Stepping In Faith

Obedience Is God's Love Language

• Stepping In Faith • Season 1 • Episode 10

Share episode

What if obedience is more than just a duty but actually the way to express love to God? Join us as we explore this profound idea in our latest episode of Stepping in Faith. We promise you'll gain a deeper understanding of how true righteousness is a matter of the heart. Reflecting on scriptures like John 14 and Romans 12, we emphasize the critical balance between heartfelt obedience and genuine relationship with God, urging you to examine whether your actions stem from love or self-interest.

Guided by the Spirit, not just laws, we reveal how the Holy Spirit acts as our advocate, steering us toward a life aligned with God's will. Just like an employer-employee relationship can't substitute for personal connection, neither can mere adherence to religious codes replace a true relationship with God. Through insights from John 14 and John 16, we delve into the dangers of self-righteousness and the importance of staying vigilant against spiritual deception.

Delve into the heart of biblical stories, from Jesus raising Lazarus to Moses’ plea for God's presence, to uncover obedience as a relational pursuit. These narratives illustrate the beauty of prioritizing God's will over personal desires, shaping a deeper intimacy with the Father. By embracing obedience as an act of worship, not mere rule-following, we explore how to offer our lives fully to God, finding our true identity and purpose in Him. Discover the transformative power of pursuing God through obedience, unlocking answers to life's questions and enriching your spiritual journey.

Ready to dive deeper? 🎧 Join us on YouTube for the full video podcast where we explore faith, love, and relationships through a Christian lens. Whether married, single, or seeking spiritual growth, our episodes offer practical advice and profound insights to strengthen your walk with Jesus. Don’t forget to subscribe and hit the notification bell so you never miss a powerful episode. Let’s grow together in faith and purpose!
👉 Watch the full episode on YouTube now!

Walter:

Welcome back to another episode of Stepping in Faith, where, together, we explore the importance of having a relationship with God and how that relationship with God can impact the relationship you have with others. I'm your host, walter, and I'm joined here alongside my lovely wife.

Shanea:

Shanea.

Walter:

This is episode 10. Yes. What is this week's title? Episode title you don't have it Okay, Obedience is God's love language. I got you.

Shanea:

I'm sorry I just had so many notes. Yeah, I was, I was, I was blanking.

Walter:

Obedience is God's love language is this week's title. Yes, so we are believers. So the best way that we start this off which I think would be a great way to start this off is in prayer. So, babe, you want to open this up in prayer?

Shanea:

Sure.

Walter:

All right, let's do it.

Shanea:

Father God, we thank you for this day. We thank you for your love, your grace and your mercy. We thank you for everyone listening. We ask, father God, that you will give them ears to hear, that you will open up their hearts. Father God and Holy Spirit, we ask that you will use us as a vessel to your word to provide revelation and understanding to those who are listening. In Jesus' name, we pray.

Walter:

Amen, amen. Short and simple, okay. So obedience is God's love language, so this came from a conversation that I was having with God last week now yeah, yeah. Yeah, I woke up and what God was dealing with me on is that it's very easy to make obedience your God.

Shanea:

Trying to keep the law.

Walter:

Yeah, even though obedience is God's love language. He said it's important that we never place anything above Him or pursuing Him, and he said it's about relationship and God is always looking at our heart posture. So it was really key because it made me realize that, while obedience is extremely important, the biggest thing that God looks at with us is our heart posture, so your love language may be affirmations or whatever may have you, but if my main focus is just affirming you, do I really show that I'm loving you?

Shanea:

Yeah, it's like, am I just doing things out of routine, because I'm supposed to do it. Just like that little story you always talk about with the man and the flowers. Are you giving flowers because you want to give her flowers? Are you giving flowers because it's the give her flowers? Are you giving flowers because it's the right thing to do?

Walter:

okay, you're not talking to the mic, but yes, that's very true okay. I might need to just extend it oh, maybe so yeah these new headphones.

Shanea:

I can't really tell.

Walter:

Yeah, there you go okay, and so, uh, yeah, that's very important. What you're referring to is when I state that there's two men that buys flowers for their wives and there's one, when they buy the flowers is because he's showing that he's doing it because he love her, and the other one buy the flowers because he knows that's what he's supposed to do and that's relationship versus religion.

Walter:

Because he knows that's what he's supposed to do and that's relationship versus religion. And really, in a nutshell, what God was kind of dealing with me on was relationship versus religion, because religion is based on rules and regulations and it's like it's the belief that the things that you do make you righteous, and relationship says it's not the things that I do that makes me righteous, but it's my relationship with him, it's my faith in him, it's my reliance upon him that makes me righteous. Both still are required to live a life of righteousness holiness, sanctification, consecration. The only difference is one knows it comes from within and why they're able to do that, and the other one feels it comes from on and why they're able to do that, and the other one feels it comes from on the outside. What you mean.

Walter:

So one believes. Religion says that the works that I do on the outside can help change the inside of me. Relationship says it's the work that takes place within me that completely changes what I do on the outside.

Shanea:

Right, and I'm sorry, I'm a little foggy.

Walter:

No, it's fine. It's been a lot going on.

Shanea:

I'm a little foggy, but yeah. No, you're right, but the only way you can do that is through the Holy Spirit.

Walter:

Yes, yes, so that was a lot, I think. But getting into this week's episode some of the key scriptures that we have that we will be going over. We have John 14, 21, as well as 30 to 31. We have Exodus 33, 12 to 3, 12 to 23. 12 to 23. We have John 11. We have Matthew 7, 21 through 23. We have John 4 24. We have Romans 12.1. We have 1 Samuel 16.6-7. And we have Psalms 51.10-11 and 16-19. It's a lot of scriptures. We have John 14.15-21.

