OBEDIENCE

I'm not one to make New Year Resolutions, but as 2015 came to a close and 2016 began, God has continued to bring a resounding theme to mind for the New Year: OBEDIENCE.

What does this mean you might ask? Well … I've been asking the same question lately. I believe God is calling me to greater heights of Biblical Obedience, which means to hear, trust, submit and surrender to God and obey His Word. YES – much easier typed out than daily lived out, but I’m certainly going to try! I am praying that in these next twelve months (and beyond), I will take action and heed the callings that God places on my life.

When He says GO, I will GO.

When He says SERVE, I will SERVE.

When He says GIVE, I will GIVE.

Even when He says WAIT, I will patiently WAIT because I trust in Him.

Do you get the picture? So why does this OBEDIENCE thing matter in my walk with God? 2015 was a hard year for me in many ways; however, God was faithful and provided a lot of grace, but I personally wasn't thriving, nor was I really growing much in my walk with Him; I was just trying to survive. I desire 2016 to be a year of increased faith and growth in my walk with Christ and I believe it has to involve a greater OBEDIENCE to Him and His Word. OBEDIENCE is important for several reasons.

• Shows Him our love. 1 John 5:2-3 - "We know we love God's children if we love God and obey his commandments. Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome.”
• Demonstrates our faith to God. 1 John 2:3-6 - "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. But those who obey God's word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did."
• Provides opportunities for us to glorify His name in our world. 1 Peter 2:12 - "Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world.

With that being said, the start of this blog is simply an act of OBEDIENCE. I won't promise how often I'll write, or exactly what I'll be sharing, but I can promise you it will honest and real thoughts from my heart and lessons that I’m learning (or trying to learn) along in the journey.