The Need For Obedience

Praise was so full of joy that it radiated out. His countenance was lighted up and his mood changed to a very cheerful one. He continued in this state for days, and even his neighbors noticed. ‘‘What has changed? Praise is now different?’’ One of his neighbors responded, ‘‘Praise has just received Jesus as his savior, and what you are seeing him display is the joy of salvation”.

But time passed, and unfortunately, Praise went back to doing some of the evil things he forsook, and the joy left. He became hot-tempered and unfriendly again. Because he wanted the joy and peace back, he would not miss any Church service, would do every assignment committed to him in Church the best way he could, prayed and fasted, but all these did not result in him being joyful. What really went wrong?

God’s commandment to every child is ‘obey’ (Ephesians 6:1) and the same applies to every newly born again child of God. After salvation, God expects that every child of His grows to the point where they can willfully submit to him because it is at this point that a man becomes useful to him and this is God’s ultimate aim: learning to obey God is the only route to this.

Obedience is what brings us to the point where we can willingly submit to God. This you will achieve after a very long period of obedience. Sadly, only very few ever get to this level in God. We were dead because of sin and our nature was that of the devil. This nature was taken away at salvation, but the corruption in our minds remains. The way God chose to deal with this corruption is by giving us commandments that must be obeyed.z

The compendium of these commandments is what is referred to as the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. After steady and consistent obedience to these commandments, our minds are being renewed by the life that the law of life gives. At the height of this renewal, we gain the ability to now use our will to choose what God wants(our desires become His desires).

It is after this that we can submit or offer ourselves to God and this enables us to resist the devil. If you noticed that you often fall into temptations, it could be that you have not been faithful in obeying God.

Go into today knowing that it is by obeying God that you gain the ability to submit to God and resist the devil.

Prayer: Ask the Lord to empower you with grace to obey him.
—Dr. Emmanuel James

Bible in 1 Year: Ezekiel 1-6

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