obedience Archives - Page 2 of 3

The Holey People

August 21, 2014 By Lynn H Mosher

Nestled on the verdant slopes of a vast kingdom lay a small but lovely village called Holeyville.

It was picture perfect in any season, whether in winter with snow-covered mountains and horse-drawn carriages bedecked with jingling bells and plaid blankets, or in spring with golden slopes of fragrant, yellow blossoms and lush trees hosting all the nest-makers for their annual songfest.

However, in this idyllic community, an affliction plagued the residents. They were, how shall I put it…holey. Yes, they had holes in them.

Walking the streets of this charming hamlet, as the Holeyvillians shopped and went to church and school, some could be seen with more holes in them than others. The adults displayed more holes than the children did, while babies and young children had no holes at all.

You see, the king decreed the laws of his kingdom and when a person ignored or disobeyed them, behold, a hole appeared in the person’s body as a penalty for failing to carry out the king’s wishes.

Many of those with holes were ashamed their lack of discipline became so visible. Some attempted to remedy the situation themselves by covering the holes with bandaids or patches.

However, some citizens didn’t like the king and pretended he didn’t exist. They did not obey his laws and didn’t understand that the affliction of holes related to their disobedience. They even scoffed at others who tried to explain it to them.

Of course, these villagers strutted the streets with pride in their holes. When the winds of adversity blew through the village, they blew through the holey ones as well, almost blowing them away. They had difficulty standing firm. These lived out their lives never being made whole.

The king put his edicts in place in order to make life more pleasant for all the kingdom dwellers. He loved all his subjects, even those who were disobedient, and wanted the best for them all. He wanted to make his kingdom a beautiful and welcoming place not only for all the townspeople but also for all those who visited.

In order to have the holes rectified and be made whole, each holey person appeared before the king to ask him to remove the holes. Even the ones with bandaids. The king was fair and just and granted pardon to all who asked him, filling in all their holes.

Many times, those who were hole-less walked through the village with big smiles on their faces. Why? Because they were made whole again.

They desired to give thanks to the king by the way they lived and to make his kingdom a better place to live for everyone. They wanted to be holy, not holey!

“Take a look at your body; it has been made whole and strong.
So avoid a life of sin, or else a calamity greater
than any disability may befall you.”
(John 5:14 Voice)

Now, go forth and be holy…not holey!

Hooking up with…
Lyli

Holley Gerth

Jennifer Dukes Lee

The Missional Call

Singing for Water!

May 29, 2014 By Lynn H Mosher

Have you ever gone from resting “in green pastures” to wandering around in the wilderness, lacking refreshment for your spiritual thirst, needing to be “beside still waters”?

Israel did. In part of their wanderings, it went like this:

*They went from Mount Hor in Lebanon to Edom, where they became discouraged.
*They murmured and complained, spoke against Moses and God, “No food; no water. And we hate this worthless bread!”
*God tired of their moanings and sent fiery serpents to bit and kill the groaners.
*They ran to Moses and repented, begging him to pray God to take remove the serpents. And Moses did.
*God commanded Moses to put a bronze serpent on a pole so those bitten (who had not died) could look on it and be healed.
*Next, they moved on to Oboth (meaning waterskins); then to Ije Abarim (ruins of the passers or Abarim); then pitched their tents in the Valley of Zered/Zared (osier [a type of tree] brook, exuberant in growth, lined with shrubbery); then they travelled to Arnon (rushing stream).

Their next stop…

“From there they went to Beer, which is the well where the Lord said to Moses, ‘Gather the people together, and I will give them water.’ Then Israel sang this song: ‘Spring up, O well! All of you sing to it — The well the leaders sank, dug by the nation’s nobles, by the lawgiver, with their staves.’ And from the wilderness they went to Mattanah.” (Num. 21:16-18 NKJV)

Beer: pronounced Be-ayr, an oasis rest, a well.
Well: a pit, a spring.
Sang: to sing, with the idea of strolling minstrels
Spring up: to ascend, rise up.
Sing: to eye or to heed or pay attention, to respond, to begin to speak, specifically to sing, shout, testify, announce.

Leaders: a person of any rank or class, ruler, chief, commander.
Sank: to pry into, to delve, to explore, to search for. (In most translations, digged is used in place of sank. However, it is incorrectly translated.)
Dug: to dig through, to plot, to bore or open, to excavate.
Nobles: inclined, generous, noble, princely.

