Obeying God When the Struggle Is Real
If I choose to love God, then I will let Him decide the details of my life when He leads. Read seven practical ways to make sure you’re obeying God.
Welcome back, friends! Today I’m sharing a follow-up to the disobedience issue I came clean with in my last post. I don’t want my steps to be off sync while I’m walking with Jesus, so today I’m sharing practical ways to obey Him when you feel like He is leading you to do something that’s not so easy!
Several years ago I read a book called Rees Howell, Intercessor. I am still in awe of the gravity of his story of surrendering to the commands of the Holy Spirit in every aspect of his daily life. I prayed a dangerous prayer after that and told the Holy Spirit I would live my life that way. I definitely haven’t always submitted, but yet there have been drastic moments of yielding in daily details.
Obeying God in the Details
Which is why it wasn’t surprising that God took a magnifying glass to the tiny crumb I subconsciously brushed under the rug during my busy day.
It’s just bedtime, God. I feel like a little kid instead of a responsible adult when I can’t have more of “go to bed within a certain range” rather than a specific time.
If you love me, you will keep my commandments. John 14:15 ESV
He likes to respond with scriptures. 😉
Of course, there is no scripture that says, “Thou shalt go to bed at a certain time,” but should I obey God when I feel His leading to do something for which I cannot find a specific command in the Bible? Yes. Of course, the Holy Spirit will never lead us to do something sinful or contrary to the Bible.
Much of Jesus’ ministry was being led by the Spirit. For example, the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness (Matthew 4:1).
I often want to fight God for control of my day, but if I keep the first and greatest command that tells me to love God with ALL my heart, soul, and mind, then obeying Him in the details should be a normal practice. I’ve said it before, love is a choice. God is leading; I am not.
Maybe you won’t understand this, but it’s just where I’m at with my spiritual growth.
7 Practical Ways to Obey God
- Write it down. Write down what you feel like God is leading you to do. This might come in pieces, but write down the big picture, every step. Even the 10 Commandments were written down.
- Select foundational verses. Whatever God leads you to do will be biblical. (The directional will definitely not go against scripture in any way; if it does, it’s not God.) Since there isn’t a specific command in scripture in my case of being diligent to keep the strict bedtime that I felt God led me to, I chose verses that went along with calling. Colossians 1:10 reminds me to walk worthy of my calling, and Philippians 4:13 help me lean on God for strength.
- Find an “accountabilibuddy.” Even the most well-meaning Christian can become inconsistent. Ask someone to check up on you. Simply giving that person permission to speak into your life and cheer you on can bring about amazing motivation.
4 More Keys in Obeying God
The remaining four are from the keys of obedience that I started having my kids follow several years ago. It’s funny how sometimes a mom can teach simple principles to her children but hasn’t applied them to herself.
Don’t ask me how I know this. Let’s just say I remember putting these “keys” into place and the Lord was correcting me while I was correcting them!
For the little ones I had simplified them as “happy attitude, no complaining, right away, and finish all,” however let’s briefly look at these:
- Check your attitude. God looks at the heart and motives. My prayer is, I delight to do Your will (Psalm 40:8a NASB).
- Watch your words. It’s so easy to start complaining when things start going wrong. Or doubt-talk may need to be kicked to the curb.
- Don’t delay. “Delayed obedience is not obedience at all, it’s disobedience,” was what I started saying to my kids when we started with the keys. I learned there is a fine line between giving myself grace for mistakes, and delaying because of laziness. 😉
- Finish all. Do everything He said to do, and then trust Him with the rest. He uses humans to accomplish His purposes, but I’ve had to make sure I don’t try to take things a step further and make something happen on my own. I simply need to finish my part.
What did I miss? Is there anything else we could add to this list?
Love is a springboard and the motivator to obey God when the struggle is real. #ThrivingInChrist #obedience
I’ve struggled for years with obedience. I feel like I’ve had partial obedience – some of God’s easier commands, but not the hard ones. I accepted Jesus as my Savior at the age of 7 and it was genuine. I’ve prayed to re-commit my life to Christ many times. But I’ve still battled with letting go of everything, especially the things that are hard or don’t make sense. I want to be that obedient son, but I’m worried that God is angry with me for all the times I’ve failed to obey and still do. Is there hope? I’m miserable like this and I want to be right with Him… stubbornness is a hard habit to break, but if that’s what it takes, I want and need this. It’s also hard being in this position because the grace message of the Lord somehow gets hidden or seems reserved for only those who don’t have a problem with chronic or habitual sin. But I need His grace too, in order to rest and thereby re-cultivate a holy love and commitment to Him. When you invest in another Kingdom, you have to be at peace and rest in the knowledge that your investment is going to receive returns – even returns such as blessings like love, joy, peace, long-suffering and so on. In other words, not just obeying and then it becoming legalism instead of loving service to our loving God. I’m sorry this is so long but thank you for letting me share.
Of course there’s hope! If God were still angry with you, then He’d be holding resentment towards you. And that would go against His nature. God is love, and love isn’t resentful (1 Cor. 13:5). Furthermore, He forgets our sins when we repent (Hebrews 10:17). As a mom, I don’t throw my children out of the family when one makes a mistake. It’s because I realize they’re growing into maturity and that is a process. You’re in the family of God and He knows you’re growing. He’s working on you! And remember, grace is a part of the growing process (2 Peter 3:18). Just keep loving Him!