Shanea:

We'll put them in the description so that you guys can just kind of reference.

Walter:

Yeah, and we have John 14, verse 23. So I guess the best way to start this off is defining obedience and love. So we've already talked about what God was saying to me, what obedience is and how obedience can be used and can become a God to many of us is, and how obedience can be used and can become a God to many of us, and that it's a difference between one's desire to be obedient just because and one's desire to be obedient to show the father that they love the father. So the important, I think the important thing to take away from this is and we'll probably say this so many times throughout this episode it's all about your heart posture. So God is consistently looking at your heart posture. What type of heart posture do you have?

Shanea:

Yeah, it's like why are you doing the things that you are doing? Are you doing it for your own selfish gain?

Walter:

Or are you doing it simply out of unconditional love? So I guess the great way to start off from you. What does it mean to truly love God and how do you think obedience?

Shanea:

fit into our relationship with him. You got questions now what does it truly mean to love God, and how does? Obedience fit into our relationship with him. I do believe that what it truly means to love God how do you show God love is through obedience, right, and through that obedience will bring forth fruit. So that's how obedience fits into our relationship with him. It's to fulfill his purposes in life.

Walter:

Yeah, it's a part of pursuit in life. Yeah, it's a part of pursuit.

Walter:

It's one of the ways that we showcase that we desire a deeper relationship with the Father. And so the Bible speaks of David and said David is a man after God's own heart. The reason that was the case is David loved and hated what God hated Right, he desired him more than anything, right, so it was a pursuit after the things of God, consistently. So I think when we think about today's episode and we're switching the format up a little bit, we'll see how it goes a little bit. We'll see how it goes uh, the things that we're going to uh discuss today is the relationship between obedience, love and a deeper pursuit of god's presence sound like a lot it kind of tied together does it I think so.

Walter:

okay, so obedience versus right standing right. I think we can start with John 14, verse 21. We've read this before, and 30 through 31. Mm-hmm, do you want to read that or do you want me to read it?

Shanea:

You said John 14, 21? Mm-hmm, Let me pull it up. Oh, you can go ahead, I'm already in. I'm in NKG. I mean NKJ.

Walter:

So John 14 and 21,. This is what Jesus said. He said those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me, and because they love me, my father will love them and I will love them and reveal myself to each one of them, or each of them. Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me and because they love me, my Father will love them and I will love them and reveal myself to each of them. And then, further on, jesus said and I'm going to let you read the scripture you want to read, but it says verse 30, I don't have much more time to talk to you because the ruler of this world approaches me. He has no power over me, but I would do what the Father requires of me so that the world would know that I love the Father.

Walter:

So with both of these, with all three of these scriptures right, it all ties back into obedience, obedience being an act of showing god that you love him right yet jesus being obedient was just not because he wanted to be obedient or he wanted to be in right standing, the law it was his desire just to have a deeper relationship with the father.

Shanea:

He loved the father so much that he's like I have to show you and the world how much I love you by obeying everything that you tell me to do yeah, it's no different than like your kids just doing stuff because they know they want to hear you say I'm proud of you and I love you because you do this and not because I'm just doing it because my mom told me to.

Walter:

Yeah, so when you when I love the way this is here it was written out Jesus connects loving him to keeping his commands. Obedience is more than duty. It's a way to express love and intimacy. Duty it's a way to express love, and intimacy, and that ties back into what you just said. Yeah.

Walter:

That us being obedient to the Father, us being obedient to Jesus, is a way of creating a deeper level of intimacy and cultivating that relationship. So I think that's definitely key and I think that's really important. And then it digs further with the heart posture versus performance. We talked about this. We don't pursue right standing, but right relationship. Right. We don't pursue right standing, but right relationship.

Shanea:

Right, but we're taught the opposite.

Walter:

Yes, the focus should always be on our love for God and the way we engage with him, and so now it you touched on this before right, it's not about the whole transition or not transition transactional, like we're taught to have a transactional type love.

Shanea:

Right, like if I give you something, you have to give me something back. I give you 50, you give me 50. I give you a hundred, you give me a hundred.

Walter:

So it's a situation where we are consistently expecting something in return. So I'm doing this because this it me, this right, it's an, I'm investing and that's religion. Religion, says we, even when you look at the whole tithing system right?

Shanea:

I was just like you.

Walter:

I was literally thinking about the same thing yeah, do this in order to get this from god right, I'm gonna invest this so that I can get something from god I know I'm gonna gain something and then I'm going to be mad if I don't get it because I invested this. Exactly, we treat tithing like it's the stock market.

Shanea:

It's like what's your heart posture.

Walter:

We literally treat tithing like it's the stock market, like we are investing into the systems of heaven, and by investing eventually.

Shanea:

But you know, we can't buy God, so it doesn't even make sense.

Walter:

But that's what we're taught, and so, because of that, everything we do is transactional. I'm doing this because of this, but once again, we don't pursue right standing, but right relationship. Yeah. So obedience is all about having a right relationship with God.

Shanea:

Yeah, well, that's the whole reason why Jesus came is so that he can restore the relationship, because obviously we can keep the law.

Walter:

Yeah.

Shanea:

So you can't have right standing? No, it's not even a thing.

Walter:

After Jesus you can do within your own strength because it goes back to I can think back on times when I was so desperately wanting to try to stop doing certain things. And it was hard yes, it was very hard to like be like okay, I'm not going to do this Prior to your conversion. Prior to my conversion.

Shanea:

Yeah.

Walter:

But after my conversion, when I committed myself to the Holy Spirit I say this all the time November 26th, 2022, was my conversion date, where I encountered God he began to remove the desires. So now it's through the power of the Holy Spirit that you no longer have those desires to do those things that you was once doing. So I think that's really important, right.

