The Five Minute Friday prompt this week is … Embrace. You can click at the bottom of this post to get to Kate Motaung’s site and read all that has been shared on this word.
Last night at 11pm just before heading to bed, a quick scroll revealed the five minute prompt. Walking down the hall to the bedroom, the thought comes to pass this one up as not a single thought was coming.
In the early morning light, I google because I am pretty sure the word will not appear in Scripture, only discover – I am wrong.
It’s the word of faith that welcomes God to go to work and set things right for us. This is the core of our preaching. Say the welcoming word to God””“Jesus is my Master”””embracing, body and soul, God’s work of doing in us what he did in raising Jesus from the dead. That’s it. You’re not “doing” anything; you’re simply calling out to God, trusting him to do it for you. That’s salvation. With your whole being you embrace God setting things right, and then you say it, right out loud: “God has set everything right between him and me!” (Romans 10:10, The Message)
Salvation is such a curious thing to me. The memory of committing my life to Christ is firm in my mind. I know I am saved. But we truly do work out our salvation every day in the process of sanctification and our lives being transformed to be more like Christ.
And that is some hard stuff.
Over the last few days, I felt compelled to do something, to reach out to someone. To be honest, it was something that in my flesh, I did not want to do.
In the stillness one morning, I felt the Lord saying {not aloud but in my heart}, “Are you willing to obey? Freedom will be yours.”
Obedience came on the third day. It took a bit for me to get my courage up.
It did not turn out the way I had hoped. But then, we are not in control of the responses of other people. We are only in control of ourselves, at best.
Upon getting off the phone, several thoughts immediately came to mind:
- “Lord, what was that?”
- “Why nudge me when You knew how it would turn out?”
- “Obedience stinks.”
All said openly and with sincerity to the Lord. And in the stillness of that moment, came the response … “Yes, I know. Obedience put me on the Cross.”
Processing comes slow to me, with a tendency to think a matter through long and hard. But the light began to dawn one morning shortly after.
When we do the hard thing, and obey – it is our own freedom which comes.
Yesterday was the first time I did not get off the phone, a mess of tears and with a raw heart. First time. And this morning I realized, this was the freedom the Lord brought.
We think obedience should be easy and joyful. But it is hard and it will cost us. BUT … we reap the benefits in His time.
Embrace … funny that it means to encircle, to wrap our arms around and clasp close.
An embrace is exactly what is needed in our lives. We cannot pick and choose when and how and which parts of the Gospel we will obey. We must embrace full obedience or it is not obedience at all. It is in obedience we discover that God is setting everything right.
We must embrace all that God instructs us so that we can embrace all that He has for us.
Today I am joining … Five Minute Friday and Faith Filled Friday and Faith ”˜N Friends and #DanceWithJesus and Fresh Market Friday .
This is the real story of obedience. Not the neatly wrapped, see all worked out just peachy kind we think it should be. This is the one I needed to be reminded of. Thanks Joanne
Debby, it was what I needed to be reminded. Obedience is not easy but it is always reaps a benefit.
Love this thought that obeying in the hard things brings freedom even if the results aren’t what we hoped for or expected. I also love the verse with embrace. Reminds me of Romans 5:1 that says we have peace with God. Linking with you today.
It was very telling to me that although things turned out differently than I had hoped, there was freedom to be had, and this was the reward I received. Blessings!
Embrace full obedience. Ouch. That is good encouragement to begin the day, Joanne, even though it’s hard. Thanks for sharing your insight on this word!
Full obedience. Fully embraced. Yields blessed in Him 🙂
Working it out. Every.single.day. And then one day in a difficult, yet extremely ordinary day one gets yellow roses in the mail and colors on paper telling me I’m a friend. TWUE WUV!!!
Susan, it is always a joy when we receive a message most unexpected 🙂 May you keep working it out, running your race, knowing it will be worth it all! xo
Oh,yes, this echoes in my heart today! “We must embrace full obedience or it is not obedience at all. It is in obedience we discover that God is setting everything right.” Thank you for sharing hard, but such good thoughts. I actually linked back to one of your posts this week, over at my blog. Thank you for the heart-stirring words you share here! –Blessings to you
Bettie, so grateful we can encourage one another!
This is a beautiful and timely reminder (I’m a conflict avoider, so I totally get this!). Thank you for sharing your wisdom!
Anita, I am a conflict avoider who always wants things to be right with everyone. So grateful we can leave these sorts of situations with Him. Blessings to you!
Oh Joanne I see why my post resonated with you; yours does with me too! A few months ago we went through an ugly church situation. We knew it would be bad, but we had NO idea how bad it would really be. We were in obedience, but your three bullet points ended up being our exact thoughts.
“Lord, what was that?”
“Why nudge me when You knew how it would turn out?”
“Obedience stinks.”
And the Holy Spirit also nudged us to consider Christ on the cross…praise God!
Christy, He truly knows and understands everything we go through! Our high priest who can understand because He faced all of the same testings as we do (Hebrews 4:15). May we always consider the Cross!
“We cannot pick and choose when and how and which parts of the Gospel we will obey. We must embrace full obedience or it is not obedience at all.”
So true. Thanks for sharing your obedience story, even though it didn’t turn out the way you wanted. It’s good to realize that fact since a lot of the time it doesn’t turn out the way anybody wants! He has a reason for all of it …. and once again, we have an opportunity to trust.
Jerralea, it was so eye opening to me to realize that it was my obedience not the outcome which Christ was wanting. May we obey and trust Him in all things.
THIS: “An embrace is exactly what is needed in our lives. We cannot pick and choose when and how and which parts of the Gospel we will obey. We must embrace full obedience or it is not obedience at all. It is in obedience we discover that God is setting everything right.” I’m in the 6 spot this week.
May we both fully embrace full obedience as we continue on with Him. Blessings!
“We must embrace full obedience or it is not obedience at all.” So true, Joanne! Your neighbor 14 at #fmf this week.