Tag Archives: obedience

Chapter 13: Prophetic Lives

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Chapter 13: Prophetic Lives

In Job 9:33 we read, “If only there were a mediator between us, someone who could bring us together.” NLT

Job had been talking about the utter lost-ness of his position.  That no matter how much he tried, no matter how well he kept the law, no matter how perfect he could manage to live (and he did live an innocent life before God), it didn’t bridge that gap between him and God.  We find Job’s heart crying out for a mediator between himself and God.

Read all of Job 9.

What is so amazing is that Job had lost everything a person could possibly lose.  His family was completely gone, his business and all of his finances had been completely destroyed and then, finally, he lost his health as well.

And in the midst of this he desired to draw near to God.  He wasn’t rejecting God or angry with God.  Rather, he looked to see how he might draw near to God in the very midst of his pain and sorrow.

We see in Job’s life a type of prophetic authority that embodied in his life a specific message of God.  In his pain he speaks prophetically about a Saviour to come.  Many, many years later Christ would indeed be that mediator that Job so longed for. 

In Job’s struggle despite doing everything right, we are privileged to see a message and prophetic work that is stronger than words.  This message of our desperate need for a Saviour is poured through the very life of Job and was in fact proven-up in his responses in the midst.

Our own lives can also carry prophetic messages, that something of God that shows through and speaks loud and clear of God in some way.

This was the way with many of the prophets of the Old Testament.  In Hosea we find Hosea instructed by the Lord to carry out a message of God through his very life.

Then the Lord said to me, “Go and love your wife again, even though she commits adultery with another lover.  This will illustrate that the Lord still loves Israel, even though the people have turned to other gods and love to worship them.”  Hosea 3:1 NLT

Ezekiel also acted out a message of God.  This was his prophetic assignment:

“Now lie on your left side and place the sins of Israel on yourself.  You are to bear their sins for the number of days you lie there on your side.  I am requiring you to bear Israel’s sin for 390 days – one day for each year of their sin.  After that, turn over and lie on your right side for 40 days – one day for each year of Judah’s sin.”  Ezekiel 4:4-6 NLT

These are strange assignments.  They don’t really make sense and they go against our better judgements.  The lesson of Job’s life is the same.

Job revealed a hearts automatic response to God in the hardest of times. Even though life became inconceivably broken and devastated he responded authentically and genuinely toward God.  And in this he carried a prophetic message.  He revealed a part of God that was given to him to reveal.

This is the same of others throughout scripture.  Read about:

• Daniel – Daniel chapters 1-9

• Esther – the book of Esther

• Noah – Genesis 6

They lived lives in the day to day, the experience of such, that would seem confusing and certainly not of God.

Our lives are often the same.  It takes faith to look to God in the difficulties and the unexpected. It takes faith to open up the camera lens on our lives so that we can see the big picture.

“And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.  And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.”  Romans 5:4-6 NLT 

It takes living a life that doesn’t always make sense and a courage to find and have this kind of life that carries a unique expression of God.

Walking with the Spirit means that we are open to things beyond ourselves.  That we exhibit wisdom in the face of the unaccountable.  And that we do not ascribe to Satan what is of God.

“but anyone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven.  This is a sin with eternal consequences.”   Mark 3:29 NLT

When we walk our days in genuine affection for the Lord, when we walk in obedience to the leading of the Spirit and when we worship the Lord regardless of our days, we have a recipe for carrying out that unique prophetic message that is ours to bear.

Thing is, walking with God in an intuitive fashion is a life lived beyond our understanding and beyond what we can make happen.

The prophetic messages of our lives happen when we simply give over our life to him. 

Total and complete surrender has the Lord’s finger in the mix of our days, taking what feels so very ordinary into what is completely extraordinary.

Praise be to our Lord and King.

“Praise the LORD! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heaven! Praise him for his mighty works; praise his unequaled greatness! Praise him with a blast of the ram’s horn; praise him with the lyre and harp!”  Psalm 150:1-3 NLT

Prayer

“God we ask today for eyes that see your mix in our days.  We ask for understanding and wisdom from you.  Most of all we ask for courage to walk as you would have us walk, and for patience and understanding and a vision that sees beyond our own experiences.  We invite you Jesus into our very lives. We invite you Holy Spirit to refresh us and guide us.  Thank-You God.”

