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The Light
Dr David Wood
THE LIGHT
OBEDIENCE – THE
SIXTH SPIRITUAL LAW
By
Dr. David R. Wood
We at Eastern Gate
Ministries International Incorporated greet our partners and friends
everywhere. It is my distinct privilege and pleasure to bring The Light to you
each month. I encourage you to read it, meditate upon the content and if you
have questions feel free to contact me through the website. This month I will
be talking about obedience. I can sense your excitement building already.
Excited or not this is an area that must be of keen interest for all of us. The
Bible is full of illustrations and accounts of God saying I have given you two
choices just like Adam please chose Me please chose life! God says I have a
wonderful life in store for you.
Ephesians 3:20 (KJV)
20
Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or
think, according to the power that worketh in us,
I do not want you
in the curse, in bondage to poverty and disease but to have a wonderful
overflowing prosperity, health and wholeness in every area of life.
1
Corinthians 2:9 (KJV)
9
But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered
into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love
him.
When you love
someone you make every effort to please them, to do the right thing concerning
them whether you are in their presence or not. In the garden of Eden
disobedience to the Word of God was the trigger that made Satan the god of this
world (system) and the master of mankind pending the advent of a Savior. That
Savior of course was Jesus the Christ. And Satan and his minions are still lord
or god of the world systems where people have not named Jesus as Lord. When we
name Jesus as our Lord we are instantly translated from the kingdom of darkness
to the kingdom of light.
Colossians 1:13 (KJV)
13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath
translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
You may see this
law of obedience referred to in various ways but they are all the same basic
law. For example we could call it the Law of Sin and Death.
Romans 8:1-2 (KJV)
1
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
2
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law
of sin and death.
“The law of the
Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” is the flip side of “the law of sin and death.”
They both embody the Spiritual Law of Obedience. For example let us look at
some very familiar Scripture that illustrates this law. First let us look at a
passage of Scripture that illustrates the blessing side of obedience.
Deuteronomy
28:1-2 (KJV)
1
And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of
the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I
command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all
nations of the earth:
2
And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt
hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.
Now we will look
at a passage of Scripture that illustrates the curse side of the law of
obedience. Just like there is up, there is down.
Deuteronomy 28:15
(KJV)
15
But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD
thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command
thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:
In the first
passage we see that obedience to the Word of God results in the blessing. We do
not have to look for it or even pray for it, it, the blessing, will hunt us
down. In the second passage we find that disobedience results in the absence of
the blessing and now the curse is hunting us down and overtaking us. I do not
think we have to be Einstein to figure out that the blessing is far better. If
you think the curse is better please write to me.
Take a moment and
think about the following verse.
Romans 6:23 (KJV)
23
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Here we see that
sin which is disobedience of the Word of God brings death. It may or may not be
physical death but something in your life dies. It may be a marriage, a job, a
relationship or something else. Although this verse does not clearly expose the
relationship of life and obedience it is clearly expounded in previous verses
for example verse sixteen.
Romans 6:16 (KJV)
16
Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye
are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto
righteousness?
Sin or failure to
know and do the Word of God results in death (of all kinds) and obedience
to the Word of God results in life. Righteousness is eternal life or life now
and forever as God knows life. You just can not top that. But everyday we
place all kinds of things higher than the Word of God and it is usually so we
can cater to the flesh (sin nature) and do things absolutely counter a true love
of God. We may say things like I messed up, I blew it or I did not mean to and
so on but the truth of the matter is that we sin on purpose which is to
despise or think small of the relationship we have with God, to despise or think
small of the work of Jesus. Has anyone ever had adultery by accident? When you
dress a pig up you still have a pig.
This is exactly
what happened in the garden of Eden. Let us go now a take a look at the
origin of the Law of Obedience.
Genesis 2:8-9 (KJV)
8
And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man
whom he had formed.
9
And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to
the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the
garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 2:16-17 (KJV)
16
And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou
mayest freely eat:
17
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for
in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
In the first
passage we see there are many trees in the garden but God names two of them
specifically. One is the tree of life and the other the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil. Would it be fair to say that the second tree could be called
the tree of death or the tree of sin and death based on our study so far and
verse seventeen of Genesis two? God is all about freedom of choice. There is
no such thing as true loyalty or love that is not balanced with choice.
Sprinkled throughout the Bible we find God telling us, you choose. There are
two things that bring obedience. One is fear (brings hypocritical obedience)
and the other is unfeigned love (brings true obedience). Fear is of the devil
and is a coerced obedience which is not what God is after. God did not even
create the angels to obey Him without question, He gave them free choice and one
third (Revelation 12:4) choose Lucifer’s side in the rebellion. God wants us to
love Him and be obedient because we understand that He loves us and He has our
best interest at heart. God sees the heart and He knows if we are doing
something in fear or unfeigned love. Fear is connected to the curse but love is
connected to the blessing. Feigned love is a really bad start for it is a lie,
an attempt to manipulate a situation. This is really dumb anyway but with God
from whom nothing is hid it is really dumb.
