DEVOTIONAL INSIGHTS & REFLECTIONS

OBEDIENCE = SUBMISSION TO GOD -- April 1

As you celebrate His resurrection today, I hope you take it to heart... .

We have been given all things that pertain to life and godliness via JESUS CHRIST (the Word of God made flesh) that we might be fully equipped and fully informed of the Will of God for our lives, and obedience to God is not optional; it’s mandatory. We will be held accountable for what we do, what we think and what we say. (See 2 Peter 1:3.) We must follow Him.

If we walk (live out our lives) in direct disobedience to Him, His Spirit, His Word----on judgment day, justice demands that He say: “Depart from me, I never knew you.” (See Matthew 25.)

In every instance, we must TURN FROM SIN and TURN TO GOD.

We must forgive others from our heart.

We have an adversary---the devil, satan---who goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. (See 1 Peter 5:8.)

The enemy will attempt to deceive you through any means necessary to keep you out of heaven—because he and all of his hordes hate you! Therefore, you must be fully alert to his tactics. Because if you listen to him, if you are persuaded by him and his hordes toward disobedience, God will still hold you accountable.

The enemy will make you think other people are your enemies. He plants ideas (seeds) in our minds, that others are out to get us. The devil wants us on the defensive. He wants us to be offended by other people---people like us for whom Christ died. Satan and his hordes will work through the hearts and minds of others to deceive you into thinking they are your enemies, but they are not your enemies.

When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him. –Isaiah 59:19

God is a prayer away.

Submit thyself to God, resist the devil and he will flee. –James 4:7

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. –Matthew 6:24

Trust and obey.

If ye are willing and obedient, ye shall eat the fat of the land. –Isaiah 1:19

Jesus, our Savior, learned obedience through the things that He suffered. –Hebrews 5:8

READ PHILIPPIANS 3: Wherein we are admonished to put no confidence in the flesh, but we count all things loss for His sake… that we should know Him in the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering. We must press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil. –Ecclesiastes 12:13,14