Staves: support of every kind, sustenance, a walking stick.
Wilderness: pasture, tracts of land, used for the pasturage of flocks and herds, can imply desert, also means mouth and speech.
Mattanah: a gift of Jehovah, from a word meaning a present, a sacrificial offering.

God commanded Moses to gather the people together and He would give them water. In repentance, faith, and obedience to God’s commands, the Israelites dug deep beneath the surface, where water ran out of sight, where the river of blessing flowed. They reached it by songs of praise.

Their complaints brought poison…venomous snakes with bites of death, but their singing brought overflowing water…the refreshment of life.

Time to stop and ponder the significance.

When we repent of our murmuring and complaining, the Lord will lead us to our Beer. (Okay, no snickering!) Our place of rest, our oasis in the wilderness.

In our faith and obedience to God’s commands, with songs of praise, we, too, will find that flowing stream, gurgling deep beneath the surface of our most arid circumstances, trials, and heartaches.

And we will go on to our Mattanah, our gift of Jehovah. Will He not bring us to the place where we can say, “He restores my soul.” (Ps. 23:3 NKJV)

Dig deep with your praise to touch upon those rushing waters of life and blessing, for in those wilderness depths of circumstance, you will find that flowing tide. As God said, “I give waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My people, My chosen. This people I have formed for Myself; they shall declare My praise.” (Is. 43:20b-21 NKJV)

Are you in a wilderness place? Are you singing for the water of life?

Connecting with…
Holley Gerth
Jennifer Dukes Lee

Working for the Father

April 3, 2014 By Lynn H Mosher

He learned to work with his hands by watching the work of his father’s hands.

(From the story The Scent of the Wood)

Learning a trade from a father was essential. A tradition of following in a father’s footsteps. And so this young man obeys.

In the humble beginning of his apprenticeship, he is learning from his father to carve out the design of the wood, to slide his hands across the wood and feel the grain, and to carry stacks of wood.

Still a young lad and learning his trade, he needs the direction of his father’s callused hands to guide his unskilled hands, which now need a little rest.

Stepping away from the carpenter’s bench, he walks outside the shop to take a break from his work and stretch his back.

Standing in the warm, noon sun, he picks at another of the daily splinters in his hands, as the rhythm of the hammer pounds in the background. Extending his arms toward the sky, he says a prayer of thanksgiving to God the Father.

He breathes in fresh air to rid his nostrils of sawdust. First shaking his head to dislodge more sawdust tangled in his hair, he then removes his sandals and shakes out the wood shavings.

This was the young Jesus. Working for His father. Working side-by-side with Joseph, He gained the knowledge of the carpentry work as His father taught and guided Him.

What did He learn? To sand down rough edges. To chisel away unwanted parts. To submit to the father’s instructions, being attentive to his voice. To mimic his every move. To take raw material and shape it into something beautiful or useful. To tackle even the menial task of sweeping out the remnants of the shavings and sawdust.

He learned a servant’s attitude and attained obedience. While in His earthly body, He experienced all that we mortals encounter in our life’s work, knowing the frustrations and exhaustion, the aches and pains, the heartaches and joys, the griefs and comfort.

Hebrews tells us Jesus came to earth “for people like us, children of Abraham. That’s why he had to enter into every detail of human life. Then, when he came before God as high priest to get rid of the people’s sins, he would have already experienced it all himself—all the pain, all the testing—and would be able to help where help was needed…We don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin.” (Heb. 2:16-18 Msg, Heb. 4:15 Msg)

But do we learn the same things Jesus did when the Father teaches and guides us? Do we…

*learn the work of the Father?
*listen attentively to His voice?
*sand down rough edges of our hearts?
*chisel away the unwanted parts of worldliness?
*submit to the Father’s instructions?
*mimic His every move?
*sweep out the remnants of filth from our lives?
*take what is given us and shape it into something beautiful or useful?

Only when we learn to have a servant’s attitude can we learn obedience.

And when we learn as Jesus did, we can work for the Father as well.

Hooking up with…

Holley Gerth
Jennifer Dukes Lee

My Day Went Like This…

February 20, 2014 By Lynn H Mosher

Half awake, I peeked through a partially opened eye and saw a tinge of light making me aware that morning was about to invade the world full force.

Enjoying my time before the dog planted her chin on the edge of the bed next to me and intently stared at me as if that would waken me, I began to praise the Lord and thank Him for another day, to watch over my family, and to place everyone and everything into His hands and in His will for the day.

