when you’re DISOBEDIENT TO GOD

Hello friend! Welcome to the blog!

Happy Saturday! I hope you have had an amazing week so far! I can’t wait to spend time with y’all!

Fam I would be lying if I said this week has been easy- it’s has been a pretty hard week. I always want to be completely honest with y’all- I never want to act like everything is good when it isn’t because the truth is that life gets hard. We all have those weeks- those days that are just difficult. For me, I was going through a lot of spiritual warfare. The enemy kept throwing comparison at my face, and other challenges that have just been wearing me down. So if you have been having a bad week, just know that you aren’t alone. We are in this together and as long as we cling to Abba, then it will be alright. It says in Romans 8:28 that “God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.” Let’s cling to this verse and draw even closer to Abba; letting Him comfort, love, and Father us. Let Him be your strength- let Him be your refuge. Even though our circumstances and situations change, the Lord is always the same. And I will say, that my week has gotten so much better after these last couple of days! I was able to go to a Charity Gayle concert and it was AMAZING! So thank you Abba for times of refreshment in Your presence- y’all that’s where true refreshment comes from so, if you are feeling a little weary I encourage you to go spend time with Abba!

With that being said, today I feel like the Lord really wants us to talk about this topic today. I was praying and asking Abba what He wants us to focus on this week, and I heard Him tell me to talk about when we are disobedient to Him. What happens and what life is like when we make decisions that are not following, glorifying, or honoring Him. When we make decisions that are outside of His will for us.

First, we have to remember and recognize who God is. He is THE Good Good Father, the Master Artist, the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, God Almighty, King of Glory, Alpha and Omega, Prince of Peace, Everlasting Father, YAWHEW, Jehovah- the list goes on and on! He created me and you with a purpose- to have a deep relationship with Him, and to share His goodness with everyone around us. He knew us, and had the plan of our lives written out, before we were born. Even before you were in the womb, God knew you (Jeremiah 1:5)! So God knows what He is doing. And God is not a manipulative God. He has given us the free gift of His love and salvation and a relationship with Him, but He lets us choose either that, or the world. And that is because in order to have a genuine loving relationship with anybody, both parties have to choose to love one another. If it’s forced than it’s not real. God has already loved us, even when we were in our mama’s bellies, even when He dreamt us up in His mind, He loved us. And God does want what is best for us. So this is why God does allow us to feel the consequences of our choices. It’s like He is parenting us right. Like a good parent, you direct your child and if they disobey then you disciple them. It’s to show them why their disobedience was bad, the effects it has; and it’s just the reality of the act. It is like stepping off of the path and running into the ditch. When the parent comes and corrects them, it brings the child back onto the right path and shows them why they should not step off. And they won’t want to, because they know that walking on the path is so much better. It’s the same way with God. If we don’t understand the effects and weight of our choices, then we will keep going back to the same old sinful ways. But God- in His loving, Fatherly way, is showing us the impact of our choices. They not only impact us today, they impact the people around us and our eternity. So God lets us see the difference between His best and the counterfeit, which is the world. And, Abba still gives us free will.

Take Jonah for example. I’m sure we’re all pretty familiar with this story- about the prophet who got swallowed by the big fish because of his disobedience to God. God wanted Jonah to go to the city of Ninevah to preach to the people about the coming judgment if they didn’t repent. God said:“Get up and go to the great city of Ninevah. Announce my judgement against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.” (Jonah ch.1:2) Then it says in chapter 1 verse 3: “But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord.” Jonah disobeyed the Lord- He didn’t feel comfortable and was afraid of what could happen. So he stepped out of God’s will, and made a decision that took him farther away from the Lord.

