Tag: God

Me, God and Obedience

I’ve been reading through the book of 1 Samuel over the last few days and I thought I should share some of my thoughts with you today.

As I am reading through, I realise that one of the biggest themes running through this book is Obedience. We first encountered this through the prophet Eli and his sons. Eli’s sons lived a very immoral life and did not follow the commandments of God. They disobeyed God in how they treated the sacrifices of the people. Eli was judged, because he did not caution his children. He shared in their disobedience by not disciplining them and by eating out of the portion of the sacrifice that was not meant for the priest. The consequence was that the priesthood was taken away from Eli and his descendants and death and suffering was introduced into the family. There was a generational curse that would limit the descendants of Eli, even though they had nothing to do with the initial disobedience. (1 Samuel 2:27-36)

Additionally, his disobedience caused the glory to be temporarily taken away from Israel. (1 Samuel 4:11, 21)

The disobedience continues with Saul after he became king. In his heart, he desired the approval and praise of men rather than the approval of God. His reign was so much about keeping appearances that he broke the protocol and made the sacrifice that was not his place to make. (1 Samuel 15:1-10 ;15:20-26)

He gives three reasons for his disobedience: (1 Samuel 13:8-11)

  1. The Philistines (his enemies) were closing in on him.
  2. The people were afraid and scattering away from him.
  3. Samuel had not arrived at the time that he said he would.

To be very honest and frank these are the reason that I also sometimes feel inclined or tempted to disobey God. We often go off and do things in our own understanding because God is taking too long. We are convinced that God is late – that he cannot tell time or that he doesn’t understand the pressure that we are facing. What is very interesting in that story is that Saul had already waited for 7 days. 7 days was the exact number of days he was instructed to wait (vs.8). It was on the 7th day when the appointed hour had come that he gave up the wait and made the sacrifice. The full instructions was that he should wait for the 7 days at which time Samuel would make the sacrifice on behalf of the people. To him it was a small thing but to God it was a big deal. Partial obedience is still total disobedience.

“Waiting reveals the content of the heart. The longer you are left to wait the more of you will be revealed. You cannot outsmart time.”
ACMorgan

Here are the three things that we need to remember when we find ourselves being tempted to disobey.

  1. God is Bigger that our problems and greater than our adversities.
  2. God’s approval is more than a thousand confident votes of people.
  3. God is never late – He is the creator and the controller of time and space.

If we remember these three truths we will make our decisions based on what God wants and thinks and not what our situation is telling us to feel and do.
We need to understand God’s heart in order to understand why he would tell us to wait and why he would give us the instructions and commandments he does. I find that it is much easier to follow him when we do. God cares for us. He loves us and feels what we are feeling. He never wants us to be afraid or intimidated by our problems and challenges. His thoughts and plans for us are good, to prosper and not to harm us (Jeremiah 9:11). When problems do come our way God’s commitment is to make them turn into situations that will prosper and profit us. But he needs our cooperation to do this.

God is a god of process and principles. He lays them down for us in order for us to measure and test our hearts against. Anytime you find yourself in conflict with what He has said, we can step back and check our hearts for wrong motives and hidden agendas. It’s important to check and correct ourselves instead of forcing it, because we not only make mistakes, but we also miss out on the opportunity to grow in our character. God wants to change us as He is changing our circumstances. He can’t have old you in the middle of the new thing He is doing (Mattew 9:17). So, He needs change in the inside of you too.

My Prayer for you today, is that you hear God in a new way and that you will have the grace and the contrite heart to obey His word and will for your life. I pray that you receive clear instructions today from above about what you should and should’t do, in Jesus name.

Prayer and Hearing God

In my last post I touched on the process of practicalising our worship through thanksgiving, using my stuck in traffic scenario.

Firstly, I’d like to add that worship is a deliberate act expressed through behaviours and gestures and not a spontaneous moment lead by feelings and emotions. It is a [practical] lifestyle not an occasion or event or a segment within a church service. Importantly, it is a form of prayer to God, which Jesus highlights in Luke 11:2. (Our father who art in Heaven hallowed be your name.)

The beautiful thing about prayer is not only that God hears us but he also speaks to us. It is a conversation between you and God and not a monologue directed at God or soliloquy spoken out into the atmosphere. Hearing from God is the most exciting thing and also one of the main things that keep you coming back to the place of prayer. Unfortunately, people don’t wait to experience that part.

I have found that as I have grown in my Faith and continued in prayer I hear God better and much quicker and I get answers through the most unexpected mediums, sometimes almost instantly. It was not always like this. I sometimes still find that I have to seek and wait for my answers, but more often than not I enjoy a well paced flowing conversation with God  more regularly that I used to. So what changed and how did I get here?

I’ll use my experience of today as an example. So, I’ve been mulling over some information I got at work and I was wondering if I should pursue the idea. I muttered a few prayers while eating my yogurt and left it knowing that I would get directions about what to do next. On my way back to my desk I looked through my Instagram feed (praise God for Instagram) and the first post I saw said this “You get in life what you have the courage to ask for”, in bold black colours. In the caption it had Matthew 7:7. This was the answer I needed. To confirm this (out of the mouth of one or more witnesses will God confirm his word – 2 Corinthians 13:1), I saw another scripture based post taken from Romans 8:31, which says if God be for us who can be against us. This was a clear direction as to what I needed to do. I knew it was God because it spoke directly to my situation and what wasn’t sure I was meant to do and it was also confirmed. I instantly felt the courage and the opportunity for me to ask opened up.

