March 13, 2001

Monica,

A lot of Christians are trying to do God’s will their own way. It is no wonder that the "old time religion" that some people keep singing is good enough for them is so full of songs about being weak and weary, tired and heavy laden. I guess they never read Matthew 11:30, or they thought Jesus was lying. Or maybe Jesus just hadn’t read the New Testament and hadn’t seen all the work we have to do.

I know people take the passage that says we will be witnesses, and they teach people to go knock on everyone’s door and witness. No, that passage doesn’t say we will do witnessing. It says we will be witnesses. If we are in tune with the Spirit in our spirits, we will be witnesses without even trying to be. That is light and easy.

I would guess that many missionaries gave their entire lives trying to do the great commission to go into all the world and make disciples. Unfortunately, many were not called to go, and even many who were called to go still did not seek God’s face until they were able to really flow with the Spirit and let the Holy Spirit bear the load. They probably worked harder than they needed to, suffered more than they needed to, and accomplished less than they could have.

There are a lot of good things you can do for the Lord, but the good thing might not be the best thing. In addition to that, we cannot really discern what is good without the voice of the Holy Spirit guiding us. We will do or hang onto what we think is good. The Holy Spirit might tell people to do things that do not jive with common sense. He might say, "Quit your job." He usually leads us one step at a time, so he might very well tell someone to quit his job before he tells the person what he is going to replace it with. If the person never obeys the first instruction, he will never receive the next instruction. I know both years when I came to Texas, I thought I would get a part time job. Last year the Lord made it clear that Nehm was my job. This year I went in and got an application from Wal-Mart, but I never felt right about filling it out, so I threw it away. I know now why. What a glorious winter of learning and increasing I have had all alone with God!

In 1 Samuel 15:8, the people did what seemed good to them. Samuel had told Saul the Lord’s instructions in 1 Samuel 15:3: ...totally destroy everything...put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys. That is explicit enough isn’t it? But they spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs--everything that was good. They thought it was good stuff they were keeping; God had other ideas. Guess who is right.

Saul was king, but he still feared public opinion. Many Christians suffer from that. When Samuel asked Saul why he did not obey, first Saul said he did; then he admitted he had sinned, but he said he was afraid of the people (Verse 24). Of course, we saw where Saul’s allegiance was in 1 Samuel 15:12 when he set up a monument in his own honor. Abraham, Jacob, and Moses set up monuments to the Lord when they had great victories, but Saul set up a monument to himself. No wonder he was so influenced by public opinion.

I like what Samuel says in 1 Samuel 15:22-23: "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry."

There it is again--obeying the voice of the Lord. Don’t you love hearing his voice? I want to get to the point where I don’t do a thing without hearing the voice of the Lord. I think that what shirt or dress or tie you wear has a good and a best. I want the best. Maybe the Holy Spirit would tell you to wear something you don’t even like, but that article of clothing might be just the thing that gets someone’s attention or causes some needy person to listen to what you have to say. We don’t know what is best. I love the guidance of the Holy Spirit. I want to grow to absolute obedience. I want God to be able to trust me because he knows I will hear and do exactly what he says. Half obedience is not good enough.

Love,

Dad