Day 27 of 31: Press Toward Faith and Obedience
Our final guest post is by Tracy Carrisquillo, an incredible woman of God. Tracy spent two years serving in Jericho (pictured) and is currently on staff at Victory World Church. She has lived a life of faith and obedience I admire and I am grateful to call her my friend.
By faith, Deborah… Led men into battle and God delivered Sisera into her hands.
By faith, Esther… Risked death by coming before the King without being summoned to save the Jews.
By faith, Rahab… Hid the spies and trusted their God, which ultimately led the walls to fall around Jericho.
These great women of faith in the Bible, were obedient to the "ask" made of them. Faith and obedience go hand and hand. Faith is trust and confidence in God, and when we trust God and believe that He only wants good for us, we can be obedient to what He asks us to do. Deborah had faith that God would deliver Sisera into her hands, Esther believed that God would give her favor with the King, and Rahab believed the Lord had already given the land to the Israelites. Because of their faith in God, they chose to be obedient to God, and were blessed.
When I gave my life to the Lord and started walking in His ways, He gave me a measure of faith to do things I never dreamed possible. It started with small acts of obedience and gradually became great leaps of faith, but each marking moment gave me a greater amount of trust in Him and faith to do the things He was asking of me. Obedience became a way for me to show my Father how much I love Him. It wasn’t legalistic; it was a deep abiding love that made me want to please my good, good Father.
Recently, my level of obedience diminished greatly. Why? Because I allowed the scale to tip towards man and away from God – fear of man and his opinion was more real than my desire to please God. Thankfully, during #ADifferentMarch, the Lord has revealed this truth to me and has asked me to be obedient again and to start by giving up something that I have been using as my crutch. I’m thankful for this March of prayer on my knees and for God bringing me back to a place where the scale is tipping back towards my GOOD GOOD FATHER and away from man.
Reflection: In what area of your life do you know you are not walking in obedience? Does it have to do with your finances? Perhaps, the act of obedience has to do with mending a broken relationship or ending an unhealthy relationship. Is the Lord asking you to go somewhere or do something that is completely out of your comfort zone. Where are you allowing man’s opinion of you to keep you from doing what God has asked?
Prayer: Father God you are a gracious and loving Father, and I repent and ask for forgiveness for the times when I have been in direct disobedience or in delayed obedience. Often times, it is fear of man that stops me from being obedient, so I ask you Lord to guide me into obedience through your Word, prayer, and fellow believers, and remove any fear that the enemy tries to instill in me. Remind me of the marking moments where you revealed yourself to me and my faith grew, so like Deborah, Esther, and Rahab I can accomplish great things for the Kingdom and You will be glorified.