Application

We want to be quick to be obedient to the voice of the Lord.  Is there anything that the Lord has instructed you in, which you have not done? 

If so, speak this out to a trusted person, and then make a plan to take step/s of obedience to the instruction of the Lord. 

Sometimes, our hard times are because we are in direct disobedience to what God has been telling us. So, take some time to inquire of the Lord if there is anything in which you have not been obedient.  Then, become obedient.  Do the thing that God is telling you. 

Summary – prophetic lives

God directs our lives.  Psalm 23:4

God’s ways don’t always make sense to us.  Isaiah 55:8

We are called to be obedient to the voice of the Lord.  1 Corinthians 1:9 

We trust God with our lives.  Jeremiah 29:11

Chapter 12: Trusting with Little

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12.  Trusting with Little

Capturing God’s Heart Volume #13 

The journey with our God is an interesting one.

We quickly learn that God’s timing is not our timing, and that God’s ways are not our ways.  In fact, there are many times when God simply says ‘No’ or ‘Not this way’.  It is at times like this that our motives and heart are tested and tried.

We tend to make Plan A with God.  We come up with our best scenario, and then we invite God into it.  But Plan A is usually not the best plan.  For the first plan we think of is usually the easiest and with the least amount of risk.

Much like Gideon in the Old Testament, we want surety and guaranteed success.

“But Lord,” Gideon replied, “how can I rescue Israel?  My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!”  Judges 6:15 NLT 

But much like the story of Gideon, God comes along and says, “No you can do with less. For I will be with you.”

The Lord said to him, “I will be with you.  And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man.”  Judges 6:16 NLT 

And in the process God tests our resolve and our faith.

Do we really believe in him? Do we really trust him? Are we able to walk his way?

Do we really get it that ‘God With Us’ is all that is needed?

The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many warriors with you.  If I let all of you fight the Midianites, the Israelites will boast to me that they saved themselves by their own strength.  Therefore, tell the people, ‘Whoever is timid or afraid may leave this mountain and go home.’” So 22,000 of them went home, leaving only 10,000 who were willing to fight.”   Judges 7:2-3 NLT

Or do we insist on our own way, demanding from God our plan and our way?

Fact is, God’s ways are better than our ways.  And Plan B is always a better plan.  For Plan B comes with much risk, and demands more from us internally.

“But the Lord told Gideon, “There are still too many! Bring them down to the spring, and I will test them to determine who will go with you and who will not.”  When Gideon took his warriors down to the water, the Lord told him, “Divide the men into two groups. In one group put all those who cup water in their hands and lap it up with their tongues like dogs.  In the other group put all those who kneel down and drink with their mouths in the stream.”  Only 300 of the men drank from their hands.  All the others got down on their knees and drank with their mouths in the stream.”   Judges 7:4-6 NLT

Our hearts must engage in greater measure with the real plans of God.

Our faith is exercises beyond the normal and beyond what our minds can comprehend and what makes sense to us.

“The Lord told Gideon, “With these 300 men I will rescue you and give you victory over the Midianites.  Send all the others home.” So Gideon collected the provisions and rams’ horns of the other warriors and sent them home.  But he kept the 300 men with him.” Judges 7:7-8a NLT

God will always decrease our provision until we get it that with him we have everything, that with him we have all we need, and that with him all things are possible.

It is a tricky balance to be sure.  Too easily we begin to trust in the ‘greatness’ of numbers or of those around us, when really, all we are to get is the ability to really trust God himself, and no other.

God will come through for us, but not how we are expecting, and usually not how we would like. But like Gideon we can make a shift in our being, and allow the living God to show up on His terms and in his way.

Then, and only then, will we experience and witness the glory of God.

“That is the story of how the people of Israel defeated Midian, which never recovered. Throughout the rest of Gideon’s lifetime—about forty years—there was peace in the land.”  Judges 8:28 NLT

What are you wrestling through today?  Where are you needing a miracle of the Lord?