Shanea:

Yeah, it is only by his spirit that we're able to keep the law. And. I have down here, cause I added some stuff in that you probably can't see. So what I said is that it is by his spirit that we are only able to keep the law. It is the Holy Spirit that leads us to the truth, and this is why Paul lets us know that we have to be led by our spirit in all that we do. And if it's not God's spirit leading you, then what spirit or spirits are influencing your decisions?

Walter:

Yeah, I think let's, let's, let's dig into this deeper, because what just came to me was good, thank you. So, to kind of expound on what you just stated, the interesting thing is this right here, we don't realize, as quote unquote Christians, that the enemy is still trying to get us to do the same thing that he get non-believers to do, or non-christians, and it is the act of making yourself your god, yeah, or it is the act of, because, when you think about religion, me doing these things, yes, makes me righteous right, I make myself.

Shanea:

I put myself in right standing when you can't, you can only do that by way of the holy spirit exactly.

Walter:

So now, once again, we look at because we're so quick to recognize the devil and satanist and all of these things and whatever you want to want to point out, but it's so hard for us to recognize him when he's active in the quote-unquote church. It's hard for us to recognize him when he's active in the quote unquote church. It's hard for us to recognize him when dealing with Pharisees and not understanding, as we've mentioned so many different times it's the Pharisees that crucified.

Shanea:

Jesus.

Walter:

It's the Pharisees that chose a murderer. I believe it was a murderer over Jesus. And so, with that being the case, it's really important to realize that even in that, that is still serving the enemy.

Shanea:

Yeah, even following religion, it's still false.

Walter:

It's still ungodly.

Shanea:

Yes, because you're not being led by the Holy Spirit, because let's just put this into full perspective Monks aren't bad people. Right.

Walter:

Monks are more morally based than Christians. Monks are more disciplined than Christians.

Shanea:

That's true.

Walter:

Many of the religious practices out here that truly follow it. And it's not tainted. They're not bad people. No. They're good people by all accounts, but you being a good person is not what is going to get you into heaven no, it's right relationship. It's relationship with god by way of jesus christ that's right it's surrendering to god, it's surrendering to j Christ. It's making him your Lord and Savior.

Shanea:

And what was coming to me when we had this conversation in the car about. I forgot exactly what we were talking about, but when you have an employer and you're an employee- and you're doing everything.

Shanea:

you're following all the codes, you're doing everything you're supposed to be doing and you have somebody else who's doing what you're doing, but they get a promotion. Why did they get the promotion? Because they have a relationship with the boss. They know the boss. The boss knows them. They recognize who they are. They don't recognize you just because you're doing all this work. Everybody else is doing the same thing.

Walter:

You're a number.

Shanea:

Yes, you're just a number, but he doesn't recognize you. He obviously knows you're an employee, that you work for him, but does he recognize you as someone who he's going to elevate, who he's going to place, not on a pedestal, but he's going to bless?

Walter:

You know, because it boils down to the fact we talked about this before. Many a call, but few are chosen. Right. And so I guess you, because you put it in here John 14, 15, 15, verse 15 to 21. Do you want to read that?

Shanea:

Yeah, yeah, I did John 14, 15 to 21. I also have John 16 and 13 in here as well.

Walter:

You want to read that, are you there?

Shanea:

I'm here, john 14.

Walter:

Beginning at verse 15. Yeah.

Shanea:

Verse 15. If you love me, obey my commandments and I will ask the father and he will give you another advocate who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him because it isn't looking for him and doesn't recognize him. But you know him because he lives with you now and later will be with you. No, I will not abandon you as orphans. I will come to you. Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also will live when I am raised to life again. You will know that I am in my Father and you are in me and I am in you. Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me, and because they love me, my father will love them and I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.

Walter:

Okay, why was that so important to include that in?

Shanea:

Because Jesus promises the Holy Spirit to guide us into obedience. We can't do it without him. That's why he sent us a helper. That's why I put it in there, because he sent us a helper. And then I have John 16, 13 in there. That says let me find it. That says let me find it. When the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own, but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.

Shanea:

And so when he the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth, and so, once you're being led by the Holy Spirit, you can't be led into deception or lies about who God wants you to be or where he's called you to be, so you aren't making this Because he don't lie. Exactly because he doesn't lie, so you're not making decisions on your own. That's going to lead you away from God because, you have the spirit of God, so it's really important that you aren't making decisions without being led by the spirit of God. First.

Walter:

That's good.

Shanea:

Because he's truth. So anything outside of that is a lie.

Walter:

And you know, once you recognize the voice of the spirit of God, once you recognize the voice of God, once you recognize the voice of Jesus, it shifts everything, because when he speaks, there's power in the truth that he's speaking. And so we think of Micah, for example, who struggled with homosexuality and he talked about how his encounter with Jesus, jesus began to speak life into him, and sometimes deliverance is essentially speaking truth, truth. The truth Sometimes deliverance is simply speaking truth to a person. Yeah.

Walter:

Speaking truth, because it all started with a lie. Many times it starts with a lie.

Shanea:

Yes.

Walter:

And so the way you fix that is through truth. We all want to go through deliverance, not understanding that there's different forms of different ways that a person can be delivered. You can have light that and I'm off topic but you can have light that you can allow the light of God to come in you through reading your word, through what you watch, what you listen to, through praying and those demons will begin to flee.

Shanea:

You can actually go through deliverance when you or someone can assist you, until you tell them to come out but those demons can't leave if you're still holding on to lies if you're still holding on to things that you think about yourself that you're not worthy that you're worthless, that you like boys or you like girls when you're supposed to like the opposite sex.

