Do you feel God move in your life when you obey His
Word? How many of us have a time in our lives when we
are feeling stuck? We feel like when is God going to take
this burden from me? It’s in these times when we need to
stop and look at what we are doing or not doing.
In today’s gospel, Jesus says, “Anyone who loves Me will
obey My teaching. My Father will love them, and We will
come to them and make our home with them. What stops
the Holy Spirit from coming to live in us is when we are not
obedient to God’s Word or His ways. Living in this world
can be difficult to hear God’s Word let alone obey it. Our
world pulls us in a totally different direction because it
thrives on chaos, dysfunction, hostility, and anguish.
There’s no peace in that. There’s no sense in any of it, but
when we slow down and trust, obey and believe that God is
bigger than any problem, sickness, financial difficulty, or
pain that we may have in this world, we can see God’s love
for us through obeying His Word.
I remember when a friend of mine kept popping into my
mind. I thought I really should call and check on her. I
knew she had health issues, but last I talked to her she was
doing really well. I kind of let it go, but each day it got
stronger and stronger, to the point I couldn’t ignore it any-
more. So, I called her, and when she heard my voice, she
said something I wasn’t expecting or will I ever forget. She
said, “You always seem to know when I need you.” I had
nothing to do with it; God put her on my heart for a reason.
I kept pushing it off till I couldn’t ignore it anymore. When
God asks us to do something it’s never for harm, it’s always
for good. It could be to reach out to a friend or someone
who we don’t know that needs our help or to lead us to our
purpose in life.
Being obedient to God isn’t always easy, but it’s always
worth the journey. There are so many stories in the Bible
that talk about obedience. Mary had to be obedient, as well
as Moses and even Naaman just to name a few. Mary
would have never had Jesus who died for our sins if she
hadn’t been obedient to God; Moses would have never writ-
ten the Ten Commandments and gotten the Israelites to the
Promised Land, and Naaman would have never been healed
had he not obeyed what Elisha told him to do.
There may come a time in your life, when you are faced
with a decision to join a group, make a stand or be a friend
to someone that needs your help. As a church, we are called
to be disciples of Jesus, to be His hands and feet, touching
people’s lives just like Jesus did. Even in our little church,
young or older, you can make a huge difference in people’s
lives. So, the next time you’re asked to be a part of some-
thing that you’re just not sure about, listen to that still small
voice deep down inside and if it lines up with the Word of
God, obey and watch God move in your life.
~~Barb Novad