When we are disobedient to the Lord, we are pulling ourselves farther away from Him. The greatest, most valuable thing we could ever have is a relationship with God. Just like what we were talking about the other week- it is the most priceless thing ever! But when we make decisions that choose the world over God, we are separating ourselves from Abba. We are putting things in the way of our relationship with Him. And we are giving the enemy footholds in our life, and saying that we know better than God. Y’all, it is actually so prideful! It is saying that we think we know better and can do better if we have control over our lives. NAH! That is not true! It says in James that God opposes the proud (James 4:6)- when you are disobedient you are literally opposing the Lord of Lords! Remember who God is? He has got it! We can trust Him! Even if it feels uncomfy or scary. Abba is going to walk through it with you, and there is going to be so much fruit and growth on the other side! We just have to be obedient in going to the places He leads us to go- doing the things He leads us to do! When we go all in for Jesus- He is going to take us to places where we feel uncomfortable. But that is where growth happens. So instead of being disobedient and pushing Abba away, embrace it and press into Him even more!

And God wants to use your obedience to impact the people around you! Just like Jonah! After he was swallowed by the fish, Jonah ran back to the Lord and then went to Ninevah. So many people in the city gave their lives to the Lord, because of Jonah’s obedience! You have no idea what is on the other side of your yes- and the only way you are going to find out is if you give it to God. God wants to use your surrender and obedience to reach His other children! And y’all, we are also representations of Jesus, so when people see us proclaiming the name of Jesus but then being disobedient to Him, then we are showing people a false image of who Jesus really is. If we are saying Jesus’ name, but then living lukewarm because of disobedience- people are going to notice. Just like the men who were also on the boat with Jonah! When the storm was just going crazy and they were trying to figure out why, they said that God was mad at Jonah for His disobedience! Our choices not only impact us and out eternity, but they do so for the people around us.

Disobedience opes the door to the enemy. It is agreeing with the devil (yep), and just literally destroys you. The bad things that happen are just the reality of the sinful choices. It is what life is like outside of the will of God. It is a very scary, dark, depressed place because you aren’t in the center of God’s will. And that also impacts your eternity. We can live in our eternity right now because of Jesus, and the disobedience brings us away from that. What the world offers is the counterfeit- don’t choose it- it only destroys you. And you could be like “Ok Ella what are the things of the world that are bad?” Y’all it’s whatever God hates- it’s those things that cause you to have that pit in your tummy- it’s the things that make you feel far away from God. It’s the things that don’t line up with the Bible and God’s character. So I encourage you to go and open up your Bibles, and invite the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the things that you need to repent of and turn away from, so you can get back into the center of God’s will for your life.

And y’all I will say, we all mess up. We are all works in progress and God is so merciful and gracious with us. But we shouldn't just be disobedient and take advantage of God’s grace. He doesn’t have to give us grace. The Lord loves to remind us of His grace and mercy so whenever we do mess up there is still room for God to redeem it and actually add more blessings and more of Himself. But it isn’t something to twist or corrupt or take advantage of. We can’t just say “oh, i’m going to go and be disobedient because I know that God has grace for me.” No! We should always recognize and live in gratitude for God’s mercy and kindness, but also in fear of Him, knowing that He doesn’t have to. God’s grace and compassion aren’t to take advantage of.

Well y’all, I hope that this encouraged you to “seek first the kingdom of God” (Matthew 6:33) and to be obedient to Abba. I hope that you realize the gravity and weight of our decisions and how much of a negative impact our disobedience can have. Let’s live for the “well done, my good and faithful servant.” All of our obedience is to give glory to the One who deserves our all and more, right y’all. He deserves our all and more, so let’s give it to Him. Let’s store up our treasures in heaven, and give Him our every yes! Let’s be friends of God; living in the center of His will- surrendering everything to Him. Trusting Him to have control- staying humble and letting Him do whatever He wants to do in and through us. Jesus gave it all for us- so let’s give Him our all.

Thank y’all so much for joining me on another Saturday! I hope you have an amazing week- I hope that you were encouraged to give God all your obedience and every yes! Let’s be the hands and feet of Jesus this week! Let’s tell somebody about how amazing Jesus is and how He can change their life! I love y’all so much and Jesus loves you more!