Becoming Strong in the Lord: Part 2 — A ‘Time With God’ Audio Devotion

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All this week, John North is focusing on becoming strong in the Lord, and shares from the apostle Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus:

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

Ephesians 2:19-22

Transcript

Good morning. I’m John North, and I’m here to begin this day with you by turning to God.

Getting God involved in our lives.

Not just asking God to help us along with whatever we want to do in life, but bringing our lives under God’s leadership.

Saying to him, Lord, not – ‘bless my agenda‘, but Lord, what is your agenda for my life?

God wants to meet with you. He wants to speak to you through His Word.

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We’re looking this week at the theme of becoming strong in the Lord. We looked yesterday at how important it is to base our lives on the Word of God. It is the foundation, the blueprint for a healthy spiritual life.

Today I want to look at some verses in Jeremiah chapter 7.

Where starting in verse 21:

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat flesh. (He’s talking about the sacrificial system they had for finding forgiveness from God). For I did not speak to your fathers or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices.

But this is what I commanded them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you will be my people, and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may be well with you.

Yet they did not obey or incline their ear but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart. (And they went backward and not forward).

Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent you all my servants, the prophets, daily rising early and sending them. Yet they did not listen to me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did more evil than their fathers.

Did you catch that one verse in the middle verse 23? Obey my voice, God says. And I will be your God, and you will be my people, and you will walk in all the way which I command you that it may be well with you.

God wants things to be well with us. He wants to bless our lives. He wants to be our God and us to be His people. But do you see what’s that the foundation of that relationship? Obedience.

Spiritual strength in your life comes from obedience to God. That’s not a popular concept these days, is it? We want to just let everyone choose their own way in life and say, Well, if it works for you, that’s great. This is what works for me.

But that’s not what God says. God says, I have shown you my way to live. Obey me, and I’ll bless your life. If you want spiritual strength in your life, you need to learn to obey God. It’s at the heart of your relationship with Him. It’s the same with parents and children in a family, isn’t it?

If the children constantly disobey their parents, it destroys the healthy relationship of that family. But when they obey their parents, there’s a wonderful strength in that family life. It’s the same in your spiritual family. God is your Father. Learn to obey Him and follow Him in all things.

I’m John North.

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