Obedience is Key to God’s Greatness!
- Jan 26
- 9 min read
Obedience is Key to God’s Greatness!
There is a single most important quality to become great in God – Obedience to God!
Faith has two very important components:
1) Belief in God!
2) Obedience to God!
Belief alone will not do, because even demons believe and tremble, whereas a believer walking in faith in God believes that God is real and true to His word and wholeheartedly obeys Him.
God’s Universe!
There is an intriguing Scripture in the Bible that describes the hierarchy in the universe. It is found in Psalm 82:1: “God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods, He holds judgment” (Psalm 82:1, ESV).
“God stands in the assembly [of the representatives] of God; in the midst of the magistrates or judges He gives judgment [as] among the gods” (Psalm 82:1, Amplified).
There is a heavenly assembly of the great ones subject to the council and guidance of God, Jehovah. They are the “sons of God” from God’s own mouth: “I said, ‘You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you’” (Psalm 82:6). Satan was part of this assembly. God granted freewill to all the great ones, but belief in and obedience to Elohim, God Jehovah, were expected for the smooth operation of the universe. Satan rebelled against God with his disobedience, whereas God’s Son, the Only Begotten Son, Jesus, obeyed God’s mission to save the earth from the looming perversion and destruction of the devil!
Jesus makes a mention of these heavenly gatherings to the Pharisees: “The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, ‘I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?’ The Jews answered him, ‘It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.’ Jesus answered them, ‘Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If He called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken— do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?” (John 10:34-36).
Jesus, the Son of God, was in the heavenly gatherings of Mighty Ones, and yet, knew the Father’s heart to obey and took on His Father’s mission to save the world! God keeps the universe in order by its OBEDIENCE and SURRENDER to its CREATOR! Likewise, OBEDIENCE ALONE separates a believer into the greatness of God!
Destiny Altering Moments for God’s Children with OBEDIENCE!
The Son of God stepped in to OBEY GOD when there was rebellion in the universe. Likewise, God’s people today encounter “God-Altering Moments” by God's inspiration. A single event, person, or experience alters their destiny through obedience.
Here are the examples in the Scriptures:
Bad Examples!
1) Adama and Eve: “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate” (Genesis 3:6). The act of disobedience was induced by Satan. The consequence – death of all mankind: “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” (Romans 5:12). The single act of disobedience was ignoring God’s warning and following Satan! The consequence – All have sinned and come short of the glory of God!
2) Saul: The disobedience and the consequence that Prophet Samuel described to King Saul: “And Samuel said, ‘Has 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 listen than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has also rejected you from being king’” (I Samuel 15:22-23). The act of disobedience disqualified Saul from continuing as King of Israel!
3) Unbelieving Israelites: “Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone walked in the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore, I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not” (Jeremiah 11:8). Israel’s disobedience was disbelief, distrust, lies, and flatteries, and not remembering God’s greatness! Many of them died on their journey to the Promised Land!
Good Examples of Destiny Altering Obedience!
1) Abraham: “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going” (Hebrews 11:8). Abraham heard directly from God and OBEYED Him! Abraham’s act of obedience was when he was commanded to go, and he obeyed! If Abraham had not left his ancestral home, he would have been an idol-worshipper and not a part of God’s covenant!
2) Isaac: “And the Lord appeared to him and said, ‘Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws’” (Genesis 26:2-5). Abraham set the tone for Isaac’s obedience! Isaac also heard from God directly and obeyed! Had he not yielded, the covenant of Abraham would not have continued!
3) Jacob: “Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he directed him, ‘You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women,’ and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and gone to Paddan-aram” (Genesis 28:6-7). The single act of obedience from Jacob was that he listened to his mother, Rebekah, and inherited the blessing of Abraham from his father Isaac and listened to both Isaac and Rebekah to flee to his safety! If Jacob had not separated himself from his father's home, he too would have been a torment and grief to his parents as his brother Esau with his association with the Canaanites!
4) Joseph: “And Israel said to Joseph, ‘Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.’ And he said to him, ‘Here I am.’ So he said to him, ‘Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock, and bring me word.’ So he sent him from the Valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem” (Genesis 37:13-14). The single act of obedience that changed Joseph toward his destiny was when he obeyed his father Jacob and took lunch to his brethren who sold him to Egypt! Had Joseph not yielded, Egypt would not have been rescued from famine!
