WITHOUT OBEDIENCE HOLINESS IS IMPOSSIBLE October 1999

​As I drive along the interstate highway, my heart is breaking. "O God, I'm drowning in my own grief and I don't know what to do!" my heart cries out to my God. "Please help me, PLEASE!", I cry. The sobbing tears come fast and hard. I must shut the tears off because I will not be able to see to drive if I do not stop them. But they won't stop and I can't pull over because of too much close traffic. What do I do?  "O God, help me!", I cry more desperately than before. The tears flow with a depth of pain that is impossible for me to convey to anyone else. The pain can be communicated only through the Holy Spirit of God as He wills.

Deep within my spirit I hear the Spirit of God letting me know that peace lies within my obedience to the Lord and His Holy and Perfect Will.

You see, I've been fighting a battle within myself. I have such grief over past mistakes and failures.   know in my heart that God has forgiven me. But I cannot find forgiveness for myself. That is, I can't forgive myself. I am in tears almost every night. I lay down to sleep only to be bombarded by memories of failure and shame.

I also have a battle I've been fighting with my weight. You see, the Lord let me know a good while ago that He wants me to lose weight. But I've not done so.

The specific reasons for my pain are not important. What is important is hearing from the Spirit of God and acting accordingly in obedience to Him.

I tell Him that I know I cannot conquer my own will without His Help. But then I don't allow Him to work! Many people say that they don't have the "will power" to do thus and so. Well, that isn't my problem. My will power is working fine...it's just working on MY will and not HIS Will.

I drive on and a tractor trailer truck passes me...  On the back of the truck are the words written in large red lettering MY WAY !

Do you ever feel like God's got your number? Well, He sure had my attention. I even had to smile amid the tears!

OBEDIENCE

What does God's Word have to say to us about "Obedience"?

We find the importance of obedience to God placed in the very beginning of human existence:

"And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, 'From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die.'" Gen. 2:16-17 KJV

What was God commanding from man? He was commanding obedience!

"Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city." Rev. 22:14 NJKV

God's Word makes it very clear that obedience to Him and His Will and His Way is of the utmost importance.

In the prophet Samuel's words to King Saul: "And Samuel said, 'Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord?  Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed (better) than the fat of rams. ...'" 1 Samuel 15:22 NASB

Obedience gives access to the tree of life. If obedience gives life, what is conceived through disobedience -- rebellion? The opposite of obedience is disobedience. The opposite of life is --- death.  Our inner man - our spirit - needs life to nurture and grow and bring forth God's fruit of the Holy Spirit.

"For as through the one man's [Adam's] disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One [Jesus] the many will be made righteous." Romans 5:19 NASB

God asks of us "...simple, universal and unchanging obedience." *

HOLINESS

What does God's Word have to say to us about "Holiness"?

"God has called us to be holy, not to live impure lives." 1 Thessalonians 4:7 NKJV

" ...He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His Holiness." Hebrews 12:10b

One of the most amazing things to me about our Creator is that whatever He demands, He provides for us ahead of time. Salvation, of course, is the most obvious. But the fact is, in His providing His Holy Spirit through His Son, He has given us the Helper and Counselor to hold us and guide us into all righteousness.

Can you be holy by yourself? No, and neither can anyone else. Only through the Gift of the Holy Spirit can we hope to obtain that holiness of which God commands us. We have His Promise:

"Praised be Adonai, Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who in the Messiah has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heaven.  In the Messiah he chose us in love before the creation of the universe to be holy and without defect in his presence.  He determined in advance that through Yeshua the Messiah we would be his sons - in keeping with his pleasure and purpose - so that we would bring him praise commensurate (corresponding) with the glory of the grace he gave us through the Beloved One. ...Furthermore you who heard the message of the truth, the Good News offering you deliverance, and put your trust in the Messiah were sealed by him with the promised Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit), who guarantees our inheritance until we come into possession of it and thus bring him praise commensurate with his glory." Eph. 1:3-6, 13-14 JNT

Isn't God wonderful?! He provides for ALL our needs. Our need to live and act in accordance with His Holiness is provided by Him as His Gift to us! Life gives us a lot of bumps! We can often become discouraged about our spiritual position with our Creator. But that sense of discouragement is actually a deception sent to us from the enemy of our God. It is a desire of satan to steal everything from God that he can steal! Our peace of mind is a part of that stealing!

No, we cannot have holiness without obedience. It is an impossibility! God provides all that He demands we need or do!

Some of the most beautiful words in Scripture are found in Ephesians 2:

"And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.  Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.  But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus." Ephesians 2:1-7 NASB

"But God..."! Aren't those beautiful words? But God....

But God already provided the way to fulfill His commandments!

We must walk in obedience in order to obtain holiness. And He has made it possible...by His Grace and Choosing!

FROM THE BRIDEGROOM

"Bind that door-bind that door in your lives that would keep you from Me---from obedience.  Obedience is My Key for freedom---Jesus was never "free-er" than when He was nailed to the tree of sacrifice! Obedience frees, disobedience enslaves..." November 5, 1996

GOD'S CHOSEN PEOPLE

Voice the declaration of God's choice of His Chosen People. If the True Church doesn't stand up for His Chosen People, they have no hope, they have no prayer, and they'll have no life with Him, their God. You must stand in the days to come more than you've ever stood before, because the time is ever near. Make a declaration of war against the enemies of God, your God, your Father, your Lord and against the enemies of His Chosen People.

CURRENT EVENTS

In recent weeks we've seen yet more violence against the Chosen People of God. We've seen the most innocent, the children, attacked because of one thing and one thing only: they are Jewish. Anyone who keeps up with the news both locally and internationally cannot help but see the rise of acts of violence against the Jewish people all around the globe. Whether it be shootings or desecration in cemeteries the violence is obvious. We need to understand that this is not going to stop. It is only going to get worse...much worse. There is a disease abounding in society...it is called "anti-God". If we don't stand against this now, we will fall as victims, and thereby participants, to the move against God and all that is His.

CHOICE

What is the first step? The first step needs to be repentance! "Open shame belongs to us, O Lord...because we have sinned against Thee. To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him; nor have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His teachings which He set before us through His servants the prophets." Daniel 9:8-10 NASB

We must repent for our disobedience: for our deliberate, flagrant rebellion against God and His holy and Perfect Will for our lives. John the Baptist preached repentance before Jesus began His ministry of which the God ls speaking. He came to prepare the way for Yeshua (Jesus). That preparation was...REPENTANCE!

Obedience and Holiness cannot be found without repentance. It is not possible. We must go before our Lord in spiritual sackcloth and ashes and ask for forgiveness for all our sin against Him. Then...we can go forward to...

Obedience!

Attain Holiness!

Choose  the   God  of  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob and His Will!​