I fixed hubby’s breakfast and wrote a couple of devotionals. I cleaned out my closet of all I could and took it to the women’s abuse center.

I signed up to be a Big Sister. I purchased gift cards to hand out to those in need. I volunteered at the hospital for a few hours.

I served lunch at one of the homeless shelters. I cleaned out my wallet of all its cash and offered it to a man sitting in the shadows of a doorway. I wrote a check to a ministry to help the starving children in Haiti.

I took care of my granddaughters for a few hours, as the sitter was unable to watch them. I made dinner for a hurting neighbor and took it to her.

Whew! I was quite proud of myself for all of that.

Then, I got up out of bed to start my day!

Ha! All of this was in my head. Did you really think I could do all that?

I have such good intentions. Don’t you? We devise plentiful plans and ingenious ideas about all we would like to accomplish in life.

However, our plans are not always God’s plans. No matter what kind of works we do, whether we volunteer for numerous church committees, help out in the nursery, go on mission trips, or serve a meal at a soup kitchen, all can be done as works of the flesh. With no eternal rewards.

No, we don’t do works for the reward; we do them because we love and obey the Lord. When we do what the Spirit asks, God rewards us. Done out of the flesh, there is no reward.

Paul told the Galatian church, “Those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.” (Gal. 6:8-10 NLT)

I always need to ask myself: Am I serving the Lord in the flesh or in obedience to the Spirit?

~Lord, entwine my heart with Yours, that my heart will beat as one with Yours. Transform the desires of my heart into the desires of Your heart. Grant me the time, strength, and boldness to carry out Your will in works that will bless others.

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

(Eph. 2:10 NKJV)

Hooking up with…

I Wanna Be a Broke Horse!

July 25, 2013 By Lynn H Mosher

Via Paul Chaplin, The Patriot-News

I loved riding horses when I was a teenager. I took lessons from a woman who was well respected in the horse community (I live in Kentucky) and she wanted me to show for her, meaning ride one of her horses in horse shows.

I had an appendectomy when I was 17 and didn’t get to show. Never went back to riding. I don’t know why. Too many other things in my life, I guess. My oldest granddaughter (12) now rides and has been taking lessons for a couple of years. She has won quite a few ribbons already!

Somehow, the other day, I got on the topic of horses and read an article about training. It said the trainer must be assertive and confident, yet gentle and understanding, and, if a horse is frightened in the process of training, the fear will plague the animal forever. At first, the horse does not know what is being asked of it, as a result, gentleness works best.

Horses are flight animals; so, if one feels threatened by the trainer’s assertiveness or meanness, it will run. Therefore, finding the happy medium between the two methods can be tricky but is essential to the development of an obedient horse.

Training a horse uses the term “breaking a horse,” which is an unfortunate term; it sounds as if it is being beaten or forced. It just means it is “broke” of its wild behavior and now accepts a saddle on its back and a rider. It has also learned the basic commands of leg pressure and other body cues and the tug or pressure of the reins across its neck or in its mouth from the bit.

This method of pressure is called give and release training. When pressure is applied and the horse responds by doing the skill being taught, pressure is released.

A broke horse is not just ridable but responds to a rider’s commands safely and calmly, as it has learned to “listen” to what a rider is telling the horse through the rider’s body movement cues.

On occasion, a trainer must be very gentle to overcome the abuse or neglect a horse has suffered. As a twist on a similar saying, a horse trainer once said, “A horse doesn’t care how much you know until he knows how much you care.”

Then again, some horses just refuse to be taught.

I found this an interesting generalization of the breakdown of training, not so much the time periods but the explanations…

*30-60 days: ridable but will test you every chance it gets
*60-90 days: bucking should quit
*120-150 days: ridable without being skittish at even the wind blowing
*170-200 days: refinement period

They say training never ends.

I find all this fascinating. But you do know my brain is twisted, right? {wink-wink}Why do I find it fascinating? If God were the trainer, which He is, and I were the horse, so to speak, look at how all the above applies to me…and you.

God must be/do…

*assertive/confident
*gentle/understanding
*cannot frighten
*train for obedience
*break wild behavior
*continuously train

I am broken when I…

*listen to what He is trying to teach me
*respond to commands, cues, and pressures from God
*respond safely and calmly
*respond obediently to continuous training

Have I finished with the buck and test part? Am I still frightened at every wind of circumstance? Have I finally reached the refinement period? Whew, I hope so!

