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Old 01-04-2010, 07:57 AM
 
Location: Flower Mound, Texas
1,837 posts, read 4,141,408 times
Reputation: 575

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Hi, I keep hearing the word "OBEDIENCE" everywhere I turn anymore. Truthfully and honestly I realize it is a Christian word and it is in the Bible many times, however the word always makes me think of some training class for dogs or something. I guess what I am saying is the word sounds harsh to me. Through the years I have often had the word used by well-meaning but judgmental Christians in a negative kind of condemning way.

Please don't get me wrong, I understand that we have to do the things God is telling us to do and I am not against that. God has a blueprint for our lives and if we don't listen we suffer consequences. He knows us best and we need to follow Him if we desire all His blessings. I believe it is sin to rebel against God.

I am really being honest here but for some reason I don't like the word "OBEDIENCE". It just sounds so commanding or controlling and I had a controlling mom... Alright now that I have been honest with you I am curious what does the Word "OBEDIENCE" mean for you???

I am interested in detailed definitions, links, etc.

Thanks,
Raelyn
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Old 01-04-2010, 08:15 AM
 
17,966 posts, read 15,924,575 times
Reputation: 1010
Obedience to me means hearkening and submission to what is hearkened to, i.e. God tells us Christ died for our sins and tells us to just believe Him concerning that. So we hear what is said and to just believe God that He is true that Christ died for our sins is equal to being obedient to what is heard.

God is not holding a club over our heads and whacking us for each little infraction. We are His children and He is the most loving benevolent Father there is.

"God is not reckoning our offenses to us."

"There is no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus."

And yet, if we are disowning Christ by our lives, then He will disown us the right to reign with Him. It is not a matter of condemnation though. Just a matter of who qualifies.
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Old 01-04-2010, 08:50 AM
 
312 posts, read 866,402 times
Reputation: 174
Am I understanding this correctly that you don't have a problem with obedience to God, you just have a difficult time with the word "obedience" itself?

If that is the case please try to think of it in a different light.... Obedience can also be a positive thing. What I mean is, as a parent I set rules for my children and expect them to obey them. Why? Not only to keep order in the home but as a protection for them. (don't touch the stove, don't run into the street...)

As our Creator, God deserves our obedience for several reasons but one of them is for our protection- just as a human parent wants to protect and preserve the well being of their own children, He wants that for us.

"This is what Jehovah has said, your Repurchaser, the Holy One of Israel: “I, Jehovah, am your God, the One teaching you to benefit [yourself], the One causing you to tread in the way in which you should walk. 18 O if only you would actually pay attention to my commandments! Then your peace would become just like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.." (Isaiah 48:17, 18)

If the difficulty is with the word itself, try thinking of it differently... Perhaps when you hear it, also think "compliance, yielding, respectful, obliging..." (Webster's New World Dictionary and Thesaurus)

Does that help at all?

Last edited by DiJay; 01-04-2010 at 09:11 AM.. Reason: forgot to add...
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Old 01-04-2010, 09:46 AM
 
Location: Prattville, Alabama
4,883 posts, read 6,198,160 times
Reputation: 822
Quote:
Originally Posted by Raelyn28 View Post
Hi, I keep hearing the word "OBEDIENCE" everywhere I turn anymore. Truthfully and honestly I realize it is a Christian word and it is in the Bible many times, however the word always makes me think of some training class for dogs or something. I guess what I am saying is the word sounds harsh to me. Through the years I have often had the word used by well-meaning but judgmental Christians in a negative kind of condemning way.

Please don't get me wrong, I understand that we have to do the things God is telling us to do and I am not against that. God has a blueprint for our lives and if we don't listen we suffer consequences. He knows us best and we need to follow Him if we desire all His blessings. I believe it is sin to rebel against God.

I am really being honest here but for some reason I don't like the word "OBEDIENCE". It just sounds so commanding or controlling and I had a controlling mom... Alright now that I have been honest with you I am curious what does the Word "OBEDIENCE" mean for you???

I am interested in detailed definitions, links, etc.

Thanks,
Raelyn
The True Gospel....to me, means that God has a set of standards and we are called to follow those standards or be obedient to what God calls us to do (i.e., Love God, Love your Neighbor, Repent, Be Holy, Be Perfect, Obey the Commandments, Deny Yourself, Walk as Jesus Walked, etc)

The Gospel of Cheap Grace says...God has no standards, that all we have to do is have faith in Jesus and we can keep on living anyway we want to as long as we believe in Jesus...because God doesn't look at the way we act or the things we do when He looks at us....He only sees Jesus.

