We are walking in today: Obedience, What The Most High Desires From Us!
Witness obedience throughout the Bible: H8086 shema'--to listen, give heed; to consent, agree; to grant request
Exo 24:7 And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said,
All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient. H8085
The Torah testifies...............
Deu 4:30 When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient H8085 unto his voice;
The prophets proclaim..................
2 Sa 22:45 Strangers shall submit themselves unto me: as soon as they hear, H8085 they shall be obedient H8085 unto me.
The writings bear witness...........................
Pro 25:12 As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient H8085 ear.
Isa 42:24 Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the LORD, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient H8085 unto his law.
According to the Bible, the Creator of the universe is a Abba! The prophet Malachi tells us that The, is indeed a Abba. As we see in the following passage, The Most High expresses His Fatherly nature and His yearning toward His children:
A son honoreth his Abba, and a servant his master: if then I [The Most High] be a Abba, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the The Most High of hosts …. (Malachi 1:6).
As this verse teaches us, The Most High, is indeed a Abba and a master. But let’s just focus on His Fatherhood for now. As a Abba, The Most High yearns for the honour and respect due a Abba, a father . So how would we show honour and respect to the heavenly Abba?
By obedience to Him!
The Most High Desires Our Obedience
Many times The Most High exhorts us to be obedient to Him. For centuries, The Most High has been speaking to His children regarding obedience. Could He have changed His mind about obedience? Hmmmm?
Again, the prophet Malachi can answer that question for us:
For I am The Most High, I change not! (Malachi 3:6)
The Most High does not change! His character does not change. His Word does not change. His Truth does not change! What He has said to His children for centuries, has not been ‘done away with!’
Just as the ‘Law of Gravity’ does not change, just as the rising and setting of the sun does not change, so also The Most High’s full, entire, written Word continues! His Word is eternal and it does not change and it cannot be broken (1 Peter 1:23; Isaiah 40:8; Psalms 119:89)!
And though His Word has some hard-to-understand passages, nevertheless, The Most High’s Word is true, valid and applicable today, in this 21st century. Therefore when it comes to obedience, The Most High’s stated desire for obedient children remains constant.
Be As Little Children
Yahushua Maschiach directed us to be as little children:
And Yahushua called a little child unto Him, and set Him in the midst of them, And said, Verily I say unto you, Except you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:2,3)
As this passage teaches, being as a ‘little child’ is essential for entering the Kingdom of Heaven (Mark 10:15 see also Luke 18:17)!
Now if we consider the word ‘obedience’ to be a word only for little children, then we, as Believers, must realize that we are to BE as little children! We qualify for applying the word ‘obedience’ to ourselves. With The Most High in heaven, and you and me on the earth, being as ‘little children’ is exactly how our heavenly Abba sees us! In the Scriptures, we are often addressed as ‘Little Children.’
The patriarch Abraham illustrates this: Abraham was as ‘a little child’ because he was obedient to The Most High! The apostle Peter exhorts us to be ‘as obedient children’ who call on The Most High as our Abba! Obedience is a central part of the purifying process for growing and maturing in Mashiach. It is clear that our heavenly Abba desires obedient children! (Hebrews 11:8; 1 Peter 1:22; see also 1 Peter 1:13-17).
But what does He desire for us to obey? Let’s consider what His Son, Yahushua said.
If You Love Me . . .
Yahushua said, “If you love Me, keep [obey] MY Commandments” (John 14:15).
Perhaps some of us may think that keeping Yahushua’s commandments are limited to only ‘New’ Testament commandments. However, at the time when Yahushua said the above statement, There Was No New Testament In Existence!!
Therefore His exhortation to KEEP His commandments refers to what is commonly known as the ‘Old’ Testament.
Since Maschiach is The Word Made Flesh, then the ‘Old’ Testament Scriptures is where we find His instructions and guidelines for us to obey. It is in the ‘Old’ Testament where we find:
IF we love Mashiach from the depths of our heart, then we will be among those who will gladly choose to obey Yahushua, the Son of The Most High, who is ONE with His Abba!
IF we love Mashiach we will exhibit our loyalty to Him by our humble submission and obedience to Maschiach’s Words, including those from Genesis to Malachi.
As the Scriptures tell us, Yahushua Maschiach IS “the WORD made flesh” (John 1:14). Therefore His Words include the Words He gave to Moses and to all the prophets, because He spoke His Words from the beginning (see Exodus 31:18; Deuteronomy 9:10; Luke 11:20; John 1:1,14; Revelation 19:13).
