OBEDIENCE , OUR BURNT OFFERING ON THE ALTAR OF DESTINY

 

The angle by which I would write on this particular topic would be quite different but I want you to just be patient enough to dig deep and discover with me on this journey.

We would start with the Great commission .

Mathew 28:18-20

“Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. … the particular part I’m interested in today would be “Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

I read a book recently and it raised a question , a great burden in my heart . “HOW DO WE TEACH OBEDIENCE?”

The problem of the church now is , Yes we have spread and taught his commandments but why is it we are not having True Christians? Or impact as we should ?”

It is because we are just teaching& spreading the commandments or The Gospel. But we haven’t taught the people how to “Obey” these commandments, or the lifestyle that comes with the Gospel.

How on our path do we teach obedience ? Not like it’s the topic we are discussing today , but it’s leading us somewhere, so how do we even teach a person to obey, because sure it’s more than just the preaching. 

Firstly what are the methods of teaching ?

Teaching could be by example, practicals… etc 

By teaching the importance of what they are to obey and most importantly teaching  them about Who’s commandments and instructions they are to obey . 

So what we discover in the Old Testament is that obedience was a thing of the flesh and the judges and priests were the ones that taught them to obey.

But we see the loopholes to the ancient system , as soon as there was no judge or a generation passed, they forgot and went back to their old ways .

Only those that had a relationship with the giver of the law obeyed them, but still they too were flawed in their obedience.

How how has divinity Fixed that ? 

God sent his Word!, The Word!…. The total sum up of every commandments and instructions God has given or would give to come in form of man, to teach us obedience , Jesus was able to obey through and by the spirit of God in him.

You know the funny thing to this question , How do we teach men to obey ? Is that it’s in the same great commission , "And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” he still went ahead to inform them that he is always with them till the end of days , no one can better teach obedience than the spirit of God , and the Word himself.

1 John 2:27; But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true—it is not a lie. So just as he has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ.

The scripture still went ahead in John 14:26 to tell us”But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.”

Everything he has “told you “.

If we go back to the Ancient system , we see Ezekiel 36:26” And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.”

The analogy by which i understood this was;

Let us imagine a man who built a school and established rules to guide the students. Obedience to these rules is very important. Now, suppose the man dies and, just like in the movies, his spirit comes to dwell in one of the students. That student would not struggle to remember or obey the rules, because the very spirit of the one who created them—who also understands the purpose behind each rule—now lives inside him.

No one can possibly teach you obedience without the aid of The Spirit Of God, and we have to understand that obedience is a journey of following every step of the spirit. In every movement of the spirit is an instruction to obey. So our yielding to these instructions is us walking in the spirit . The core principle of Worship is obedience, our Act of Worship Stems from our obedience to God.

“The Plans of God for us are subjective to our level of obedience to his instructions “

Yes if you’ve gotten here I want you to pay attention because we’ve dug to a certain depth and we’ve gotten to where we are heading to , Obedience as a sacrifice .

Jeremiah 17:24-25

Obedience is a walk  2john 1:6 

Ezekiel 36:27“And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.”

Its a walk , you walk in his word , you walk in Jesus !. Yes walk in him (check, Colossians 2:6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:) .

Obedience can never leave you stagnant ,no you move by every act of obedience.

Let’s continue , I want us to build with scriptures .

Deutronomy 10:12: And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,.

So therefore the walk of obedience is simply by following the promptings of the spirit of God , this could come either by unique instructions, the written word of God and any other way.

Now we have talked on how we obey , what obedience is and  teaching to obey .. we’ve established a little foundation or should I say anchor to the surface As we continue to dig deep.

Why do we obey , why is obedience that important ?

Firstly every act of obedience is a step towards God’s plans for us it’s a step in looking like him. It’s a step to wisdom , 

Our God is wise , his Glory is revealed in everything he says  or does . So when you obey his words, his Glory is revealed in us and we become and look more like him, because if you obey wise instructions, you become wise basically .

My Bible anchor to this is Psalm 111:1-8(my emphasis on verse 7)

Obey because His words are trust worthy , you know his plans are for your good , so obey !!

Okay let’s get back on track. 

1 John 2:3-5: And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments., If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth.

That brings us to the next point 

Obeying God is knowing him .

When we obey his words, we are walking “in him" we would come to an understanding of him, the more we obey the more we reflect his Glory.

Because obedience is to remain in fellowship with him (1 John 3:22-24:particularly vs 24; Those who obey God’s commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them. And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us.)

In every act of obedience to God , He reveals a dimension and part of himself to us.

Permit me to use a brief analogy (The Holyspirit teaches me with analogies)

I was a student of ABUAD(OMG I finally get to use “was”). Now, if I were to begin living with the founder, carefully doing everything he tells me to do, following his example, and consistently carrying out every instruction he gives, what would happen after a few years? I would gradually become like him—not only in the measure of my obedience, but also in the way I reflect what he wants me to become. By his instructions, he would have shaped and tailored me according to his will.