Walter:

If you still believe those lies, that demon is not going to leave, and the thing with that is that, understanding that it's important to tell people the truth. Right, it's important to tell them the truth right. So if you're struggling, you can't do that, just you can't do that with hate yeah it's the truth in love yeah, it's like you can't beat it out of somebody.

Shanea:

You can only change them with the truth. And love yeah, but a lot of times people in the church will just abandon you.

Walter:

Yeah.

Shanea:

Or they'll tell you something's wrong with you. Or they'll try to beat it out of you Instead of telling them the truth, which is that Jesus loves you. That's the truth.

Walter:

And so I think that's good we got off topic you. That's the truth, and so I think that's good we got off topic but, that was worth mentioning.

Walter:

And now we dig into what obedience is about relationship, not just action. Example is Moses, exodus 33, 12 through 23. We won't read it, but if you want to, you can definitely. For time's sake, you can definitely read it. We would recommend reading it. But just to summarize, moses desired a greater level of intimacy with God, and so Moses, basically his plea, was for God's presence. So he said if your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. And it shows that he desired intimacy more than anything else, not just direction, right, which is, which is good. He desired intimacy, not just direction, and so we've had people for, for example, question like who should I be with? And what Moses was looking at is. He showed us an example of it's not just about getting a question answered by God.

Shanea:

It's not just getting stuff from God.

Walter:

It's about the relationship. Moses looked at God and essentially said if you ain't in the promised land, I'm not going. Yes, I could lead the people to the promised land, but I'm not going without your presence, because what's more important to me is your presence.

Shanea:

It's a relationship with you. I don't want to go anywhere without you.

Walter:

I will stay in, like you got to think how deep and impactful and powerful that is, that Moses essentially was saying that I will stay in the wilderness, I will stay in the wilderness. Mm-hmm if it means me being separated from your presence. How many of us would be willing to stay in the wilderness?

Shanea:

Yeah, and that's love.

Walter:

That's love.

Shanea:

That you would die.

Walter:

You would die, you would give up your comforts Because, remember, moses came from Egypt. He had all of the comforts one could think of, because he was raised essentially as the child of a king. Yeah, the child of a pharaoh. Was raised essentially as the child of a king. Yeah, the child of a pharaoh, and so a grandchild of a pharaoh, and so, with that being the case, I believe, grandchild. Was it grandchild or was it child?

Shanea:

Child of the daughter, the daughter.

Walter:

So grandchild.

Shanea:

Or yeah daughter.

Walter:

It was a daughter, right the pharaoh.

Shanea:

Daughter of the pharaoh.

Walter:

Yeah, I pharaoh, daughter of the pharaoh. Yeah, I don't think it was the wife, I don't remember. Don't quote us. We gotta go back and let me see. I don't want it. I want to make sure we quote, quote correctly yeah, it was so, the grandchild grand the. Pharaoh, because it was a daughter of the Pharaoh that raised Moses. So I think that's key. That last part is key, that desiring God's presence more than anything, it reflects a pursuit of intimacy, not just direction.

Shanea:

Yeah, and that what we're saying brings up a good point, Cause I had also put on here um John 15, four through five, Um, and what? What came to me is it says um, no branch can bear fruit by itself. It must remain in the vine, Meaning like you have to be in the perfect will of God, right, or you have to like? In tying back to John 14, where Jesus says I am in you, you are in me and I am in God, and so being obedient leads to that fruit. So you don't have to try and do it on your own, you allow the spirit to lead you.

Walter:

That you know. I think you know. What comes to mind is scripture, where it talks about being deeply rooted in Christ. Yeah. And allowing your roots to grow even more deep. Right.

Shanea:

So it's not you going to God and asking for these things, or things to be fulfilled, or these problems that you have, and bringing it to him. It's literally like you will get everything that you need when you are part of the vine.

Walter:

Well, it digs back to. It ties back to Genesis 1 and 2, where Adam and Eve had everything they needed within the garden of Eden. So there was not a need to ask for protection or ask for provision, they just flowed. There was a responsibility that God gave to them. They knew what they were supposed to do, so they focused on doing that and God handled everything else. So I think that's so important. That's good that you made that point. Yeah.

Walter:

That you don't have to focus on that when you are actually connected to the vine. So it shifts even how you pray. Yeah. Your prayers is. Your prayer is not full of a list of demands. Yeah. Or wish lists per se Right. You're praying because you know you still deal with battles. You still deal with the enemy coming up against your family. So you take that to God and that's there. But you also approach it from the perspective of like God. I know you got me.

Shanea:

Right, I know you got me, but also I want to be more like you. I want to know your mind, I want to know what you're thinking.

Walter:

I want to be in you.

Shanea:

I want you to be in me.

Walter:

Then you will begin to find yourself in a situation where you are hating what he hates and love what he loves. Right, so that's good, that's good. So I think I'll say this and then we'll move forward. This is so good. Obedience isn't just a rule to follow yeah it's a path that leads to greater intimacy with God. Obedience literally flows out of the desire for a deeper relationship with God, not from mere adherence to rules yeah, yeah.

Shanea:

And while you touched on, that, I have also here, but I don't think I put it on here for you to see, where I put in Mark seven. Mark seven, eight basically says for you ignore God's law and substitute your own tradition.

Walter:

For you ignore God's law and substitute your own tradition. For you ignore God's law and substitute your own tradition.

Shanea:

Yeah, so like my thought was when I wrote down that we can't be so caught up in right standing and traditions brought on by culture and religion that we forget that disobedience to God's word is a sin. So when he's speaking and he's telling you to do something, you got to do it regardless if it goes against the law.

Walter:

Because the law told Jesus that he wasn't supposed to heal on the Sabbath and he's still healed Exactly. And so the law. Sometimes it's true because there's a culture in church. A lot of stuff people do in the church makes no sense, and so the law sometimes it's true, because there's a culture in church. A lot of stuff people do in the church makes no sense. It's nothing but culture. It's passed down.