5) Moses: By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:24-27). The single act of obedience of Moses was that he fled Egypt the moment he knew that he was a Hebrew! If Moses had not fled the Pharaoh, he would have become great (or nothing) in Egypt and no deliverance to Israel!
6) Caleb and Joshua: “Surely none of the men who came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, because they have not wholly followed me, none except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have wholly followed the Lord” (Numbers 32:11-12). Caleb and Joshua were known for their continued obedience, and not a single act throughout their journeys for over 40 years! Had Caleb and Joshua not obeyed, the Promised Land would have been nonexistent as we know it today.
7) Ruth: “But Ruth said, ‘Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.’ And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more” (Ruth 1:16-18). The single act of obedience from Ruth was that she found greatness in Naomi, attached herself to the covering of Naomi, and fled Moab! Ruth would not have become the great-grandmother of King David had she chosen to stay back as a Moabite! Jesus would not have come in the lineage of King David!
8) Jesus: “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:5-11). Obedience marked the life of Jesus from the moment when He was in His Father’s business at age 12 through the very end of carrying the cross to Calvary! The world will still be in sin without a Savior, had Jesus not yielded to the Father!
9) The Disciples: “Then Peter said in reply, ‘See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first’” (Matthew 19:27-30). The single act of obedience of the disciples was that they decided to follow Jesus at the cost of everything, at the very moment of experiencing His greatness as the Messiah! The world would be different today without the Apostles yielding their lives to carry the gospel to the world!
God’s Separation of His People!
God has granted freewill to all His creation, including His angels, servants, and people!
In that, some angelic beings rebelled against God and seduced the world with evil.
But God has kept His people separate!
While God kept His freewill, He provided a way out of sin through Salvation by the voluntary obedience and surrender of His Son, Jesus!
Jesus comes in the line of all the great examples I have just provided who yielded their lives and followed their Creator!
But Jesus provided the ultimate price for salvation through His OBEDIENCE!
OBEDIENCE TO GOD separates us from the evil to the good, from darkness to light, from ignorance to wisdom, and from condemnation to salvation!
God moves in your life through His still small voice or through someone close to you who is a messenger of God that speaks God’s message to you! YOU WILL NOT KNOW WHICH CIRCUMSTANCE OR PERSON GOD WILL USE TO DIRECT YOU TO HIS DESTINY, BUT AS LONG AS YOU FEAR, LOVE, AND SUBMIT TO GOD, YOU WILL NOT MISS THAT TIME-ALTERING MOMENT OF DESTINY IN YOUR LIFE!
All your greatness begins with YOUR SINGLE ACT OF OBEDIENCE!
All your failures, sadly, originated from YOUR SINGLE ACT OF DISOBEDIENCE!
Which society do you belong to – God’s or the World’s?
CHOOSE GOD, OBEY GOD, WALK WITH GOD, AND STAY WITH GOD!
My Grateful Acknowledgment!
I was called in my mother’s womb when God revealed that she would be the mother of four sons, but the firstborn would be God’s servant! I was healed from tuberculosis at 17 and bleeding ulcers at 19. GOD WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN REAL WITHOUT MY SINGLE ACT OF OBEDIENCE – RECOGNIZING AND MARRYING MY CHOSEN WIFE, HEMA, A CHOSEN VESSEL OF HONOR BY GOD! Hema receives all the rewards of who and what I am in God through her surrender and total yielding to God. She alone is instrumental to my continuous walk with God. I THANK GOD FOR HIS MATCHLESS MERCIES AND GRACE IN RECOGNIZING MY NEED AND FILLING IT WITH MY PRECIOUS HEMA!
Prayer
“Heavenly Father, I yield my life into Your hands. Thank You, Lord, for holding the universe in the palm of Your hands. I thank You, Lord, for separating me to Your greatness as I yield my life into Your hands and obey to follow You. Help me to glorify You through my life to all around me. I am Yours, and Yours alone, my Lord. In the Precious and Wonderful Name of Jesus, I pray. Amen! Amen!!”
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John Jeyaseelan
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