Psalms 44:21 (KJV)
21
Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.
Perhaps the
reason the blessing is not operating more freely in our lives is that we do not
have a revelation (rhema) of love and are in logos love the head knowledge level
of love. Remember we love (agape) Him because He first loved us.
1 John 4:19 (KJV)
19
We love him, because he first loved us.
We have to focus
on how He loves us and the fact that His love is sowed (shed abroad) into our
hearts. In addition our spirit man (the real us) is invested with love, the
same love as God has for we are of Him. I like to call the fruit of the spirit
our spiritual organs like the lungs are a physical organ.
Romans 5:5 (KJV)
5
And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our
hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
The word hearts
in this verse is our mind, will and emotions or what we call the soul or middle
man. The soul man or middle man is between the spirit and the flesh. He makes
the decision as to whether we will live by the spirit or the flesh. This is a
conscious decision! This is why the renewing the mind (Romans 12:2) has to be
job one.
Instead we are
working systems and formula’s rather then loving God and being eager to please
Him, to do His will. You know when you first fell in love with your husband or
wife you could not do enough to try and please them. If you fell into lust you
had a feigned or contrived love to manipulate them for your fleshly ends. Later
in the marriage if you did things from fear that was not productive either for
only real love never fails and fear is connected to the curse.
1 Peter 1:22 (KJV)
22 Seeing ye have purified your souls (mind, will, emotions)
in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren,
see that ye love one another with a pure heart (thoughts, feelings, the
middle man) fervently:
When we named
Jesus as our Lord and Savior and moved from spiritual death to life our spirit
man was made perfect or pure but our souls (mind, will, emotions) were not. We
have to purify our souls by the renewing of the mind. Did you notice the phrase
“unto unfeigned love”? Well unfortunately “unfeigned love of the brethren” is a
process that we must do on purpose. This process at its very best emanates from
a “pure heart” and we do it on purpose earnestly and intently. So how do we get
this pure heart or consciousness? By developing and having the mind of Christ!
Romans 12:2 (KJV)
2
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of
your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and
perfect, will of God.
1 Corinthians
2:16 (KJV)
16
For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we
have the mind of Christ.
In the Kingdom of
God only real love can power faith (Galatians 5:6), only faith pleases God
(Hebrews 11:6) and only faith gives us victory over the world system (1 John
5:4). So when all is said and done it is our faith that pleases God. Faith is
when we speak and take action with full conviction, confidence in and a
commitment to the Word of God, Christ Jesus.
When you examine
the sixty-three verses in the King James Bible that contain the words “fear not”
you will find “fear not” is a command not a holy suggestion. The outcome of
love which is the opposite of fear is the blessing and the outcome of fear is
the curse. Love leads us to faith or belief in God and fear leads us to
unbelief. Unbelief is sin, it is disobedience and you harvest the fruit of
death. Consider Job who operated in fear and great curse overtook him. The
following verses are his recognition of the cause (FEAR) and his repentance.
Job 3:25-26 (KJV)
25
For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was
afraid of is come unto me.
26 I
was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.
Job 3:25-26 (TLB)
25
What I always feared has happened to me.
26 I
was not fat and lazy, yet trouble struck me down."
Brother and
sister the option of obedience is the love of God in action. Please choose
obedience to the Word of God, to our Savior Jesus the Christ. He wants your
life to overflow in joy. Just as with Job your choice will affect your whole
family, choose life which is abundant life! Life as God lives life!
Deuteronomy 30:19
(KJV)
19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that
I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose
life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
Do you want the
blessing to overtake you or the curse?
Deuteronomy
28:1-2 (KJV)
1
And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of
the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I
command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all
nations of the earth:
2
And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou
shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.
Deuteronomy 28:15
(KJV)
15
But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the
LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I
command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and
overtake thee:
Choose obedience
which is life abundant joy unspeakable and full of glory.
John 10:10 (KJV)
10
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill,
and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have
it more abundantly.
John 15:10-11 (KJV)
10 If
ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my
Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
11 These
things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that
your joy might be full.
1 Peter 1:8 (KJV)
8
Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet
believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
Until next month
I pray;
Ephesians 3:16-21
(KJV)
16
That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be
strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
17
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and
grounded in love,
18
May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and
length, and depth, and height;
19
And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled
with all the fulness of God.
20
Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or
think, according to the power that worketh in us,
21
Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages,
world without end. Amen.
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