Why Obedience To God Is Important

(00:00): Did you ever get stopped for speeding on the road? Oh my gosh, your heart's racing and you don't know what's going to happen. When that officer comes to the window. I remember the first time I got stopped. That's how I felt. And this goes back to my early thirties where I have to confess. I got quite a few speeding tickets in those days when I was working that crazy career and I had a little baby and I was in a hurry constantly after that first speeding ticket, it wasn't so scary. But eventually I learned that I had to obey the law and there were reasons for that stay tuned because today we're going to talk about that. And we're going to talk about how we can do that in our lives every single day, and be glad that we're obeying.

(00:55): Yeah.

(00:58): Welcome to episode 39 of the well-versed woman podcast. I'm Renee teller,

(01:05): Theresa Morgan. You see Renee and I are two perfectly imperfect women who have a heart to share are safe in our life's journeys with you.

(01:13): And what we love to share is the relationship we have with an amazing God. We know that if you stay tuned, you're going to grow your relationship with him as well. And that's going to bring you peace, joy, and lots of love in your life and what the world needs now is love. Sweet love. So stay tuned, but we get started the same way. Every single episode. We know that we're only going to feel this inside our soul, inside our spirit, by plugging in to the source, plugging into our creator. We do that by being very, still closing our eyes, taking some slow, deep breaths, and actually inviting God, actually asking him to come and sit with you today to come and be right next to you. We're going to do that for 20 seconds and they start writing.

(02:10): Now

(02:32): That's 20 seconds and I bet you feel better already. Can you imagine what it would be like to do two whole minutes? I really encourage you to grow that still time. It's going to change everything in your life right now, but let's get back to that obey and obedience word. You know, that's a word that we all learn very early in life and it stays us forever. You know, Theresa to obey means to comply with the command direction or request of a person or a law or submit to the authority of, you know, I always obey my father for example, and that word obey is very strong in the word of God. Isn't it?

(03:22): It certainly is. You know, in the last couple of weeks we've been talking about wisdom. We've been talking about how it's an invaluable virtue, it's priceless and rare. And when he did or when obeyed, it brings so many blessings and benefits into our life. So today we're going to be looking at the obedience part because if God gives us wisdom, right, he expects us to use it, to take the knowledge and instruction that is coming from his word and take the wisdom as to how to apply the knowledge in the instruction. So we have to be obedient in that. You know, the Bible is full of instruction. And today we're going to look at James chapter one verses 22 to 25. God's word says, but be doers of the word, not hearers, only deceiving yourselves for if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer.

(04:20): He is like a man observing his natural face in the mirror for he observes himself, goes away and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of Liberty. God's word in, continues in it and is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the word. This one will be blessed in what he does. So God is going to be giving us wisdom through the reading of the word and the leading of the Holy spirit. And then we're supposed to act, you know, Renee, when God was leading his people, Israel in the old Testament, there are so many stories about God telling them what to do in. Then he also always encouraged them. Do it, be strong, be courageous. And I love what Deuteronomy chapter 28 verses one through six says, it says, now it shall come to pass. If you diligently obey the voice of God to observe carefully all his commandments. So let's stop there a minute. God is about to roll out blessings, but he is saying again, be diligent to obey what I am saying,

(05:33): Teresa, I love all of this in the word of God. And you know, we talk so much, this whole podcast well-versed woman is about the word of God. And you and I were talking this morning of even for us who have been in the word, how this is new every morning, how every single time we get on this podcast, it's so enriching and just so exciting. And it just gives me so much joy to be doing this and helping us all understand more deeply the word of God, and then doing it. You know, we talk a lot about raising our kids and what good would it have been? And this is what you just read Teresa in the Bible here. What good would it have been to impart the rules of the household, to our kids? And then they never did it. That's exactly what this is saying.

(06:32): They're hearers of the words that we spoke to our children, but not doers. And we know what did we do? Well, we, we punished them, especially if it was things like we told them not to play in the street. And we find them riding their little car, their little tricycle in the street. We had repercussions for them, not obeying. And so this idea that we're talking about today is really big and deep. That word obey is more important than I gave it credit for in those days. When I thought that I could disobey the law and speed. And I don't know if everybody listening has gotten a speeding ticket before. I know there's a lot of people out there who pride themselves, that they never have and kudos to you. I take my hat off to you. I was living a crazy life and it was before I really did all that I love and teach today.