Shanea:

Yeah, but the thing is is when God speaks, you don't know why he's telling you to do what you're doing.

Walter:

Or listen, listen to this A culture Okay, a culture that is not rooted in the kingdom of God is still demonic. Yes, even if it's within the church.

Shanea:

Yes.

Walter:

So, okay, let's say this A church culture that is not rooted within the kingdom of God is demonic.

Shanea:

When they're not in the vine.

Walter:

It's demonic.

Shanea:

Yes.

Walter:

Anything that is detached of the kingdom, detached away from the kingdom of God.

Shanea:

And anything that don't bear fruit is what.

Walter:

Demonic. Cursed, it's cursed, it's demonic.

Shanea:

It's cursed. We have to dig into understanding this, because it's so Just like Jesus cursed that tree because it didn't bear fruit, this is going to hurt and we have to be rooted in.

Walter:

Christ. This is so uncomfortable. This is so uncomfortable because I'm sorry, religion is not God. Yeah. Once again religion is what crucified Jesus.

Shanea:

Yes.

Walter:

Religion wanted Jesus out. Yes, religion wanted Jesus unalived.

Shanea:

Yes, and they did.

Walter:

Like. Literally, it fell within the plan of God for Christ's life and why he came in the first place to become the perfect sacrifice, but religion within itself was demonic.

Shanea:

That's why we shouldn't pursue right standing and we should pursue relationship, which is what Jesus came to teach Exactly. He always talked about him because relationship with the father, god is going to tell you things that isn't written in the law. It's going to go against the odds, and what came to me when I was thinking about this was mary and joseph. Mary was pregnant. Joseph, by all accounts, as according to society and culture, should not have married her.

Walter:

Nope, Because she had to have committed adultery Exactly Even before she sinned she fornicated he should not have married her.

Shanea:

But God gave him a commandment and said you have to marry her because this is who I called you to be with, so that I can birth forth my promise, which is Jesus.

Walter:

But if Joseph would have approached that from a natural perspective which is what happens a lot of time with religion, it's not spiritual, it's naturally based he would have forfeited everything.

Shanea:

He would have forfeited everything. But the thing is the reason why God chose Joseph is because Joseph came from David's line. Everything ties together. It's a reason. It's a reason, it's a reason it was a promise that was made to David the.

Shanea:

Messiah is going to come from your line, Joseph genealogy. When you follow it is a part of David's line. He had to marry Mary and birth forth Jesus. So it's like, no, you can't choose your partner, and I'm going to go back to it. You can't. You have to be in the perfect will of God.

Walter:

You have to be obedient to his word. Yeah, I mean, I'm not going to do that because I ain't even trying to deal with these people. No, I'm just saying it, just kind of all just ties together about not following tradition and following culture. That's true. That's true.

Shanea:

Yet to stay on topic, Because God has a purpose and he has a plan. We are on topic.

Walter:

We are kind of, but we have so much to get through that I want to get to we're being obedient. We are Now and you're speaking of Jesus, but obedience leads to intimacy, and Jesus, he's the example. Right. John 11. And I believe you put John 11 in right. Did. I Did. I put John 11?. You might have put.

Walter:

John 11 in there. Let me see God was giving so much information. Oh, I did put John 11. So everyone, please read John 11. Please read John 11. It's really good. It touches on when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, and so we don't have time to read through all of it.

Shanea:

I guess you could just tell them what happened.

Walter:

So essentially, Lazarus was a friend of Jesus. Lazarus was the brother of Mary and Martha and Mary was the one that poured down the or poured the expensive perfume on the Lord's feet and washed his feet with it and wiped it with her hair.

Walter:

So Lazarus was sick and they sent message to the Lord asking him to come to heal Lazarus. Verse 4 says but when Jesus heard about it, he said Lazarus' sickness will not end in death. Heard about it, he said Lazarus' sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God, so that the Son of God will receive glory from this. So although Jesus loved Martha, mary and Lazarus, the Bible says he stayed where he was for the next two days. Finally, he said to his disciples let's go back to Judea. Mm-hmm.

Walter:

But his disciples objected, rabbi, they said only a few days ago the people in Judea were trying to stone you and you're going there again. Jesus replied there are 12 hours of daylight every day. During the day people can walk safely, they can see because they have the light of this world. But at night there is danger of stumbling because they have the light of this world, but at night there is danger of stumbling because they have no light. Then he said our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but now I will go and wake him up.

Walter:

We dig deeper down, or go further down, where it touches on how Mary saw Jesus, and she was just distraught and it literally tugged at Jesus' heart. But he knew he had to allow this to take place. He knew Lazarus had to die, and so it's an example of Jesus showing that his love for God was greater than anything, that even if it meant going against his own flesh, he still chose to be obedient to God Because he had a close relationship with Lazarus, mary and Martha and by accounts they're his friends. So why didn't he just heal him right to save her from that pain? Because lazareth was dead for three days he could have, but he was being obedient because the obedience was greater.

Walter:

So it shows us an example that, even when it goes against how we feel right, we still submit ourselves to the perfect will of the father and we show Him and the world how much we love Him by doing so.

Shanea:

And even though we can do something, it's should we do it.

Walter:

Yes.

Shanea:

And it's always asking, because this is what we do when we're asking God a question, it's God should we do this Not can I do it, because we obviously can do whatever we want to do, because we have permissive will. Permissive will, but it's should I do this.

