Keidra Hobley: 0:38

Welcome to The One Yes At A Time podcast. I'm Keidra, here with my friend Susan, and today we get to discuss saying"Yes" to obedience. Oh goodness. Are we ready? This is so good because it was the last episode when you made the comment that obedience is God's love language. Mm-hmm. That really stood out to me.

Susan Dies: 0:56

I knew that was gonna be our next episode.

Keidra Hobley: 0:58

It had to be. How could it not be? That's right. And so, when you said that, like, just sitting with that for a while, what came to mind is that our obedience to God is an indicator of our love for him.

Susan Dies: 1:09

That's right. It sure is. Obedience is one of those words that people just have a natural aversion to. Mm-hmm. No one wants to be told what to do. Yep. No one wants to be told how to do it or when to do it. And I get that because we can all be that way. As human beings we want to do what we wanna do. Always. Don't we? Always... we always do.'Because that's our human nature. But it wasn't always that way. And I think that before we talk about obedience, we should talk a little bit about disobedience and where that came from. You know, we make the assumption that everyone listening already knows how sin entered the world... but not everyone grew up in church. Not everyone knows the story of Adam and Eve.. Yeah... even though that seems foreign to us. But when God first created Adam and Eve, at least for a period of time, and we don't know how much time because the Bible doesn't tell us, but they lived in perfect harmony with God before sin ever came into the world through their disobedience. Yeah. And God only gave them one command. Mm-hmm. I mean, just one command. He said, you are free to eat from any tree of the garden.. Yeah... only do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because on the day that you eat from this tree, you will surely die. And so he told them what they could do.. Mm-hmm. He told them what not to do.. Yeah...And he even told them why. And what did they do? They did it anyway. They did it anyway. Adam and Eve, they were just hanging out in the garden somewhere close to that tree, when Satan slid up to her in the form of a serpent and tempted her to eat the fruit from this one tree that God had told them not to eat from. And the kicker is... the serpent tempted Eve to sin, not by dangling that piece of fruit right in front of her face.. Mm-hmm... but by simply asking her a question that began with the words,"Did God really say?" So he was putting this seed of doubt in her mind about what God said, and then he tempted her to doubt God's motive for the command that he gave, not to eat from that tree. He even called God a liar, by saying you won't die. Yeah. Even though God said you will surely die, he said God just doesn't want you to be wise like him. And isn't that how temptation still works for us today? Still to this day. Just like Eve, people who aren't in God's word aren't exactly sure what God said, or even why God gives the commands that he gives. And so just like Eve, people are easily deceived into believing that God doesn't really mean what he says. Mm-hmm. That the consequences for sin really isn't death and that sin will actually make us wiser... to the ways of the world. And so instead of running from the temptation to sin, like Eve, people often begin to reason in their minds why this thing that they know is not good for them.. Mm-hmm... really isn't that big of a deal, right? Mm-hmm. And that's exactly what Eve did. Instead of walking away from the serpent who was trying to tempt her to disobey God's clear command she engaged in the conversation considered his words, and then convinced herself.. Well, that tree does look good for food... it's pretty to look at... and from what the serpent told her, eating from this tree would make her wise like God. And so, she got a piece of fruit from the tree. Mm-hmm. So far so good. Mm-hmm. God didn't strike her dead. She took a bite. I'm sure it was delicious. Yep. This didn't seem like a very big deal. She gave some to her husband Adam, who also took a bite. Mm-hmm. And the very next moment.. Yeah, they knew that they had been deceived. Yeah. And instead of becoming wise like God, which is what the serpent promised, they now knew good from evil. They immediately knew those feelings that God never intended us to experience. They immediately knew the shame of sin. Yeah. And we know this because they covered themselves with fig leaves. Yeah. They felt the guilt of sin. We know this because they hid from God. Mm-hmm. And they felt the anger and the disappointment that we can feel toward ourselves and others when we sin. And instead of taking responsibility, they began to place blame on others. Eve blame the serpent for deceiving her. Adam blamed Eve for giving him the fruit, and then he blamed God for giving him Eve. And so all these thousands of years later, this same cycle continues to repeat itself. When we don't know what God's word says... and we don't know why he's given us the commands that he's given... we just don't see the danger in the temptations that we face, or in our disobedience until it's too late. Yeah. And then often, instead of us being willing to accept the responsibility, we put the blame on other people. Yeah. What do you think about all that?

