From Pastor Rick Warren
“In the middle of all the hustle and bustle of this season, let’s pause and think back to the first Christmas. Have you ever stopped to put yourself in Joseph’s shoes? Here was a guy who found out his fiancé was pregnant, claiming she was visited by an angel and that it was God’s baby. And she wanted him to believe her!
In an instant, Joseph’s whole world was turned upside down. This was not the way his life was supposed to turn out. It just didn’t make any sense.
Do you know the feeling? Maybe your finances suddenly take a turn for the worse, or layoffs are looming at work, or you’ve just received news of a health crisis in your family. How are you going to handle it? What do you do when things in your life don’t make sense?”
Obedience these days seems to be a strong word, even getting a negative attribute. Obedience seems to be a word that can be given the attribute of being forceful, but it isn’t. Just as it was written in the bible about the “fear of the Lord and… the knowledge of God”, the word for fear here is really reverence, a word rooted in love.
I love how The Message phrases John 14:15 – “If you love me, show it by doing what I’ve told you.” And what God is really telling us through the Bible is to “Love God, your God, with your whole heart: love him with all that’s in you, love him with all you’ve got! (Deuteronomy 6:5 MSG)” Jesus furthers this command and adds another layer that speaks of love: that we must love our neighbors as we love ourselves.
It all starts with love. When I was a child in my father’s house and he asked me to do something, I would do it. Not because I feared my earthly father – though at times he could be truly worth fearing, but because I loved and adored my father much to the envy of my mother at that time.
It must be the same with how we respond to what God commands us to do. “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” (John 14:15 NIV) Sometimes God’s commands will not make much sense to us for we only see a small portion of the whole, so have faith. God will not ask you to do something that will ruin you. Our parents only wanted the best for us growing up, what more of God who is our Heavenly Father who conceived us in His mind long before we were even conceived in our mother’s womb. Isn’t His will for us perfect and pleasing? All we need to do is obey.
For today and the rest of our time here, may we all lovingly follow our Heavenly Father who has given us all things, through our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ.
Read more by following this link: Biblical Obedience: Love + Trust + Action.
May you be blessed by God’s word today from the Life Application Study Bible
| “By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.” Hebrews 11:3, NLT |
| God called the universe into existence out of nothing; he declared that it was to be, and it was. Our faith is in the God who created the entire universe by his word. God’s word has awesome power. |
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To those of you that have read a post reblogged from athousandsingledays about Lizzie and her family, I would like to share some pretty amazing news. The author is very happy with how all efforts are being made around the world and how people have stood up and prayed, shared their story and donated. She wrote:
Thank you so, so much for your encouragement! Lissie is doing well. I saw her today and she applied for a lovely home big enough for her and her children today. We have raised enough money so far to get her in to that home if her application is accepted. Amazing things happening here, hundreds of donations so far!!!
To read more comments and to get more updates regarding Lizzie’s family: http://onethousandsingledays.com/2012/12/02/her-children-will-have-a-home-for-christmas/
The Journey Home 