Willing and Obedient
I have been writing about the importance of hope and that others find the hope in Jesus that most of us have found. I wrote last about the story of Rahab and how the scarlet cord represented her hope, the root word for hope being earnest expectation…. and the verb root being stretched cord or rope.
I then remembered the service I later wrote about where the two women ministers preached about Rahab and at the end of the service how they prophetically imparted portions of the scarlet cord to each of those that asked for it, to be imparted to others.
I told of how they, as they were led by the spirit of the Lord, gave to my husband and me their offering when we were in a desperate situation, how touched I was when I opened the envelope and discovered that someone had put in a pair of ear rings and someone had put in a writing pen.
I thought they had given what they had because they had nothing else to give, and it so touched my heart, and that may well have been the case.
My daughter Kelly emailed me the morning after reading the article with a profound insight that I had never thought about until she mentioned it. She felt the items of the ear rings and the pen were very significant.
The women had asked those that felt led to give, to give what they felt the Lord wanted them to give. It never occurred to me, but it did her, that these offerings may have been symbolic. The ear rings symbolic of the bond servant and his/her willingness to remain a servant even though they were free. The sign of this service was the piercing of their ear and the wearing of the ear ring. Also, the pen being the instrument used by a writer.
The Lord has many times given me the scripture about “your tongue being as the pen of a ready writer“, and I have known that for a long time, but had never thought of these objects as being reminders or prophetic to what I am suddenly doing now.
I have always been a writer, but mostly poetry. When it was prophecied to me years ago that I would write a book, my friends and I thought immediately that it would be a book of poems. I had already done a small handmade one, but the minister said, no, it would be a book of teachings. These teachings are my life experiences. I have learned first-hand what I am able to impart.
I marveled at what Kelly said, because the prochecies about the book and the one given about 20 years ago that I would be ministering around the world was so far from my comprehension that I just passed it off. In one short month, overnight it seems, now both of these are being fulfilled beginning on the Internet. I am receiving many emails saying so and I marvel at the goodness and faithfulness of the Lord. His ways and his thoughts are so far above ours.
I began thinking after she spoke of this insight about being “the mother of the Lord “ again, which is where I began this testimony. Those that do His will are His mother, and his brother. Those that are led by His spirit are the Sons of God. Mature in the Lord, brought to maturity. The Word tells us how the whole earth is awaiting the manifestation of the Sons of God. The world needs them !
I began thinking again about the pen, which I use so much and the ear ring as a symbol of willingness and obedience…by choice !
The Lord wants us to serve him with joy as spoken of in Deuteronomy. It speaks of all the things that can befall you if you are not serving the Lord obedient and with joy.
28:47 Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything.
There are those that are Christian and not obedient and there are those that are obedient, but their heart is not really in it and their motives may not be right.
In the vision I described when I first began this testimony, there were women only taking care of themselves and their own, they were not being a mother, or obedient to Jesus. If they were being obedient, then they would have been called his mother. It is all about the heart !
I did not want to obey God and go to the desert ! I was not going to go, but I had to make a choice TO BECOME WILLING and accept His will and not my own. I needed a heart change. When I became willing, he gave that to me and I was able to be obedient to His will and not my own. I accepted His will, knowing he knows what is best and knows the future and His ways are far above ours. He works ALL things for good for those that love him.
Even Jesus cried out, “ Father, not my will be done, but thine.”
God speaks, even of giving as a matter of the heart. He says he desires you to give with a joyful heart. Among other related scriptures in Exodus 35:5 it says …Take from among you an offering to the Lord, WHOSOEVER IS OF A WILLING HEART….
2Cor. 8:12 For if there is first a WILLING MIND, IT IS ACCEPTED TO WHAT ONE HAS AND NOT ACCORDING TO WHAT ONE DOES NOT HAVE.
1 PETER 5:2-4 Paul is speaking to the Elders of the churches saying :
Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, NOT BY COMPULSION, BUT WILLINGLY, NOT FOR DISHONEST GAIN, BUT EAGERLY; NOR AS BEING LORDS OVER THEM, THOSE ENTRUSTED TO YOU, BUT BE AN EXAMPLE TO THE FLOCK; AND WHEN THE CHIEF SHEPHERD APPEARS, YOU SHALL RECEIVE THE CROWN OF GLORY THAT DOES NOT FADE.
