Beating A Dead Horse on Forgiveness and Obedience

Greetings my friends:

I know I have been repeating myself in some of these blogs, but I just need to make sure you are getting the message because I want you to know that every time I write I get confirmations on my messages from God. My friends, this web blog is all in obedience to Christ. I want to win souls for God, my job as a disciple is to let you know of the goodness of our God, whether you are saved or unsaved. My prayer is that when someone reads the blogs, she will leave with something new, something refreshing, something that turned on the light bulb in her head, but most importantly I pray that the blogs will have one person commit her life to Christ or rededicate her life to Christ, or maybe take the first step by attending a church service to hear about the good news of Jesus Christ! So, please bear with me as I share God's word.

I am currently reading a book by a bestselling Christian author, Elisabeth Elliot, The Music of His Promises-Listening to God with Love, Trust and Obedience. As I continued with the reading today, the next topic in the book, it is titled, The Secret of Understanding. Ms. Elliot, on this particular topic, wrote that obedience is the secret of spiritual insight. She says that it is not given to any but those who obey, for they are the only ones who love God. Wow, that's a powerful statement she made there. I can say "ouch". She says there is no love where there is no obedience; to choose to disobey is to choose darkness; she says no wonder we stumble. Wow. Thank you Lord.

Furthermore, I must tell you that today I received additional confirmation of my messages on forgiveness and obedience. I received some notes from a friend concerning forgiveness because I was telling her about my previous message on hurt and forgiveness and that I was still in a bit of confusion as to whether disciples forgive but still feel hurt. My friends, I am experiencing the wonderful spirit of God in my life. I can tell you with all confidence that obedience and forgiveness go hand-in-hand. You cannot be obedient if you are not a forgiving person. As I read the notes, it says forgiveness is a matter of obedience, rather than feeling. Wow. Thank you Lord.

My friends, I tell you the honest truth, when you are obedient, God lets things happen, I mean great and awesome things; I mean unexplainable things, but you know that it can only be God. God brings people in our midst to help us in our Christian walk; God brings people in our lives for a reason, a season and a lifetime.

The notes led me to Romans 12:17-18, which says, If someone does wrong to you, do not pay him back by doing wrong to him... do your best to live in peace with everyone. Verse 19 says, My friends, do not try to punish others when they wrong you, but wait for God to punish them with his anger. These verses are telling us that we must forgive, we must let go, we must be obedient and let God taken care of the wrong doer. That's right, leave them to God, remember, God says, he will have them (your enemies) under your control and will make them your footstool.

My friends, in all seriousness and truth, obedience is the light of the world. We cannot choose to obey certain people and things and then choose to disobey certain people and things. It doesn't work that day. God would be pleased with us if we obey Him in all we say and do.

I pray that this message has some relevance to you.

Ta ta,
Therese from Belize