Kingdom Obedience

Posted on FaceBook May 8, 2020

GOOD MORNING KINGDOM!

Ahhhh! Dog house, I’ve missed you … not. But here we are, together again.

I know a rather strange way to start off, but it is what it is. This morning, at 5:30, after her Zumba, Pat says she didn’t really want to go to the track alone, so, since I was up, I told her I’d take her. So, at a little before 6 am, we head out the door. While Pat jogged around the track, I sat in the truck, reading a series of emails from Pastor Rick Warren’s Daily Hope. They were about obedience, a topic dear to my heart. Obedience is the key to unlocking Gods promises. He wants us to obey immediately. He wants our complete obedience. To love, trust and obey His details. He wants us to do so joyfully. That’s the focus of each of the 5 articles. When God puts something in your heart, do you jump to it or do you finish what you’re doing first? Do you only do the parts you agree with? Do you question Him, Doubt what He’s telling you? Do you obey reluctantly with a heavy heart? When you do those things, it’s a delayed obedience. And a delayed obedience is disobedience. And more importantly, you disappoint God, and miss out on the blessings He had in store for your immediate, complete, trusting and joyful obedience.

We each have a personal covenant relationship. As married couples, we (husband and wife) have a covenant relationship with God. Or we should. Scriptures tell us we are his bride. We are to be servants to our spouses, as Jesus is to the Church. Thus, in a covenantal relationship, treating our spouses as Christ would activates obedience as well.

That too is the key to a loving marriage. Sometimes, just as God can be, our spouses may say things that don’t make sense, or is phrased in indecipherable riddles, testing our obedience in trust. Doesn’t matter. Respond immediately. As in “I don’t want to go to the track alone,” really means “Come with me.” And had I not responded immediately, I would have missed out on blessings. First the extra time spent with Pat to and from the track. Second, the opportunity to read the aforementioned Obedience Messages. And third to help with a community good deed. As Pat was jogging, she couldn’t help but notice all the discarded bottles around the track (maybe she needs to jog faster so she doesn’t see them.) After finishing her jogging, she returns to the truck, and asks if there were any HEB bags. I tell her there aren’t and ask why. She points out all the bottles strewn about, then spots a plastic basket holding her granddaughter’s beach toys in the back seat. She empties it and say she’ll pick up what she can and heads out. Translation: “Let US collect what we can. Together we can collect more.” So, I was blessed with cleaning up a small part of our community.

When God speaks (directly, or through your spouse) be in a ready position to receive that message and respond immediately, completely, trusting in Him, with joy on your heart. Then humbly receive the blessings He will bestow on you, that you may in turn bless others. We are but His vessels, after all.

Have a Blessed. . . Oh wait! The dog house? That’s because when Pat thanked me for helping her, in my refined way, developed over 65 years of living, I responded with, “It was either help or wait longer to get home for breakfast.” Some people never get my way of saying “You’re Welcome.” And it’s supposed to rain tonight.

You get me, right? Anyway be blessed and safe today and this weekend.