Keidra Hobley: 5:24

Oh my gosh. I mean, the fact that it started in the garden.. Yeah... this whole concept of disobedience. Mm-hmm. And so I think even in what you just said, it really shows that God's instruction is for our own protection. That's right. And so when we disobey God, we're essentially forfeiting his protection. I love the fact that you pointed that out and started us there. 1 Peter 2:8 says,"We stumble because we don't obey God's word." We don't obey his instruction. Luke 6: 46 says,"Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I tell you?" And so if God instructs us to obey him and we don't... that's sin. And I don't think, we really see disobedience as sin. Right? Oh, you know, I, Made a mistake. I made a mistake. Mm-hmm. Oh, that's a good one. But what that is is sin, right? And sin has consequences.

Susan Dies: 6:12

Right. It sure does. You know, the Bible has a lot to say about obedience because obedience is an essential part of our Christian faith. It's through our obedience to God that we come into a relationship with him through Jesus. Mm-hmm. That's the first step of obedience right there... to simply believe him by faith. And then it's through continued obedience that we grow in our faith. So as we hear God's voice through the scriptures, as we listen to preachers and teachers, and other believers who are telling us and reminding us what God's word says and shows us by their own example what it looks like to put those things into practice... and then we choose to do it ourselves... God blesses our obedience and our faith grows. And the more our faith grows, the more we trust God. Yeah. And the more we trust God, the more we love God... and the more we experience his faithfulness. And then we begin to tell others how God is working in our lives. And many times, it's through our obedience that others are often encouraged and inspired to obey God for themselves.

Keidra Hobley: 7:10

That's so good. So there's many benefits to obeying God. That's what I'm hearing you say. That's right.

Susan Dies: 7:16

That's right. And we're gonna talk about that in a few minutes, but I wanna bring up one other point that I think is so important for us to remember, and that is, obedience is not natural to us. Mm-hmm. Right? Yeah. Obedience is learned, and just as a good parent teaches their child the importance of listening and obeying, God does the same with his children. When we come into a relationship with God as our father, because he's a good father and because he loves us and he wants the best for us, he teaches us the lessons of obedience. Yeah. And we know that even Jesus learned obedience... and you think, well, how could that be because he was perfect? But in Hebrews 5:8-9 it says that even though Jesus was God's son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered. Yeah. And once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him. So even though Jesus was God's son, God in the flesh, and he was already perfect... when he came to this earth, he came the same way as all of us do. Mm-hmm. He came as a baby, a human being, who had to grow and learn just as we do. He had to learn to obey his parents. Yeah. He had to learn to submit to authority. He had to learn from difficult circumstances. And of course we know he did learn and he did choose right over wrong every single time. And so he experienced the blessings of those right choices. Mm-hmm. The other thing we have to remember... is the Bible tells us that Jesus was tempted in all things. We like to think, well, you know, he was God.. Yeah... so it must have been easy for him. But just as when we are tempted, he had to resist those temptations. He had to choose against it. And the way he did it was by listening to the voice of his father.. Mm-hmm... the same as we do. By relying on the scriptures to guide him and on the Holy Spirit to empower him. And it says when he was made perfect... so this is talking about in his human flesh. Yes. We know that as God, he is perfect, has always been perfect, but the word perfect here means to accomplish something or to complete. So when he did everything that he had come to earth to do.. Mm-hmm... which was to live a perfect life in order to be our perfect example and our perfect savior, doing what we could never do... he then gave his life for us on the cross. Then he rose from the dead. He went back to the father in heaven... and asked the father to send us his Spirit so that we could have the help that we need as children of God to live a life that brings God glory. That's so good. Isn't that good? He in essence, broke the power that sin has over us because we now have the mind of Christ.. Yeah... to make the right choices. We have the spirit of Christ to empower us... to help us to follow through even when we're tempted to do otherwise... and as I said, one of the responsibilities of the Spirit is to remind us what God's word says so that we can make those right choices and experience this blessed life that God has for us.

Keidra Hobley: 10:05

I just wanna go back to when you mentioned about sin. Mm-hmm. Because sin separates us from God. That's right. And as we know, the further away we are from a person, the less we're able to hear their voice. Mm-hmm. It's the same thing with God. The further we are from him, the less we're able to hear his voice. I get that question all the time. I don't hear from God. Hmm. Hmm. Well, maybe we need to start with, am I being obedient to the last instruction that he's already given? I, I think that's a great thing to think about.