(07:33): And I had to, I had to learn to well Bay. And sometimes it was the hard way. I'll be honest with you. I had to get some help, maybe, maybe from an attorney Theresa to make sure I didn't lose my license. I mean, true confessions here. So we need to learn to obey. And this is a big deal tree size, especially as it relates to what we're talking about today. So please stay tuned because this is important. You know, we are not saved by our works, but we are saved for works. We are saved by the Lord and come to him so that we can obey and do good things in the world. And if we had more of this right now today, Theresa, Oh my goodness, how great a place would be.

(08:22): Certainly certainly true Renee. And yes, you're right. You know, we are saved by faith, through grace, Ephesians chapter two talks about, but once we are saved, right, we're still going to employ our faith because it takes faith to obey right money. And that is what God is saying in Deuteronomy chapter 28. So, you know, we're talking about when we diligently obey to observe in do his commandments toy blessing, certainly flow from that. And in verse two of Deuteronomy, chapter 28, it says in all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you because you obey the voice of the Lord. And it goes into these beautiful blessings. Blessed shall you be in the city and blessed, shall you be in the country? Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground, the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle, the offspring of your flocks, blessed shall be your basket, your needing well, Oh my goodness.

(09:23): We could go on and on blessed, shall you be when you come in and blessed, shall you be when you go out, you know, they were an agrarian society. So of course, God is speaking in their language today. He would be saying, you know, blessed will be the children that come from your body, blessed will be all that. You set your hands to do the work in your office, the prosperity in your bank account, as you obey and are careful to observe and to do in really the truth of the matter is Renee. In the old Testament, they did not have the indwelling presence of the Lord, right? Jesus had not come yet. So the redemptive work of Christ and the blood being shed did not yet occur. So they had a leading, but not the leading that we have as Christians today with the indwelling presence of the Holy spirit leading and guiding us and helping us to carefully obey and observe and to do Renee. Isn't that an amazing, an amazing fact in our life that we can read God's word. And then we can look to the Holy spirit that dwells in us and say, help us to apply this. Right. So Renee, now, when you're, you're tempted to speed down that road, the Holy spirit is saying Renee Renee, and you have that leading to pull your foot back from stepping hard on the pedal. Yeah.

(10:51): So true Theresa and just, uh, additional clarification in what Theresa is explaining is that in the old Testament, the spirit of God did not live in men. The spirit of God always existed, but he was over the Kings and the prophets that Jesus used to lead the people back in those days, he was over them and spoke to them, but he didn't dwell inside of each person like he does today. And that's what Theresa is explaining is the beautiful thing. If we can recognize that each of us individually has the same power that raised Jesus from the dead living in us. I have a hard time often grasping the bigness of that. The vastness of that tree saw that I actually have the same power that raised Jesus from the dead living in me today. And that's what Teresa's explaining is so beautiful about the times we're living in that we have that spirit in us and we can, we can draw on that spirit for the obedience that we need when the word of God is difficult or feels like we can't do it. Well, we just call on the spirit to help us.

(12:19): That's right, Renee, you know, first Corinthians chapter three, verse 16, talks about the indwelling presence. Do you not know that the spirit of God dwells in you and that's for people who have invited Jesus into your heart? So for those listeners who may just be joining us in Welco, what the Bible teaches is that when we put our faith in the finished work of Christ in the gospel, the good news and invite Jesus Christ into our hearts as Romans chapter 10, verses nine and 10, tell us that we're born again, that we're saved. And that's when the, the Holy spirit, uh, the third person of the Godhead slips right into our spirit in leads and guides in, is in there in with us forever. So that's a, that's a beautiful fact. So I encourage all of you. Jesus Christ came to the earth. He shed his blood for our sins.