Many times The Most High exhorts us to be obedient to Him. For centuries, The Most High has been speaking to His children regarding obedience. Could He have changed His mind about obedience? Hmmmm?
Again, the prophet Malachi can answer that question for us:
For I am The Most High, I change not! (Malachi 3:6)
The Most High does not change! His character does not change. His Word does not change. His Truth does not change! What He has said to His children for centuries, has not been ‘done away with!’
Just as the ‘Law of Gravity’ does not change, just as the rising and setting of the sun does not change, so also The Most High’s full, entire, written Word continues! His Word is eternal and it does not change and it cannot be broken (1 Peter 1:23; Isaiah 40:8; Psalms 119:89)!
And though His Word has some hard-to-understand passages, nevertheless, The Most High’s Word is true, valid and applicable today, in this 21st century. Therefore when it comes to obedience, The Most High’s stated desire for obedient children remains constant.
Be As Little Children
Yahushua Maschiach directed us to be as little children:
And Yahushua called a little child unto Him, and set Him in the midst of them, And said, Verily I say unto you, Except you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:2,3)
As this passage teaches, being as a ‘little child’ is essential for entering the Kingdom of Heaven (Mark 10:15 see also Luke 18:17)!
Now if we consider the word ‘obedience’ to be a word only for little children, then we, as Believers, must realize that we are to BE as little children! We qualify for applying the word ‘obedience’ to ourselves. With The Most High in heaven, and you and me on the earth, being as ‘little children’ is exactly how our heavenly Abba sees us! In the Scriptures, we are often addressed as ‘Little Children.’
The patriarch Abraham illustrates this: Abraham was as ‘a little child’ because he was obedient to The Most High! The apostle Peter exhorts us to be ‘as obedient children’ who call on The Most High as our Abba! Obedience is a central part of the purifying process for growing and maturing in Mashiach. It is clear that our heavenly Abba desires obedient children! (Hebrews 11:8; 1 Peter 1:22; see also 1 Peter 1:13-17).
But what does He desire for us to obey? Let’s consider what His Son, Yahushua said.
If You Love Me . . .
Yahushua said, “If you love Me, keep [obey] MY Commandments” (John 14:15).
Perhaps some of us may think that keeping Yahushua’s commandments are limited to only ‘New’ Testament commandments. However, at the time when Yahushua said the above statement, There Was No New Testament In Existence!!
Therefore His exhortation to KEEP His commandments refers to what is commonly known as the ‘Old’ Testament.
Since Maschiach is The Word Made Flesh, then the ‘Old’ Testament Scriptures is where we find His instructions and guidelines for us to obey. It is in the ‘Old’ Testament where we find:
- the instructions for observing the Sabbath, the seventh day of the week,
- the instructions for not eating unclean things,
- the instructions for observing The Most High’s Feast Days,
- and many other instructions that are part of the ‘House-Rules‘ for the children of The Most High.
IF we love Mashiach from the depths of our heart, then we will be among those who will gladly choose to obey Yahushua, the Son of The Most High, who is ONE with His Abba!
IF we love Mashiach we will exhibit our loyalty to Him by our humble submission and obedience to Maschiach’s Words, including those from Genesis to Malachi.
As the Scriptures tell us, Yahushua Maschiach IS “the WORD made flesh” (John 1:14). Therefore His Words include the Words He gave to Moses and to all the prophets, because He spoke His Words from the beginning (see Exodus 31:18; Deuteronomy 9:10; Luke 11:20; John 1:1,14; Revelation 19:13).
Eternal Words
Entirely all of The Most High’s written Word is true throughout all generations. Abba tells us His Word is eternal. His Words cannot ever become invalid! (Psalms 105:8; Psalms 119:160; Isaiah 40:8; 1 Peter 1:23,25) All the written Scriptures are eternal Words for Believers to apply to their life, in every age throughout history! We can be confident that the Scriptures, such as the following, are relevant and up-to-date. These Words are part of our heavenly Abba’s ‘House-Rules’ for His family:
1. You shall walk after The Most High, and fear Him, and keep His commandments, and obey His voice, and you shall serve Him, and cleave unto Him. (Deuteronomy 13:4)
2. And Moses and the priests the Levites spoke unto all Israel, saying, Take heed, and hearken, O Israel; this day you are become the people of The Most High. You shall therefore obey the voice of The Most High, and do His commandments and His statutes, which I command you this day. (Deuteronomy 27:9, 10; see also Deuteronomy 11:26-28)
As the above Scriptures show us, The Most High’s Word urges His people to obey Him! This is our Abba’s desire — obedience from His people, His servants, His children. This has been His desire from the beginning! It is well pleasing to Him to have obedient children:
Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the The Most High. (Colossians 3:20)
A fundamental feature of our walk with The Most High, is that we become as a ‘little child’ and walk in obedience to The Most High’s Eternal Words. We cannot become as ‘little children’ without learning obedience!