Susan Dies: 10:31

Yeah. Sometimes he's silent.. Mm-hmm... and he's waiting for us to make that choice. In Deuteronomy 30:19-20, it says,"I have set before you life and death.. Yeah... blessing and curse." And then he tells us which one to choose. Mm-hmm. We don't have to even think about it. Nope. He says,"Therefore, choose life that you and your children may live.. Yeah... loving the Lord your God, and obeying his voice, and holding fast to him for he is your life.. Yeah... and the length of your days." So the choice is pretty clear. He wants us to listen to his voice. Hold fast to him. And it's not just good for us.. Mm-hmm... we're being an influence on others. If we don't have natural children, then we're being an influence on the people who are looking up to us. Yeah. And so, by our choices we're showing them whether or not we truly love God... whether we truly believe God's word and willing to put that into practice. Yeah. Are we choosing God's way or are we choosing our own way? And how is that influencing other people?

Keidra Hobley: 11:31

Yeah. Lemme give a couple of verses on that because you mentioned that our obedience is displaying our love for God. John 14:15 says,"If you love me you will keep my commandments." 1 John 5:3"Loving God. Means keeping his commandments." Mm-hmm. So obedience is directly connected to our love, love with him.

Susan Dies: 11:49

That's right. God has our best in mind. Yeah. We know that as a good father, he loves us and he set these boundaries for us.. Mm-hmm... so that we can know how to live in freedom. There is freedom within the boundaries that God has set for us. Yes. We don't want the boundaries... yeah... because we think that God is trying to restrict us.. Mm-hmm... from doing the things we wanna do. But a lot of times those things we wanna do are the very things that are not good for us.. Right... that bring heartache.. Mm-hmm... and pain... and difficulty into our lives. He's trying to spare us from that. He tried to spare Adam and Eve and they didn't listen. Yeah. He's trying to spare us. Yeah. Are we gonna be willing to listen?

Keidra Hobley: 12:28

Yeah. That's the key. And it may not be bad initially, but long term he sees the end from the beginning that we don't see.

Susan Dies: 12:35

Yeah. And we think sometimes we're getting away with something.. Mm-hmm... because we don't immediately have to bear experience the consequences. Bear the consequences. That's right. But there's a verse that says,"Be very sure your sins will find you out." Mm-hmm. I mean, that verse has always stuck with me. Yeah. I learned that verse probably 20 years ago, and I've thought about it for 20 years. Right. You know, God already knows everything that we're struggling with... every sin that we commit. There's no point in trying to hide it from him. He wants us to bring it to him, acknowledge it.. Mm-hmm... confess it, and let him cleanse us from it. Yeah. And not just cleanse us... the Bible tells us that he also removes that shame. Yeah. And so we can always go to him. Yeah. What are some other verses that God brought to your mind with regard to obedience and or disobedience that you think would be good for our listeners?

Keidra Hobley: 13:24

Luke 11:28 is a great one."Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it." Like, that's it. We're, we're blessed just for obeying him. Isaiah 1:19,"If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land. Mm. But this command I give them, obey my voice, and I will be your God and you shall be my people, and walk in all the way that I commanded you, that it may be well with you." Like that's a lot of good promises. It is. In that verse just from being obedient And who doesn't want it to be well.. I do... I want it to be... well in our lives? I mean, that's what we all want... is to live a blessed life, but we have to live it on God's terms. You just said a mouthful right there. Yes, yes, yes.

Susan Dies: 14:06

I love this verse, isaiah 1:18 because this shows the relationship that God wants to have with us. Mm-hmm. He says,"Come now, let us reason together." Like he wants us to talk about it. Yeah."Though your sins are like scarlet... they shall be white as snow." Mm. He wants to cleanse us.. Yeah... but he wants us to acknowledge it. For us to experience the blessings that God has for us, we have to first come to him and reason it out together. Yeah. He already knows, but he knows that when we talk about it, we're gonna understand it better.

Keidra Hobley: 14:40

Yeah. That's so good. And so that would suggest that sometimes it is a struggle to obey him. Oh, it's a struggle. So what, what are some of the reasons why you think we might struggle with that?

Susan Dies: 14:50

I think one of the biggest issues when it comes to obedience to God is that we don't necessarily understand why he created us. Mm-hmm. You know, we don't understand that God created human beings in his image.. Mm-hmm... for his pleasure... and for his purposes... and for his glory. And I think that's part of the rub. You know, we think God created us for us. Oh wow. And that free will is God just giving us the choice to either live his way... or live this life however we choose. Mm-hmm. And whatever way brings us the most pleasure, the most power, the most fame, the most money, the most glory. Mm-hmm. We've just made life all about us instead of about him. Yeah. Yes, you know, God did give us free will... to choose to love him or not... to choose to obey him or not... to choose to trust him or not. But free will is not about us choosing us. Yeah. It's about us choosing. God. Yeah. And so God gave us the free will to love and to trust and obey him or not. But he also told us the blessings that come from choosing him.. Mm-hmm... and the consequences of rejecting him.. Yes... and choosing our own way. Yeah. So, we haven't been left in the dark. That's why he says, I've laid before you the blessing and the curse. Yeah. Life and death. Yeah. Choose life. Yes. Choose the blessing. And so he's given us all the information we need in order to make a good choice... based on his word. All we have to do is open up his word and find out how good and faithful and loving he is because he's proven that he has nothing but our best in mind. Yeah. And yet it's our own human nature that wants to reject authority because we think we know better. Mm-hmm. And yet, God has promised that his plans are better. He's got great plans for every single one of us if we will just choose to believe him, and follow him, trust him, and obey him. That's so good. What are some reasons you can think of that make it such a struggle?