Walter:

Yeah, that's the key thing, and I'll read this because I think it explains it perfectly. It says Jesus exemplifies the perfect balance of obedience and intimacy even in moments of sorrow, ie the death of Lazarus. Jesus shows that the intimacy with God goes beyond external actions. It's about heart to heart connection. And so, jesus, obedience to the father was a reflection of his love and his commitment to the father's will. So how committed are you to the father's will? Father's will? So how committed are you to the father's will? Will you be so committed to the father's will that you would go through experiencing grief and suffering in order to follow his will? That's suffering.

Shanea:

Most people don't.

Walter:

That's what suffering is Not self-induced, but Jesus doing what he did in this instance, that was a perfect example of suffering. I love the Father more.

Shanea:

It's dying to yourself, dying to yourself.

Walter:

Yeah, it's suffering.

Shanea:

It's death.

Walter:

And so I want to ask this we're not going to ask every question, but how can we model Jesus relationship with the father in our own lives? Yeah, and I think I'll answer that. You have to let go of your, you have to die to self, you have to crucify your flesh. You literally have to die.

Walter:

You have to want God more than you want anything else. You have to let go of everything that you thought your life should be in order to accept and walk in what it is, that he's called for you. And even when walking in that it's not about that. It's about not being apart from him. That's more important than anything in the world. Not what I gain, not me being able to see, not the dreams, not the visions, not the whatever comes along with what God's purpose is for your life. It's simply a yearning to have a greater and more intimate relationship with him.

Walter:

Right To where you say whatever you tell me to do, I will do. Whatever you tell me to say, I will say. Whatever you tell me to go, I will go.

Walter:

That's what Jesus consistently told us it's not desiring the gifts and the blessings more than the blesser and the gifter yes, that's the best way to put it. So we are about to dig into deep waters. We got some ways to go, but we're about to dig into deep waters. This is what God was dealing with me on this is what God was dealing with me on.

Walter:

So in the beginning, right Adam and Eve, they sinned. Their sin was disobedience. God told them not to eat from the tree. The enemy came and he deceived them and convinced them to eat from the tree. And so, in doing that, what God was dealing with me on is this right here, the enemy's love language is disobedience to God.

Shanea:

Right.

Walter:

And everything he does, he tries to get us out of the perfect will of God. We show the enemy that we love him when we disobey God. Exactly, we disobey God.

Shanea:

Exactly, we disobey God's commands, we disobey his words.

Walter:

And the dangerous thing is that this is how it was presented to me. His desire is to lead people away from the will of God, masquerading as a voice that promotes self-love and self-worship. Right as a voice that promotes self-love, and self-worship, like he gets us caught up because it's like oh well, you're doing this because it's best for you and it's not wrong for you to want what's best for you.

Walter:

Sometimes you need to be focused on what's best for you, but we don't realize in doing that we are becoming our own God. And the greatest thing with the enemy, with his fall, it stemmed from pride and selfishness.

Shanea:

Right, but it also teaches us to pleasure ourselves.

Walter:

So I think that was so key.

Shanea:

Because Eve saw the fruit and she thought it was delicious.

Walter:

So I think that I'll ask you this question. Mm-hmm, thought it was delicious, so I think that I'll ask you this question how does disobedience open the door for spiritual separation and hinder our relationship with God.

Shanea:

How does disobedience open the door for spiritual separation and hinder our relationship with God. Well, we see that in the garden they were disobedient. God gave them a word and told them not to eat from this fruit or eat from this tree, and because the enemy wants us to focus on ourselves and what's good for us and what's going to be good for us which he explained to Eve in the garden this is going to be good for you because you're going to be like.

Shanea:

God and he don't want you to know that when you give in to those fleshly desires that are not led by the Spirit of God, you will sin and you'll become disobedient.

Walter:

And you'll become disconnected.

Shanea:

Right, because you'll be out of the perfect will of God.

Walter:

Yeah, well, when we think about separation from God, god hates sin, and sin is disobedience, and so I would say that, with that, it creates a disconnect every time we disobey God. Every time we disobey God, it creates a disconnect between us and him.

Shanea:

Yeah, because we're serving another God.

Walter:

Yes, so there's a lot of traffic right now. I can't hear anything.

Shanea:

I can't hear anything.

Walter:

I can. So I would say the disobedience in a way, based on what we've read and based on what we've seen happen in the Bible and based on the way God explained it. The reason disobedience separates us from God is because it's a direct way of us showing, without realizing it, that we don't love them.

Shanea:

Right, and it leads us down a path of sin, sinful behaviors.

Walter:

Yes, but like, if I'm doing stuff right, if you and I are together and I do things that would basically hurt you and, in a way, show you that I don't want to be, I'm like I'm showing you about what I do. Right. I don't want to be bothered with you. That will begin to create a disconnect.

Shanea:

Yeah, Because you're you're saying one thing, but you're doing another.

Walter:

Or let's oh my gosh, yeah. So the way that disobedience thank you, scratch all of that the way that disobedience separates man from God is being disobedient to God places you in a position where you become ashamed to be in his presence.

Shanea:

Yeah, and that's what we touched on in the last one, and when I was reading the Isaiah, ezekiel, ezekiel, that it goes back to Ezekiel, I believe, 16, where we were talking about idolatry.

Walter:

Yeah, it starts with Adam and Eve.

Shanea:

Yeah.

Walter:

Because the first thing the Bible says after they ate from the tree, that they immediately realized that they were naked and they were ashamed.

Shanea:

So it brings forth shame, and we did talk about that I think in the first episode, second episode, he said he will give you over to your idol and you will come back because you will be ashamed. So disobedience or sin?

Walter:

and just at the basic, and people may disagree with this, but it's true Disobedience is the actual sin right. The sin itself is disobedience. There's acts, there's things that we do, but at the end of the day, sin is disobedience to God. Yes, Sin is disobedience to God because we get so caught up in stuff and judge people because ours isn't as noticeable Right. But anytime you disobey God, you're sinning against God If God has told you that you're supposed to do this and you're not supposed to do that and you do it anyway.

