Standing In The Last Day Christian Ministry

But He Who Stands Firm To The End Will Be Saved - Matthew 24:13

Obedience to God

Mark 9:2-10
2 And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them. 3 And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them. 4 And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus. 5 And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. 6 For he wist not what to say; for they were sore afraid. 7 And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him. 8 And suddenly, when they had looked round about, they saw no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves. 9 And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen from the dead. 10 And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean.
The first point I would like to make is that obedience does not necessitate understanding.  The Lord expected their obedience whether they understood or not. More so, he probably wanted their obedience in not telling anyone, because they did not understand. It wasn’t until they received the Holy spirit that their eyes of their understanding were truly opened. If they had not abided in His word, and were obedient to wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit to come, we would have a slightly different gospel.
John 14:23- Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

The Lord states it plainly. God’s abiding in us is conditional to us firstly loving the Lord, and secondly to keeping His commandments. But, the point is to be obedient. We are obedient and keep His commandments because we love Him. When God says do not commit adultery, does He mean for us to keep on sinning because we do not understand the reason why we are not to sin? The blessing comes in the obedience. We know for our own backslidden days(or years for some of us) that we can have a knowledge and an understanding, and still commit the act of sin. 
The second point I would like to make is that having  faith, does not necessitate having understanding. We have faith in God through Christ that He will bless our obedience, though we may not understand the hows’ or the whys’. 

The third point I would like to make is that understanding comes from the Holy Spirit.   
   It is not the wisdom or the understanding of this world that the Lord directs us to get, nor is it by the spirit of this world.
 God does want us to have understanding. You must get this point in your spirit. The understanding He wants us to get, is the understanding that comes from Him. 
 Eph 1:18   The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
 Col 1:9-11- For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10- That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11- Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;  

     So, we see in order to walk worthy and pleasing to the Lord, fruitful in every good work and strengthened in all might, we must seek after spiritual understanding. Now, unless we are obedient to His word, we will not seek after it. To not be obedient and seek after the ways of worldly wisdom and pleasures means separation from God. Spiritual understanding cannot last, apart from our abiding in Him. The Spiritual wisdom and understanding we once had, should we not abide, grows dim and fades.
Eph 4:18- Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: 


The fourth point that I would like to make is that there are different levels of understanding.
2Pe 3:17-18 Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. 18-But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen.
To not seek to grow in our understanding means our fall from grace. We cannot survive on last years understanding of the word. We cannot survive on just our knowledge of salvation. The Lord desires us to grow in Him and not remain as children.  

Heb 5:12-14   For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.  13- For every one that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.  14- but strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

There are some things that we will not be able to understand at times in our walk in Christ, or in our ministry.  

Phi 4:7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Another example of having understanding in one point, and at the same time not having understanding in another, is when I sit down to write these messages. I understand it is God’s will and purpose for me to write something. Sometimes I know what the message is, and sometimes I discern His leading and sit at my keyboard in obedience not understanding or even knowing what I will write. Sometimes I know whom I am writing to, or what denomination or people, other times, I don’t. But, I can never know or understand the depth to what my writings will have on people’s lives, because it is His word, and it will accomplish that which HE set it forth to accomplish. I simply submit myself in obedience. To wait until you have understanding before you are obedient is to never be able to be used of God. What we think is understanding one day, is minimal another. 
Here are some other scriptures that help us understand the importance of obedience. I did not copy the verses out themselves. Instead I give my paraphrase and comment next to the chapter and verse.

 1 Pet 1:2- We are sanctified (set apart) for, and to obedience. The Lord sets us apart not only from sin and it’s hold on us, but also to service and obedience to Him.

Rom 1:5- We receive grace, and apostleship for obedience to the faith for His name's sake. Not because we are deserving, simply because of who He is.

Rom 5:19- It is only because of His obedience can we become obedient. Because Christ was obedient and sinless to death, He provides us with the Holy Spirit who can keep us and make us obedient.

Rom 6:16- We are the servants to whomever we are obedient to. If we are obedient to sin, then we are the servants of the devil, if we are obedient to Righteousness, then we are the Lord's servants. One brings about death, the other eternal life. Who are you obedient to today? Who are you being obedient to in your day-to-day life style?

2 Cor 10:4-5- God gives us the authority, and the responsibility to bring even our thought life into obedience to Him. The act of intentional sin always start in our thought life. Through studying His Word, being careful of what we watch, prayer and the indwelling Spirit, God gives us the necessary tools to sanctify our thought life, and keep the enemy from gaining a foothold into our mind.

1Sa 15:22-23- And Samuel said, "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. 23- For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king."  

      The Lord wants to show you the importance of obedience and the sin of disobedience. Though sacrifice was necessary for the atonement of sin, God is saying several things here. In verse 22, He is saying that He wanted the sacrifice out of obedience to Him, not the law. Sure we go to church every Sunday, and we say the “amens” in the right places, and we fall in the spirit, and we speak in tongues. But, are we doing it in heart felt obedience to the Lord of Glory, or obedience to religion(man)?  He is saying that to be obedient is more important than the sacrifice or the burnt offering. In verse 23, shows us that it is a matter of the heart. He is speaking about habitual disobedience, which is rebellion. He is speaking about to clearly know His will, and to purposefully do the opposite. Rebellion (against the will of God, not Church “authority”) is not of the Spirit of God, so therefore must be of the Spirit of the Devil, which therefore makes it divination (being a conduit for his spirit). It is to presume to know what is better for you than the Creator, and He says it is as the sin idolatry, that is putting self, or anything else on the throne, as high as God. Rebellion against obedience to God, is to be rejected of Him.

Christ says it this way in the gospel of Mark7:21-23;
For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,  22  Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:  23  All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

Therefore, obedience to God, is really about the surrender of our hearts to Him. We can see by the Samuel verses, that He wasn’t speaking about religious obedience but a heart obedience first, and all else will follow and come forth from that.

Pray for His understanding and His discernment.