Even before I prayed whilst eating my cherry yogurt I sensed God telling me not to be afraid, to take the plunge and not allow fear to get in the way of my progress. My prayer was only a continuation of the conversation that was already taken place in the spirit (the heavenly realms) and I was apart of.

About ten years ago I didn’t have this experience and if I did, I was too unaware to have noticed it. The more your spirit engages in the conversations of the Spirit, the more you learn to assimilate the conversations of heaven and pick up the signals that are being transmitted to you.

I can hear God better and quicker now because for a long time I deliberately listened out for God, trying to distinguish his voice from the many other voices I was exposed to.

Psalm 118 and Prayer: Thanking, Asking, Declaring

God in his word commands that in all things we must give thanks (Ephesians 5:20). This can be really challenging when we are faced with problems for which we need solutions, and needs we desperately want met. The Psalmist, I think, is brilliant in how he combines thanksgiving with petitioning and declaration. He combines praise with his petition and declarations, based on his confidence in God, with thanksgiving to God. The Psalmist shows a God-awareness and a God-consciousness, that sets God’s will and omnipotence at the center of his prayer and the situation he finds himself in.

God’s place is always meant to be at the center of our lives, problems, hopes and aspirations. This God consciousness should influence our perspective causing us to defer back to God. After many points of thanksgiving and declarations he adds a sacrificial offering to his prayer, which he binds with cords to the horns of the alter.

The horn of the alter is the might, strength and power of the alter. Every alter has a horn. By tying his sacrifice to the horn, he makes God his source of strength and power.

He secures the backing of God when he proclaims that he will destroy the nations  against him (his adversaries) in the name of the Lord. He makes the name of the Lord work for him through this act of binding.

This sacrifice is a living sacrifice, because he does not ask for it to be burnt or pierced in the manner in which sacrifices were made. Implicitly, the psalmist himself is the sacrifice. This is a prophetic act as the concept of presenting our bodies as living sacrifices is not totally established until after Christ. Our ability to be a living sacrifice is based on the crucifixion, death and resurrection of Christ. The psalmist prophetically speaks in anticipation of what will be possible through Christ Jesus, the stone the builders rejected.

When we tie ourselves, our bodies and our souls to the alter we make God the source of our strength and power and because he can never run dry he must supply us with the strength we need.

For he will supply all your needs according to his riches in Glory. (Philippians 4:19)

What great news that our power supply is connected to the omnipotence of our God! The more we demand the more He supplies. Just like this Psalmist let us resolve to build on our demand daily, so he can supply to us daily, according to our need.

So, when we Pray,

  1. we pray with awareness and confidence that God is holding our lives and is listening to us.
  2. we pray with hearts filled with thanksgiving and appreciation on our lips.
  3. we pray making declarations based on his words and promises to us – in sync with God’s heart.
  4. we pray with the earnest fervency of all our faith, knowing that we are willing to make the sacrifice for what we are asking.
  5. we pray for the Holy Spirit because he is our supply
  6. and when we pray we pray daily.

Psalms 118    

(Praying in Thanksgiving, in praise, declaration and prophecy asking but always thanking God.)

1Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!

For His mercy endures forever.

2Let Israel now say,

“His mercy endures forever.”

3Let the house of Aaron now say,

“His mercy endures forever.”

4Let those who fear the Lord now say,

“His mercy endures forever. “

 

5I called on the Lord in distress;

The Lord answered me and set me in a broad place.

6The Lord is on my side; I will not fear.

What can man do to me?

7The Lord is for me among those who help me;

Therefore I shall see my desires on those who hate me.

 

8It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.

9It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.

 

10All nations surrounded me,

But in the name of the Lord I will destroy them.

11They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me:

But in the name of the Lord I will destroy them.

12They surrounded me like bees; they were quenched like a fire of thorns;

For in the name of the Lord I will destroy them.

13You pushed me violently, that I might fall, But the Lord helped me.

14The Lord is my strength and song,

And He has become my salvation.

15The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous;

The right hand of the Lord does valiantly.

16The right hand of the Lord is exalted;

The right hand of the Lord does valiantly.

 

17I shall not die, but live, And the declare the works of the Lord.

18The Lord has chastened me severely, but he has not given me over to death.

19Open to me the gates of righteousness;

I will go through them, and I will praise the Lord.

20This is the gate of the Lord, through which the righteous shall enter.

21I will praise you,

for you have answered me, and have become my salvation.

22The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.

23This was the Lord’s doing; It is marvelous in our eyes.

24This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

 

25Save now I pray, O Lord;

O Lord, I pray, send now prosperity.

26Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!

We have blessed you from the house of the Lord.

27God is the Lord, And he has given us light;

Bind the sacrifice with Cords to the Horns of the alter. 

28 You are my God, and I will praise you.

You are my God, I will exalt you.

29Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!

For His mercy endures forever.

 

New King James Version   © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.