Tag: obedience

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Keep Me From Evil

(The following is an excerpt from Bob Nichols’ book, “How to Change Your Destiny.”)

Notice the final part of his prayer.  He cried, “…keep me from evil.”  This reminds me of the Lord’s Prayer: “Lead us not into temptation.”  Lord, do not let me be led into temptation.  Temptation is everywhere.  You cannot buy a quart of milk at the convenience store without seeing the suggestive and the sensual. We live in a world that is polluted by filth.  And there is something about this prayer that grabbed at my heart.  I almost did not read it through.  The Lord said, “Wait a minute.  Read it all.”  Jabez cried, “…keep me from evil.”  Just because God is blessing us and great things are happening does not mean we can be soft on sin.  Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Have you ever watched a marriage being torn apart as by a vicious animal because of sin?  Have you ever seen a happily married couple with everything in the world going for them, but one of them began to play with sin; one of them began to believe a lie of Satan? And two happy, beautiful people that have the world at their feet, see their life begin to fall apart because of sin.  Unfortunately, there is not much preaching on sin anymore.  According to Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” When you play with sin it produces death.  When you walk with Jesus the result is life. If you are going to keep your marriage relationship strong you must walk in righteousness.

A strong marriage is very important to me.  Joy and I have worked at having a strong marriage over these many years, and I thank God for it.  Someone has to stand up and say, “It can be done.”  Every time some silly, little nonsensical thing goes wrong you do not run out and slam the door, and go berserk!  That is not life – that is television!  That is hellish.  That is sin!  “Well, I can get a divorce for $49.50.”  No, you missed the point.  It could cost you forty nine thousand dollars and it would still not reflect the true cost of breaking a marriage covenant.  I am not speaking words of hurt to those that have had problems in their marriage.  Keep your marriage strong.  Divorce is not worth it.

If Satan has put a little thought in your head or if there is a little temptation working in you run from like you would run from a wild beast.  You do not play with those things, I have dealt with so much of it the last few years.  I have seen precious marriages torn into a million pieces because of sin.  I have seen precious teenage lives broken in pieces.

Girls, I do not care what a man may promise you until you are married keep your purity.  Every man out of matrimony that wants to do anything ungodly to your body is a liar and you tell him I said so!  It works both ways, seduction is a two way street. Young people the smartest thing you will ever do is keep your minds and bodies pure.  Young woman no man is worth missing God’s best in your life.  Young man no woman is worth missing God’s best in your life.  Five minutes of pleasure is not worth ruining your life.

I am not trying to be sensational.  If I could instant replay the things I have gone through trying to help people you would understand.  To me sin is not funny!  Sin will make you stupid.  Sin will take you further than you intended to go and it will cost you more than you ever intended to pay.  Sin does not just hurt you; sin hurts everybody.  You say, “It is my business what I do.”  No, it is everybody’s business because sin hurts everybody.  Anybody who sins hurts more than just themselves.

The Psalmist, David, whom I love dearly, was a man after God’s own heart.  Thank God that when Samuel pointed his finger and said, “Thou art the man,” David was man enough to fall on his face before God and pray the powerful prayer, “Have mercy on me, O God.”  There is forgiveness for sin.  The tragedy is that so many people say, “Well, there is forgiveness, so what?  Big deal! I will sin and get forgiveness later.”  But before long their conscience is seared as with a hot iron.  Then they think they can sleep anywhere, drink anything, do anything, watch anything, and feel that they have a biblical excuse for it.  The devil will provide an excuse if you are looking for one! It is not about what you can get away with!  Just because God has not let the sky fall in on you does not mean you are getting away with what you are doing. The Bible says, “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart” (Psalms 24:3-4). I say to every minister and every young couple: keep yourself pure.  What you fantasize, you will get involved with; Satan will see to it.

If you have seen the ravages of alcohol, like Joy and I have seen in our families, you would stay far away from drinking.  I had an uncle that could have been anything in life.  He was one of the most talented men that I ever met, but he died at age 55 because of alcoholism.  My uncle had a good heart, but he gave himself to things that destroyed his life.  I could tell you a lot of stories much like this.  It all started with compromise, a little slip, a little slide, a little drink here, a little drink there and ended up with another shipwrecked life.  If you drink a little, you will drink more.

You can feel temptation coming on.  Just a casual meeting, a casual glance, conversation and chemistry kicks in.  You know what is going on.  Do what Joseph did! Run if you have to!  Do not stand there and wallow in it and then say, “I just do not know what happened to me.”  Someone else might say, “Well, I do not know what I would do if I was caught in that situation!”  I will tell you what you are going to do.  You are going to take the path of least resistance.  Make your decision now what you are going to do.  I have had to walk away from certain friends in the ministry over the years because I have made up my mind I am going to have God’s best.  Satan has every kind of a trap in the world to trip you up.  Get smart!  Be wise!  Jabez said, if I am ever going to break out of this born-to-lose syndrome; I need God’s hand to be with me.  Oh, God, deliver me from evil and the grief that it brings.