Some people just refuse to be taught. Not me. I wanna be a broke horse! How ’bout you?

Hooking up with…
Thursdays…

Fridays…

Sundays…

When You Get Close Enough

July 15, 2013 By Lynn H Mosher

I love things that are automatic, like automatic faucets, hand towels, hand dryers. What makes them function is a person’s nearness to the mechanism. Or getting close enough to activate it.

In the country, I don’t know if this is still true but farmers used to use automatic gates for cows. When the cows got close, the gate opened.

And automatic store doors are great. They swing open when you get within a certain distance of them, as a sensor discerns a person’s nearness. Get close enough…and they open!

The other day, hubs and I were shopping in Michael’s craft store, getting a few goodies for me. One of my good days to be out. As we stood at the designated sign for waiting, hubs recognized a customer, from the back, at the register ahead of us, a great, old friend and photographer who was getting a few supplies.

Hubs called out to him. After shaking hands and voicing warm greetings, we wanted to chat and catch up since we had not seen each other in quite some time. So, when we finished at the register, the three of us stood out of the way, sort of, but the only place to stand was by the automatic door.

As we stood there having a grand time, we were too close to the door, so it kept opening and closing, opening and closing, opening…

Things like this stick in my noggin and then God drops in His treasures on top of it.

The automatic door made me think God has doors like this. The opportunity of any door opening depends on how close we get to the Lord and His will.

Each door will swing open on its heavenly hinges when we approach it and the sensor is our obedience. We get close enough…it opens! But we have to draw near.

James said, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (James 4:8 NKJV) and then that door will open.

Whatever door we need opened, it is our duty to obey God’s word; His work is to cause the door to swing open when we get to it in His timing. This is an if-then fundamental.

Some of the many if-then principles the Bible gives us are…

* “Obey My voice, and [then] I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.” (Jer. 7:23 NKJV)

* “If you abide in My word, [then] you are My disciples indeed.” (John 8:31 NKJV)

* “If anyone keeps My word [then] he shall never taste death.” (John 8:52 NKJV)

* “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Gal. 3:29 NKJV) ** (all emphases mine)

Do you need a door to open? That door is none other than Jesus, “I am the door of the sheep.” (John 10:7 NKJV) When you get close enough, He opens.

Will you draw close to sit at His feet, to be close enough to the throne of God, to obey His will, in order to have your door of hope turn on its hinges?

*** “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine.” (Song of Solomon 6:3 NKJV)

Happy anniversary, my beloved!

Are You an Abraham or a Jonah?

May 17, 2013 By Lynn H Mosher

“That very same day, as God had said to him.”Gen. 17:23 NKJV

Abraham. When I think of him, I think of obedience.

God asked him…

*…to go to an unknown place, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.” (Gen. 12:1 NIV) “So Abram departed as the Lord had instructed.” (Gen. 12:4 NLT) Without questioning or “knowing where he was going” (Heb. 11:8b NKJV), he went.

*…to circumcise his son Ishmael at the age of thirteen. and every male in his household. Abraham was also circumcised…at 99 years old. Abraham obeyed, “On that very day.” (Gen. 17:23 NIV)

*…and the biggest commandment of all…to kill his only son of promise, “offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” (Gen. 22:2
NKJV)

Luther wrote that a “true believer will crucify the question, ‘Why?’ He will obey without questioning.”

Abraham “believed in the Lord” and the Lord trusted Abraham, saying, “For Abraham will certainly become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him. I have singled him out so that he will direct his sons and their families to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just. Then I will do for Abraham all that I have promised.” (Gen. 18:18-19 NLT)

Abraham did not delay his obedience. And the Lord blessed him mightily.

Delayed obedience is disobedience; however, it is still better than not obeying at all. Just think Jonah!

God asked Jonah to do one thing…

*…go preach to Nineveh.

As the center of the Assyrian empire, Nineveh was a great and wicked, but beautiful, city. Because Nineveh was Israel’s enemy, Jonah didn’t want to see them spared, so he refused. He turned left out of Nineveh and went in the opposite direction, two thousand miles away to Tarshish. Major runaway!

However, he didn’t get to see much of the city as his accommodations ended up being in the dark crypt of an enormous fish. With seaweed in his hair and the smell of plankton on his skin, he changed his mind and decided to obey.

