Obedience Not Obligation

This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture that reject fear and champion faith in God. It emphasizes the importance of listening to the Holy Spirit, who constantly speaks to us and guides us in making decisions. It also discusses the concept of prosperity and abundant life, stating that seeking God's kingdom and righteousness should be our priority. The devotions emphasize the need to be aligned with God, listen to Him, and put Him first in all aspects of life. The goal is to be like Jesus, always obedient to the Father's will. Welcome to Fear No Fear. Grace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Holy Spirit embrace you today. This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture. We reject fear in any and all forms. Fear is a spiritual force, the currency of darkness and ignorance. It's what we inherited when Adam gave up his faith and Satan uses it to keep people down. His only weapon is words. If he can get you believing or looking at words of fear, he's got you. Instead, we champion faith as an allegiance to God, as a belief and trust and loyalty to the Lord God Almighty. We accept the evidence of his word as unvarnished truth, as is, just as it's written. We get close to his perfect love through the word, and perfect love casts out fear. 1 John 4.18 All scripture is taken from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Visit eBible.org Matthew 10.19 But when they deliver you up, don't be anxious how or what you will say, for it will be given you in that hour what you will say. Jesus said that we were going to be persecuted because we believe in him. Matthew 10.21-22 This is not persecution because we have a loud mouth. This is not persecution because we are a particular racial group, nationality, political party member, because Susan wants that promotion or our mothers dress us. This is not the thousand slings and arrows that are fired our way every day. This is nothing natural. We can have victory and have no need to put up with any of that. We can come against it and stop it and walk in peace and prosperity. But when it comes to our faith and belief in Jesus, we will be persecuted, more than just made fun of. We could be turned out of house and home, left on the streets to starve, locked up in a prison or executed. In those days, we will have opportunities to recant our belief, to defend our belief, to give our side of the story, to share Jesus to a whole new group of people because of where we end up. And there is always a concern about what will we say, how to get things across, how to explain ourselves. Jesus is saying not to worry. The Holy Spirit will have our back. We'll be fine. It's more than having a clever thing to say to that atheist who argues with you. More than a particular phraseology that will help turn on the light bulb for Bob at accounting. Although those are good, too. Now, when we're persecuted, we're on trial. It's a legal thing. We have a mediator in Jesus, 1 Timothy 2.5. We abide in Him and He in us, so it is Jesus that is on trial. Jesus that is being defended. Jesus who needs to stick up for Himself, and He will. It won't matter what happens in the natural, Psalm 118.6. In the spiritual realm, Jesus will defend Himself. He is the overcomer. He is the beginning and the end. He knows what to say, and you'll have the words that He needs heard when you need them. Listen and talk in the moment. No study of a speech needed. This verse also points to another piece of wisdom. The Holy Spirit speaks to you. Okay, I know. It doesn't seem particularly groundbreaking, and it isn't. We're told again and again that the Spirit speaks to us. Presumably by speech, since visions weren't mentioned. Acts 16.7. In Acts 20.22-23, Paul says that the Holy Spirit has been speaking to him. The Spirit speaks to us. And stood in the entrance of the cave, behold, a voice came to him and said, What are you doing here, Elijah? 1 Kings 19.12-13. The fact is that the Holy Spirit is always speaking to us. He doesn't shut up. He has something to say about everything. The Holy Spirit is not an angel. He does not stand and wait for the Father to give him a message to speak to us. Like in Daniel 10.12 and Luke 1.19. The nature of how we function is that our spirit speaks to our soul, informing it of what is what. And then our soul directs our body in order for us to do and eat and navigate this world. Now the soul takes feelings, sensory data, and learning into account, but it's designed to obey the Spirit. That would be great, except our spirits are dead. They died when we fell. Genesis 3. When we get born again, we are given the spirit of Jesus. Romans 8.9. So literally, our spirits become clones of Jesus' spirit. 1 Corinthians 3.16. Since we're designed to hear from our spirit in order for our soul to choose what it will have the body to do, that means the Holy Spirit is constantly telling our soul what would be best. Now you may think this is a violation of free will, but it's not. Our minds, which are in our souls, have free will. Total and complete choice about what we do. Total and complete choice about who we listen to, spirit or flesh. We are given all the material we need to make a decision. Natural sense information, including feelings, and spirit sense information. The Holy Spirit isn't issuing commands 24-7. It's informing us about what is best. It isn't always directly about the Word. Sometimes it's about what is good for us, which is Word-based. Psalm 84.11. He made us and He knows us. He knows we'll like the blueberry scone more than the cranberry orange glazed one. He knows we'll enjoy this more than that. He knows what will build us up. He knows what we will find pleasure in. Every good thing comes from God. James 1.17. And He wants us to have all good things. Matthew 7.11. This is a key aspect of prosperity and abundant life. You can't be properly prosperous if you dislike the stuff you have lots of. If you dislike your house and your car and your stuff, you aren't prosperous. They're anchors weighing you down. In the same way, if you're obsessed with your house, your vehicle, your clothes and your stuff, you aren't prosperous. If you're hoarding, it's greed. If you're protecting so it doesn't diminish, it's fear. If you sought the stuff, it's idolatry. If you want prosperity, you are to seek the Lord God, period. The rest, whatever form it takes, will come after in the form that the Lord knows will be best for you. For the Gentiles seek after all these things. For your Heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first God's kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6.32-33. Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be healthy, even as your soul prospers. 3 John 1.2. You ask and don't receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. James 4.3. God knows and God provides. He does it by the speakings of the Holy Spirit. So we know what to do and when to do it. When to be in the right place at His time. But we can't hear if we aren't focused. We need to seek God, be aligned with Him, be listening to Him, worshipping Him, putting Him first, being broken and humbled before Him always. It's not always easy. It's a cross and we have to carry it. Carry it always so that we have somewhere to kill any and everything that comes between us and the Lord. Anything that is preventing total 100% fellowship with Yahweh God Almighty. It doesn't matter if it is small or big. Personality or corporal in the world. Relationships, entertainment, work, alone time. And any and everything that gets in the way. And only you can say what is a stumbling block for you. Well, you and the Lord. If you are abiding in Jesus, then you are getting the word into you. It's renewing you and retraining your mind. It is healing and opening your ears so that they hear. Without that, nothing else can follow. If He is speaking about everything, then we should be obedient about everything because we know that He has our best in mind. Sure, if He tells us to order A at a restaurant instead of B, it isn't a command. But not to obey is wrong. No penalty for not listening in this sense of punishment. But it's one more instance of us listening to the flesh and not the Lord. It is a sin, but we might not realize it is a sin. And He doesn't impart to us sins that we don't realize are sins. It's not a sin to send you screaming to hell. But it is a sin of disobedience to be repentful of. Another incidence of not listening. This might seem ridiculous to you, but everything not done in faith is sin. Romans 14, 23. Remember, we're trying to be like Jesus. Jesus did nothing the Father didn't tell Him to do. Jesus said no word the Father hadn't given Him to say. Most certainly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father doing. For whatever things He does, these things the Son also does likewise. John 5, 19. We are called to develop ourselves and our souls to the point that we hear the Holy Spirit about everything. We need to strengthen our faith and have so much of the Word in us that there is the possibility for the Lord to fine-tune us. He can't fine-tune us if we haven't even rebuilt the engine. This is the sanctification journey. Getting ever better at being ever more broken before the Lord. Realizing we are nothing and so turn to Him for everything. You won't miss out on being human. You don't miss out on having fun. On the contrary, you'll have more fun, more enjoyment, more fulfillment and a better human experience than a human can do on its own. Because we won't be crafting it. The Holy Spirit will. Not to be some holier-than-thou monistic dork, but a complete and whole person to be like Jesus. And isn't that the best thing we could strive to be? Our daily affirmation of God's love is 1 Thessalonians 4, 3-6. We are called to hear the Holy Spirit. Not to be frozen by indecision, but to be so in tune with the Lord that we hear His thoughts about everything. I'll hear His opinion on that shirt I am buying, the pants I put on, the food I eat, the stuff I wash, and the way I wash behind my ears. God has an opinion on everything and is based around what is good for you. Good for you is in looking out for you as well as good for you because He knows that you will like it. It is a perfection of thought, us perfecting our thinking to listen and obey. It is how Jesus was. It is how we should be. We can't do it like Jesus can, so it's always better to leave Him in the driver's seat. If He could do it while He was here, then we can do it in Him because it is Jesus who's going to do it, not us. We simply, but not easily, have to listen and obey. That's it. God loves us so much He'll take care of the rest. From pizza toppings to commands of the Lord which make mighty things move. It's all the same to the Lord. It's all obedience. The work of a Christian is to bring Christ into every corner of our life. Nothing hidden. Nothing kept back. Full participation by the Lord in everything we do. Amen. As we close, remember that you have earth. You are precious and valuable. Declare this. Today, God loves that I, now you, fill in the blank. Was it a meal you made? A smile you gave? Did you get out of bed? Read? Put on socks? There's no wrong answers here. There is no end to God's love. And no end to the things about you that He loves each and every day. Pick one. And remember, the Lord loves you just because you're you. 1 John 4, 9-10 tells us, By this, God's love was revealed in us. That God has sent His only born Son into the world. That we might live through Him. And this is love. Not that we loved God. But that He loved us. And sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. His perfect love turned away God's wrath because of sin. And it casts out our fear too. See verses 18 and 19. We love because He first loved us. He just loves us. Can't get enough of us. And that is wonderful. See you next time.