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The ABCs Of Christian Survival And Growth Reviewing - Introduction To: Keyword Obedience

PERSPECTIVE is a word that is forever engraved in the forefront of my consciousness. It's a word that was given to me by our Father and one that He's given me an understanding of the incredible necessity to posess in order to understand Him. It's a key, and an incredibly important one. If you look back at some of the other things that I've written, you'll see it come up repeatedly - either directly or indirectly. I can, and probably have, gone on and on about it - it's that important. I can choose to try to understand our God with human understanding ... and I'll fail miserably every single time. But His perspective isn't something I come by without effort. It isn't something we just have. By our nature, we're endowed with the perspective of our flesh - and in my own way of describing it - it's like an infectious disease. It affects everything in our spirit. It clouds our vision, our understanding and our judgement - it persists to determine our actions, decisions, our relationships and even the strength of our faith.

Ok, so it's important and it's not just something we're necessarily born with, so how do we get it? God in His omnipotence (posessing of all power) can of course choose to just give it to some, but in my experience it's one of those things that we have to earnestly ask and seek Him for. Ok, why is this so important and why are we talking about it now? Because it determines our understanding and resultant response to everything and it's also the key to recognizing the importance of another key - OBEDIENCE.

I know for myself as a kid ... it wasn't a popular word. It most often meant doing something I didn't have a desire to do in my flesh and was generally not filed under the "Pleasant" heading in my known vocabulary. But as I matured, I grudgingly began to appreciate that there were often valid reasons for it to exist. As a parent, I now know that it's a critical element to my children's well being and safety. My perspective regarding the word obedience obviously changed. As a child, I saw it as a limiting boundary or an unwelcomed and required obligation. But as a parent I knew it was necessary to protect my own children from things that could harm or even kill them both physically and/or spiritually.

If you haven't realized it already, I have news for you - in the house of our Father we're still kids! As kid's we tend to see from a child's perspective and our ability to see things differently directly speaks to our level of spiritual maturity. As a parent, we come to know and appreciate the obedience of our children. As His children, our Father knows that our deep appreciation for the incredible value of His requirement of our obedience can come from a couple of ways. Our God has promised us many incredible things - but there's always a key to receiving them. I believe there are a number of people who become disillusioned in their relationship with our Father because they don't see the reward of His promises in their lives. I see some of these same people become spiritually sulkey and pouty because of it - just like the little kid who didn't get the promised ice cream after dinner because he didn't clean his plate at the table. Well for those, in tenderness I have to say this: no good father rewards his children for disobedience and your true Father is as good as good gets! So we shouldn't be surprised. He's not going to stop being good, so in order to change this situation, we have to change. There's no other way. But the wonderful news is that if we're genuinely sincere, our big brother (Jesus) will help us if we ask Him to. Remembering always that we're only gifted to be a part, to be redeemed as a member of our God's family by the sacrifice of the One who chooses to call us His brother. How great is His love!

It's my belief that our God would always prefer that we come to value His demand for our obedience because we trust Him to know what's best for us (just like a loving father would). And that we understand that it's by being obedient to Him, that we enable Him to reward our decision by the fulfillment of His promises in our lives. Never should it be that we only obey in order to get reward, but instead that we obey because we trust - have faith - in what He tells us. Trust is a huge element in our ability to have meaningful relationships and definitely a required key to enjoying the relationship with our Father that He so desperately desires to share with us. See our situation as He sees it - as a loving and doting yet righteously uncompromising Father who knows that this isn't yet the life He has planned for His children. This life here is only the beginning - our childhood. See life from the perspective of the eternal being He made you to be and the Father child relationship that you have with Him - that's the way He sees it. Our relationships here between children and parents can give us insight into the very real one that exists between us, the children, and He as our Father - parallels of spiritual perspective.

Pray seriously for His perspective and be amazed at how much He really wants you to see from His point of view. He knows what's best without question, but seeing from His perspective helps give us understanding that only draws us closer to Him ... right into His loving arms. That's what He wants from us!

I pray our Father blesses you richly with His love. Walk in His Spirit,

Your Brother Who Walks Beside You

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