(13:16): And when we believe the simple story in repent in invite him into our hearts to be Lord and savior, you are saved. So I encourage all of you to do that, but getting back to our lesson of today, Renee, uh, obedience, and yes, I am so grateful because when I don't want to obey, when my flesh is screaming to do something else, I know that I can say, Lord help. I know you're leading me to go, right? I really want to go left, but I know you're leading me to go, right. Help me, Holy spirit, healthy in this. And he's so faithful. He always does. He never misses a beat.

(13:55): So true. So the sequence of the lessons that we've talked about for almost 40 weeks now, Theresa, is that the word is where we get is the source. And we'll talk about our foundational scripture at the end, but that's where our faith comes from by hearing the word and through the word we get wisdom, which is the sequence. The last two weeks that we've talked about, how invaluable wisdom is, and it's that wisdom and obedience together, Theresa, that is the magic formula for success. So to speak for living,

(14:35): Right? Yeah, yeah. That, that is so true. You know, we can go back to some beautiful scriptures in the book of Proverbs, which is, uh, an entire book on wisdom. You know, we can look at Proverbs chapter two, verse seven, it says he, the Lord stores up sound wisdom for the upright. He's a shield to those who walk uprightly Proverbs 10 chapter 10, verse nine. He who walks with integrity, walks securely, but he who perverts his ways will become known. So we can see God saying, Hey, come and get it right, Renee. Uh, like when your mom made a great meal and, and she says, come and get it. When are you going to do stand there hungry and say, now, now when God says, come and get it. When he says, for those who have an ear to hear, let them hear. When he said to the people in the old Testament I set before you life and death choose life. He sang the same thing to us. Here's the wisdom, employ it in ask the Holy spirit, just to help, you know, Renee. We can, we can look at some examples of the old Testament. We can look at many examples in the new Testament in, we can see the victory that comes from obeying,

(15:51): Oh God, going to, I just loved the book of Daniel. And I know you do too. You know, we see Daniel chapter six, verse three, the Bible says Daniel had an excellent spirit since that. Beautiful. And again, Daniel did not have the indwelling presence of the Holy spirit. So we like Daniel right now. We have an excellent spare because the Holy spirit dwells in us, we've been born again. So all things have been made new. So we can see in the book of Daniel that, you know, when a law came forth back in that day, that Daniel could not create his God. He said to himself, Nope, the law of my God and my devotion to my God is more important. And he would pray, you know, in his home, those that did not like Daniel saw him praying. We know the story that he went to the King because Dan Daniel was not adhering to the laws of the land.

(16:50): And in praying to God and the King had him thrown in to the lion, Stan and behold, because of Daniel's obedience to God in his faithfulness to God, God protected him from the lion's den. And I love what happened after that. Renee, it says in Daniel chapter six, verse 23, it says no injury was found because he believed in his God. And in verse 28 of chapter six, it says Daniel prospered in the reign of Derrius, who was the King of Babylon at the time. So you can see that when we follow our heart and we follow into all that, God is asking us to do, God is going to come with that shield of protection, the shield of wisdom. And he is going to deliver us from any situation. We may find herself in because we are following his wisdom. Yeah.

(17:46): Tree. So we all love Daniel. And the lion's. And

(17:50): The thing that we need to remember is that Daniel was asked to pray to a different God. So there was a law put in place in the land where Daniel lived, where the King said that at a certain time, every day, the entire world, but they, they lived in the town. The area had to bow down and worship the King. This is another lesson for another day, but it also speaks to Daniel putting God first and being obedient to that and not the love of the land. So the fact is that Daniel understood the law of his God, that he needed to be obedient to hence what we talked about in the beginning, we need to understand the word of God. We need to understand what he calls us to. And we need to be obedient to that first. And that's exactly what happened. Daniel said, I can't bow to the King because the law of my Lord and God says, I only bow to my God. And that started the crescendo of Daniel ending up in the lion's den. So that is really cool. And what Theresa's point was, he was obedient to that and God saved him despite what seemed like a hopeless situation.