God spared Nineveh when all the people repented and turned to Him. The book of Jonah ends abruptly, as if part is missing. It ends with Jonah in a huff over God’s goodness to Nineveh.

When God gives a command or a duty to perform, He expects immediate obedience, unless He has specifically given a timeframe.

When God asks us to do something, we need to ask ourselves…

*Who suffers if I do not obey?
*What will not get done if I procrastinate?
*Will God give the task to someone else?
*What will be my discipline for not obeying?

What makes God’s heart happy? His child with an Abraham-heart of obedience. What breaks His heart and puts a kink in His plan? His child with a Jonah-heart of disobedience.

Immediate obedience is the only true obedience.

Which outcome is preferable: Abraham’s or Jonah’s? Which do you choose?

“So all who put their faith in Christ share the sameblessing Abraham received because of his faith.”Gal. 3:9 NLT

Hooking up with…
Thursdays…

Fridays…

Sundays…

Another Lesson from the Silly Dog

January 28, 2013 By Lynn H Mosher

I turn down the thermostat on the furnace for the night.
Turn off the computer and TV.
Grab my glass of filtered water and head for the bedroom.

Hubs turns out the lights and checks the doors and tries to get the dog to go out one more time. But she won’t go out.

I brush my teeth.
Put on my PJs.
And take care of the rest of my night-time rituals.

I plop into bed. Slather on the hand lotion and turn out…oops! Forgot again to turn off the light first! Works better that way.

I crawl under the blue, quilted coverlet with the fleece blanket on top of it, tuck up my socked-feet in my usual fetal position, and pull up the covers around my chin.

Hubs gets in and turns out the lamp on his side.

I turn on the TV for a few moments (another rerun of M.A.S.H); it helps put master and me to sleep. It sucks the junk out of my day-filled brain and lulls hubs to sleep.

All snuggled down and comfy.

Then, out of the corner of my eye, I see two, black, pointy ears sticking up. Not wanting to move to give it away that I’m aware, I slowly turn my eyes to look, making sure not to move my head, because I know what I’ll see. Yup, sure enough, I see the silly, inherited dog staring at me.

She wants me to let her out. I don’t move a muscle. She gives up and walks to the other side of the bed and stares at her master. She does this sometimes.

Most often, she times it perfectly just as hubs has undressed and now wants to go out. The dog, not hubs.

She won’t obey the command to go outside before bed and now she wants out.

When we’re already in bed, one of us gets up; usually, it’s not me.

How patient hubs is with her delayed obedience. Me? Not so much.

Makes me think: How many times do I delay obedience and then attempt to obey later? I wonder how patient my Master is with my delayed obedience.

No wondering; I know.

Hooking up with…

Mondays…

Tuesdays…

Wednesdays…

At the Sound of His Voice

January 9, 2013 By Lynn H Mosher

In the beginning, at the sound of His voice, the universe emerged from the spirit realm into the physical realm, for “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth… For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.” (Ps. 33:6, 9 NKJV)

At the sound of His voice…

*light burst out of the darkness
*the firmament erupted out of the waters
*the waters parted and dry land appeared
*the dry land became fruitful
*nighttime sparklers dotted the sky, the sun and the moon set in the sky as rulers over the land
*an abundance of creatures proliferated the land
*He lovingly created man and woman in His image

At the sound of His voice…

During Job’s calamity, Elihu declared to him the majesty of God, then said, “Hear attentively the thunder of His voice, and the rumbling that comes from His mouth,” (Job 37:2 NKJV) as He “thunders marvelously with His voice; He does great things which we cannot comprehend.” (Job 37:5 NKJV)

At the sound of His voice…it dispatched angels, emanated from a burning bush, parted waters and made them flow again, made the sun and moon stand still, released the shackles of the imprisoned, and withheld the rain from heaven for three and one-half years.

At the sound of His voice…it emits power, breaks the cedars, shakes the wilderness, divides the flames of fire, was spoken in a whirlwind, is as the sound of many waters, and opened the heavens and sent the dove of the Spirit.

At the sound of His voice…

In the New Testament, the beloved disciple John wrote that, after Jesus spoke to His disciples and a crowd concerning His death, He said, “‘Father, bring glory to Your name.’ Then a voice spoke from heaven, saying, ‘I have already brought it glory, and I will do it again.’ When the crowd heard the voice, some thought it was thunder, while others declared an angel had spoken to Him. Then Jesus told them, ‘The voice was for your benefit, not Mine.’” (John 12:28-30 NLT)

Those who do not have ears to hear will not recognize the thunderous voice of God when He speaks because it is sometimes the Still Small Voice. That heavenly Voice is always for our benefit.

