October 26th, 2015

The Word of Grace Devotion for the Week of October 26, 2015
Better To Obey
Jonah 1:1-3, “Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” 3But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.”
Beloved, Jonah was a man who wanted to serve the Lord just like many of us desire to serve the Lord. I believe that Jonah served the Lord until the Lord wanted to send him to some place and to someone where he did not want to go. Jonah rebelled and resisted the Word of the Lord. There is so much to learn from this portion of Scripture.
Practically speaking it speaks to us concerning our everyday obedience to the Lord. Each day as we open up the Word of God to cleanse our hearts and minds and to provide direction for our lives we are given promises to receive and commands to obey. Each day we are faced with the choice like Jonah: are we going to obey the Word of the Lord or are we going to rebel against His authority?
The Lord desires that we obey His Word as 1 Samuel 15:22 says, “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.”
God called Jonah to go to a pagan, Gentile city and call them to repentance. Like Jonah we also have been called to preach the Good News to a lost and dying world: Matthew 28:19-20 says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Beloved, sometimes God calls us to do things that we do not feel like doing and to go places that we do not want to go. Our response is first to make certain that it is God doing the calling and secondly to obey His Word! To obey is better than sacrifice and when we obey we will always reap more than we sow. We can never out give the Lord!
Beloved, I pray that you will have a blessed week. As you read your Bible this week, remember to be obedient to His Word; be a doer and not just a hearer of God’s Word! I love you and I will be praying for you!
 
In Him,
Pastor Joe