The Other Side of Obedience
Long before I was a pastor, I was in the corporate world, working in sales.
In 1999, I felt like God was asking me to quit my job and work for my father-in-law’s church of 180 people. They couldn’t afford to pay me, so I worked for free.
I didn’t have an iPhone and computers weren’t really big, back then. So, I used to keep all my important leads on three-by-five cards in a big long box.
That information was like GOLD!
I always knew exactly when each contract was about to expire so that I could call back at the precise time and make the sale. It’s not that I was a great salesperson… I was just REALLY organized!
I stored my lead box away in a closet.
(Isn’t it funny, how we build in our own contingency plans. WHAT IF God’s plan doesn’t work out? What if I need that box… just in case?)
God spoke to my heart. “I need you to go BURN that box. What are you saving it for?”
I wasn’t cheerfully obedient, but I really didn’t want to be out of the Will of God. So, I got the box out of the closet, placed it in the middle of the backyard…and SET IT ON FIRE!
I have to admit; it was kind of SCARY!
I remember thinking, “God, what are You doing? This doesn’t make ANY sense!”
We can’t just do what we want, in the name of Jesus, and then blame God for the failure. Our best blessing is waiting on the other side of our OBEDIENCE.
God asked me to give up something that was very valuable to me. In exchange, He gave me back something TOTALLY PRICELESS… an incredible life of ministry!
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Has God ever asked you to do something scary that just didn’t make sense? Tell me about it.
Print Me!
My God; this spoke to my heart. My heart is illuminating as I type.
Obedience is better than sacrifice! I must do what he has given me vision to do. Step out the box, out of familiarity and step into the unknown walking by faith and not by sight!
Thank you Pastor Nicole! Love you.
Wow! Trusting God is a scary first step that I had to take one day to begin to build my faith that God could do abundantly, above all that I could ever imagine. It is refreshing to hear the steps of another and the real emotion when you do. We are real in this spiritual body! Thanks for being transparent!
Wow! reading this again is, like another language too; what I’ve been 😒 (holding onto,) 4 yrs!
I’m going through this right now. It’s time to purchase a new car. I know what I want, I’ve test driven it twice. I know that it’s the one for me. I can cut some things out of my budget to “make” it happen. But I feel the Lord says just trust me, let Me do it. I ‘ve got a lot of seed on the ground, more than enough for this to be my harvset. I’m a faithful tither (actually tithe my OT pay). So I know God can do it, just hard to wait. Mind says sale ends soon, there’s only one left that you like, you’d better go get it. So this minstered to me this morning to JUST WAIT, don’t go and make it happen.
Moving out of our comfort zone to obey the voice of God is always scary at first, but when we gather courage to obey, we realize that it was for our own good and we enjoy the fruit thereof.
God bless you Woman of God for sharing, you’ve encouraged me to step up to do His biding.