Jesus said that being a disciple was costly and that we are to count the cost.....what cost is there in the Gospel of Cheap Grace?
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Old 01-04-2010, 10:14 AM
 
Location: Vancouver, BC
823 posts, read 1,394,634 times
Reputation: 169
To me personally obedience to God means that I will follow Jesus' teachings and make it a priority in my life to a closer connection to God. When I seek God and his Love I will lose lose things that are of a negative thought and in turn replace them with a purer love and spiritual desire and thoughts which lead to a cleansing of my heart and soul, and which means a living and thinking in harmony with the will of God.
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Old 01-04-2010, 10:31 AM
 
Location: Prattville, Alabama
4,883 posts, read 6,198,160 times
Reputation: 822
Quote:
Originally Posted by SisterKat View Post
To me personally obedience to God means that I will follow Jesus' teachings and make it a priority in my life to a closer connection to God. When I seek God and his Love I will lose lose things that are of a negative thought and in turn replace them with a purer love and spiritual desire and thoughts which lead to a cleansing of my heart and soul, and which means a living and thinking in harmony with the will of God.
Amen....if you don't walk as Jesus walked....God's not going to give you anything.
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Old 01-04-2010, 11:58 AM
 
5,438 posts, read 5,928,368 times
Reputation: 1134
Isaiah 1
18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:
20 But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

God's love is conditioned upon our obedience. God is longsuffering toward us, wishing that none should perish. But, eventually, God's love turns to holy hatred for the disobedient.

Proverbs 1
24 Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
25 But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
27 When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
28 Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
29 For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
30 They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
31 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.

Through Jesus' blood sacrifice, mercy is being offered today; Jesus is holding the Father's left hand of judgement back. But, don't be deceived, as this dispensation of grace is almost over.
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Old 01-04-2010, 06:00 PM
 
Location: Florida
595 posts, read 760,117 times
Reputation: 158
Quote:
Originally Posted by Raelyn28 View Post
Hi, I keep hearing the word "OBEDIENCE" everywhere I turn anymore. Truthfully and honestly I realize it is a Christian word and it is in the Bible many times, however the word always makes me think of some training class for dogs or something. I guess what I am saying is the word sounds harsh to me. Through the years I have often had the word used by well-meaning but judgmental Christians in a negative kind of condemning way.

Please don't get me wrong, I understand that we have to do the things God is telling us to do and I am not against that. God has a blueprint for our lives and if we don't listen we suffer consequences. He knows us best and we need to follow Him if we desire all His blessings. I believe it is sin to rebel against God.

I am really being honest here but for some reason I don't like the word "OBEDIENCE". It just sounds so commanding or controlling and I had a controlling mom... Alright now that I have been honest with you I am curious what does the Word "OBEDIENCE" mean for you???

I am interested in detailed definitions, links, etc.

Thanks,
Raelyn
Obedience is the proof we believe all the Lord speaks is true and just. Obedience is endless spiritual blessings beyond all we can imagine. Obedience is a learned process by the grace of God, proof of the working Holy Spirit and a once suffering Savior in us, for the purpose of glorifying God.
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Old 01-04-2010, 07:08 PM
 
Location: Florida
5,261 posts, read 7,644,089 times
Reputation: 852
Default ...it means true love towards God to me...it means LIFE!

...and what is this true love?

And this is love, that we walk after His commandments (2 John 1:6).

I believe God to do exactly as He promised when He said, "...I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgements, and do them" (Ezekiel 36:27).

Obedience means continually yeilding ourselves and being guided and controlled by the Spirit...not obeying the desires and lusts of our flesh, but that we are able to walk in obedience and no longer live under condemnation and guilt.

Many people read Romans 8:1, and stop after the first part that states: "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus..." but they deceive themselves because they do not apply the entire Scripture. Paul made it clear concerning those who are no longer living under condemnation. He said, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."

Obey...or not...it's a choice....it's a test from God, to see who lives to please Him or self.

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yoursleves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your instruments of righteousness unto God.
Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to who ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? (Romans 6:12-13,16).

Obedience is love toward God...and life everlasting!

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Old 01-04-2010, 07:48 PM
 
988 posts, read 1,899,944 times
Reputation: 120
Quote:
Obedience is love toward God...and life everlasting!
The wisdom of God in eight words - well done sister...

HK
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