Obedience is a word that simply means to do as told. It is defined as “doing, or willing to do, what you have been told to do by someone in authority.” – Cambridge dictionary. What do we obey? Whom do we obey? How do we obey? These questions may have risen right now. God laid out the rules years ago and it means quite a lot more than we understand it just as a word. Obedience means the act of submitting everything in mind before God. The act of obedience is also an act of reverence. Therefore, we honor God by obeying him. In this article, we introspect the life of Abraham through the quality of the life that he kept through OBEDIENCE.

Abraham as we all know, was called Abram before he was renamed. The word Abraham means father of many nations. Many of us still may not know the facts but the father of many nations was once an idol maker. Abraham before he was called by the Lord, probably never knew the Lord. Genesis 12 marks the beginning of when God called Abraham to leave his country and his people and to take what he had to go to the Promised Land – the land of milk and honey. Abraham packs up and leaves with his belongings. A man who set out to serve the Lord no matter what the cost may be is ready to face the consequences of everything that comes his way.

Here Abraham displays a quality – obedience. This quality which is often disposed of is what Abraham gave significance to. His reaction towards God’s call wasn’t raised by a question rather it was simple obedience that distinguished Abraham from the rest. Here is what we learn from Abraham’s life:

• A DISTINGUISHED PERSONALITY:

Abraham made a decision to honor the Lord and he never backed away from it. Even when Isaac was asked to be sacrificed as a test, Abraham did not take a step behind. He never said “no” to everything the Lord said, he always said “Yes”. Obedience to God’s Word always makes us a class apart. We are distinguished from the rest both in our character and our way of life. Abraham always did the things he was asked to do faithfully. And he certainly saw his reward.

Even when it comes to the character of other leaders in the Bible, they displayed a unique quality which was different from the rest in every way. Each had their own problems but in character they resembled the Lord.

• PURSUED HIS GOALS: 

Abraham had his eye on the reward that God promised. And he kept on pursuing towards those promises till the end. As the father of the nation of Israel, Abraham was told he would walk the length and breadth of the land. And he walked till he saw them all.

God is keeping our paths straight. If the promises don’t happen, it means that our walk is not straight. If we are to walk the length and the breadth of our promised land, our pursuit should be towards what he gives and not towards what we have. This is where the line cuts off most of the time in our relationship with God.

• OBEDIENCE WITHOUT QUESTION:

When it comes to God’s word, the question arises as to how often are we able to  simply obey God’s commands to fulfill what He has for us. Just like Abraham, God will fulfill his promises for your future. No doubt, we simply have to obey what He says. Abraham once he obeyed God’s commands, was entering into a future at a whole other level. He was just an idol maker. He could have been all the more happy with what he made, but he chose to serve God, once he knew who He really was. Abraham never stopped to rethink what God would do for him. Instead he chose the path that God had prepared for him.

• FUTURE REWRITTEN: 

The next part is what is even more exciting to read of the benefits of obeying God’s word. Abraham’s future gets rewritten once he has accepted God’s calling. Genesis 17:4 records of the following where God says to Abraham –  “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations.  No longer shall your name be called Abraham, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.”

Abraham is now Abraham, “the father of many nations.” And history was rewritten as Abraham’s descendants are to be a nation where they will prosper in the land of Canaan. It all began by simply obeying God’s commands which now led them to be a great nation where we see that they prosper.

God rewrites the history of all those who have obeyed him and he can rewrite your history as well. If we simply chose to obey His Word, the promises are great and our future will never be shaken. God wants us to have an extraordinary life where we live for him more than we live for us. No destiny written by God has been a stumbling block in people’s lives. It is just that we have to chose to live the right way that God proposes. We see that Saul the persecutor was renamed Paul after he had known the Lord. Hadassah was renamed Esther, who became the Jewish queen after Queen Vashti was removed from her royal throne.

God is leading us to the next level. But we often chose to sit in our comfort zones. Abraham, if he had just done what he had done, would have never been known even until today. Instead he chose the way that God had for him, humbling him and seeking him in his presence, to take hold of that promise. Our comfort zones need to be destroyed. The trick of the enemy is to make us all the more comfortable than we already are. Remember that every purpose of God stands higher more than we imagine. But we thwart it away, giving way for the enemy to fulfill his purpose instead of God’s will. Isaiah 55:8 says “His thoughts are higher than our thoughts and his ways are higher than our ways.”Just like Abraham set out to receive the Promised Land, we should set out to receive ours.

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God bless,

MyBibleMessage