Obedience

Prayer – Lord Jesus, help us to be obedient to You—as well as to our Father God and the Holy Spirit—for You are one God. I praise Your holy name. I worship You. I love You with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength…and I love my neighbor as myself—or I certainly try to! I can only do that with Your help. 

Wildflowers - Phlox
They bloom and die.
The wind blows, and we are gone.
As if we'd never been here.
May we never forget the good things...
God has done.

Let all that I am praise the LORD; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name. Let all that I am praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things he does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies. He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle's! The LORD gives righteousness and justice to all who are treated unfairly. He revealed his character to Moses and his deeds to the people of Israel. The LORD is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever. He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve. For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west. The LORD is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him. For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust. Our days on earth are like grass; like wildflowers, we bloom and die. The wind blows, and we are gone--as though we had never been here. But the love of the LORD remains forever with those who fear him. His salvation extends to the children's children of those who are faithful to his covenant, of those who obey his commandments! The LORD has made the heavens his throne; from there he rules over everything. Praise the LORD, you angels, you mighty ones who carry out his plans, listening for each of his commands. Yes, praise the LORD, you armies of angels who serve him and do his will! Praise the LORD, everything he has created, everything in all his kingdom. Let all that I am praise the LORD. Psalm 103:1-22 (Underlined for emphasis.)

 

Meditate. Consider God’s love emanating from His throne. Praise the Lord.

 

Let all that I am praise the Lord. That pretty much says it all. Obedience is the key. We are told over and over in both the Old and New Testaments the importance of obeying God. To be faithful to God, we must obey His commandments. Moses told the Israelites that they must obey God’s commandments…and that goes for us, too.

Understand, therefore, that the LORD your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands. But he does not hesitate to punish and destroy those who reject him. Therefore, you must obey all these commands, decrees, and regulations I am giving you today. "If you listen to these regulations and faithfully obey them, the LORD your God will keep his covenant of unfailing love with you, as he promised with an oath to your ancestors. Deuteronomy 7:9-12

Even Jesus stressed that obedience, but He graciously summarized all the commandments into just two.

"Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?" Jesus replied, "'You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments." Matthew 22:36-40

Can we be faithfully obedient even to just these two commandments?

 

Verse of Salvation ~ His salvation extends to the children's children of those who are faithful to his covenant, of those who obey his commandments! Psalm 103:17-18

 

© 2023 Text, photos, and illustrations by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved. 

All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless otherwise noted. 

New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. 

Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Biblical search from Blue Letter Bible - http://v3.blueletterbible.org/search.cfm. 

 

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