Category: Making right choices

Loving God as We are Obedient

“If they obey and serve Him, they shall spend their days in prosperity and their years in pleasantness and joy.”  —Job 36:11

One of the most important aspects of our Christian life is obedience, which reveals our love for God. We simply will not make progress with God unless we are willing to obey Him. Disobedience of any kind, on any level, is sin.

I encourage you to make up your mind that you are going to be extremely, even radically, obedient to God. First John 3:22 says: “We receive from Him whatever we ask, because we [watchfully] obey His orders.” Does that mean we have to be perfect? No. It is true that God in His grace will bless those who make mistakes, but we should not be satisfied to stay the way we are. God blesses us even though we are not perfect, but at the same time, our hearts need to be longing for growth and improvement. We cannot deliberately and habitually sin and then expect God to give us a life filled with His blessings. Our attitudes need to send God a message that says: “I don’t want to stay this way. I want to grow. I want to change and I’m pressing toward that mark.”

If we do the best we can and we are sincerely sorry when we make mistakes, then we know that God will continue blessing us because He is very merciful. But, on the other hand, if we remain in disobedience, knowing we are disobeying God, and not making an honest effort to grow spiritually, then we really do not need to be blessed because if God blesses us in the midst of that attitude or behavior, we will not want to change or grow.

We hurt ourselves every time we do not obey God. But when we do obey God, we position ourselves for great blessings and become people that God can work through for His glory.

The Power of God in You

“But as for you, the anointing (the sacred appointment, the unction) which you received from Him abides [permanently] in you….” —I John 2:27 (AMP)

There’s nothing more valuable than the presence of God in our lives. And my goal for teaching about God’s presence and anointing is to increase your desire to completely and promptly obey God. Because the more we love, trust and obey God, the stronger His anointing will be in our lives.

Now God’s love for you is perfect, complete, and unconditional. He couldn’t love you any more than He does right now and His love for you never changes. But we can grow in our love for God. As we learn more about His character and have experience with Him through a personal relationship with Him, our trust in Him and love for Him grows. And this causes more of the anointing of the Holy Spirit to work in and through us.

The Anointing Abides in You.

Jesus Christ is the Anointed One, so when we are born again, His anointing abides in us. The word anoint means “to smear or rub all over.” It’s wonderful to think about how in Christ, we are “rubbed in and smeared all over” with the Holy Spirit.

In one way the anointing is a free gift from God that comes by His grace and mercy, and in another way, there is a price to pay for it.

First John 2:27 (AMP) says, “But as for you, the anointing (the sacred appointment, the unction) which you received from Him abides [permanently] in you….” Notice how this scripture says that the anointing abides permanently—it won’t go away.

I also like that word “unction”—it’s like having Holy Spirit “umph!” or power to do what God is calling us to do. And it’s the gentle promptings, urges and leadership of the Holy Spirit in us that shows us how to live. When we follow the anointing, we feel peace and joy because we’re making wise decisions.

More than anything, we need to protect the anointing in our lives.

Following & Trusting the Holy Spirit

So if the Son liberates you [makes you free men], then you are really and unquestionably free. —John 8:36

I once read that we believers are like ships that God wants to turn out to sea to sail wherever the wind and waves carry us. That sea represents the freedom we have in God, and the wind is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. But as new believers, we are tied to the dock because that is the only place we can avoid becoming shipwrecked until we learn how to follow Him.

When we learn to follow those inner promptings of the Holy Spirit, we can be untied from the dock and sail the seas of life under His leadership without the fear of becoming lost.

Paul explains, We [Jewish Christians] also, when we were minors, were kept like slaves under [the rules of the Hebrew ritual and subject to] the elementary teachings of a system of external observations and regulations. But when the proper time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born subject to [the regulations of] the Law, to purchase the freedom of (to ransom, to redeem, to atone for) those who were subject to the Law, that we might be adopted and have sonship conferred upon us [and be recognized as God’s sons]. And because you [really] are [His] sons, God has sent the [Holy] Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba (Father)! Father! (Galatians 4:3-6)

When the Spirit of God is in you, the law of God is written in your heart. You no longer have to memorize the law because you can follow the leadership of the Holy Ghost, who will lead you in the right direction.

Who’s Will? God or your own?

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. — I Corinthians 2:14

It’s challenging sometimes to discern if what we want is in line with what God wants for us, because when we feel strongly about something, we can easily deceive ourselves into thinking it’s God’s will―and the devil will help us do it. He will even lead us to take Scripture out of context if it will keep us deceived and living in sin.

First Corinthians 2:14 says that to those in the world, truths revealed by the Spirit sound like foolishness. Only spiritual people can understand the things of the Spirit. And sometimes it’s even very difficult for spiritual people to do!

I can tell you that when you’re truly being led by the Spirit, your head can have a hard time understanding what God is doing, because He often seems unreasonable. He will do many things in your life that you just cannot understand.

I used to be so confused about some of the things God allowed to happen in my life. But when I look back at them today, I can say, “Now I know why that had to happen. Now I know why that took place.”
God knows more than we know, His ways are above our ways, and He has a better plan for our lives than we do. Instead of being led by our feelings, we need to be led by God, even when we don’t understand.

The Power of a Committed Life

Does God want people to be rich? I can’t simply say yes or no, so let me explain it like this: God wants His people to have everything they can handle and keep Him first in their lives, be a blessing to other people and keep a good attitude.

So do I believe God wants people to have possessions and material wealth? Yes, if they can handle it. So you can challenge me and ask: “What do you tell the housewife whose husband has left her with three kids, a broken refrigerator, busted car and she doesn’t have my life? What do I tell her?”

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