IF you love God you obey His Word
God’s word is His eternal, unchanging, sure truth. Everything we need to know is already in His word. His children must desire His word, read it, meditate on it, live it, and obey it (Joshua 1:8). There is no other way to grow in Him and please Him. In John 14:15 and 23, Jesus says that those who love Him will obey His word. Following God’s ways begin in His word.
God does not change. He is a sure and steadfast anchor for our souls. We can depend on God.
No matter how we feel, what we experience, what we hope for, what we think, God does not change. God tells us in Malachi 3:6, “I am the Lord, I change not.” And in Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ the same, yesterday, today and forever.” People and circumstances around us change all the time. But one thing we can be assured of, God remains the same. Just as His word says, just so He is and does. We can depend on God. On His word. On His Holy Spirit revealed truths. His power to back up His word. He is a sure and steadfast anchor for our souls (Hebrews 6:19).
So whose ways should we follow? Ours? Satan’s? The world’s? Or the ways of the Mighty, eternal, omnipotent God?
Fear of God is the beginning of knowledge
The scriptures states in Proverbs 1:7 that, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Proverbs 9:10 states further that, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.” This word, fear, is translated in the Hebrew as yi’rah, reverence, holy fear.
God IS and there is NONE beside Him
Fearing the Lord is to recognize that He and only He, is God. He is the Great I Am (Exodus 3:14), the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. The Lord Himself says that His ways are higher than man’s ways (Isaiah 55:9). There is no searching His understanding. God IS and there is NONE beside Him (Isaiah 45:5-6).
Though this Great God of the universe will not share His glory with another, He will glorify those who do His will so that His obedient servants, in turn, glorify His name. Why? That the world may know that Jesus was sent. God said of Jesus, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased (Mark 3:17). This same glory that God gave to Jesus was passed down to us who serve Him (John 17:22).
God gave man dominion
We are created in the image, likeness, of God (Genesis 1:27) and given dominion. Everything that God created He declared that it was good, however, when He created man He saw that it was very good (Genesis 1:31). Man was given special distinctions. This gives us the right to choose, the right to be authoritative and exercise dominion (Genesis 1:28).
Man’s dominion will never work outside of God’s authority
However, our dominion will never work outside of God’s authority. God is our source of power and authority.
2 Chronicles 7:14 states,
“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sink and w2ill heal their land.”
Too many miss the focal point of this scripture- humble. This word is the Hebrew, Kana’, meek. It denotes coming under authority. It is clearly written to God’s people, my people, the same ones He gave His dominion. Not losing our dominion, we come under The Dominion, as if we are the moon drawing its brilliance from the sun. Do a study of “meek” in the Bible and see the attitude of the heart that God’s desires us to have. We humble ourselves under Him by believing, receiving and obeying His Holy Spirit revealed word.
His Word is Truth, the very essence of who He, God, is. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God….And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us….John 1:1,14. Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. John 14:6
Humble yourself before God’s Truth
If Jesus is the Way, is the Truth, is the life, it behooves us to humble ourselves beneath His mighty hand. It behooves us to recognize that only through Him, His word, His truths, can we be wise. Only through Him can we be filled with wisdom, wisdom from above. Wisdom was with Him from the beginning when He created the world (Proverbs 8:31), thus wisdom has the right to declare, “Now, therefore, listen to me, O you children: for blessed are they who keep my ways. Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. (Proverbs 8:32). The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Wisdom is better than rubies…. (Proverbs 8:11)
Because Jesus is in each of us who proclaim Him as Lord, there rests the 7 pillars of wisdom- the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord, the spirit [of prudence] that judges righteously (Isaiah 11:2, Proverbs 9:1, 8:12-14). Because He is in us, then these 7 pillars of wisdom are in us. James says that we can ask God for wisdom from heaven, wisdom that He gives us freely and generously.
Authority is God ordained. Do not touch God’s anointed
Take our current situation with our President as an application of God’s word and His wisdom. Think of the Presidency as God’s box of authority (Romans 13, 1 Kings 13:4, 1 Samuel 24:6, 2 Samuel 1: 14-16, 2 Samuel 19:21). Authority is ordained of God. As God’s people, we must trust that as we pray, as we bring our petitions to Him, as we cry out for our country, as we ask God to change our president’s heart, as we trust His word, HE WILL ANSWER.
God will repay evil
God will repay. He has a timing and a purpose, but wrong will not prevail. He will deal with all those who are in His God Box of authority. He will take care of the evil far better than we can (Proverbs 24:19-20).
He watches over His word to perform it
Our problem is as Christians we do not trust God. We think that we have to fix and avenge, forgetting His word that He watches over to perform. If a leader is doing wrong God will deal with that leader. Our job is to consistently, confidently, persistently and in the knowledge of His word, seek His face.
We do not ignore evil but seek God for His plan
Does it mean we are to ignore the evil of leaders? Absolutely not! But we follow His plans and the ways He has set forth in His word to deal with leaders.
God has called ones trained to confront leaders
He will call the ones who will confront, who He has called and trained specifically to confront leaders. Our job is to pray for those He called to have courage, discerning and wisdom to do the job He has called them to.
Maligning leaders stops God’s hand on our behalf
When we choose to use our tongues to slander, malign and accuse His leaders, we displease Him and stop His hand from moving on our behalf (Proverbs 24:17-18).
Satan is prince of the power of the air but God is King of the prince of the power of the air
Remember that for a season Satan is the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2; 2 Corinthians 4:4). He uses the airwaves and all those who will allow him access to carry out his worldwide war. Do not be a part of his plan. Do not believe all you hear from the media. Seek God for truth. God is King of the prince of the power of the air. We must trust that our God is not only able, but He is willing and desires to heal our land.
But we must cry out to Him. We must trust Him to do it His way. And we must do our part- get back to seeking His word of truth. Get back to trusting Him.
Choose the good way-God’s way
We cannot serve mammon and serve God. We cannot serve Baal and serve God (1Kings 18:21). We cannot be straddling the fence (Revelation 3:14-22).
We must choose.
God’s ways. Or man’s.
God will never change His ways, His plans, His purposes for anyone. He did not even change it for Jesus, His only begotten when He cried out if there was another way (Matthew 26:42).
Forsake your way. Choose the good way, God’s way, and live.
–Pastor J. A. Thomas