What about you?
What are your excuses not to obey the Lord?
Questions to ponder:
Have we taken steps toward obedience or are we making excuses?
1. I can’t understand God’s Word. First, do you have a personal relationship with Jesus as Lord and Savior? If you don’t then you won’t understand. Only through the Holy Spirit , can our eyes and ears be open to Spiritual Truth. If you know Jesus as Lord and Savior, then we are told to ask…
James 1:5-8
But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, without any doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed. 7 For that man shouldn’t think that he will receive anything from the Lord. 8 He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
2. I don’t have time to spend with the Lord…
We always have time to spend on activities and people that are a priority for us in our lives. Don’t find time, carve out that time intentionally.
3. I can’t fight this temptation….
Is this the truth, or a lie from the enemy that you believe? Yes, it’s true without a relationship with the Lord, you don’t have the power to overcome. But the promise if you’re His is this:
1 Corinthians 10:12-13
Therefore let him who thinks he stands be careful that he doesn’t fall.
13 No temptation has taken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
Is the Truth, you can’t or that you don’t want to?
4. I keep praying for patience, freedom from addiction, self control….
Maybe it’s something as simple as Lord give me time to do what you want.
We can pray for a miracle that the Lord will give us patience, self-control etc, but have we taken the steps to be obedient, or are we hoping He’ll change our desires or perform a miracle without effort on our part?
We can pray for time, for the Lord to sustain our strength when we are tired, but God won’t make us get out of bed. That is an action we must do. That addiction, have you thrown away or filtered out what you could , so the triggers of temptations are less?
I read Matthew Chapter 8: 1-17 recently
When he came down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. 2 Behold, a leper came to him and worshiped him, saying, “Lord, if you want to, you can make me clean.”
3 Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I want to. Be made clean.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 4 Jesus said to him, “See that you tell nobody; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
5 When he came into Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking him for help, 6 saying, “Lord, my servant lies in the house paralyzed, grievously tormented.”
7 Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”
8 The centurion answered, “Lord, I’m not worthy for you to come under my roof. Just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I am also a man under authority, having under myself soldiers. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and tell another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and tell my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
10 When Jesus heard it, he marveled and said to those who followed, “Most certainly I tell you, I haven’t found so great a faith, not even in Israel. 11 I tell you that many will come from the east and the west, and will sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven, 12 but the children of the Kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13 Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way. Let it be done for you as you have believed.” His servant was healed in that hour.
14 When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother lying sick with a fever. 15 He touched her hand, and the fever left her. So she got up and served him.† 16 When evening came, they brought to him many possessed with demons. He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, 17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, “He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.”*
Interestingly, Jesus never performed a healing miracle the same way in this chapter. Jesus was willing to heal the leper , but there was action on the man’s part to obey afterwards.
Later in the chapter a town was more upset about pigs than the healing of demon possessed men.
Verses 28-34
When he came to the other side, into the country of the Gergesenes,‡ two people possessed by demons met him there, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that nobody could pass that way. 29 Behold, they cried out, saying, “What do we have to do with you, Jesus, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?” 30 Now there was a herd of many pigs feeding far away from them. 31 The demons begged him, saying, “If you cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of pigs.”
32 He said to them, “Go!”
They came out and went into the herd of pigs; and behold, the whole herd of pigs rushed down the cliff into the sea and died in the water. 33 Those who fed them fled and went away into the city and told everything, including what happened to those who were possessed with demons. 34 Behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus. When they saw him, they begged that he would depart from their borders.
Do we truly want the Lord to make us clean, to remove those things that are rebellious and evil in the sight of God? Or when the Lord prompts us to obey by getting rid of sin, do we say leave us alone and make excuses for our behavior?
Through a relationship with Christ, we have the power to overcome. There should be no excuses, when the Lord over all has promised help.
Are we truly ready to let go of our sin sickness, ask forgiveness/ and turn away from it, or are we still believing the lies of enemy? Is our lack of action, disobedience causing us to stay spiritually wounded and diseased? Shall we call on the Lord while there is time, while He is near? Shall we be whole after we do each step of obedience that He asks of us? He told Naaman through the prophet Elisha to go dip himself seven times in the Jordan River. The Lord another to wash the mud from his eyes. These people believed and had faith in what God had said was as good as done.
Are we looking for a miracle , like manna from Heaven, when He’s provided His instructions in His Word , if we’d open up His Word and read it.
No, it won’t tell you where to go, what job to take, or whom to marry, but there are plenty of steps of obedience you can take: don’t lie, don’t take His Name in vain, pray continually, test the spirits and have discernment in what someone says: whether true or false. Be faithful in the little things, get to know His Voice, and He will guide through each step and situation.
John 10:27-30
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father who has given them to me is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”
Spiritual healing is the most important healing, for it lasts eternally… any physical healing on this earth is temporary for unless the Lord returns , all die.
*All scripture from the World English Bible
Are you ready for change? To stop putting on the chains of sin that every person who knows Jesus as Lord and Savior , has been freed from?
You see what is needed is ...
OBEDIENCE!
With God the impossible becomes possible when we are following His Lead and His Way.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:13
Maybe this verse has a deeper meaning and promise than the promise of athletic ability, passing an exam, or achieving dreams. Maybe we are too focused on the temporary and the here and now, that we forget that the Lord has given us everything we need to live in obedience, in freedom from sin that ensnares us.
2 Peter 1:1b-8
to those who have obtained a like precious faith with us in the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: 2 Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 seeing that his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and virtue, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and exceedingly great promises; that through these you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust. 5 Yes, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence; and in moral excellence, knowledge; 6 and in knowledge, self-control; and in self-control, perseverance; and in perseverance, godliness; 7 and in godliness, brotherly affection; and in brotherly affection, love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, they make you to not be idle or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I ask again what is our excuse?
If you don't know Jesus as Lord and Savior, you will never be able to overcome sin on your own. Surrendering to the Lord, means we must obey the Lord as He reveals the ways that dishonor Him, to live the life He created you for. With Christ, there is Life. He is Life! You don't know True Life without Him.
If you are a Christ Follower struggling with sin and maybe one of these excuses mentioned. Repent and turn away from them. Ask the Lord what you need to do. Ask Him the steps you need to take for these and other excuses not listed , to be removed. The excuses must be dealt with if we are to walk with the Lord in Freedom, living the Life He intended us to live.
The chains of excuses and sin need to be broken! Why not now, while there is breath in your lungs? Don't wait until you see Jesus in eternity. For the Christ Follower, this life should be the beginning of our relationship with Jesus, and eternity the continuation what has been established and started. Eternity was never meant to be the beginning of our opportunity to get to know God. Get to know Him now!
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