Walter:

That's sin. Right.

Shanea:

Simple. It's simple, Not complicated, Just because it's not written down in the book. In the law it's still sin. God told Isaac not to go to Egypt. Yeah.

Walter:

There's not a law saying that Isaac has to stay out of Egypt. Right, god told Isaac not to go to Egypt If Isaac would have been sin because it would have been disobedience to God. Just like God told Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree, the sin was the disobedience. The sin was doing what God told them not to do. So let's not get so technical that we're like okay, well, God didn't say this specifically in the Bible, but what did he tell you? What did he tell you?

Shanea:

Right, because he knows you better than you know yourself. Yeah, he has. He has everything written down in a book.

Walter:

So cause we are looking at time Um true worship.

Shanea:

What do you mean? True worship?

Walter:

True worship. You want to read that. John four and 24, and I'll get um romans 12 and 1 you said john 4 and 24 for god is spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth

Walter:

and so what I wrote down here is understanding that God is spirit and calls us. Worshiping God in spirit and truth is understanding that God is spirit and calls us to worship him through a deep, authentic submission to his will. And the reason that that was said was because of Romans 12. It says and so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice, the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. This is truly the way to worship him that digs back into Jesus, saying that God is spirit and we must worship him in spirit and truth.

Shanea:

Right and give your bodies so him and me, me and him. Mm, hmm, mm hmm, mm, hmm.

Walter:

So true worship is becoming a living, holy and consecrated sacrifice. Yes, it's about offering our whole lives to god, not just through rituals right or songs or tradition or tradition or culture or culture, but in every aspect of our daily walk. So our life become a living worship song as they would say we think worship is just you singing a worship song.

Shanea:

Right Worship is the way that you live your life. Worship is how you live your life, because we are altars.

Walter:

Yes, we are not only altars, we are temples. We are temples, we are temples. The Holy Spirit dwells within us. We are temples.

Shanea:

And what do you do in temples?

Walter:

You worship, you worship are temples, and what do you do in temples? You worship. So true worship, then, is total submission to god's will, not just outward obedience, but a heart completely yielded to him. We can keep going, and we can keep going because we got so much good stuff here. We see an example of that with Samuel right when Samuel went to and this is coming out of 1 Samuel, 16, 6 through 7.

Walter:

When Samuel was looking for the king to replace Saul, the Bible lets us know that he saw one of David's brothers and he was like immediately, this got to be king, he looks like a king. He looks like a king.

Shanea:

He built like a king.

Walter:

And God immediately corrected Samuel and said stop, men, judge by their outward appearance, I judge by their heart. It's not who I call to be king. Keep looking. It's all about the heart posture Right, psalms 51, verse 10 through 11, verse 16 through 19.

Walter:

And I'll read these because they're so important. Let me see Psalms 51, verse 10. It says create in me a clean heart, oh God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. Do not banish me from your presence and don't take your Holy Spirit from me. Verse 16 says you do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one. You do not want a burnt offering. The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart. O God, look with favor on Zion and help her rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Then you will be pleased with sacrifices offered in the right spirit, with burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings. Then bulls will again be sacrificed on your altar, if your heart isn't right.

Walter:

God don't want your sacrifices.

Shanea:

We've seen that with Cain and Abel.

Walter:

And that's why God was saying you can be obedient to me as much as you want, but your heart posture is wrong. I don't want it. The scent that it gives up I don't like. That's essentially what David was saying. You don't care about this unless the heart posture is right, unless you have a broken spirit. There has to be a place of humility. Your heart has to be in right standing with God so that God will accept your offerings, and your offerings just isn't money, your offerings is obedience.

Walter:

Let's dig into that, and I don't know if we've touched on it before. The church will get you to believe that the seed is the money you give. No, the seed is the obedience. The seed is not the amount, it's not what you give your seed can be. You sowing your time. Your seed can be. God told you to do something and you did it. Your seed is tied to your obedience.

Shanea:

It's tied to your heart.

Walter:

posture Exactly Total surrendering to God, because God don't care about your offerings? No, he don't.

Shanea:

If it's not coming from a place of love of a place of humility.

Walter:

Exactly, and so I think we got some stuff. You want to touch on the practical ways to pursue God through obedience.

Shanea:

What's that nine Mm-hmm? Through obedience. What's that nine Mm-hmm? That obedience should be an ongoing pursuit of God? Mm-hmm. Not a one-time act.

Walter:

Why is that so important?

Shanea:

Why obedience should be an ongoing pursuit of God. Mm-hmm. And not a one-time thing.

Walter:

I know, but I'm just. Why is it so important? Why is it so important for you to consistently pursue obedience in God?

Shanea:

So you could be in right standing. What? Tell me why I don't. What? What's the answer you're looking for? Because you look, you're looking at me like you want me to answer it the way that you are thinking about the answer.

Walter:

So if I stop pursuing you and our marriage and our relationship, what happens with our relationship?

Shanea:

It dies.

Walter:

Exactly. That's why obedience to God is so important and that's why the pursuit of God is so important. Your heart posture, because anything that you don't pursue, or when you don't pursue a relationship, the relationship will become stagnant. That's true. It doesn't change the fact that God stops loving you. You stopped loving him. Yeah. It's not that God drew away from you, you drew away from him. God didn't draw away from Adam and Eve, they drew away from him.

Shanea:

That's true.

Walter:

They had consequences associated with the decisions they made, but they became ashamed.

Shanea:

Yeah, draw near and I'll draw near to you.

Speaker 4:

Exactly, so that's what that says, yeah, draw near, and I'll draw near to you Exactly.

