Obedience to the Lord: Devising an Action Plan

Jesus answered and said, “I thank You, Father . . . that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes” (Matthew 11:25).

“All of God’s revealed truths are sealed until they are opened to us through obedience. You will never open them through philosophy or thinking. But once you obey, a flash of light comes immediately. Let God’s truth work into you by immersing yourself in it, not by worrying into it. . . . If you obey God in the first thing He shows you, then He instantly opens up the next truth to you. You could read volumes on the work of the Holy Spirit when five minutes of total, uncompromising obedience would make things as clear as sunlight. Don’t say, ‘I suppose I will understand these things someday.’ You can understand them now. And it is not study that brings understanding to you, but obedience. Even the smallest bit of obedience opens heaven, and the deepest truths of God immediately become yours. Yet God will never reveal more truth about Himself to you, until you obey what you know already. Beware of becoming one of the ‘wise and prudent” (Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, entry for October 10).

This week we will create an action plan for each of our short-term goals. Whether you have stayed caught up with us or haven’t yet really started, I encourage you to go ahead and do it. This really can be done in one focused evening.

By doing these exercises, we are actually setting ourselves up to live according to God’s will. Unless we have a plan, we will not regularly read our Bibles, pray, fast, minister to our children spiritually, etc. If your personality balks at schedules, think of this is a matter of obedience. If you live only by how you feel at the moment, your spiritual life will be sporadic at best. And if you are one who thrives on schedules, remember not to be rigid. God will mess up your plan! Without a plan, we simply drift through life, not really getting anywhere in particular. (I can’t believe how much more progress I’ve made this year spiritually by learning to live a focused life than I did in all my previous years of walking with the Lord.) The great thing is that living this way actually makes room for spontaneity. We prayerfully plan, submit all our plans to the Lord, and then follow His leading. He will bring holy spontaneity to our plans by throwing in something we didn’t expect. Then it becomes our joy to obey and flow with Him.

Submit yourselves, then, to God . . . (James 4:7, NIV).

In the past, I have thought of submitting my plans to the Lord sort of like submitting a plan for review or opinion. I get God’s input, but then I have the final say. But that is not the meaning of submitting to God. To submit is “to yield oneself to the authority or will of another” (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary). It is like dancing. One partner leads while the other yields to every slight touch of her partner, consciously submitting her will to his. So let us yield to the Lord in this dance of life. Let’s listen to Him, following His every move, in the way that we live our lives, consciously directing our steps to follow Him.

We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps (Proverbs 16:9, NLT).

Homework

Create an action plan for each short-term goal (i.e., what you are going to do daily, weekly, etc., to put this into practice). This will be used to directly plug into our schedules next week.