At the sound of His voice…it is to be obeyed.

God spoke to Israel saying, “Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.” (Jer. 7:23 NKJV)

Israel said to Jeremiah, “Whether it is pleasing or displeasing, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God to whom we send you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God.” (Jer. 42:6 NKJV)

Listening to and obeying the voice of the Lord make life so much easier.

At the sound of His voice…we are to bow our knees in honor and prayer, to lift our hands in praise and thanksgiving, and to open our spiritual ears and listen to His Spirit speak to us.

For from that mighty Voice come words of wisdom, guidance, comfort, peace, forgiveness, discipline, exhortation, provision, protection, and all the other necessities of life. If we would but listen.

At the sound of His voice…

Jesus said, “And I assure you that the time is coming, indeed it’s here now, when the dead will hear My voice—the voice of the Son of God. And those who listen will live. The Father has life in Himself, and He has granted that same life-giving power to His Son.” (John 5:25-27 NLT)

At the sound of His voice…listen to that Still Small Voice…obey it and live.

Hooking up with…

Wednesdays…

Thursdays…

Fridays…

Brick by Brick

October 17, 2012 By Lynn H Mosher

The Lord once said this to me, though not meant just for me but for all God’s children…

“Obedience is of the utmost importance. All My trust is placed in one of My children who places all their trust in Me. I trust them to do My work, that work which is so important for the lost world.

“Even though they do not know it, many depend on you as My obedient child. The future of some, the well-being of others is so dependent on My children’s obedience, for without it, others’ pathways are hindered.

“I am building up the waste places, those crumbled walls, in your life, brick by brick. My words are those bricks. Heed My words and place those bricks back together with the cement of obedience.

“Rejoice now as you build upon that firm foundation.”

The Lord supplies us His Word and His will as bricks to build on the rock-solid foundation of Christ and His salvation and to rebuild the walls that we have allowed to crumble by our disobedience.

God has a specific building plan for each of our lives that requires adherence. Each command or Word of the Lord is a brick to be fastened in place with the mortar of obedience. A failure to carry out His commands or a neglect of His Word results in a faulty edifice.

What do you obey? What whispers to your heart? What tugs at your spirit? Paul wrote in his letter to the Roman church, “You belong to the power which you choose to obey, whether you choose sin, whose reward is death, or God, obedience to whom means the reward of righteousness.” (Rom. 6:16 Phillips)

Later in his letter, Paul said that their “obedience has become known to all.” (Rom. 16:19 NKJV) They chose wisely and it became obvious to others.

Do we cement God’s command-bricks and whisper-bricks into place, or does Jesus have to say to us, “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say? Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.” (Luke 6:46-49 NKJV)

Obedience in all circumstances is the key to a well-built spiritual home for the Lord. This is not mere resignation to God’s Word.

It is attentive and deliberate obedience, emanating from a heart full of love for the Lord of salvation. It is responding willingly to the inner guidance of the Spirit’s whispers, obeying all the little twists and turns and stops of life throughout the day.

Each nudge, each command, is a brick to be cemented into place by reverent submission and by following His wishes with steadfast and immovable faith. We then build a beautiful edifice that welcomes the Master Architect with adoration and worship.

Daily the Lord hands us bricks, bricks of His Word, bricks of His leading, bricks of His purpose. What do we do with them?

Some thoughts to ask yourself…

* Am I rejoicing as I build?
* Is my cement all watered down?
* Has my obedience become known to all?
* Is my spiritual home built upon the Solid Rock of Christ?
* Am I building the home of my heart for the Lord or for someone or something else?
* What does my heart’s home look like? Are there gaping holes in the walls, missing bricks of neglected duties or failures to carry out His wishes? Do I leave any bricks lying on the ground?

We all want to have a beautiful, welcoming home in our heart for the Lord. If your heart’s home has crumbled lately, then start today to use the cement of obedience to rebuild it…brick by brick.

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Wednesdays…

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The Holey People

Singing for Water!

Working for the Father

My Day Went Like This…

I Wanna Be a Broke Horse!

When You Get Close Enough

Are You an Abraham or a Jonah?

Another Lesson from the Silly Dog

At the Sound of His Voice

Brick by Brick

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