i am at a place where i am pondering TOTAL OBEDIENCE.  do i sin daily...yes!  do i fall short...yes!  but i am purposing to be obedient like never before.  i am hearing Holy Spirit more clearly and learning to trust the Spirit residing in me, and acting out what i think He is telling me.  it's everything from stopping to help the lady with the flat tire when i'm in a hurry, or just praying with my wife and kids even though i'm tired and want to go to bed.  i just want to be obedient.  there are millions of areas of obedience that we could note: what we view on the internet, how we speak to others, do you drink, do you smoke, do you flirt, hiding your finances, are you obedient with the tithe.  you and i could write a hundred pages on things in our lives that require obedience that we just ignore.

but, if i am willingly obedient, the Lord can begin to PURIFY me.  once i have established a position of obedience to Christ, He can begin doing a work in me.  if i'm not obedient to deny my flesh, deny materialism and the quest for materialism, i don't think God can work as effectively on my heart.  i have too much crap that is in the way...i can't hear His voice, I can't see the work of His hands, i can't discern situations.  i have to have purity to see and hear clearly.  i need a cleansing that can only come from God.   

CHANGE comes after i have yielded to being obedient in all aspects of my life, after the Lord has started purifying me and cleansing my heart from years of yielding to the flesh and materialism.  all of a sudden, i am having victory over things that i used to give into.  i can more clearly discern situations and act with total confidence in what Holy Spirit is speaking to my heart.  also...and this is exciting...this would be the time that others would begin to notice a change.   

GOD's GLORY...we all want to sense and know His presence.  wherever He is...that place is Holy.  and in that place, i can't be dirty, filthy, sinful and be in His presence.  i need to be humble, serving only Him, not drawing glory or attention to myself.  and, am i really supposed to see God?  even moses, had to bow...he could not look upon God's face.  why would i think it would be any different for me?  it's not.  and i need to be humble and prostrate in my spirit when we sense God's presence.   

i want to see God and i want to see His Glory.  whatever i was doing before wasn't working.  everything...home life, church life, my success in work, my christian walk...it was all the same.  lifeless, gutless, going throught the motions.  so, my new strategy starts with Total Obedience to Christ and we'll see what comes next.  I am being purified even now, and i sense a change is forthcoming.   

Why is this a message important?  although i was a Christian, in my mid twenties i didn't have a clue, didn't have a mentor, didn't know what i needed to do to be effective in my Christian walk.  i was winging it...i had some successes, but many failures.  i needed to be obedient to the Holy Spirit, and i wasn't and it stole from my effectiveness as a Christian leader in my home, my work, and church.  it has stolen from my effectiveness as a father.  maybe you needed to hear this because you are waffling between the world and trying to act like a Christian. 

would you pray and ask the Lord to show you something about Total Obedience?

God Bless you in your journey...chen