Keidra Hobley: 16:42

Listen, I, I believe at the root of it is that we still wanna be in control. Hmm. That's the big one. We refuse to relinquish control. I think that we want enough Jesus to get us to heaven, but we don't want enough Jesus to fully surrender. And that's just not the way it works. Right? Yeah, last night I was thinking about the statement,"Partial obedience is disobedience." And I think there's so many ways in which we think we're obeying when we're really not. And the Lord just started showing me some examples of those. I wanna rattle some of those off that he showed me last night. The first one that I got was counterfeit obedience. Mm. You heard the story of the little boy? The teacher tells him to sit down, and eventually he decides to sit down... but he tells the teacher, I may be sitting down on the outside, but I'm really standing up on the inside. Yeah. That, that. So it's about the spirit. It's not just about what we do. Yeah. It's the attitude with which we do it. Exactly. It's not just about our emotions, it's about our motives. Yes. It's not just our lips. Matthew 15:8 says,"You honor God with your lips, but your heart is far from me." Right? That's counterfeit obedience. That's lip service. That's lip service. Literally. Here's a few more... controlling obedience. I'll do what God says, but I'm gonna do it... my way. Mm. Like he told you to go left, right then straight to get to your destination. But you said to yourself,"Well, isn't the shortest distance between two points a straight line?" And you just go straight mm. You end up at the same destination, but you did not do it his way. Right. And you also missed out on the blessing along the way that he had in store for you. Come on. That we have no idea about. That's controlling obedience. Then coincidental obedience. You just so happen to have done something in line with the will of God, but it's not like you heard an instruction and made a conscious decision to obey. Convenient obedience. If obeying God fits in with what you already have planned, then you'll do it just as long as you don't have to go out of your way to obey. Oh... I know.. That's convicting. What about conditional obedience? If God does this for me, then I'll do that for him. That's conditional. Mm-hmm. Come on. These are, these are not true obedience. Right. Circumstantial obedience. It depends. Maybe I obey God when it comes to my marriage, but I'm not trying to obey him when it comes to my money. That's conditional. Right. Right. Or maybe I'll obey him when it comes to my friends, but I'm not gonna do what he tells me to do when it comes to my enemies. I got a couple of more. Credit obedience. I cracked up when he told me this credit. I know... Credit? What in the world? Essentially you're obeying God now, so he'll bless you later. That's credit. He knows the motive of our heart. Exactly. Doesn't work that way either. And then we finally get to some good ones, some committed obedience. You've made the decision that you want to obey God. You're reading his word, you're listening to his voice and you're ready to respond. You made the commitment, you're ready to obey.

Susan Dies: 19:27

That's right. That's the love the Lord your God.. Mm-hmm... with all your heart.. Mm-hmm... with all your soul, with all your mind, and all your strength.

Keidra Hobley: 19:33

Yeah. I think that also falls into consistent obedience.'Cause we can be committed and still not be consistent. Consistent. Yeah. So consistent obedience... when you've died to self. You know your life is not your own. You live to serve Christ and to obey His every instruction with the help of the Holy Spirit. You give him your"Yes" before he even gives you his instruction. Yes. Like that's consistent obedience.