When we follow God’s words and ways we become what he has ordained us to be , that’s how important it is to obey !. we look more like who he has made us to be based on the measure of our obedience,

All God’s promises are tied to our obedience to him. (Few Bible chapters amongst many that we all know like the story of the isrealites, Jeremiah 42:6 ,Proverbs 29:18, Psalms 112:1-3), Isiah 1:11-20, 2 chronicles 28:7-8,  2 chronicles 7:14-18,

When you have a relationship with the word Himself and the authority that sent the word , obedience would be a thing of joy rather than an effort or a duty .

So that is that on the why 

So next is HOW TO OBEY

Now one principle that is very critical to obedience is the principle of hearing , knowledge and discernment (I’ll handle this extensively on the next write up ).

So how would you obey who you’ve not heard before or who you don’t even know , because the level at which you know someone determines how you understand an instruction you receive from that person.

Discernment lies in knowing timing and the context of the instruction. 

From the book I read there’s this powerful thing he said 

“The full counsel of the lord is not found just  in “it is written “but in “it’s also written “

David said ''once he has spoken twice have I heard''. He will always confirm what he has spoken . 

Hearing depends on maturity and relationship. This would be better talked about.

Now after this principle 

In obedience there is a How and When .

Every word and instruction from divinity has how it should be obeyed and when it should be obeyed. 

So if you obey in when and not how (and vice versa ) you’ve not obeyed and you might lose out on the outcome. 

Here’s the tricky thing: incomplete obedience whether it is obeying the how but not the when, or the when but not the how, or simply leaving it unfinished might still produce a result, but it will never bring the ultimate outcome. At best, it gives a short-lived result

Let me share an analogy the Holy Spirit once used to explain this to me: the journey to Lagos.

Suppose God instructs me to go to Lagos. That’s clear enough. But within that instruction, He specifically tells me to follow a particular route. Now, in my own wisdom, I might think, “Well, Lagos is the destination, and this other route is shorter, so why not take it?” If I do, of course, I’ll still arrive in Lagos.

However, what if along the longer route God intended me to meet certain people who would be crucial to my life in Lagos? What if I was meant to learn skills, gain experiences, or make divine connections on that journey? By skipping His path, I reach Lagos, but I arrive unequipped. I may then struggle to settle, to find the right people, to access opportunities and in my frustration, I may even cry out, “But Lord, You told me to come to Lagos!” Yes, He did. But I missed His path, and with it, the provisions He had already arranged for me.

It’s the same with timing. If He says, “Go on Monday,” and I choose to go on Tuesday, I may still reach Lagos, but I will have missed the kairos moment—those divine appointments that cannot be recreated.

So you see, obedience isn’t just about reaching the destination; it’s about aligning with God’s how and when, so we don’t miss the fullness of His plan

The issue with the church now is we are obeying but are we obeying rightly ?, he said obey ? We now obey out of convenience.  Take a look at the story of the Israelites and the cloud that guided them. Numbers 9 Vs 20-23: This just indicates that the move of the spirit(the leadings of the spirit ) isn’t always predictable , obedience is not out of convenience, I’m sure everytime the cloud lifted to move , it wasn’t always a convenient time for them but they had to always pack up and be ready to move, so is the leading of the spirit.  Sometimes it stays for days, sometimes a year. 

This is what obedience is !.  It’s not about whether you’re comfortable or not !.

The spirit isn’t stagnant, the time you take to obey , the more you Delay God’s will in your life. Obedience in itself is a sacrifice. But it’s different from the normal sacrifice . How ? Obedience has no atom of self attached to it , but in sacrifice you choose most times what to sacrifice, and when . But In obedience it is based on God’s timing and His own details. That’s why the scripture has repeated countless ones , God prefers obedience to sacrifice no matter the weight of the sacrifice, because obedience is always in his will, but you can make sacrifices outside of his will. 

So this is the problem we have now as Christians, we select when to obey , how we want to obey and for real we are deceiving ourselves.

Obedience is how God prunes us , obedience is the sheers in the hands of the lord by which he prunes and makes us into what/who he has pre ordained that we become. 

 Obedience is easier when you know who you’re obeying and when you look from a larger perspective, the bigger picture , you might not understand every instruction but they are all leading to His Glory.

So how have you been obeying God ?

Based on your convenience , understanding or reason ?.

There’s no reason in obedience , you obey because his words are trustworthy and you follow because He is literally the WAY the TRUTH and the LIFE.  (Follow who know road oo) And the Bible tells us that In obedience lies life . (Leviticus 18: 5 ;If you obey my decrees and my regulations, you will find life through them. I am the Lord.)

While studying about this , The Holyspirit told me a lot, few I’ve been able to put down to writing.

When you know that God begins to take a man serious is when he begins to receive instructions. Because what’s the first thing you get when you go and buy a land or anything? The contract , that’s the first thing that makes that act serious.

God won’t give you an instruction he hasn’t empowered you to obey already .

