IT IS NOT EVERY OBEDIENCE THAT WORKS, OBEDIENCE THAT WORKS: MUST BE REVELATION ROOTED, MUST BE PROMPT AND MUST BE DONE WILLINGLY.
PASSING THE OBEDIENCE TEST IS WHAT QUALIFIES A BELIEVER FOR ENTHRONEMENT IN THIS KINGDOM
WHATEVER GOD’S WORD SAYS DO, DON’T JUST KNOW IT OR QUOTE IT, DO IT.
IT IS THE DEPTH OF OUR UNDERSTANDING THAT DETERMINES THE HEIGHT OF OUR ACHIEVEMENTS.
Pastor David Oyedepo Jnr. At Week of Spiritual Emphasis, Day 1.
Our Father and our God we thank You for the privilege of been in Your Presence. Lord we are before you tonight, ready to receive Your Word and according to your word as we wait upon you our light is bound to break forth. Therefore let there be a break forth of your Word tonight. We give you thanks and praise. In Jesus name we pray.
The prophetic focus for the month has been declared as GOD’S WORD STILL WORKS WONDERS.
According to scriptures, obedience of faith is the master key to provoke the wonders of the Word.
Psalm 119:18
To experience the wonders, obedience of faith is a necessity. (John 2:5,11) until their obedience was engaged, their miracle did not begin. That means if you do what the word commands believing, you provoke the integrity of God to confirm our obedience of faith with signs and wonders.
Mark 16:16-17,20
As we engage God’s word believing, God confirms that word with signs and wonders following.
I see your obedience this month provoking the delivery of signs and wonders.
Obedience is a vital necessity in the life of every believer. In fact the Bible says obedience speaks louder than any form of sacrifice that a man can ever offer (1 Samuel 15:22-23). There is no level of sacrifice that one can offer that can be a substitute for obedience. Furthermore we discover that obedience is the gateway to enthronement for any believer both in the now and the there after (Deuteronomy 28:1-2).
Our elevation, our promotion, our enthronement is all tied to our obedience.
In Philippians Chapter 2, we are shown the example of Jesus and told to emulate the same to get the same outcome (Philippians 2:5,8,9).
Clearly from scriptures, we discover from the pattern of Jesus that obedience is the gateway to our enthronement.
That is why we are going to be exploring this subject in our Mid-Week services all through this month captioned;
UNDERSTANDING THE OBEDIENCE THAT WORKS.
It is not all obedience that works. We must understand how to position ourselves in the obedience that works. Obedience is the only way to prove the validity of any biblical truth (Psalms 34:8). We must position ourselves to taste the goodness of God by obeying the commandment of God, it is our obedience that positions us to practically experience what God has provided for.
Mathew 6:33 – to experience the addition of all things, you must obey the Kingdom first. Until you obey, you can’t prove the validity of what the scriptures has to offer. Doing what God says to do is what commits God to perform in our lives. Whatever God’s word says do, don’t just know it, do it. Don’t just discover it, do it. Don’t just write it, do it. The mother of Jesus did not say “just listen to what he tells you to do” but “whatever he tells you to do, do it”. When they did what He said they should do, they saw what they desired.
As you take action on every instruction of God, I see the wonders of God showing forth in every department of your life.
Passing the obedience test is what qualifies a believer for enthronement in this kingdom.
No one here will fail that test in the name of Jesus.
The obedience that works carry certain characteristics and tonight we are going to look at three of the vital characteristics of the obedience that works. What is it that guarantees the productivity of our obedience?
The obedience that works must be revelation rooted obedience.
Mathew 13:23
Every one that fell on good ground are those that heard the word and the Bible says they understood the word. But every one of them brought results at different levels. The difference maker in the results that they got was the depth of their understanding.
We must come to realize that it is the depth of our understanding that determines the height of our achievement. In the school of obedience, you and I must go for revelation. When we are unable to secure the level of results that we desire on a truth that we have discovered, it is a pointer to the fact that our revelation is insufficient.
1 Corinthians 8:2
The only way to show that you know is to show it with proofs. When the proofs are insufficient there is a demand to go for further light. When something is seen by the eyes of the spirit sufficiently, it is going to be held by your hands practically.
Genesis 13:14-15
You naturally take delivery of what you can see clearly, until our eyes of understanding are opened, we cannot take full delivery of what ever it is we are engaging with. It is not enough for us to obey instruction, we must go for revelation. The revelation we engage in our application, determines the level of manifestation that we see.
Colossians 1:9
It is not enough to know His will, it is not enough to even do His will, it is vital for us to have revelation. It is the light that we have that determines the height that we scale.
Isaiah 60:1,7
When light comes, you naturally take flight. That is why it is not enough for us to engage we must engage with spiritual understanding. I want each of us to examine ourselves, when there is something we are doing that God commanded and the results is not as expected, check revelation. Search for light, go for greater insight, the brighter the light, the greater the flight.
To engage this light, we must learn to seek the help of the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of our understanding.
Ephesians 1:17-18
The more we seek the help of the Holy Spirit, He opens the eyes of our understanding to begin to see the light of God’s Word in a way that we ought to and as a result of that we begin to gain results.