Susan Dies: 19:56

I love that. Yeah. I love that. That leads into why it's so important for us to obey God. Yeah. Because it demonstrates our love for him. Mm-hmm. It demonstrates our trust in him. It demonstrates our faith in him, but most of all, it glorifies him.. Amen... in this world. I was thinking about the fact that every good and healthy relationship is built on love and trust. Yeah. Like we cannot love someone any deeper than we can trust them. Mm. Yeah. And trust is based on truth and truth is based, not on words, but on actions. Yeah. Because it's what we do that reveals our true heart. And so it's the same in our earthly relationships as it is in our relationship with God. What we do reveals what's really in our hearts, and that's why our obedience to God is so important. We can say that we love him all day long. Yeah. But love for God is demonstrated by our willingness to love him through our obedience. That's so good. How bout the Benefits and blessings of obedience? Yeah. There's an old saying"Good is its own reward", but you know what? God wants to give us more than that. Yep. A lady named Stacy Salisbury, on The Revive Our Hearts website, was talking about Psalm 119 Mm-hmm. And she mentioned about 20 benefits that go along with our obedience. And I'm not gonna read all of these.. Mm-hmm... but I am gonna post'em on our website.. Okay, good... so when people go to listen to this podcast, if they look at the transcript or they look at our show notes, they're gonna be able to find these verses and these different benefits. But listen to some of these: Verse 2 joy and happiness. Mm-hmm."Blessed or happy are those who keep his word." Yeah. And that's so true. We're happier when we're doing what God's asked us to do because we have a clear conscience. Right? Yeah. Obedience keeps us from sinning. Mm-hmm. That's just the bottom line. You know, we want to do what God wants us to do and anything that's outside of God's will is a sin.. Yeah... no matter how big or how little, whether it's a thought, whether it's an attitude of the heart or whether it's something we actually say or do. Yeah. All sin caused Jesus to have to go to the cross. Yes. And so it is a big deal. It may not seem like a big deal to us, but it's a huge big deal to God because it cost him everything. Yeah. God's word is free counseling. Mm-hmm."Your law is my delight. They are my counselors." You know, we could save some money, couldn't we? Come on... a lot of money? Obedience guards against selfishness. Obedience gives us hope. We've talked about the fact that obedience gives us freedom. I like this word picture in verse 45."I shall walk in a spacious place for I have sought your precepts." You know, we're not boxed in.. Yeah... or restricted. God says, we shall walk in a spacious place. Comfort in times of trouble."Your promises give me life" verse 50. Beautiful. Something to sing about."Your statutes have been my song" is what it says. It's an anchor for our hearts. We talked about that on our podcast on Hope. Mm-hmm. Verse 81,"I hope in your word." Verse 93,"I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have given me life." Verse 106. Your word is a lamp into my feet.. Yeah... and a light unto my path." It tells us exactly what to do.. Right... and what not to do. It acts as a shield around us. I love this word picture... verse 114."You are my hiding place and my shield." Mm-hmm. And then finally, it gives us peace. And so this is not an exhaustive list, but these are a lot of incredible benefits that we get when we're willing to obey God. But What if we've been living in disobedience? Yeah. Because we all have... to some degree or another, at one point in time or another, we struggle with this. We just wanna remind you today that our God is gracious. All we have to do is ask him for forgiveness. Yeah, we can do that today. We don't have to waste any more time. God is waiting and ready to forgive us and to cleanse us from our sin. And so my question today as we come to a close is really, what is one thing that God's asking you to do today? Just do that one thing. Just begin today... to experience the less guilt. Yeah. And the less shame and the less regret. Let's give our whole heart and life to God and allow him to give us the fresh start that only he can give. Let him wash us clean. Let him lift our head. And go and send no more. Yes. That doesn't mean that we're gonna live this life in perfect obedience. Yeah. And God's not asking us for perfect. He is perfect. He's perfecting us day by day, choice by choice. And one day we will be perfect, as he is perfect, when we get to heaven. But until then, he's simply asking for us to love him with our whole heart, and if we'll do this, then we will obey him more often than not. Yeah. And the more we obey him, the more we're gonna experience his goodness. The last thought I wanna leave us with today is this: obedience is not the way to earn salvation or the way that we earn God's love. Our obedience is simply our response to God out of a heart of gratitude for God.. Yeah... for the gifts of His grace and His mercy and his salvation out of his love for us. So beautiful.

Keidra Hobley: 24:57

Amen. Father, we thank you so much just for the privilege and opportunity that we get to obey you. Oh yes. We thank you that your instruction is for our protection, that you know the end from the beginning. So Father, we just surrender right now, all of our thoughts, all of our will. Dear Lord, we surrender and relinquish control.. Mm-hmm... so that we can be led by you and we choose to fully obey you. We thank you for it. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.

Susan Dies: 25:25

Well, this topic of obedience was a lot to take in today, but we hope that you were encouraged by what you heard and if you were we just wanna encourage you to share the link to our podcast with others so that they too can be encouraged. And if you have an extra minute today, we'd love to hear from you. You can leave us a comment, a rating, or a review right from the platform that you use to stream our podcast, or you can go to oneyesatatime.net and leave us a text. We'd love to hear from you. In the meantime, keep loving God with your whole heart, put his word into practice, obey him, and find out for yourself just how incredibly good and faithful our God is.