Joshua 24: 10 – 11
The Word: Joshua 24: 10 – 11 (KJV)
10 Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying, 11It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the Lord all night.
Dig Deeper:
Joshua 24: 24 (KJV)
24 And the people said unto Joshua, The Lord our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey. 25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.
Think about it
GRACE FOR OBEDIENCE
One of the most important type of grace that every man should pray for is the grace to obey God. It is an extremely important grace because it can determine how far we can go. It can determine whether we enjoy long life. It can also determine whether God’s promises comes to pass in our lives. Obeying God is everything. Our security is hidden in obedience. Nothing else in life really matters more than the ability to tow God’s line. It determines whether we will arrive at the destination that had for us.
Genesis 18: 18 – 19
18 Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19 For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.
God can change his mind regarding what he planned to do. God can reject someone he has chosen before. God can substitute someone with another person. God can decide not to bring a promise to fulfilment again.
It’s a scary thing because you then realise that grace is only guaranteed with continued obedience. So if obedience stops, the flow of grace can stop. There is nothing like permanent grace. Continuous grace require continuous obedience. For grace to be sustained, a life of obedience is important.
So in terms of the importance of the different types of grace available, Grace to obey God ranks very high on the list. It’s one of the most important if not the most important. It supersedes grace for prayers, grace for giving, grace for faith etc. If we simply obey God in the little details of our lives, Satan will be of no consequence. Satan’s existence was not the problem of Adam and Eve, obedience was. Obedience was what cost Moses the promised land. The instruction was; speak to the rock and water shall come out. He chose to smite the rock. And everything he had worked for 40years in delivering the Israelites was lost. He was not allowed to enter the promise land. You will not lose out at the edge of your breakthrough IJN
In our reading today, Saul obeyed but it was incomplete obedience. God rejected him as king. So incomplete obedience may be termed as disobedience. The truth is that, it’s not every time that we feel like obeying God. There are times we know what is right, but deep down we still want to do what our flesh wants. The Holy Spirit atimes prompt us: Don’t fight. But you feel so cheated, that you must give the other party a piece of your mind. The problem is a little act of disobedience may be difficult to correct. The consequences may be far reaching. We need to ask God for the grace to obey him this year.
Remember Our memory verse for January:
2 Corinthians 9: 8
8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:
Grace is available. But obedience is required to keep it sustainable
Prayer focus: Help me to always obey you Lord….
On Grace: God’s lavish Grace – Terry Virgo
Masterlife Workbook: The Church is embarking on weeks of discipleship workbook study starting with the Masterlife: Disciple’s cross.