1 Corinthians 2:9-10
The Holy Spirit is the only one that enhances our understanding. When your light comes your flight starts. It is not enough just to engage in obedience we must go for light.
Go for understanding. We keep hearing testimonies of people who caught a word and that word became a fuel for their engagement and as a result of that the manifestation was captured. All you and I require is to capture the light for our engagement.
For instance, people have been tithing for a very long time but it was when we caught the light that we began to see the manifestation.
Those days they used to refer to people that they are as poor as church rat.
People were paying their tithe to a particular degree but there was no light and as a result of that they could not gain access to what the tithe could procure. So their obedience was without revelation and as a result there was no manifestation. So you and I must understand that our manifestation depends on our Revelation. It is that revelation, that makes the difference.
The obedience that works must be prompt obedience
Genesis 12:1-4
The reason Abraham became the epitome of blessings was because he obeyed promptly. Abraham instantly having received the instruction of God took a step. In the Book of Genesis Chapter 17, God gave Abraham a dangerous instruction that every male in his household must be circumcised and the Bible tells us in verse 17 to 23 that Abraham began that circumcision with himself and he was 99 years old when he was circumcised. As soon as God left from talking to Abraham, he obeyed.
Prompt obedience, we must understand that delayed obedience is the same thing as disobedience before God. Our obedience must be prompt for our obedience to work. (Luke 9:59-62)
No one who puts his hand on the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom. In other words, God says I am no respecter of persons, the moment you hesitate to obey, I will look for another candidate. Every commandment of God is an opportunity for us, the moment you delay God shifts to the next candidate. He said to Saul “I have given the kingdom to another neighbor of thine that is better than thou”. That I chose you to send you on an assignment does not mean I didn’t have options. I only gave you a privilege.
Obedience is a privilege that must be attended to with promptness.
There are too many other candidates anytime you hear a word given to you whether in your private devotion, whether it is in a service.
Whatever instruction you receive you must be prompt in taking steps.
Every hesitation makes you excluded from the desired manifestation.
Never give any reason for delay. The promptness of our obedience is a vital necessity when it comes to seeing our obedience work on our behalf.
I pray the grace for prompt obedience comes upon each and every one of us tonight in the mighty name of Jesus
2 Corinthians 6:2
God is saying Now is the time. If you come tomorrow you are too late. The moment He gives you the instruction dive into it. We are told of the pool of Bethesda and how that an angel would come at a certain point and stir the waters and anyone that dived in first was the one who received their healing. In other words, the person that reacted first was the person who had the testimony. Promptness is vital for any one of us to receive our wonders of obedience for this season.
Galatians 1:16
Our prompt obedience is the key.
The obedience that works must be willful obedience
1 Corinthians 9:17
The return to our engagement is tied to our willingness, you can’t just obey God mournfully or grudging and except to have results. Our obedience must be willing (Isaiah 1:19 ).
Our willingness determines our return. Every time there is an instruction given from God, how willing are you? How desirous are you in obeying that instruction? That is what determines how much wonder the word of God will produce in your life.
2 Corinthians 8:12
• God requires willingness first, before your action your willingness is required first. (Jeremiah 17:10). In other words, God will check your willingness before He checks your action.
There are people that are full of activity but there is no willingness in their heart and as a result of that, their activity does not seem to produce result in their life. But when your heart is engaged, willing pursuing after all that God commands, then you begin to see his wonders manifesting in your life supernaturally.
You heard that testimony this evening, that individual said they will pray that prayer point until they see change and suddenly they heard a word to focus on advancing the kingdom of God. That person said they forgot about their issues, they were not doing it grudgingly, advancing the kingdom of God on the altar of prayer. As a result of that God gave them their wonder double visitation just on the basis of willingness. We must understand that, that is a vital factor in determining the outcome of our obedience.
1 Samuel 2:3
The weight of your actions is determined by the state of your heart. How willing your heart is determines how profitable your actions will be. That is why it is so vital for you and I to understand that our heart must continuously be willing. Be delighted at every opportunity to obey God. Do it with all joy, let your heart continuously celebrate every instruction that come from God.
Psalm 1:2
From scriptures we can see therefore that the obedience that works is willing obedience. (Hebrews 6:12), We have the example of Abraham given to us in scriptures of a man who obeyed God promptly, a man who obeyed God willingly.
A man who obeyed God based on the light that he had. The result of it is an open testimony that we still celebrate today.
We saw Abraham operated willfully even when God said sacrifice your only son. (Genesis 22:2, 5). He obeyed God promptly, we also see God tell Abraham “look to the north, east, south and west as far as your eyes can see….” That is revelation. We see the result in Genesis 22:16-18.
Genesis 22:16-18
[16]And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:
[17]That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
[18]And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
Abraham was obedience made, obedience made him. God’s Word tells us clearly that if we follow the same example, we all can be made the way Abraham was made.
What God is saying to us simply is this; it is not enough to obey but obey with revelation, obey promptly and obey with a willing heart.
I pray that as we engage the one we have heard this night, we begin to see the wonders of obedience.