Power
to Obey
How many times have you herd the excuse, “But I am afraid
I can’t live the Christian life”?
The badge of the true disciple of Jesus Christ is obedient
faith.
Jesus told His disciples, “If you love Me, you will keep My
commandments” (John 14:15).
He has commanded us to go and make disciples of every
nation. And when we are obedient He gives us the power to obey His command (Acts
1:8).
He gives us Himself, and in the giving of Himself He gives
us all that we need to obey Him.
The power we know we need to accomplish His will can be
ours if we obey His Word. As we yield ourselves to Him He will fulfill His will
in and through us. He does not ask us to do anything that He does not enable us
to do.
The indwelling Holy Spirit is in us an all-prevailing
source of power to obey His commands. He abides in us and we in Him. Our
greatest needs are fully met in Christ and all that He provides for His people.
He gives us the vitality, energy, and spiritual power to do everything God asks
of us.
We are by the divine power of the Spirit of God set free to
serve Him, and obey Him.
A true Christian knows the power of obedience. Christian
liberty is not a license to sin it up. There is freedom in the liberating good
news of Jesus Christ. But it is not a freedom to give ourselves to licentious
pleasures of the flesh. It is a new freedom to serve God in righteousness (Rom.
6:12ff). He gives us the freedom to love Him with all our heart. “If we love Him
we will obey Him.”
We get our freedom through surrender to Christ. We get the
power to obey by obeying. We have been set free to do the will of God.
Have you ever tried to witness to an unbeliever without
being in fellowship with the Holy Spirit? Our words are like dead lives
fall on frozen ground during the winter. But when the Holy Spirit quickens the
heart and we are in fellowship with Him they penetrate the heart of unbelief and
He uses them to accomplish His purpose.
What blessed joy when He gives us power to declare the Word
of God with power. We are told that He can be grieved by our unyieldedness, but
we can also bring joy to Him as we yield ourselves to His control.
Jesus gave to His disciples through the gift of His Spirit
the power to speak and be witnesses to His death and resurrection. The power of
the Holy Spirit is the power to think God’s thoughts after Him, to speak His
words to all men.
Jesus commands us to go and preach His good news. When we
do He gives us His enabling power. “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit,
and spoke the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31).
Are you spiritually anemic? Have you gone to Him in
humility, confessing your sins, turning from them and making yourself available
to Him to do anything He wants to do in and through you?
When He has us ready spiritually He will use us. The Holy
Spirit indwells us, giving us the power to obey God. All that He asks is total
obedience. The Holy Spirit is within us, and by His power we can do His bidding.
We will receive His power to obey. He even gives us faith to trust Him.
Will you make yourself available to Him to do anything that
pleases Him in and through you? It may scare you to death. But that is all that
He asks. Don’t think up a bunch of excuses. Just say, “Here am I, send me,
Lord.” And then step out trusting Him for His enabling, anointing and power. The
moment you act upon what you know to be God’s will, God answers that prayer, and
He empowers you to do what you cannot do in yourself. The Holy Spirit gives us
the desire, ability, and power to do the will of God.
If you love Him, you will obey Him.
Love solves our obedience problem.
Selah!
Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006
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