Tag: obedience

Giving God Burdens, Your Obedience, His Glory

Every matter, no matter the size, God wants you to call on Him. God wants your mundane issues, and He wants your big problems.

You obey God when you call on Him for help.

He commands it. When we pray, “give us this day our daily bread”.* It’s not a ritual prayer for well meaning, but a model that God planned to tells us that He wants us daily to ask Him to provide us help.

He promises to help us when we throw our problems upon Him:

Cast your burden on the Lord, And He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved. (Psalm 55:22 NKJV)

Give God all your problems. Especially the ones you know you can’t resolve.

Frankly, You are human which means you’re weak, never perfect. We all are!

We live in an imperfect world. You may even start off great, but then end in an overwhelming predicament. Life is like that.

You glorify God when you call on Him for help.

God delights in these situations, because it’s an opportunity for us to experience His excellent, everlasting strength when we call on Him for help.

“For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him…” (2 Chronicles 16:9 NKJV)

Don’t keep any loads. Throw them all upon God. His strength is perfected in our weakness.*

Our God is ALMIGHTY God.

*Matthew 6:11

**“And He said to me,’My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9 NKJV)

Doing Good Because You Have To

Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. (James 4:17 NKJV)

We are commanded to do good. God says its sin to not do what you know you ought to do.

Refraining from doing good has its consequences.

Nabal was a very successful sheep owner.* Upon his large land, that housed 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats, is David, whom is a fugitive from King Saul. While David and his men lived among Nabal’s cattle and his workers, David protected Nabal’s property. David wasn’t asked to do it, he just did.

One day David relays a message to Nabal. He tells him about his stay nearby and how he had been watching over his property. David graciously asked if the prosperous farmer could feed him and his men.

It wasn’t wrong of David to ask Nabal to do this; after all, he had been guarding Nabal’s property without charge!

But the Bible says Nabal blew up in a quick rage and barked shamefully at David’s messengers.

While we can argue it was Nabal’s right to determine use of what’s his, God details Nabal’s action as sin, because he knew he ought to return good to David for the good David had shown him.

Nabal consequently suffered for his actions. This is the last we hear of Nabal: “after about ten days, that the Lord struck Nabal…he died.” (1 Samuel 25:38 NKJV)

Not doing good when there is opportunity is sin, and to secure obedience, God punishes sin. This especially includes God’s children!**

Don’t belittle God’s glory by refraining to show kindness when you can. Remember it’s by God’s mercy that you are even alive. From oxygen to redemption by Christ’s death, you are a product of God’s love.

When you can and as long as you can, do good.

*1 Samuel 25:2-39 follows David’s encounter with foolish Nabal.

**For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.” (Hebrews 12:6 NKJV)

Death Row Iran Pastor Refuses to Deny Christ

Friday, Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani refused to publicly renounce his faith in Christ in an recent, immediate exchange for his freedom.

Imprisoned Pastor Nadarkhani, presently on death row, resilient to renounce Christ. (Photo by ACLJ.org)

Nadarkhani was arrested three years ago for protesting against teaching Islam in his children’s school. His charges were changed to evangelizing to Muslims which is against the law in Iran.  He was sentenced to death unless he renounces his religion.

Since his imprisonment, Iran has been pressuring Nadarkhani to deny his profession in Christ. Nadarkhani has been resilient against these continual pressures.

Nadarkhani’s imprisonment has received international attention including reiterating voices by the European Union, the United States, France  and Great Britain to repeal the pastor’s death penalty.

The pastor still waits for a final verdict which has been recently postponed to another four months to a year.

WHAT GOD DID

Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego in Babylon stood on the line of death for violating the new law which demanded all citizens to worship the new image crafted after their king.  When urged to recant their God, they replied,

“O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 

If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. 

But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up” (Daniel 3:16a-18).

In full fury, the king had them tossed into a fiery furnace. Nebuchadnezzar thought he had made his point to those three defiant men until he observed a Fourth man who stood among them in the furnace, whom they described “like the Son of God (Daniel 3:25).”

God saved them in the fiery trial, but regardless of the outcome, these three men were resilient to stand in their faith in God no matter the pressure of their opponents.

WHAT WE CAN DO

>Pray for Pastor Nadarkhani’s release.

>Take the pastor’s action as an example to never be ashamed of the Gospel

>Continue to draw public attention

 

Very Good Counsel

“Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of the sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law does he meditate day and night.” – Psalms 1:1-2(NKJV)

How good is a believer that doesn’t conduct himself to the world’s standards. This however can be very difficult. As we draw closer to the end of all things, the world plummets deeper in things that displease God. And as this happens, the world’s influence becomes stronger. The psalm’s author, David praises the man that does not follow the ways of the ungodly.

Romans 12:2 says,“And be not conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

It’s important that we don’t become so well adjusted to our culture that we fit right in to it. God calls us to be the salt of the earth: meaning He wants us to be a godly influence and not the other way around. Rather than following the crowd- so to say-, our pleasure in life should be to obey God’s commands.

“But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he mediate day and night.”

A continual study in God’s word is the happy ambition of the character David blesses. Throughout the day his mind is on the things of God.

David compares such a person as a tree planted by river (Psalm 1:3): prosperous and fruitful. What we can expect from a person who is close to God and seeks his will is a successful ministry and an abundant life.

A tree needs water to grow. Even so, for us to mature spiritually we must draw daily and continually from the Living Water – Our dear Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

God desired for us to prosper. We can experience prosperity in our lives only when we align ourselves to God’s counsel and guidance.

A life conformed to God and His Word is safe from being deformed by sin and the world.