Acrostic, 11

 

~ Obedience ~

 

Introduction To The Series ~ This series is all about memory devices (heavily oriented toward acrostics) which help in remembering word meanings or concepts. Most of these are not my originals and where the originator is known they are named. For the most part they are sequenced alphabetically.

 

Acrostic ~ O.B.E.D.I.E.N.C.E.

 

The Key to the Abundant Life Provided by Christ

 

Order is brought out of chaos. Meaningless confusion gives way to an understandable purpose in life when a life is lived in obedience to the Word of God.

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.”  Matthew 6:24

 

Belief and trust in Christ are essential components of true obedience. If you had complete trust (faith) in your ability to walk a tight rope, it would not matter if the rope was six inches off a carpet or stretched across Niagara Falls. So too, if you trust Christ completely, making Him Lord of your life, it won't matter how major the problem or decision that faces you; you will have the perfect peace of God with you at all times as you obey Him.

You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You. Isaiah 26:3

 

Elevation of your sight from the temporal world to the world that is yet to come. With Heaven in view you will not sacrifice the permanent on the altar of the immediate, and obedience will be the natural outcome.

And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. 1 John 3:3

 

Dependence upon God and the authority of His Word will result in a deep prayer life. And the natural result of such a prayer life is a life of absolute obedience to God.

For in Him we live, and move, and have our being. Acts 17:28

 

Indwelling Spirit of God. The Spirit is yours to comfort, guide, convict, and control in every aspect of your life. Without God's Spirit, sustained obedience is impossible. With God's Spirit you have the gentleness of God's love, as well as His almighty power.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7

 

Expectation. Expect great things from Him who not only created the world but also knows the number of hairs on your head, the All-Powerful One.

“Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:20

 

Newness of life. The Christian has new life, literally is born anew! It is not a modified life, but rather a new life is born which coexists with your former life. Life (old or new) must be fed to grow. Spiritual growth is essential—it is a result of obedience. Obedience yields a totally new and abundant life.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.  2 Corinthians 5:17

 

Confidence in the One that has proved, is proving, and will yet prove Himself worthy of your complete trust. Can you not trust the course of your small life to the One who laid the foundations of the universe? 

Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it. Philippians 1:6

 

Enlightenment. You must seek to practice that which you already know if you desire additional growth. Only as you are obedient to God will He through His Spirit enlighten your understanding with additional spiritual truth.

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe.  Ephesians 1:18-19

 

Continuous sensitivity to God's Spirit, nourishing and feeding your new life in Christ, and maintaining an attitude of prayer will yield a life that is obedient and exceedingly happy, while it anticipates Christ's return.

~ From the book: “GOD’S DESIRE: How to Please God”

 

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW blog.

 

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Bible Version: Quotations are from the NKJV unless otherwise noted.  Emphasis is added.

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Love Not the World, 5

 

~ Because You Don’t Want To Be An Enemy of God ~

 

Introduction to This Series ~ The word world does not refer to the physical world and all its creative beauty. Rather, it refers to the world system, its typical beliefs and often anti-God actions.

 

Scripture ~ “Where do wars and fights come from among you?  Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?  You lust and do not have.  You murder and covet and cannot obtain.  You fight and war.  Yet you do not have because you do not ask.  You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.  Adulterers and adulteresses!  Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?  Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.  Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, ‘The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously’?” (James 4:1-5).

 

Christ’s Prayer to The Father for You ~ “I gave them your Word; the godless world hated them because of it, because they didn’t join the world’s ways, just as I didn’t join the world’s ways.  I’m not asking that you take them out of the world but that you guard them from the Evil One.  They are no more defined by the world than I am defined by the world.  Make them holy — consecrated — with the truth; Your word is consecrating truth” (John 17:14-17, The Message).

 

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW blog.

 

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