Streams in the Desert Etc…     6/12/12

Streams in the Desert was so excellent today…and worth putting up! It served as a great exhortation to me to “walk worthy of the manner to which I am called.”
I believe that many of you who will read this (hopefully) have a “higher calling” as well…one that is not to be taken lightly or flippantly, but a very special, anointed call for minsitry. Now, that in no way puts us above others with some sort of a “holier than thou”, cocky or arrogant disposition…it is simply recognizing the privilege – the glorious honor – of being in the ministry, being called “for such a time as this” and in turn, obeying the Lord and His commandments with every fiber of our being. The older I get, the more I realize that if I am, in fact, going to commit my life to being “upfront”…singing on platforms and stages proclaiming and glorfying the name of Jesus to the best of my ability, then – by golly – my life better reflect that – in every possible way! 🙂
I think sometimes this means going “the extra mile” to do so. And that is why we have discernment! Enter Holy Spirit, right? Duh! Because anything good that comes of us or our lives, is ONLY by the power of the Spirit. Sure we are in no way perfect, and little pitfalls, roadbumps, a.k.a. real-life, every day examples of our “humanness” are inevitable, but I hope all of you will agree with me that absolute surrender and total, complete, sold-out obedience is the goal! Hence, the personal meaning behind this devotional for all of us! So let us continue on runnin’ the race set before us with endurance 🙂 Keeping eachother accountable through knowing and loving Jesus more, and through more God-filled, Spirit-controlled lifestyles and hopefully this will eventually being about the “instant obedience” this devo talks about. 🙂

“On that very day Abraham…did as God told him.” ~ Genesis 17:23

Instant obedience is the only kind of obedience there is, for delayed obedience is = disobedience. Each time God calls upon us to do something, He is offering to make a covenant with us. Our part is to obey, and then He will do His part to send a special blessing. The only way to be obedient is to obey instantly – “on that very day”, as Abraham did. I know we often postpone doing what we know to do, and then later do it as well as we can. Certainly this is better than not doing it at all. By then, however, it is at best a crippled, disfigured, and partial attempt toward obedience. Postponed obedience can never bring us the full blessing God intended or what it would have brought had we obeyed at the earliest possible moment. What a pity it is how we rob ourselves, as well as God and others, by our procrastination! Remember, “on that very day” is the Genesis way of saying, “Do it now!”

Other GREAT verses:

“If they obey and serve Him, They shall spend their days in prosperity and their years in pleasures.” ~ Job 36:11
“For merely listening to the law doesn’t make us right with God. It is obeying the law that makes us right in his sight.” ~ Romans 2:13
“And this is love – that we walk in His commandments…” ~ 1 John 2:6
“God the Father knew you and chose you long ago, and his Spirit has made you holy. As a result, you have obeyed him and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. May God give you more and more grace and peace.” ~ 1 Peter 1:2
II Corinthians 6 (that’s right – all of it!)

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