Walter:

So that's what that says, and the ways that we do this is through prayer, through being in our scriptures, is being mindful of what we listen to, mindful of what we watch, and just really submitting our entire life to God, making sure, because there's all of these different sectors within our lives. You can't say, oh God, I'll submit my job to you, but I'm not going to submit my relationship.

Shanea:

Oh God, I'll submit my relationship to you, but I'm not going to spend time with you.

Walter:

Yes, it's everything.

Shanea:

I'm only going to spend time when I need something.

Walter:

I'm only going to spend time when I'm in trouble.

Walter:

Who are you calling first when you're dealing with stuff? You calling on God? Who are you going to first to say, yeah, I thank you for waking me up in the morning? Who are you speaking to throughout the day? And so it's like all of these things showcase and put you in a position to where you can pursue God and then you can have the power of the Holy Spirit to allow you to remain in the position of consistently submitting to the will of God for your life, which is obedience. And that's what we dig into Galatians 5, where it talks about allowing the spirit of God to lead your life versus being led by your flesh. Flesh wants you to be disobedient to God. Spirit of God always wants you to be obedient. Right.

Walter:

So I don't think this was this long distant today.

Shanea:

No.

Walter:

It was really straight. Yeah, I have some other stuff, but yeah. What do you have?

Shanea:

I don't know I might put this in here Practical ways to pursue God, through obedience Also. By pursuing God, you come to know who you are Very true, as you pursue God, god also reveals who you are.

Walter:

Romans 12, 1-2. I believe that specifically is verse 2.

Shanea:

And what I have in here is Jeremiah 29 through 11. 29, 11. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. And so, as you pursue the Lord, he starts to reveal his plans for you. While you're also getting to know him, you're getting to know yourself, because he's going to reveal things to you. He's going to reveal truth to you about yourself and about, obviously, the kingdom of God. He's going to give you mysteries. He's going to show you wonders. He's going to give you gifts.

Shanea:

And all that's cool, but in order to know who our true identity is, we have to continue to pursue God, yes, and we begin to continue to pursue God, yes, and we begin to find our identity in Christ.

Walter:

And to add to what you said, there's Romans 12, verse 2, don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect, understanding what God's will is for your life is found in the pursuit of God.

Shanea:

Yeah, and also being able to trust him. And as you trust him, then you won't be able to lean on your own understanding.

Walter:

It would become muscle memory to lean on God. Paul talked about when he was going through trials and tribulations, that they were to the point, the brink of death. But in the point of being to the brink of death, what ended up happening is they learned to trust and rely on God. And this is 2 Corinthians 1, chapter 1, verse 8 through 10. He says we think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed, beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. In fact, we expected to die.

Walter:

But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely on God, who raised the dead, or raises the dead, and he did rescue us from mortal danger and he will rescue us again. We have placed our confidence in him and he will continue to rescue us. So, even in the midst of submitting to God, sometimes it may seem as if you're in some dark times, but you got to trust that God will rescue you. And in the midst of trusting that God will rescue you, he will. But it teaches you once again to have total reliance on him, like it taught Paul. Right.

Walter:

And that's what Paul was saying Like we've been through this once and I see them do it.

Shanea:

The thing is in this constant examples in the Bible where you have to keep your focus on God, keep your focus on Jesus. Even when Peter was trying to walk on water, he kept his focus on Jesus. Once he took it off, he was in the water.

Walter:

Exactly so. I think that's good. I think we've made some really great points.

Walter:

So even in hard times like Meshach, so I think, just to encourage everyone, take away from this don't treat your relationship with God superficial. Don't approach it as a superficial relationship and expect to experience his glory. The glory of God comes through intentional pursuit and obedience. Obedience is the pathway to deeper intimacy and greater manifestation of God's glory in your life. So it's so easy to approach God and the relationship with God as if it's a superficial relationship, it's only surface level. We can't do that and expect to experience God in all his glory, god's glory, experiencing God's glory comes through pursuit, consistent pursuit. We have to desire him more than anything else and then, within doing that to those who have questions that we've seen in the comment section and things of that nature you find that in the pursuit of God you find those answers in the pursuit of God.

Shanea:

And I know sometimes it feels like I want to give people more, like a better answer, but the only answer I have is that you have to draw closer to God so he can reveal all the truths to you.

Walter:

That is the answer.

Shanea:

That's it.

Walter:

There's nothing else, sorry. And it's a beautiful thing because at the same time, it teaches you to hone into his voice and have an understanding of his voice, because we aren't your gods.

Shanea:

No we're not. We provide you with revelation from God, but we are not God.

Walter:

And we have to go through the same process and we continually have to go through the same process. There'd be questions we have that were like we need an answer now, god, and sometimes he don't even give us the answer. No because he don't have to. No, because he's God. Job Job was a prime example of that. He's God. He don't have to answer you. Many times he will, but sometimes he don't, and sometimes him not answering you is an answer. Right.

Walter:

So I think that's a good place for us to stop. This has been good. I think it's a great discussion yeah um prayerfully. This has been a blessing to you all. I know this week's episode might be a little bit shorter, but I think it was directly.

Shanea:

We said all that needed to be said.

Walter:

Yeah it was precise and straight to the point so we can try and go a little longer, but not gonna push it. No, not gonna push it, so we pray that this was a blessing to you. Uh, we appreciate your support. Definitely do be in the comment section. I see you all comment a lot on instagram um share it if you are enjoying this. If this being a blessing to you, let us know how.

Shanea:

Share it with others? Yes, so it can be a blessing to them, those who need to hear it.

Walter:

Yes, Like, comment, subscribe. And we just pray that this continue to be a blessing. So until next week, we'll see you. Then We'll see you then. Bye, goodbye.