Perhaps while you are thinking, “We need more.” He is saying, “No, you actually need less.”

And like the Lord told Gideon right at the beginning, “Go with the strength you have.”

“Then the Lord turned to him and said,  ‘Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!’”  Judges 6:14 NLT

God shows up through our present circumstances and strength.  Our strengths and circumstances are sufficient for the task, because of who God is, not because of who we are. 

Will you trust him?

Application

There is a common belief the world over that more is better.  And in this belief we are often over-reaching beyond how the Lord is directing us.  We can test this by the plans we have made in the past – are they still in place, are they standing strong, are they established?  If not, we were probably overreaching beyond what we could build and sustain. 

We are to be faithful with the little that God entrusts to us.  It is evident that one of the strongholds of poverty is the violation of this principle.  Often we despise the simple beginnings and the small things, but in God we are called to steward the little because only when we have proven ourselves faithful with a little, will we be given more. 

1.  Take some time to think through the things that you are responsible for and that God has entrusted to you.  Are you taking care of these things? 

Are you being a good steward? 

Your focus is to be on the things God has already entrusted to you.  Doing this, becoming faithful to care for your family and things, will prove that you can be trusted with more.  Not right away of course, but over time God will give you more things to be responsible for and to steward. 

2.  Make a list of all the things that you are responsible for. 

3.  Next, give yourself a grade for faithful stewardship of each thing. 

4.  Then, make a note for each thing about how you might improve in your care of the things under your responsibility. 

5.  Do these things on your list, one by one, bit by bit. 

Summary – trusting with little

We must be faithful with the little.  Luke 16:10

We trust God and follow Him.  Proverbs 3:5

When we are weak God is strong.  2 Corinthians 12:9-10

God knows the whole plan, we see only a part of it.  Romans 8:28

Obedience is Powerful

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I’ve been reading a book titled The Art of Significance. What caught my attention about this book is the very first chapter ‘Practice Obedience Instead of Free Will Agency’.

Stunning, is all I have to say.

I’ve never seen this written out anywhere before.

The Walking in Spiritual Authority Discipleship Course that I am currently writing is very strong on this. When we are in sync with the Lord, when we are walking in obedience to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, this is when we are most effective. It is when God can trust us that we are then entrusted with the keys of the Kingdom.

When young and as we grew we believed that adulthood came doing what we wanted, when we wanted. But as anyone who has advanced knows, the most influential among us are the most disciplined. The most adult among us are the one’s surrendering their actions to a higher wisdom and the ‘rules of the road’ that this world runs by.

Contrary to this, the opposite of obedience is disregard. I’ve been witness to this in people over the years and it is quite sad actually – a heart and spirit that cannot obey, that refuses to respond to say the (literal) simple rules of the road, or the wisdom of experts (because what do they know anyway), are at a significant disadvantage.

The inability to obey has one flailing on one’s own, unable to access wisdom gone before.

Walking with the Lord is a simple equation actually – grow in obedience, respect, and surrender.

Being used by the Lord is the same equation. Do you want to be used by the Lord? Grow in listening, in responding, in acting on an instruction even if it you don’t understand all the way.

Obedience is a prerequisite to a fulfilling life. The obedient are marked by self-control, by wisdom, and by deliberate action and reaction.

The ability to take oneself in hand and set a course of action, of being intentional and following through with excellent execution, are not the skills of someone doing as they wish, but rather the disciplined outcome of one who has an obedient way of doing life.

The disobedient think they always know best and simply follow their own path and formula.

It never works.

Rather those willing to learn and to grow reap many rewards. The patterns of success are evident in every sphere of life, and it is those able to ascribe their life accordingly that will receive the satisfaction of a job well done and a life well lived.

Where are you shrugging obedience? Where are you doing your own thing?

And where might obedience make difference for you this week?

Those wanting health must obey the rules of healthy living – eat right, exercise, get lots of sleep. And try these ideas

Those wanting financial health must obey the rules of finance – spend less than you make, tithe, save for a rainy day. This is a great list

Those wanting business health must obey the rules of business – be strategic, do not make emotional decisions. Check out these 15 rules

Simply put, grow in obedience, our lives will thank us.