Hear and Obey God

Good morning, Happy Souls!

Bill Keller wrote a wonderful devotional today
that I highly recommend to you.  He has given
me permission to copy his e-mails, and I'm sure
he would be happy if you would share this with
people you know as well.

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL    THURSDAY NOVEMBER 10, 2005
(1 Samuel 15:22, Joshua 1:8, Exodus 19:5,
Revelation 22:14)

Hearing God is one thing, obeying God is another! 
The other day I received an email from a man that
had been watching the Liveprayer TV program for
some time.  God had moved on his heart recently to
get rid of his jewelry. For some reason, he felt
his jewelry had become an idol, something that
was hindering his relationship with the Lord and
God was speaking to his heart about simply getting
rid of it.  He contacted me and said after much
prayer he wanted to donate the jewelry to Liveprayer
and let us liquidate it and use the funds for the
ministry.  I told him that I was honored he
thought of us and wanted to make such a sacrifice. 
We arranged to meet the next day.

Now, for those who know about jewelry, you
understand that it is one of the worst investments
you can ever make.  Just because you paid $3,000 for
an item at Zales, does NOT mean you have something
that is worth $3,000.  That item will bring only
$300 if you  went to a pawn shop, and even if you
sold it, you are probably not going to get much more
than $2,000 in a best-case scenario.  In fact, the
ONLY jewelry that has any investment value are
high-end pieces of $50,000 and above, and even when
liquidating those pieces for cash you will rarely
get anything close what they may are worth.

I met the young man outside a Bennigan's and we sat
and talked for about 30 minutes.  I got to know a
bit about his life, he shared some of his struggles
with me, and I prayed for him and for God's
blessings on his life as he continued to follow the
Lord.  He gave me a bag that contained his jewelry
and I left to meet with a couple who was going
through a divorce. Several hours later, I finally
got home and had a chance to look at the items this
young man had donated to the ministry.  Several
rings, a gold bracelet, a necklace, all total
probably about $1,000 worth of items.  I was
grateful for his generosity, but most important,
encouraged by his willingness to not just hear God,
but obey God!

That is my message to you today.  I have talked to
you in the past about how to HEAR God.  That is
obviously very important.  However, after we hear
God, we then have to OBEY God!  That can often be
easier said than done.  God speaks to us in many
ways.  Most times, He speaks to us through His
Word, through our time in prayer, through others,
and through our circumstances. As I have shard
often, the more we practice "hearing God," the
better we become at hearing His voice.  The key
is, God will never contradict His Word.  When God
speaks to you, it will always be in line with His
Word. That is the major test to knowing if it is
truly God's voice.

Again, hearing God's voice is important, but after
you hear His voice you then need to obey His voice. 
This is where our commitment to the Lord gets
tested.  Many time, we hear what God is saying to
us but we don't want to obey Him.  This is usually
the case when He is calling us to do something we
dislike, or calling us to make some sort of
sacrifice.  Sacrifice is really not something most
people want to hear.  We love to hear about
blessings, but really don't want to hear about
sacrifice.

We claim to love the Lord, but the true test of
that love comes when He calls us to sacrifice
something for Him.  Sacrifice calls us to give up
something precious.  That something precious can be
money, it can be possessions, but in most cases it
is OURSELVES!  You see, the greatest sacrifice you
can make to the Lord is YOURSELF!  You have nothing 
more valuable to give to Christ than your life. 
The fact is, when you accepted Jesus into your heart
and life by faith, part of that process is the act
of giving your life to Him.  The Bible says that we
have been bought with a price, that it is  no
longer our life any longer but that we belong to
Him.  So when the Lord speaks to you and you are
faced with the opportunity to obey His voice, you
are really only giving Him what He already owns
anyway....YOU!

I love you and care about you so much.  I know that
this is a very challenging word today.  We are all
called each day to obey God's voice.  Throughout the
course of the day God will speak to us, and not just
hearing his voice, but obeying his voice is what we
are required to do as His followers.  Obeying God
often calls for sacrifice on our part.  Whether
it is sacrificing our time, talent, or treasure,
ALL WE HAVE BELONGS TO HIM! So in essence, He is
only asking us to give Him what already belongs to
Him anyway.

I thank God for young men like I met with the other
day.  For this young man, it was a HUGE sacrifice to
give up his jewelry.  But he heard God's voice
telling him this is what God wanted him to do and he
was obedient.  God will always bless our obedience! 
Let me say that one more time.  GOD WILL ALWAYS BLESS
OUR OBEDIENCE!

I am praying for you today, that as you hear the
voice of God in your life, that you will not just
hear His voice but obey His voice.  God has a
purpose and reason for what He asks us to do. 
Rarely do we fully comprehend that purpose or
reason, but that is not our job.  Our job is to
simply be obedient and do what God is calling us to
do no matter what that may be.  May you take time
each day to not only hear God's voice, but be
faithful to obey God's voice.

Thank you for your love, prayers, and support of
all God is doing each and every day here at
Liveprayer.  It is friends like you that make all
we do each day for so many possible.  May the
Lord's richest blessings be upon you and your
family as you faithfully serve and follow HIM.

In His love and service,
Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller

***If I can help you in any way you can contact me
through my personal email at bkeller@liveprayer.com

***ARE YOU 100% CERTAIN WHERE YOU WILL SPEND
ETERNITY?  The fact is you will die one day.  At
that moment, you will either spend eternity with
the Lord or be cast into everlasting darkness
forever separated from God your creator.  To know
for certain you will be forever with Jesus, go to:
http://www.liveprayer.com/bdy_salvatn.html

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(C) Copyright 2005, Bill Keller Ministries. All rights reserved

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May God bless you as you learn from this message!

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell