PROPHETIC WORDS

A CALL TO RADICAL FAITH AND OBEDIENCE

by Lyn Packer

I recently stood on the top of Mt Nebo in Jordan, where Moses stood overlooking the promised land. It was here that God spoke to him and told him that he would not be entering the promised land because of his disobedience.

As I stood there I felt the presence of the Lord come over me as He began to speak to me about His children. He shared with me that, like Moses, many of His people have not seen the fulfilment of the things that He promised them because of disobedience. For some people, the choices they made have meant that they could not enter into the fullness of His promises to them, and in other cases it has meant that the promises were aborted before they entered into them at all. While that was a heavy word, it was not all that the Lord shared, and what He shared next brought me much hope for the church. He shared with me that He is about to bring the church into a time of radical harvest and that this harvest would need radical faith and radical obedience. He reframed my understanding of what obedience meant as He shared with me His heart to see His children receive all that He has promised them.

God is calling us all up into a new time of commitment, a time where we weigh the cost and make a choice - that we will obey in order to enter the promises. This commitment is not based on having no choice, but on having a choice, and willingly choosing submission to His will, His heart’s desires, because of love.  

Reframing our understanding of obedience

The word ‘obey’ has a connotation of command with it, yet in the New Covenant God does not command us as servants; He asks us to willingly partner with Him, and gives us assignments as sons.

We are called in Him to be ministers of the New Covenant. “And we have such trust through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the [a]Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” 2 Cor 3:4-6.

The word ‘ministers’ here means “one who is sent on an errand, a waiter, minister, one who serves, teacher or pastor.” This ministry is a willing serving role where we give of ourselves freely to Him and to others because we have freely received (Matt 10:8).

As sons and daughters we have choices and our choices have consequences. These are not the same as the consequences a servant faces, whose choice is to obey or disobey a direct order from their master. Their lives are lived, and choices made, because they understand that they are under the command of their master.

As New Covenant believers we obey and cooperate not because we have to, as a servant does, but because in doing so we give the Lord a gift of our love, honour and trust as sons and daughters. Our obedience is a willing submission of our desires to His, an act of love within family.

We hear His heart and desires in the assignments He sets before us and we come into agreement with what He wants to do. In doing so we willingly submit our desires to His and obey. We obey and cooperate, not because we have to, but because we understand that in doing so we give Him a gift by our obedience. We say, “Yes” willingly because we know by experience that He is faithful and trustworthy. He knows best. He is full of wisdom, He sees all possibilities and makes provision for them, He is the greatest strategist of all and will never ask us to do something that we cannot do with His miraculous help and provision. He knows that we can indeed do all things through Him who strengthens us (Phil4:13). We know that when we cooperate with Him He unleashes a torrent of Spirit resources from the Throne of Heaven to get the job done.

Have faith, be strong and courageous

Many of the things that God will ask of us in the days ahead will seem huge and will take radical faith; some would say blind faith. But faith is not blind, just as obedience is not blind. Walking in faith is based on the foundation of trust. We can step out in faith because we know that God is faithful and will keep His word to us because He has proved it time and time again, in our own lives and in the lives of those who have gone before us. He will be as faithful to us in this instance as He has been before. Faith steps out knowing that He can be depended on to keep His word, to provide all that we need to get the job done, and that He will often do so miraculously. Knowing these things, our faith and obedience is not blind, it is based on the proven faithfulness and trustworthiness of God.

The harvest that is ahead of us will not happen because of confidence in ourselves and our abilities; it will happen because of confidence in God and courage on our part. Courage is a key word for the season we are entering into. Many times in Scripture, as God gave His people new assignments, He said to them, “Be strong and courageous” (see a list of verses on courage at the end of this word). To step into the promises of God will take courage, but that courage is not based on an uncertain hope that things will work out. We can have courage because we know that we do not enter this alone; God is with us every step of the way. He will fight with us and for us, He will work alongside us, and will do what we cannot.

God is bringing us into a time of radical harvest that will call for radical faith and obedience. It is time to step up into a greater place of maturity and trust in Him, and as we do, we will see the biggest promises that we’ve ever received from Him fulfilled before our eyes, and the greatest harvest mankind has ever taken part in. Let us not be those who miss out on entering into the fullness of our promises because of disobedience; instead let’s be those who with faith and endurance receive the promises because we trust and obey.

Some verses on courage for you to study.

Deut 3:16; Josh 1:2-9; 1 Chron 28:20; Psa 27:1; Psa 56:3-4; Isa 41:10,13; Rom 8:15; 1 Cor 16:13; 2 Cor 4:8-11; 2 Tim 1:7; Heb 13:5-6; 1 John 4:18.

This prophetic word was published in the Elijah List on Oct 9th 2018 http://www.elijahlist.com/words/display_word.html?ID=20940

BIO