on with a restless and starved spirit. We engage in enough religions activities to suppress some guilt. But we still have hunger on the inside. And the years slip by. How long? It is going to take time. So start with prayer. Ask our good Lord to show you the first steps to take to better know Him. Expect an answer. Pray for discernment to know his voice from the others. Be prepared to obey. By his matchless grace, he has led many to lives of great faith and obedience. He is waiting.
“as the Holy Spirit says, Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts…”
(Heb 3:7-8)
Consider this: true and acceptable obedience to God flows out of faith in God. By this I mean that we are not robots who do as we are told. We are demonstrating our faith in God when we obey Him. We are recognizing that His way is best – in faith. There is real life in our obedience. That life is our faith in God. My obedience must be a demonstration of my faith in God!
You are to submit to the Word and Voice of God. He is our Sovereign King and Lord. Submitting to God means that you obey what He commands or instructs you to do. His most obvious commands are written in Scripture – such as to encourage one another, for husbands - love your wives, etc. There are times that He speaks with the still small voice directly into your heart – something specific for you to do – such as instructing Philip to go south on the road to Gaza (Acts 8). God’s voice will always be consistent with what Scripture teaches.
Further, He speaks through conscience. The conscience is not always safe to trust. The Scripture teaches that the conscience can be and is most often corrupt. Sometimes people are raised in a culture where the conscience (approving or disapproving) is not aligned to what Scripture allows/disallows. Your conscience (trained by pastor, parent, government, culture, etc.) should be adjusted to be aligned with what Scripture teaches. Part of growing to spiritual maturity is the aligning of the conscience with Scripture.
God is speaking. He speaks through the Word, He speaks directly into your soul by the Spirit, and He speaks to you through the conscience that He has placed into every man. He may speak through a donkey, a pastor, a friend, or countless other ways. Be prepared to hear his voice. Do not limit the Almighty’s ways that He can speak to you.
We should not wonder ‘is God speaking?’ Surely, God is speaking! The problem is ‘are we listening?’ So let me ask a few questions?
· Do you intend to obey when He speaks? If not, why should he speak?
· Do you make the time to listen to God? Could He feel ignored by you?
· Do you make time to study the Word? Are you growing in knowledge of God’s Word? How can you expect to obey Him if you do not know His word?
· Do you have a quiet time and place? Eliminate distractions so you can hear God speaking. He does not yell! He most often speaks in a ‘still small voice.’
When Abraham was called by God (Gen 12:1), he obeyed! But surely, this was not the first contact Abraham had with God. As soon as God spoke, Abraham recognized the voice and call of God. He had previously heard the voice sufficiently to distinguish it from other voices in his head. He was so absolutely certain, that he obeyed as the Words from God came into his ears.
For some time before God’s call, Abraham had built stillness, sensitivity, and loyalty to the voice of God. Over time! What kind of progress are you making? And keep in mind hearing the voice of God means obedience. He left family and friends and moved to an unfriendly country. So hearing the voice of God and the faith to obey brings honor to your God. Your walk with Him will not be free of trials, but you will have His peace that accompanies obedience.
Of course, most of us already know these things. Yet we push on in our busy lives and too many times we are not taking the time to listen and then obey God even when we know it is best. We venture on with a restless and starved spirit. We engage in enough religions activities to suppress some guilt. But we still have hunger on the inside. And the years slip by. How long? It is going to take time. So start with prayer. Ask our good Lord to show you the first steps to take to better know Him. Expect an answer. Pray for discernment to know his voice from the others. Be prepared to obey. By his matchless grace, he has led many to lives of great faith and obedience. He is waiting.
“as the Holy Spirit says, Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts…”
(Heb 3:7-8)
Consider this: true and acceptable obedience to God flows out of faith in God. By this I mean that we are not robots who do as we are told. We are demonstrating our faith in God when we obey Him. We are recognizing that His way is best – in faith. There is real life in our obedience. That life is our faith in God. My obedience must be a demonstration of my faith in God!