And there’s one strong word that God gave me and it shook me to my core.

“You’re not ready to receive what you’re not ready to obey God for !!!!”

There’s so much depth already to this .

God gave Abraham  a lot of promises one being the promise land. But if he had not obeyed the first instruction which was to leave the land he was in, then he wasn’t even ready to attain the promise.

Concerning the great commission , we started with it so let’s end with it.

In the real sense, it is the Spirit who does the teaching. So where then do we come in as Christians?

The commandments, the instructions, and the Word of God—they are all in Jesus, and they are Jesus Himself. Yet, while the Holy Spirit has the role of teaching, Jesus also commanded us to teach. Of course, we teach with the aid of the Holy Spirit—but the question is, do we really?

One of the most powerful ways to teach is not through lectures, but through example and practice. Can we truly teach people obedience if our own lives do not reflect obedience? You can preach, “Love everyone,” but if you, the preacher, lack love, if you choose who is worthy to be loved and who is fit to be accepted in the church, then your message is empty.

This is the problem with much of Christianity today—we are busy preaching the Gospel, but very few are actually living the Gospel or reflecting it.

Few stories I want to talk about to round up 

“Saul waited there seven days for Samuel, as Samuel had instructed him earlier, but Samuel still didn’t come. Saul realized that his troops were rapidly slipping away. So he demanded, “Bring me the burnt offering and the peace offerings!” And Saul sacrificed the burnt offering himself. Just as Saul was finishing with the burnt offering, Samuel arrived. Saul went out to meet and welcome him,”

‭‭1 Samuel‬ ‭13‬:‭8‬-‭10‬ ‭NLT‬‬

 It means it was actually 7 days Samuel had instructed him to wait for him to come earlier , it was now the 7th day gan gan that he fell, Saul had obeyed till the 7th day !!! And that was when he fell !.  The closer we are to Glory or fulfillment of Destiny  the easier it is to fall short , we have to be vigilant !, the same kingdom he gained by God , he disobeyed the giver to keep the gift , and ended up loosing the gift. 

This whole story taught me a lot, 

Saul disobeyed God and lost his kingdom why ? 

Because Saul was afraid of loosing his soldiers (self) that God gave him by the Crown.

Now let’s not forget , Saul had waited for 7 days!, he didn’t disobey in those 7 days it was when he immediately disobeyed Samuel came.

The devil waits till it’s a critical time, our kairos moment. 

we should always be careful when it approaches the climax in our seasons. Most times he doesn’t care about a track record of obedience but just a single moment , a kairos moment Disobedience, and the only way we can avoid that is having a consistent habit of obedience. 

I would  repeat again , Gods promises and plans for us are subjective to our obedience to his commandments and instructions .

Now this teaches us that we shouldn’t leave God, we shouldn’t disobey him, we shouldn’t do things our own way because we think we have waited enough, because time is going, In our  season of waiting we would lose men !, don’t disobey God to keep gifts he has already given us , because these men Saul was afraid would leave him , he didn’t gain them by himself but by the fact God has crowned him King. Don’t be afraid to lose The gifts if it puts your obedience on the line. 

It was the act of Saul trying to keep his men from leaving he disobeyed God.

In your season of waiting more than anything obey God!!!. “But Samuel replied, “What is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.”

Sacrifice as good and delicate to God as it is , doesn’t weigh more than obedience, because sacrifice in itself has traces of self in it, because most times we choose what we want to sacrifice but we don’t get to choose the instructions to Obey. Obedience is one of the greatest sacrifices. The one that pleases God. 

The next story is that of Elijah and the widow 

1 kings Chapter 17: 8-24

Vs 9 : God had already instructed the widow to feed Elijah , so it wasn’t just a generous heart it was obedience. So obedience opens the doors to blessings that God already has in store for us. 

Although she knew it was her last meal , when God probably instructed her she didn’t feel it was from her last meal. She did it with faith and complete obedience , our faith is very important to obeying God’s instructions, you can’t obey who you don’t have faith in.  Not seeing the possibility but believing in God’s word !. Her obedience not only opened room to her season of many, but also to the raising of her son, so imagine she had not obeyed God and not given that bread , sometimes that little instruction God gives us is what would not only answer our current prayers or needs but the ones yet to come.

So I leave you with this question:

 DO I TRUST OR HAVE FAITH IN GOD ENOUGH TO OBEY HIM?

“Can my life teach anyone to obey the Gospel—Jesus, who is Himself the Gospel?”

FROM ABBA TO YOU

THROUGH

I AM’s Masterpiece

From His Heart to mine,
From His Mind to mine,
From His Sight to mine,
From His Mouth to my ears—
Written through my hands,
Embedded and burdened in my heart,
As my name declares: Obinna !!!— Heart of the Father.

Etukokwu Obinna Charles Chiyeaka.

Please I would appreciate if you comment and share to your friends and space. Suggest any other topic you’d want me to write on, and any questions you’ve in the comment section. Thank you !!!