A WALK IN OBEDIENCE TO GOD’S WILL

Obedience is the basic principle in the family life of God. The Son’s incarnate life opened the door into the home life of heaven and let us see that obedience to the will of the Father is the secret of its happiness and harmony. Indeed, Christ said that obedience constitutes the family tie.

Matthew 12:50

“For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

Obedience is likewise the basic principle in the heavenly holy order of which Christ is the Head. To become the Head of the Body He was “obedient even unto death,” and each member of the Body partakes of the fullness of the life He bestows only through obedience to the obedient One. The preciousness and permanence of our abiding in the fellowship of His love is determined by our obedience to His will, as He was obedient to His Father’s.

Hebrews 5:8-9

“Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.”

John 15:10

“If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.”

Obedience is the basic principle in the Kingdom of God. There, God’s will is everything. The peace, joy, content of heaven are due to the fact that there, God’s will is done perfectly. So, life in the Kingdom of God is conditioned upon willingness to do His will.

Matthew 6:10

“Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”

Matthew 7:21

“Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”

Nothing short of loving obedience can keep us in harmony with God because in His family, His society, and His Kingdom, His will is sovereign and supreme.

In yielding his life to God, the believer acknowledges that God has a right to expect obedience from him, and he accepts God’s will as the invariable standard for literally everything in his life. By voluntarily choosing the rule of Christ instead of that of self, he places himself in the center of God’s will.

Then begins the practice of the will of God in a daily, hourly, moment-by-moment walk. Oh! What a difference there is, soon found, between accepting the will of God in principle and submitting to it in practice. It is one thing by one decisive act to put the hand into God’s and say, “Father, I have come to do Thy will,” and quite another thing to keep it there in the daily walk of life saying, “Father, I delight to do Thy will; it is my meat and drink.” Under the pressure of some particular need or the power of some special inspiration, the step out of self-will into God’s will may be taken without realizing that the step must lengthen into a continued, sustained, habitual walk.

We often make the mistake of thinking that life lived in the will of God means all sunshine and no storms; that to be filled with the Spirit means exemption from temptation and suffering. But it is not so. A few days ago, I started for a walk down a mountain road. The sun was shining brightly, and I anticipated the pure delight of a beautiful sunset over the lake and an unclouded view of the mountains. But before long I walked straight into a rainstorm, and for half an hour rain and hail came down upon me. There was nothing to do but walk right on, which I did, and came out later into the sunshine again. Both the sunshine and the storm were allowed by the Father in heaven. So, we find it in our walk with Him in daily life. Two things are bound to be encountered in a walk in obedience to the will of God; one is the temptations of Satan, and the other the testings of God.

Every step of the walk in the will of God will be contested by the evil one whose own greatest sin is self-will. He seduced God’s first man into disobedience and self-will, and the persistent attack that he made upon the second Man throughout His earthly life had but one motive behind it — to deflect Him from a walk of implicit obedience to His Father. The Spirit-filled man is now his chief target, and the temptation of disobedience is the one fiery dart above all others that he constantly aims at him.

The devil tempts the Spirit-filled man along the line of presumption. He tempts him to go beyond the will of God in the matter of the Spirit’s manifestation. He says to him, “If thou be Spirit-filled, then speak in tongues.” Many earnest people today are being led astray by thinking to prove their reception of the Spirit’s fullness by some outer, visible, spectacular manifestation rather than by His inner supernatural presence in power. In this, they go beyond the will of God because they go beyond the Word of God.

Satan tempts also through another form of presumption, to lag behind the will of God. He tempts the Spirit-filled man to rely upon his spiritual attainment and to neglect the study of God’s Word for personal growth. Resting in his supposed permanent fullness, he begins to live on stale manna; to rely for strength upon his own often-repeated testimony; to trust in an unconsciously receding experience. More than one Spirit-filled person has lost his fullness by attempting to live off of it without a constant replenishing.

The devil tempts the Spirit-filled man along the line of pride. The Holy Spirit’s motto is “Christ everything”; Satan’s motto is “Anything but Christ.” So he tempts the Spirit-filled man to look away from Christ and look unto himself. He has achieved a real victory when he gets the Spirit-filled man to rejoice in his fullness and to testify regarding his blessing rather than to rejoice in the Giver of the fullness and to sing praises unto the Blesser. The grave danger of fixing one’s eyes upon an experience, however exalted and blessed, instead of upon Him who bestowed it was expressed very tellingly by Spurgeon when he said,

“I looked at Christ And the dove of peace flew into my’heart; I looked at the dove of peace — And it flew away.”

The one who places such emphasis upon the blessing is very apt to look reproachfully upon those who have not had a similar one. He becomes self-righteous and indulges in criticism and Phariseeism. He looks down upon others with a “holier-than-thou” attitude, which is evidence enough of the diminishing fullness of the Holy Spirit.

Source: “Life on the Highest Plane,” by Ruth Paxson

Lord, it is impossible for us to be obedient without You. We praise You for being our example of how to do the Father’s will. When we are tempted by the enemy, Satan the devil, You cause us to be victorious.