(19:16): That's right. Renee. And you know, it's amazing because we're going to look at another story in the old Testament where three Hebrew men did not, uh, bow down to, you know, another, another image, if you will, in what's amazing in both of these stories is that the Kings of the time saw the power of God in they too. They were changed even, even they were changed in their attitudes. So let's look yet three Hebrew man, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. I love their names in Daniel. Chapter three, never can. Nassar was the King of Babylon at the time. And these three Hebrew men refuse to bow down to the King's image. And of course, you know, they were thrown into a fire, right? A very, very hot furnace and hot fire because they would not bow down to the King's image in the Bible says in Daniel chapter three, verse 30 had the King soft Forman, Rene in the fire, the three Hebrew man.

(20:28): And who do you think the fourth was? How it was God himself protecting them from the fire. So when the men came out in, they were not scorched, they're closed, didn't even smell a fire. The King said, wow. He said, there is no other God who can deliver like this Daniel chapter three, verse 29. So God, when, when we're obedient and people of the world, be it a King, be it a friend, they see what is going on in your life. And they see the testimony and they see the prosperity that comes from you being obedient to God's word. They're going to be inquisitive. They're going to ask in that's how we can share

(21:11): Safe. So good. It's not easy, but that is exactly why we stay grounded in the word. And we spend those quiet time. That's still time, every single day to gain that strength. It's like working any other muscle. This is the most important workout we can do is the workout to grow our faith. I love it Theresa, because I'm sure, you know, we all sit here and say, Oh my gosh, I'm not sure I could go into a hot for fiery furnace and be strong enough to think I would be okay. It is amazing. And we can grow our faith if we're consistent and deliberate every single day learning and growing and practicing our faith.

(22:00): [inaudible], we've talked about that before Renee and I, and I love that, you know, I think you could attest to what I'm about to say, but when we were young in our walk with God, what maybe we'd like to call a baby Christian, you know, we would see things in the word that might have been new to us. And it was, it was our heart that said, Lord, we love you. And even though this is new, and even though this might be hard, I am going to embark upon this. I'm going to be obedient in each and every time that that happened in our lives, we were successful because of the help of the Holy spirit. And that's when our lives begin to change for the better, because God is all wise. He has, uh, what we need in this life. And he loves like a good father to impart it to us.

(22:53): So, so true, Theresa. And like you say, God is looking for our heart to obey is a heart choice and a heart attitude. And we just have to put our heart in the right perspective and not worry about the rest. That's really what you're just saying, right?

(23:12): Yeah. That that's so true. You know, the Bible says that to obey is better than sacrifice. Meaning in the old Testament, they did a lot of sacrificing of bulls and goats because of course, you know, blood had to be shed for the forgiveness of sins back then. We know now Jesus shed his blood once and for all, for our sins to be forgiven. But, but again, obedience talks about the heart and when you want to be obedient to God, um, because you love him, that's what he's looking for. And wow, you know, we've said it before one inch toward God toward obeying what he's asking you to do. Boy, he comes in like a flood with help and assistance and love and just a bunch of great wisdom and situations turn out exactly. Like he says, exceedingly abundantly beyond what we could have thought or what we could have asked. You know, Renee, this podcast really is all about practical faith, how we apply our faith to our everyday life. And, um, it takes, you know, it takes the faith that is born through reading the word and fellowshipping with the Holy spirit. But again, we could stay here for hours and days sharing with our audience that when we obey, when we feel that leading in our heart to do something, it always turns out in a magnificent way.

(24:43): So true. So much of what you said reminds me of when I was little. And what was the worst punishment when you were disobedient? It was when one of your parents told you how disappointed they were in your decision, in what you did. It was a matter of the heart, right? It was a lot easier to get a spanking or to go to my room than it was to have them sit there with deep sorrow on their face. That I disappointed them, that I disobeyed and it hurt them. And isn't that how it is with God, for me, it's the fact that, Oh, geez, I veered off path. I disappointed God, that hurts movie that breaks my heart. Right. So it is a matter of the heart.

(25:36): Yeah. That that's so true. You know, I think of King David and the old Testament, Renee who, Oh my goodness. Right. God said in his word, he had a heart after God's, but as we know, he did so behave, you know, he took a wife that was not his own. He, uh, basically had her husband killed and God was still right there with him and for him. However, unfortunately, you know, he did have to go through some consequences of his child dying and all sorts of strife in his family because he did not obey God. But that didn't mean that God ever, you know, left his, left his side, assisting him. But we really need to understand the importance of obeying God's word. You know, the Bible says in the book of John, John 14 verses 12 through 16, you know, most assuredly I say to you, and this is Jesus talking.

