A Story of Obedience
Numbers 13
Numbers 14
The Definition of Obedience
1 John 2:3-6
“Obey” in the original Greek language is the word "Hupakouo," which means to listen to something, hearken, give heed to and follow |
John 15:9-17
Romans 8:293 4
John 14:23-24
Philippians 2:8
Hebrews 13:17
John 14:26
John 14:23-26
John 14:23-26
“The cross is laid on every Christian. It begins with the call to abandon
the attachments of this world. It is that dying of the old man which is
the result of his encounter with Christ. As we embark upon
discipleship we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with His death...
we give over our lives to death. Since this happens at the beginning of
the Christian life, the cross can never be merely a tragic ending to an
otherwise happy religious life. When Christ calls a man, He bids him
come and die. It may be a death like that of the first disciples who had
to leave home and work to follow Him, or it may be a death like
Luther's, who had to leave the monastery and go out into the world.
But it is the same death every time... death in Jesus Christ, the death of
the old man at His call. That is why the rich young man was so loath
to follow Jesus, for the cost of his following was the death of his will.
In fact, every command of Jesus is a call to die, with all our affections
and lusts. But we do not want to die, and therefore Jesus Christ and
His call are necessarily our death and our life.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer
6
6
www.christianquotes.org, Dietrich Bonhoeffer - German Lutheran
Pastor/Theologian, 1906-1945
“The natural people – those whose minds have not been enlightened
by the Holy Spirit – scoff at us. What we do doesn't always seem
logical to them. But then, who says our actions have to be logical? The
Bible tells us the natural or carnal mind doesn't understand spiritual
things (see 1 Corinthians 2:14). Too often, we push aside thoughts,
saying, ‘This doesn't make sense,’ and we actually ignore divine
guidance. It's true of course, the devil can flood our minds with wild
thoughts that we do need to ignore, but if we pray and open ourselves
to the Spirit, we soon know the difference. This is an important
principle of obedience we must grasp: obeying instead of reasoning, or
as one of my friends calls it, ‘The Nevertheless Principle.' She says
sometimes she feels God leading her to do things that don't always
make a lot of sense. When she hears herself expressing that sentiment,
she quickly adds, ‘Nevertheless.’ Then she obeys. That is really all
God asks of us: to obey instead of reasoning against something He is
telling us to do. The best policy is to check with your spirit and see if
you have peace rather than checking with your mind to see if what
God is asking is reasonable.” Joyce Meyer
7
7
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| Start Your New Life Today |
Start Your New Life Today, pages 118-119, FaithWords Hachette Group USA
"Just as a servant knows that he must first obey his master in all
things, so the surrender to an implicit and unquestionable obedience
must become the essential characteristic of our lives." Andrew
Murray
8
8
http://christianquotes.org/author/quotes/51
"Wicked men obey from fear; good men, from love."
Augustine
9
9
http://christianquotes.org/author/quotes/19/23/1
