Category: Obedience

John 15:14-15 (NIV)
You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

John 14:15 (NIV)
If you love me, keep my commands.

“True obedience is a genuine act of love. If you want to know whether you love God, ask yourselves the question: ‘Do I obey?’ Obedience is the most perfect act of love for God. I obey not because I am afraid, but because I love Jesus. Love for obedience is love for the will of God.”
[Quotes of Mother Teresa from Total Surrender]

Supernatural obedience is an invitation to friendship with and love for God. It’s worship – where we realize it’s not so much about what we do but more about the Lord and what/how much he is doing. We get to participate in what he’s already orchestrating as we follow him. Humbly ask God for greater openness to see how he is at work in your missional group/campus ministry as you worship to “Let There Be Wonder” by Matt Redman (click here).

Prayer: Lord, give me an undivided heart to recognize what you’re doing in my life and with your church. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

-JH

John 2:7-10 (NIV)

Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”


“It is our utter conviction that if we want to see the water of broken bodies, broken minds and broken hearts turned into the wine of whole people, we need to do whatever he tells us. It often won’t make sense. It will rarely be comfortable. Yet this kind of obedience to Jesus is the practical outworking of faith and the tangible expression of love.” [Pilavachi and Croft, Everyday Supernatural, 75]

It’s the servants who got to participate in what Christ was miraculously doing. Likewise, we get to supernaturally witness God’s transforming work as we serve him. Take time to surrender to how God wants to use you today as you worship to “Broken Vessels” by Hillsong (click here).

Prayer: Lord, I am your servant. Fill me with faith and love as you direct me today. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

-JH

Let’s read aloud together the following scripture, confession and prayer:

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.
[John 15:9, NIV]

Love for God and love for neighbour constitute the first and greatest commandments on which hang all the law and the prophets. Love is the fulfilling of the law, and the first named fruit of the Spirit. Love is the evidence that we are born again; the assurance that we know God; and the proof that God dwells within us. Love is the new commandment of Christ, who told his disciples that only as they obeyed this commandment would their mission be visible and believable. Christian love for one another is how the unseen God, who made himself visible through his incarnate Son, goes on making himself visible to the world. Love was among the first things that Paul observed and commended among new believers, along with faith and hope. But love is the greatest, for love never ends.
[The Cape Town Commitment: We Love Because God First Loved Us]

You, O Lord, who commanded me to ask, grant that I may receive;
You have summoned me to seek, let me be happy in finding;
You have bidden me to knock, I pray You open unto me.
Be graciously pleased to direct and govern all my thoughts and actions,
that, for the future, I may serve You, and entirely devote myself to obeying You.
 Accept me, I beseech You, and draw me to Yourself,
that I may, from here on, be Yours by obedience and love,
since I am already Yours, as Your creation.
Indeed Yours, O Lord, who lives and reigns forever and ever.
[In Jesus’ name.] Amen.
[Augustine, adapted from Prayers of the Early Church]

-JH

John 2:5 (NIV)
His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”



Hebrews 5:8-9 (NIV)

Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him…

“Something remarkable takes place when we return to Square One, to the place of adoration and listening – a terrific infusion of energy within us; a release of adrenaline in our souls which becomes obedience. The reason is that the word that God speaks is the kind of word that makes things happen… God’s Word is not, in essence, information or gossip or explanation. God’s Word makes things happen – he makes something happen in us. The imperative is a primary verb form in Holy Scripture: “Let there be light… Go… Come… Repent… Believe… Be still… Be healed… Get up… Ask… Love… Pray…” And the intended consequence of the imperative is obedience.” [Eugene Peterson, Subversive Spirituality, 28]

Jesus is the living Word of God. As he is the source of our eternal salvation and obedience to the Father, turn to him. Be moved once again by Jesus as you spend time with him now. Let him infuse you with supernatural obedience to do whatever he tells you as you worship to “Believe For It” by CeCe Winans (click here).

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for your obedience that has brought about salvation. Change me and move me once again by your gospel and passion for my life and for those around me. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

-JH

John 2:5 (NIV)
His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Psalm 86:11 (NIV)
Teach me your way, LORD,
that I may rely on your faithfulness;
give me an undivided heart,
that I may fear your name.

“Often we have this attitude: “Lord, we’ll do what you tell us, as long as we agree with your plan. It needs to be sensible. It needs to be realistic. And we don’t want to seem fanatical or extreme.” We must understand that whatever we call that – it is not obedience. Obedience is doing what God tells us even if it doesn’t seem to make sense.” [Pilavachi and Croft, Everyday Supernatural, 74]

We are actually good at obeying – a lot of us have grown up learning to do certain things without question. We obey hunger, thirst, traffic laws, social etiquette or various cultural norms like waiting in line, bosses/ teachers. It’s good that we know how to obey, but God is inviting us into supernatural obedience. It starts with listening to the Lord. We can hear so many other voices in a given day, whether it’s our own or from around us, but may we live giving God our attention in the midst of all the other voices.

Prayer: Lord, give me an undivided heart to listen and supernaturally obey as you speak to me today. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Take time to be still before the Lord and listen as you worship to the song “Fall Afresh” by Kari Jobe (click here).

-JH