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The Anointing Is On His Word

(The following is an excerpt from Bob Nichols’ book, “How to Change Your Destiny.”)

The hand of God in a person’s life could be seen as the anointing.  When the anointing is on a person it produces results.  “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him” Acts 10:38. When Jabez prayed “…that thine hand might be with me…” he was asking for God’s anointing to face a difficult task.  Some commentators believe that the occasion of Jabez’s prayer was the expulsion of the Canaanites from his territory. The only thing that was going to get him through that situation was the anointed direction of God.

We all face situations where we need to hear from God.  Many times God will speak to us during a church service where the Word of God is being preached.  I have heard of this happening to business people in my congregation more times that I can recall.  They were just sitting in a service and the Spirit of God would give them direction for their business.  He would show them what adjustments to make to get out of financial crisis.  The message preached that day would not even be about finances, but the anointing on the Word brought them direction.  That adjustment would not have been thought of without the anointing touching their life.  I love God and want to please Him. I want the hand of God on my life!  The anointing on my life will help me be a good husband and father.  Let the hand of God be upon me!  Anointing, fall on me – live big within me!  Touch me!  Anointing of God take this piece of clay and do something with it.

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Just Be Faithful

“Regardless of talents, anyone can be faithful.”

There is an old saying, “Dress thyself and show up!” Those words describe how easy it is to be faithful. Faithfulness is not based on skills. Even the most skilled person can be lazy. So it is not about skill set – it is about action. It is a heart thing. It is doing what you know to do with a desire for excellence. It is about consistency. It is about being the person that God can use and promote.

For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, Nor from the south. But God is the judge: He putteth down one, and setteth up another. – Psalm 75:6-7

Faithfulness gives God something to work with!

So the LORD your God will make you abound in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your land. Indeed, the LORD will again delight in your goodness, as He delighted in that of your fathers. – Deuteronomy 30:9

Our faithfulness to use our gifts and talents will cause God’s faithfulness to be seen in our lives.

Victory Action

God’s promotion is based on faithfulness, not on how many talents I have.  I will use what I have faithfully.

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Trust God

“Where God guides, God provides.”

There are many examples in the Bible where God gave instructions to his children. We find that when they obeyed His instructions they found the provision they needed to accomplish God’s plan. But often they had to take steps of faith to see the provision.

Genesis 22:1-13 tells us the story of Abraham and Isaac. This story is a type and shadow of what God would ultimately do through the sacrifice of Jesus. God told Abraham to take Isaac and sacrifice him as a burnt offering. Wow! That is pretty brutal on the surface. Can you imagine what would happen when Abraham returned to Sarah and told her what he had done if he had sacrificed Isaac? That would not have been pretty. Abraham had to consider all the outcomes when he was on that long trip to Moriah. But he was determined to obey God. Isaac was the son of promise. He was the son from which all the nations would come from. I am sure none of it made sense to Abraham.

God had a plan and was only revealing part of it to Abraham. This meant that Abraham had to trust and obey in faith. So Abraham did as instructed. He went as far as to raise his knife to kill Isaac before God stopped him.

And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.  12And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.  13And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. – Genesis 22:11-13

Like Abraham, we must choose to trust God and take Him at His word if we want to see His miraculous provision. It takes faith!

Victory Decision

When I know God is guiding me, I can completely trust His provision.

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Obedience is Success

“Success is obeying God; do not measure success by others.”

“This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.” – Joshua 1:8

God’s measuring stick is Jesus. The beauty of this is when we accept Jesus as our savior we become like Him. When God looks at us, He sees Jesus. He sees us through the filter of the blood of Jesus and the work He did on the cross for our salvation. Jesus was very successful! He did the will of the Father. He accomplished what God sent Him to do. He was obedient even unto death.

Jesus is to be our example in all things. If His success came through knowing the will of God and obeying His instructions then that should be our pattern too. That should be the only pattern. I am only interested in pleasing God, not people. When we compare ourselves or allow others to compare us to anyone or anything other than Jesus, we live on a lower level.

The problem with comparing ourselves to others is that we live on a level that can only be accomplished by natural means. When we walk in obedience to God we have access to His power to accomplish His will in our lives. God’s will for your life may be completely different than the person you are comparing yourself to so the comparison is invalid from the start. Just stop it!

Besides, obeying God has great benefits! Deuteronomy 28:1-2 says, “And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:  2And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.“

When you obey God you put the responsibility for your success in God’s hands – right where it should be!

Victory Action

I will not compare my success with others.  Instead, I will obey God, the source of my success.