What If? continued

Last week I wrote about being obedient to God and posed the question, "What if" we were. I am continuing my experiment of trying to respond each time I feel a nudge from the Lord. Sometimes I have been more successful than others, but I believe that God knows my heart and will

continue to help me along the way.

As I was thinking about why we should be obedient, I thought about the book of Deuteronomy. To set the stage, the scriptures I will share were shared with the Israelites just before they were going to enter the promised land. The generation that had been set free from slavery in Egypt had died off and the second generation were about to enter the land that God had promised to their ancestors. It was important for this second generation to hear the promises of God for themselves and make a choice and commitment to obey the commandments of the Lord. I think it is important to revisit these promises now, in our lifetime, so that we too will be aware of what they are.

Deuteronomy 30:15-20 NIV (Moses is speaking) "See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity; in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it.

But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. You shall not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess it.

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants., by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him:..."

God loves us more than we can imagine and would love to have an intimate relationship with us, but we have free will to choose. Will we do things our way and distance ourselves from the Lord, or will we do things God's way and have more blessings and peace than we could ever imagine. The choice is our to make.

Remember, God will meet you where ever you are at. So no matter how far you feel you are from God or how much you feel you have sinned and could never be forgiven, there is always hope in Christ. He died for our sins to reconcile us to God, so that we could have a close relationship with our Father God, Christ, our brother, and the Holy Spirit. All we have to do is turn toward the Lord, ask for forgiveness and accept Jesus as our Savior. Please choose life.

Prayer is Powerful

James 5:16 "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." (Note: when confessing your sins to one another, there is no need to share every detail, lest the person with whom you are sharing would be tempted to sin).

I went to a funeral today for a young lady who had a bright future and who was a joy and light within her family. It was tragic for us to lose her, of course, but in spite of the sadness of our loss, one could feel the presence of the peace of God at her funeral. And that presence is beyond measure. It is like God wrapping His arms around us when we are in times of trouble. Before the young woman's death, her mother sensed the Lord telling her to "pray your children home". The mother felt as though something ominous was in the near future, but she didn't know what. She was obedient to pray more fervently than she normally would, and I think that helped bring God's peace to her and the family.

It reminded me of my husband John talking about his grandfather, who John felt was the most holy man he had ever met. John's grandfather would walk around the yard each evening, praying and calling out each person's name - all his children, grandchildren and others for whom he prayed. John always believed that his grandfather's prayers are what sustained him for his entire life. John followed his grandfather's example of constant and fervent prayer. Now I try to follow John's example also.

One thing that encourages me is what the scripture says: "the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective". From my perspective, that is a great promise to us that our prayers are heard and that God is working on answering them. Of course we are not righteous of ourselves, but we are made righteous through our relationship to Jesus Christ.

So I would encourage you to take heed. Keep praying in the name of Jesus Christ for all those you love and scripture says even pray for your enemies. The important thing is to keep praying because your prayers are powerful and effective. Knowing that, you can rest in knowing that God is at work to answer your prayers. God bless all of you.

What If?

In her daily devotional, "Each New Day", for March 4th, Corrie ten Bloom talks about obedience. She says, "Perfect obedience would be perfect happiness, if only we had perfect confidence in the power we were obeying. A wolf does not bother a sheep that is with the flock, close to the shepherd." Psalm 23:1 RSV, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." Corrie goes on to say, "Keep me in your flock, Lord, safe and secure in Your protection, knowing I have nothing to fear when I do Your work."

Obedience seems like a strong word. Before I gave my heart to the Lord, I cringed at the thought of being absolutely obedient to our Lord. I have come a long way toward realizing that I am not giving anything up that is of value, when I am obedient to God. Rather, when I am able to be obedient, my life goes so much better: I have more peace, I find favor with people, I have joy and more.

But what is the hold up? I long for the day when the Lord says, "Do it this way." and I say, "Yes Sir!" When the Lord suggests or commands a way for me, why do I try to convince Him that His plan is unnecessary or that I have a better plan?

In my mind, it makes no sense because I know that the Lord is the creator of all, He is all knowing, He has all the connections, He knows the best plan for each of us that He wishes we would embrace. And yet I find myself resisting. Why? I do trust the Lord and yet I hesitate. Is it my pride that is holding me back? (Resist with full Armor, Sept. 27th lessons learned post). Could it be that my faith is not absolute? (Dorothy with the Sparkling Blue Eyes Sept. 27th testimony). Whatever the reason, I want to do better because I know that the results are better when I fully trust and obey God

If you study the Scriptures, everyone who had a close relationship with God was obedient. Christ was obedient, even unto death. Our Blessed Mother Mary was obedient to say yes to God even though it seemed as if she risked being stoned for becoming pregnant before she was married. Joseph was obedient to marry Mary even though he knew she was pregnant because he believed the angel who told him that the pregnancy was from God.

There are many more examples and even if the others were not absolutely obedient all the time, their heart was in the right place, because they wanted to be obedient and tried their best to do so. God gave them more opportunities and more grace.

I believe that God meets us where ever we are at because He loves us more than we can imagine and He wants to have a close relationship with us. If our heart's desire is to have that close relationship with God, we will want to be obedient to follow His lead. Just like in the human realm, when we love someone we try to do things that please our beloved so that they know we care, when we love God, we will do all we can to be pleasing in His sight to let Him know how much we love Him.

So in questioning my own obedience walk, I thought of an experiment I could try. What if each time I felt a nudge from the Lord to do something, I stop what I was doing, if I could, and actually just did it? Maybe it would calling someone or doing something. Usually with the Lord, things don't take too long and are not burdensome.

I have started that experiment and so far it is working really well. I have been blessed without stress and those involved have been blessed. At this point, I may stumble along the way and miss my assignment, but my intention is to continue in this direction so that one day I will be able to hear God's voice and say "Yes Sir!"

How about you? Do you want a closer relationship with God? Where are you on your journey of obedience to Him? Will you join me in this experiment? If so, of course, you will do it in your own way because we each have our own journey that is special with the Lord. May God bless you in your efforts.