Don’t Half-Way Follow God
Listen to the podcast version of this blog.
Don’t put God in your little box of expectation because He will always exceed your expectations well beyond that box!
This morning I did my prayer time in the prayer closet and then grabbed some good ole French vanilla coffee and creamer for my Scriptural Bible Study time. Yup! Sweet Jesus, sweet coffee, a sweet Bible like the Tony Evans Study Bible, and a sweet journal with pen is all the sweetness I needed this morning. LOL!
Y’all know we are studying Deuteronomy 5 today and let me just tell y’all how I ended up getting a revelation on this word and decided to share it with a friend via text, where the Holy Spirit gave me an even bigger revelation as I was typing what I thought would be a short text! The text was so long y’all that I mentioned to my friend that I could just copy and paste it here in the blog. LOL!
When I first opened my Bible, I read this Q&A about applying the word of God to our lives. I heard the Holy Spirit say to me: As you learn, apply what you learn. Don’t just learn and not apply what you have learned.
In this Q&A, Dr. Evans says that we are to marry application with information, while depending on the Holy Spirit to make it experiential in our lives. It got me to thinking about what all I have learned while reading the Word of God, but yet applied to my actual daily living. Of course that will require some reflection time on my part. What’s interesting though is that the verse that stood out the most in this chapter, was 33. It says:
Follow the whole instruction the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live, prosper, and have a long life in the land you will possess. Deuteronomy 5:33 CSB
I underlined the words: WHOLE and INSTRUCTION. Why? Because we tend to want to only follow certain parts of God’s instructions. In chapter 5 of Deuteronomy, Moses talks about the 10 Commandments. And many of us know them and have seen them on church walls, read them in our Bibles, and maybe even watched the movie on TV. We are to:
Not have any other gods besides God.
Not have idols.
Not misuse the name of the Lord.
Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.
Honor your father and your mother.
Not murder anyone.
Not sleep with any married people.
Not steal
Not lie on people.
Not look at what other people have and want it sooo badly.
But you already knew those commandments right? I mean I know them because I learned about them, but have I applied to them to my life fully? I know a few of them I have disobeyed. But I thank God for sending His son Jesus who offered me forgiveness. In John 8:11, Jesus says: “Neither do I condemn you…Go, and from now on, do not sin anymore.” See that part? FROM NOW ON, don’t do it anymore. That’s following the WHOLE instruction. God forgave us and we are to not do it anymore!
But the commandment where I got the revelation was the one about the Sabbath day! That’s the one I texted my friend about. Again, remember that we are applying what we learn right? Okay, so peep what I learned about the Sabbath! We are to work six days, and then rest on the seventh. We are to remember to keep a Sabbath day where we don’t do any work. It is a day of rest. It is a day of holiness unto the Lord. The whole concept came from when God created the world in six days and then rested on the seventh. Here is the revelation though! GOD DID NOT REST ON SEVENTH DAY BECAUSE HE WAS TIRED!!! (Insert head off emoji here)! God rested so that He could enjoy what He had done!!!
Just pause for a moment and think about that.
I don’t know about you, but I low-key thought it was a day of REST! Like, oooh weee, I am tired from all that that work I did in six days! LOL! I mean that’s how WE be talking right? But God rested so that He could ENJOY what He had done. How many of us rest to ENJOY? Or do we rest to COMPLAIN about all the work we had to do? Y’all this blew my mind!
Let’s do a mind reset so we can apply what we just learned. We are to follow God’s lead on this because it will help us avoid becoming SO BUSY and pre-occupied that we forget what God has done through us in those six days of work. And those six days of work should be in alignment with His purpose and calling on our lives!! Genesis 1:31 says, God saw all that he had made, and it was very good indeed!
So many of us are working for US, not for God. When we became believers, we no longer live for us, we for THE ONE (our Lord and Savior) who dies for us and was raised from the dead. We obey God because we want to please THE ONE who delivered us from hell and judgment because we did steal something; we did sleep with a married person; we did murder someone; we did have idols; we did dishonor our parents; we did want what someone else had real bad that we were willing to do anything to get it; we did lie on our taxes or on our co-worker to save our butt; because we did misuse the Lord’s name; and because we don’t rest to enjoy what we have done.
See the revelation I got from texting my friend this morning was that, if we actually remembered the Sabbath and rested one day a week to enjoy what we have done, we will actually SEE what we have done, and that will REVEAL to us if we have made money our master; if we have stolen or lied or cheated or been jealous or slept with someone outside of marriage or someone who was married. See if you stop long enough to look back on what you did for the week, you might see that you need to TURN your life around. And the enemy definitely don’t want you to have that kind of revelation or insight.
But my hope is that we can take the Sabbath to rest and look back every week, and ENJOY what we have done. To look back and see what GOOD we have done, like God did when we looked back over his six days of work.
Are you working hard six or seven days a week? If so, what for? Who are you working for? Is the money being used to fulfill God’s purpose and calling on your life? Are we working to please ourselves or are we working each and every day to please the God who created us for His purposes? Is what you’re doing in alignment with God’s vision and purpose for your life?
Are we following the WHOLE instructions from God in our lives, or are we half-way following?
Be encouraged today to rest long enough to get the revelation so that you can live the life God commanded. Because when you do, then you will live a long and prosperous life.
SALVATION PRAYER
If you don’t know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior and you’re not a believer, but you have a desire to be, all you have to do is openly confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead (Romans 10:9). When you pray that prayer, you are saved. Get connected with a good, bible-based church in your community, stay connected to other believers, and start having daily conversations through prayer with God every single day. Welcome to your new life with Jesus Christ!!!
ASSIGNMENTS
What did the Lord God say to you in your conversation with Him this morning?
What did you learn today through my conversation with God?What did you learn today through your conversation with God? What did you learn today that you can apply to your life right now? Leave me a message on the podcast.
Share this blog post/podcast with someone who needs encouraging. Share buttons below.
