He alone is my rock and salvation, my stronghold; I won’t be moved. Psalms 62:7
As is the case many times, the Lord woke me up by speaking to me early in the morning. There are also the times when the adversary speaks so you have to be careful and discern which it is. Which is pretty easy actually. If the thoughts in your head are about worldly things or drama you are dealing with, it is the adversary. If it is about truth and scripture it is from Yeshua.
So this morning it was all about hearing and obeying God. And started with John 3:16 about “if you believe…you are saved.” We all have heard that verse and most see it is a simple salvation process. I believe Jesus Christ is the Lord so I am saved.
And a part of the message was because of a conversation I had yesterday with a guy I never met before but has a daughter in the school of our kids. And our conversation was actually very good. He seems to know what I know, and knows we must hear and obey. He mentioned however how he street preaches sometimes and gives a card which says salvation is free. Which in a way it is, in another way it costs you everything.
You do not pay for it financially, nor work your way into it. BUT, if you are truly saved you must hear and obey which cost you sometimes everything. It cost me everything I had worked for up until I died onto myself.
The modern religious teachings do not understand it and make it free without changing. Repent means to change and go another way. Specifically the “way” of the Lord Yeshua. Hear him and obey him. Obedience costs you a lot. It can cost you everything you thought was important.
So this morning the Lord Yeshua showed me a few verses, nothing new, but ties into the conversation from yesterday. Which is:
My sheep hear my voice and follow me, they do NOT know the voice of a stranger and will not follow him.
It is 100% completely truth, as I hear his voice in my mind and know it is him and obey him, good things come from it even if short term suffering is involved. The suffering is normally because of a misconception I have of how it is supposed to be, and the Lord needs to get rid of it so it creates suffering. Sometimes the suffering is because of other people, like the Jews made Yeshua to suffer because their theology did not line up with what Yeshua said, and they did not want to change so they changed it for themselves by killing him.
At times I get frustrated because it seems no one is listening to a word I say, they just ignore it completely. But then on the other hand I am glad because as long as no one listens or hears anything I say, then no one will be upset and come after me. But MAN, I really want people to know this truth which sets them free, which they seem to ignore and ignore me in the process.
Which brings me to the second verse from John 18:37 “those who are of the truth will hear my voice.” He made it clear, along with the verse about “I did not know you…away from me you who practice lawlessness.” That you cannot know the truth without knowing him. And to believe in him (John 3:16) means you must hear and obey him. You cannot say I believe if you then turn around and ignore what he says and disobey him. We must know he is all powerful and knows it all, and what is best for us. So if we choose to ignore his voice and follow our own ways of unrighteousness. Then it shows the truth that we actually do not believe in him, even if we say we do.
I believe in him because I know when I hear his voice and do what he says to me, even as crazy as some of the things he told me to do are. It always is in my best interest and leads to righteousness which leads to salvation.
As I keep reading through the old testament it is the same message, hear and obey unto righteousness. If you do what he says you will do works of righteousness. There is no option not to. If you do not listen to his voice and obey him, your works cannot be righteous no matter how good they are.
And that is the judgement, do you hear him and obey him onto righteousness, or do you ignore him and remain in your sin?
The verdict is still out on the guy I met Thursday, as I have met a lot of men who seemed to know what I know in Yeshua, but then when the rubber meets the road they are religious and revert back to something a man said about easy salvation. It is so much easier to preach or tell someone an easy way to salvation and believe in it. But to hear the Lord and obey everything he says is not really anything anyone wants to hear and do.
As for me, I will serve nor listen to anyone else other than the Son, Yeshua. He is my rock, he has proven himself to me many times over. I know when I hear and obey it is always going to turn out very good and I grow.
Which brings up one last point of something that happened yesterday, which was my birthday. My daughter Amber gave me a card she made, which said a lot of good stuff. But the part which almost brought tears to my eyes was “I love you more than anyone, You teach me to be strong and not listen to the mean people who say bad things.”
Yeshua said you will be like your teacher. When I read this it was exactly that, she was turning into my teacher Yeshua who taught me this same thing. Other people’s opinions are not my business. Nor are they my daughters.
The emotions were not because of her saying she loves me the most, but because she is learning and listening so she becomes stronger in life. Because in reality that is what Yeshua is doing, teaching us to overcome and be strong in him. To not worry about men and what they think or say, but only focus on the truth.