The Essence of Obedience
The essence of obedience is really a heart issue!
Let us ask ourselves some questions:
Has Abba revealed His abundant love for us, especially through the sacrificial death and resurrection of His Son, Yahushua Maschiach? Has The Most High tenderly received us and forgiven us multiple times? Is our heart full of thankfulness for His sacrificial love for us? Have we given our life to Him, and therefore, we are serious about serving The Most High?
Does our heart genuinely desire to love and honour Abba, and show our respect for Him? Is this the main business of our life? Do we truly believe His love for us, and that His written Word is our authoritative source for guidance and direction?
If we can answer yes to these questions, then whenever we obey The Most High’s written Word, we demonstrate our loyalty to Him; we demonstrate our belief in His truth; and we demonstrate our love for Him. This is how we demonstrate our faith in Him! Our obedience is the evidence that we trust Abba, that we believe His Words are trust-worthy! And regardless of how we feel, whether we are ‘in the mood’ or not, we will want to obey Yah’s written Word, doing what is right and good in His sight!
Our obedience reveals our firm commitment to live our life based on the principle of obeying The Most High’s written Word, walking according to His Ways – His ever-lasting truth – truth revealed from the beginning.
And though it will happen, that we will not always understand some parts of The Most High’s Word, we certainly however, want to obey the parts we do understand, by simply DO-ing what Abba says! If we do what He says, we will find that the ‘doing’ of what He says results in more understanding and love for The Most High, and thus more obedience to His Word (John 7:17).
Let us remember — Abraham obeyed The Most High! Abraham obeyed Abba because He believed Abba’s love for him! He believed Abba’s WORD! And Abraham obeyed, even at times when he did not fully understand:
By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. (Hebrews 11:8)
Therefore with Abraham as our example, we must remember to:
not rely on ‘feelings’ or ‘moods’ before being obedient, and not rely on our own understanding before being obedient The Most High’s written WORD (Proverbs 3:5-6).
“Only he who believes is obedient, and only he who is obedient believes”
The essence of obedience is really a heart issue!
Let us ask ourselves some questions:
Has Abba revealed His abundant love for us, especially through the sacrificial death and resurrection of His Son, Yahushua Maschiach? Has The Most High tenderly received us and forgiven us multiple times? Is our heart full of thankfulness for His sacrificial love for us? Have we given our life to Him, and therefore, we are serious about serving The Most High?
Does our heart genuinely desire to love and honour Abba, and show our respect for Him? Is this the main business of our life? Do we truly believe His love for us, and that His written Word is our authoritative source for guidance and direction?
If we can answer yes to these questions, then whenever we obey The Most High’s written Word, we demonstrate our loyalty to Him; we demonstrate our belief in His truth; and we demonstrate our love for Him. This is how we demonstrate our faith in Him! Our obedience is the evidence that we trust Abba, that we believe His Words are trust-worthy! And regardless of how we feel, whether we are ‘in the mood’ or not, we will want to obey Yah’s written Word, doing what is right and good in His sight!
Our obedience reveals our firm commitment to live our life based on the principle of obeying The Most High’s written Word, walking according to His Ways – His ever-lasting truth – truth revealed from the beginning.
And though it will happen, that we will not always understand some parts of The Most High’s Word, we certainly however, want to obey the parts we do understand, by simply DO-ing what Abba says! If we do what He says, we will find that the ‘doing’ of what He says results in more understanding and love for The Most High, and thus more obedience to His Word (John 7:17).
Let us remember — Abraham obeyed The Most High! Abraham obeyed Abba because He believed Abba’s love for him! He believed Abba’s WORD! And Abraham obeyed, even at times when he did not fully understand:
By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. (Hebrews 11:8)
Therefore with Abraham as our example, we must remember to:
not rely on ‘feelings’ or ‘moods’ before being obedient, and not rely on our own understanding before being obedient The Most High’s written WORD (Proverbs 3:5-6).
“Only he who believes is obedient, and only he who is obedient believes”
Obedience — A Regular, Daily Behaviour
Obedience to the written Word of The Most High ought to be a regular, familiar thought pattern. It ought to be a daily behaviour for all the children of The Most High.
