Obedience is worship!

By definition, worship is the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for God.

1 Samuel 15:22, “And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.”

By definition, to obey simply means “to hear,” “to listen.” It carries with it, however, the ethical significance of hearing with reverence and obedient assent.

For some reason, the subject of obedience is taboo. Many people want to do what they want, give an offering to the church, but refused to allow anyone to dictate how they live their lives.

I do not advise people to blindly allow the traditions of men to determine how they live. Philippians 2:12, “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”

So we all must make decisions. Understand that God’s standard of holiness does not change. If your way of living is below his standard, you can still make your choice. However, you must be willing to live with the consequences or reward of your decision. Our choices or decisions can determine where we will spend eternity.

We all will someday have to stand before God – individually – and give and account to God of our lives. I personally don’t own heaven or hell, so I don’t have a place to put you. But I believe the word of God is absolutely right and the believer should govern their lives according to it!

So we should know the what the word says. When we are faced with instructions that are more tradition based, than scripture based, we can make an informed decision regarding obedience to the instructions without guilt or shame!

When it comes to obeying the voice of God, our only acceptable answer is to obey! John 10:4-5, “And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.”

I don’t care what anyone says, when God speaks, we know it is him. Why? Because there is a witness in you spirit.

Yet, there are times when we still struggle with obeying what he says. This is mainly because it is not what we see for ourselves, or it is too hard, and maybe a little frightening. It is during these times that we will go to great lengths to avoid being obedient to God’s call.

But just as with Jonah, God has a way of bringing us around to his will.

This brings us to worship.

Worship- true worship, will cause you to submit to God’s way, rather than our own.

It is impossible to worship God in spirit and in truth, while walking in disobedience at the same time. John 4:24, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”

Let’s look at the “truth” part – we must be honest with God in our worship. We have to be willing to be transparent before him. Showing him ourselves – the good, the bad, and the ugly. It is only in this transparency that we are vulnerable and open to change.

Most of the time the change that we experienced is a change in us, not the circumstances. Then when we have changed, the circumstances are now different too. Why? Because of the difference in us. Our perspective and our attitude now line up with God’s word. So we see things differently.

In this phase of our spiritual maturity, obedience to God is a way of life, and not just an option.

So I encourage you today, if you are struggling to walk in obedience to God’s word, go into worship. Truly think about the God we serve. How good he has been. How he had made something out of nothing so many times in your life. Especially when we did not deserve his goodness…

While you are in your worship, tell him about your struggle. Be transparent, be real. Let God work on you.

I guarantee that everything will be okay.

God bless you!