(26:34): He who believes in me the works that I do, he will also do and greater works than these because I go to my father, you know, whatever you ask in my Jesus says that I will do that. My father may be glorified in the son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. And then he says this Renee in verse five, if you love me, keep my commandments and I will pray the father. He will give you another helper, the Holy spirit who will abide for you forever. You know, I often reflect on that. If you love me, you will obey me and I get it. I so get it now, Renee, because again, it's a hard attitude. If we love someone so much and we see something that might be difficult for us to obey work on obey because of, again, the heart, the heart is going to steer us and help us to make the right decision because love is just such a beautiful commodity. Uh, and it never fails. So I, the more I fall in love with Jesus, uh, the easier it has been to obey. And I see the wonderful benefits that in blessings, that that brings

(27:44): So true, same sense that I had when I disappointed my parents. Right? So it's really not this idea that there are these laws and this strict God of what we need to obey. It's about order and love and right from wrong. And we need to follow the correct path. And it's all outlined in the word of God. And the word of God is there to make our lives easier. When I started to recognize that that this is the manual, this is the how to manual of how to live. And it's simply there to protect us as humans because we were given free will. We were given the ability to choose because that's what love is love is that choice and love is choosing God. Well, he also knew if we had choice, he better put something in place to protect us. So when you look at it that way, and it's not a religion of rules and regulations, it's a beautiful relationship. It's a beautiful covenant. We use that word, just like the covenant with, between Peter and I, where a marriage isn't about rules and regulations. It's about what we covenant with each other, what we committed to each other so that we can live in, in beautiful, flourishing love that doesn't hurt, that isn't angry and boastful and all those things that the Bible teaches us, but that the word of God that we keep coming back to Theresa is there to protect us and keep us in. Perfect love.

(29:37): That's that's excellent. I love that Renee. That's really excellent because God wants to us to live in harmony in the peace in the joy that comes from living in accordance with his word, which we've said before is a book of patterns and principles that when we abide by them, you know, that success, that prosperity, that Shalom pride ever abiding peace comes. But what is also protective, which I think everybody needs to understand, you know, uh, people might be listening saying, Oh, I'm going to strive for that. But what about the mess ups that I'm currently in? Or what about, well, you know, when I miss the Mark and sin tomorrow, again, God has a beautiful remedy. And first John one nine, the Bible says that if we confess our sins, he is faithful. And just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness, Renee's in that beautiful. He knows that, you know, um, it's hard as we try and we do, boy, do I try? Um, I miss it sometimes not as much as I used to, but I do. And I'm so glad to know that I can come to my father and say, Lord, I missed it. I'm sorry. Help me to do better next time. And boy, he picks me up. He dust me off. He says, okay, I know you don't want to do, do that. We're going to do better next time. Come on. Let's get going once again

(31:02): And back to us and our love for our children and our love and our family, same situation. And it's easy, you know, for those of us that had a great situation there, not everybody has, but, uh, we're here for you. We're here to love you. We're here to be family and community for you and above all Theresa, what is our foundational scripture?

(31:28): Absolutely. Renee Romans chapter 10 verse 17. Faith comes by hearing

(31:33): And hearing by the word of God. So stay tuned with us every week, stay in the word and your life and your relationship with God will grow in love. So until next week,

(31:47): We love you.

(31:52): Thank you for listening. We have a community for you. It's the well-versed woman Facebook group. Just ask to join that. And we'll put you in there with other women where you can ask us questions anytime of day. We do sleep sometimes, but we will get back to you. We also have shown notes. It actually lists all the scriptures that we talked about today so that you can print them out or just review them because remember those scriptures are the word and the word is what's going to help us all stay on this path that we're yearning for. And last but not least, if you subscribe, rate and review, we will send you in the mail, a well-versed woman journal that you can write in and take notes and put your grocery list on if you want. So please do that. Subscribe to this channel rate and review, and we will see you next week. Bye-bye.