Six Lessons on Radical Obedience

If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14

How many of you are choosing a Word of the Year? I have been choosing a word of the year for over a decade!  Although my year runs August-May, as a school year, the concept is the same.

Choosing a word of the year helps set your intention and provides a direction for how you want your year to flow. Your word of the year can become your mantra and help you keep your resolve for change when life gets tough.

Here is a free resource from Dayspring to help you choose your Word of the Year!

https://www.dayspring.com/yourwordquiz#/home

The word God gave me for this year was, OBEY. I have been working on obeying God, His commands, and His Word. The struggle is real. The more I learn about obeying God, the more I realize there is to learn. I guess that is probably true about most things.

The most surprising thing I have discovered is the amount of freedom I gain by becoming more obedient. For instance, when I eat according to my plan, I have more energy(freedom) to complete the things I want in a day.  Praise God for His kindness in showing me this aspect of compliance at the beginning.

But, I can spend a lot of time hoping that I am more obedient, knowing I should be more obedient, and wishing it was just easier.

As John MacArthur wrote, “We can feel strongly about obedience and not be obedient. We can feel that it’s right to be obedient and not obey. We can feel confident that obedience is the path to blessing and usefulness and joy and still not obey.”

I started this walk of obedience in August of last year, and I have come to realize a few things. I want to share six lessons God has been teaching me:

1. Don’t expect to feel like being obedient. How often do you think you are going to “feel” like being obedient? The day you sign the one-year contract at the gym, yes sure, that’s an easy one.  Maybe the first few minutes after you leave church motivated by the sermon to make a change in your life? The truth is, our feelings are fickle and often bossed around by our flesh. I am sure when offered a piece of cake, I won’t “feel” like being obedient to God’s command to treat my body like a temple. So, obey based on your decision to obey, not your fickle feelings.
2. Live fully surrendered. I want God to know I am serious about pleasing Him. As a self-proclaimed people pleaser, I don’t want to miss out on the opportunity to put my pleasing skills to work in an appropriate place. I chose to live a surrendered life when I said yes to following Jesus. I want to give Him all of my heart, not just the parts that are easy to surrender. I long for the deep waters of relationship with Christ, the meaningful conversations with my Father, and the intimate realization that I am fully known and still loved by Him. I want to live surrendered.
3. Sanctification as a part of the process. The struggle with sin is real, but when we combine faith with repentance, we can cling to the promise found in Romans 6:14: “Sin will have no dominion over you.” God has equipped us through the power of the Holy Spirit to work within us to change and sanctify us. We have both an active and passive role in sanctification. Passively we are to trust God to sanctify us, and actively we are to strive for holiness and obedience in our lives. If we neglect to strive to obey God, we will become lazy Christians. If we ignore trusting in God, we become proud and try to take the credit for our sanctification. (What does sanctification mean?)
4. Confess your sins. In James 1:14-15, we learn all of us will face temptation, we are dragged away by our evil desires, and eventually, sin will lead to death. It is easy to make excuses or blame others when we sin, but as Christians, we need to accept responsibility for our wrongs, confess them, and ask God for forgiveness. Keeping a clean slate will keep us from facing full-grown sin that gives birth to death. This is what I am working on making my go-to sequence for dealing with sin. Doing this until it becomes a habit.
5. Build a habit of obedience. In 2 Chronicles 7:14, we learn the process of obedience. Let’s look at the verse: “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and heal their land.”  The four-step process:
   • Humble yourself by admitting your sin.
   • Pray and ask forgiveness.
   • Seek God continually.
   • Turn from the sinful behavior.
6. Don’t let failure be an option. Perfection is not the destination. If we continually follow the process, we will experience success. Lysa TerKeusrt says it like this: “Saying yes to God isn’t about perfect performance, but rather perfect surrender to the Lord day by day. Your obedience becomes radical the minute this desire turns into real action. Radical obedience is hearing from God, feeling His nudges, participating in His activity, and experiencing His blessings in a way few people ever do.”

Let’s pray together for the wisdom to become radically obedient!

Heavenly Father, we pray for the Holy Spirit to instill in us a spirit of cooperation, so we are motivated to obey regardless of our circumstances or feelings. We pray for the power to walk against our fleshly desires, so we are not enticed into a life of sin. Thank you, Father, for your forgiveness and grace. In Jesus’ name. Amen.