Obedient children earnestly desire to serve their Abba; they love their Abba and are devoted to their Abba. Obedient children pay attention to the words of their Abba.
In order to obey our heavenly Abba, we must learn His Words. We must persistently study The Most High’s written Word [the entire Bible], so that we can know how to obey Him (see Proverbs 4:20-22).
We learn His Word because our hearts are devoted to honouring and obeying Him. (Psalms 119:11) We especially need to learn and study for ourselves The Ten Commandments. Let me say that you will discover that the keeping of the 4th Commandment is a major KEY to opening up more of our understanding of Abba’s Word!
Learning His written Word for ourselves is essential to learning how to be obedient to His Word. Never stray from the truth that the Holy Spirit will always guide us according to Yah’s written Word.
It is our obedience to Abba’s written Words that is the measure of our love for Him:
If ye love Me, keep My commandments. (John 14:15)
By this we know that we love the children of The Most High, when we love The Most High, and keep His commandments. (1 John 5:2)
For this IS the love of The Most High, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous. (1 John 5:3)
These verses teach us that obedience reveals our love for Him. As obedient children, we should want to learn for ourselves The Most High’s written Words [found in all the Bible]. This is to be our way of life! We learn His written Words so that we can obey Him – quickly and gladly!
We deny ourselves in small ways and in great ways, so that we can follow Abba’s ‘House-Rules’. We do this because we love Him!! We obey Him because we want to walk according to His truth, and we want to avoid twisted, pagan explanations of Scripture; we want to avoid subtle counsels or preaching that rejects Yahushua as Maschiach and Saviour (2 John 1:7)!
He Is The Potter
Let us remember: we are the clay and He is the Potter.
We are to yield to The Most High, willing to walk according to His desires. Our hearts should be devoted to serving our loving Abba, and promoting His interests (Isaiah 64:8; Jeremiah 18:6; Malachi 1:6; Matthew 23:10).
It is not difficult to serve and obey our heavenly Abba. His commandments are not too hard! Abba has delivered us from the bondage of sin, and He has given us abundant, enabling grace, in all the things that concern our ability to obey Him! (See 1 John 5:3-5; 2 Peter 1:3).
If we truly love The Most High, if we truly believe His written Word, then we will obey Him, with no hesitancy! Living our life according to the principle of obedience to His written Word will be our way of life, the goal of our life!
We simply need to begin to learn The’s Word, and choose to do what we learn, doing what we can do as well as we can – regardless of the mysteries, the obstacles, or how we may ‘feel’. Stepping out in faith to obey Him is to take one-step-at-a-time. As we begin to do any ‘baby steps’ of obedience, Abba will supply us with more understanding and more ability to obey. Thus we will be more confident of Abba’s love and care for us.
Let us remember: we are the clay and He is the Potter.
We are to yield to The Most High, willing to walk according to His desires. Our hearts should be devoted to serving our loving Abba, and promoting His interests (Isaiah 64:8; Jeremiah 18:6; Malachi 1:6; Matthew 23:10).
It is not difficult to serve and obey our heavenly Abba. His commandments are not too hard! Abba has delivered us from the bondage of sin, and He has given us abundant, enabling grace, in all the things that concern our ability to obey Him! (See 1 John 5:3-5; 2 Peter 1:3).
If we truly love The Most High, if we truly believe His written Word, then we will obey Him, with no hesitancy! Living our life according to the principle of obedience to His written Word will be our way of life, the goal of our life!
We simply need to begin to learn The’s Word, and choose to do what we learn, doing what we can do as well as we can – regardless of the mysteries, the obstacles, or how we may ‘feel’. Stepping out in faith to obey Him is to take one-step-at-a-time. As we begin to do any ‘baby steps’ of obedience, Abba will supply us with more understanding and more ability to obey. Thus we will be more confident of Abba’s love and care for us.
Loyal and Obedient
May it be that the word ‘obedience’ would be a familiar word to us, and a familiar behaviour, and that obedience would not be a foreign word!
Let us ask Abba to help us – help us to be as ‘a little child’! May each one of us have that genuine commitment to be loyal and obedient to Abba’s written Words, even when it seems difficult! This is how we show our love for Him, our loyalty, our honour, and our respect for Him!
And that, Fiveamprayer, is the essence of obedience!
Shema Selah, we must truly hear, listen and obey and consider our ways before our Abba!! What has the Most High given you to do?? https://youtu.be/2NqaWmCKlX4
No comments:
Post a Comment