Obedience - God's Right to Rule.

"I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me." -Isaiah 46:9


     "When we receive Christ as our Savior, we literally receive Christ! His Spirit takes up residence in us. We receive His liberating Spirit, but we must understand that the freedom never leaves the bounds of His Spirit.  Therefore, our liberation is expressed as a reality only in the places of our lives where the free Spirit of God is released. We are free when, and only when, He is in control. 
     Reflect again on the words of 2 Corinthians 3:17: 'Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.' Freedom and lordship are inseparable partners in the believer's life. When we read that freedom can be found anywhere the Spirit of the Lord is, we can take it literally. 
     Freedom becomes reality when we yield to the authority of God. We are as filled with the Spirit as we are yielded to His lordship. Although the Spirit of the Lord is always in us, He floods only the parts of our lives where He is in authority. Freedom flows where the Spirit of the Lord floods. 
     This point brings up an interesting question. Have you ever noticed that you can experience freedom in one part of your life and remain in bondage in another? Sometimes we allow God to have full authority in one area while refusing Him in another.
How, then, can we be fully liberated? Can we study God's Word until we finally experience freedom? Can we pray ourselves into freedom? Can we rebuke the enemy so thoroughly that we experience freedom? No. Until we choose to withhold no part of our lives from His authority, we will  not experience full freedom. The answer to liberty is withholding no part of our lives from His authority.
     Again, allow me to stress that obedient lives are not perfect lives. Obedience does not mean sinlessness but confession and repentance when we sin. Obedience is not arriving at a perpetual state of godliness but perpetually following hard after God. Obedience is not living miserably by a set of laws, but inviting the Spirit of God to flow freely through us. Obedience is learning to love and treasure God's Word and set it as our safety."


From Breaking Free by Beth Moore, Chp. 30 God's Right to Rule


Rewards of Obedience - Duet. 11