We are not to just be obedient, but first have right hearts and motives. Willing to become willing if necessary, as it was in my situation.
We don’t see the whole picture, nor down the road years later as God does. He alone knows how to direct us and we need to learn to trust that direction and be willing, perhaps to travel a road you have never been down before. A path totally unknown to us and we have to follow by faith, as Abraham, going, not knowing.
We need to guard our hearts. Heart checks are good ! Just doing the work is not enough. Just acting the part or playing the role is not enough. God sees right through all that and so do most of the unsaved !
Many know the right words and the right behavior to appear as good Christians, but the fruit has to be there! There are others that depend on our heart conditions and our obedience. The scriptures that I quoted affected generations, not just the ones that didn’t keep Covenant with God, or keep their hearts and minds right. Their children and families paid a price too. The unsaved will pay the price too, because they watch us.
We are living epistles, read by people. Our lives are examples of what we preach or teach. They look at our lives and how we respond to situations more than what we say. What a responsibility we have.
The Lord will turn our sorrows into joy and he gives us his peace and His joy and he says he wants His joy to remain, for it to be full. The world needs this joy and peace that it can’t give them.
He says in Psalms 30:5 that weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning.
Isaiah 61:3 says To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning ,and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.
Jesus teaching in Matthew 25:21 says….His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things; enter into the joy of thy lord.
We need to be willing and faithful even in the small things. Things change, They will not always be as hard as they may be right now for those going through hard times.
There is a scripture that you never hear preached and I can relate to the reason, it says we are to glorify God in the fire. I have wrestled with that one for years. How can you rejoice and glorify God when you are suffering ?
Isaiah 24:15 Wherefore glorify ye the Lord in the fires, ……
That can be hard, but look at Paul when he was in prison. They were worshipping God “ WHERE THEY WERE AT, “ and saw no way out and the prison doors were opened by angels and they were set free.
Jesus endured the cross because of the joy set before him. He knew the outcome was worth the suffering !!!
It was once told to me that because I "laughed so much”... this Prophet said he could see in the spirit, that the demons were just being thrown back as I walked through things laughing! That is a powerful force !!! The joy of the Lord is also our strength.
I see many, as you all must, that serve God for gain or are so ambitious, seeking positions and religious looking status. Looking for glory for themselves, spiritual
“ladder climbing,” trying to build a kingdom of sorts of their own in the name of our Lord. It will be as rubbish to be burned. I imagine it is a stench in the nostrils of God. Those that he has entrusted to guide and watch over his flock are abusing and using them. It is going to come to an end !
The church has not been what he desired it to be, it has become man-made, man-directed, man-gratifying rather than God-pleasing. I believe, as I have heard many others express, that this age is about over and the church as we have known it, as a religious institution is coming to it’s own end and the church of Jesus Christ will become what he intended it to be all along. Not self-serving, but God-serving !
Will you willing to be His bond servant? We are free in Christ, but would you be willing to be obedient to whatever he asked of you ?
I speak from experience, it is not always easy, but he never told us it would be an easy road. He has told us that he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him and if you do that you will know what he is requiring of you.
James, a bond servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes spread abroad:
1:1-5 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But, let patience have it’s perfect work, that you may be perfect and lacking nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
James made no mention of his personal relationship with Jesus, nor did he identify himself as a church leader. His greatest honor was to be a bond servant of God.
When we become Christians it does not mean we automatically are excluded from difficulties. The proper attitude to adversity is to count it all joy, which is a deliberate appraisal of the situation from God’s perspective. Trials are a means of building character, moral and spiritual growth. We do not rejoice in the trials them selves, such as rejoicing in the fires, but at the possible results.
We learn to be acquainted with the grief and sorrows of others, just as Jesus did. God then uses it to set others free and impart hope where there may not have been any.
May we all become willing !
It is a matter of a willing heart.
Betty Nelms
To Be Continued
