TO OBEY OR NOT TO OBEY by Nina Keegan

TO OBEY OR DISOBEY.. EVERY DAY WE ARE FACED WITH THESE CHOICES...

 Reading today about the death of Saul in first Samuel 31 .. I realized that there are 2 tales of obedience and of the lack there of all intertwined.

Saul was tall physically but small in God's eyes, his sin made him ugly even though he was very handsome and his lack of faith made him very weak.. Saul was dedicated to himself, he was self serving..

Saul was rich but he was spiritually bankrupt.. Saul tried to please God with tiny spurts of religiosity. Do we ever get in the flesh and then try to back it up by twisting the word to fit our own agendas? Well.. Meet Saul! ..Saul had a disobedient strong willed,spirit. Saul faced death the same way he faced life. He took matters into his own hands without thinking of God or asking God for his guidance.

In the end, Saul's poor choices and lack of obedience was the death of him. What stands out to me is that when Saul knew he was finally cornered and at the very end of his rope, with nowhere to turn, knowing that if the enemies captured him he would greatly suffer; he yet again took matters into his own hands and asked his right-hand man to kill him..

1 Samuel 31:4-6

Saul groaned to his armor bearer "take your sword and kill me before these pagan Philistines come to run me through and taunt and torture me."But his armor bearer was afraid AND WOULD NOT DO IT.. So Saul took his own sword and fell on it. 

When his armor bearer realized that Saul was dead, he fell on his own sword and died beside the King. Saul, his three sons, his armor bearer and his troops all died together that same day.

The armor bearer had had a choice to make. He knew that if he would have slain Saul even though the king had ordered him to do it, he would have been disobedient to God. There's a great difference between following an order with which you don't agree and following one you know is wrong. It is never right or ethical to carry out a wrong act no matter who gives you that order or what the consequences for disobedience may be.  We must always have courage to follow God and his laws above anything earthly or our own personal desires. 

The armor bearer had a choice of whose rules he would follow, would he follow his king or God? He had to choose the hard road..but he had to choose eternal life even if it meant that he would lose his own. He would not stand trial before God for the crime of murder. He chose to be obedient.

God LOVES obedience even when it's so hard.. When we know we are to do that hard thing and we are disobedient, and when we like-wise do what we shouldn't, we will also suffer the consequences even if we don't immediately see them.

 There will always be consequences for disobedience!

Always! 

 Great and epic spiritual lives are built by stacking times of obedience one on top of the other. Like a brick, each obedient act is small in and of itself but in time, the acts of obedience will all pile up and a huge wall of strong character will ultimately be built..This is the greatest defense against sin and temptation. 

This strong wall of obedience brings layers and layers of protection. We should strive for consistency in obedience each and every day. Build your strength !! Fortify your hedge, your protection! God is trusting you and with each lesson learned and obedience task mastered.

 You are moving to a new level with God. He begins to trust you with more and more. He builds our character one brick at a time.. He mortars our bricks together with love, mercy kindness and patience and favor.

We do not want to spend another year in the wilderness, let's amen God and get to the promised land now. Let's receive the blessings here and now that God longs to give us an bestow upon us.

Be obedient to those nudges you feel.. Follow peace! 

God is NOT the author of confusion or chaos ..if he's called you to do something, or not to do something, he will always confirm it. 

Ask God for revelation ask for confirmation and step out and do that which he has called you to do.

I promise that you will be so glad you did!

Obey God like Abraham.. Even when it makes no sense to you. Faith is not always logical but obedience serves a purpose higher than we can imagine and the blessings on the backside of obedience are amazing!!

Daniel 9:12 - And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."

1Peter 4:16-17

Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

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GOD RESTORES WHAT IS BROKEN by Nina Keegan

I was reading in Exodus the last few days when the Lord pointed this Gem out to me and then gave me great understanding in what He wanted us all to know..

Exodus 34:1

Then the Lord told Moses, "Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones. I will write on them the same words that were on the tablets you smashed.

This scripture is referring to the stone tablets that the 10 Commandments were written on. Moses worked tirelessly writing and chiseling the words on to these granite tablets only to go down the mountain and find that the Israelites had grown tired of waiting for him and decided to create their own God to worship there by melting down all their gold and creating a golden calf.

Moses was outraged that after all the Lord had done for them and all the miraculous events that surrounded them and they would still turn to worship a false God.

In his anger at this audacious realization, Moses hurled the stone tablets smashing them to the ground. 

But in reading the scripture above and reading the passages before and after.. What stood out to me is that the Lord asked him to chisel out two more tablets but then he said "I"   Yes GOD would write the same words that were on the tablets that Moses had smashed.

GOD WOULD RESTORE WHAT WAS BROKEN .. Even though it was broken in anger God still expedited the restoration, he did not make Moses labor and rewrite all of the Commandments himself. God stepped in and he wrote it. God took pity on Moses and all the hard work that he had put into this project. There was such mercy and kindness in God's restoration process.

The restoring would come quickly as I could imagine that God would supernaturally write 

These commandments so swiftly and effortlessly.

I can imagine Moses was watching in complete awe and relief.

I look at how God overlooked the humanity of Moses and forgave him for his anger..

God understands us, he knows we are human he knows our flaws and our weaknesses and he is so quick to forgive us all of our iniquities, but what I love is that God goes one step further and he personally restores us...hallelujah we serve such a good God!

I am reminded of the scripture in Ephesians 3:20

God will do exceedingly abundantly more than we can ask or think..

God's restoration of the tablets for Moses was his exceeding abundance of kindness mercy and love towards him. 

It was God's great understanding at how Moses must've felt. He knew Mose's heart, he knew Moses was a man of God and he also knew and understood why Moses would be so angry... God understands ALL that we go through.

I imagine Moses was walking back up that mountain shamefully mortified; not only at what had taken place with the Israelites ..but now he was to face God on the issues of how he had acted in such anger. I'm also quite positive, he was not looking forward to the grueling carving of recreating the Commandments.

God so graciously knew what he was thinking he knew he was tired angry and weary.

The Scripture says do not grow weary in well doing...

God will always restore! He will always give us his exceeding abundance he will give us beauty for ashes.. we serve a good God he sees all of the injustices.. he knows what's happened to you and he knows why. We serve a just God and he settles and solves the cases of his people.

Heavenly Father,

I ask you to restore to the overflow all that the enemy has tried to steal from your people today I thank you for your love, mercy, forgiveness, kindness and abundant restoration. All glory be yours in all things.. you are a good good Father!! in Jesus name

Amen

GOD BLESS YOU ALL!

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#1 Bible Verses about Restoration of Health, Restoration of Joy & Honor
Jeremiah 30:17, ESV For I will restore health to you, and your wounds I will heal, declares the Lord…
Isaiah 61:7, ESV Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion; instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot; therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion; they shall have everlasting joy.

#2 Bible Verses about Restoration and Healing, Restoration of Joy & Hope
Joel 2:25-26, ESV I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame.

#3 Bible Verses about God’s Restoration – Restoration of Fortunes
Job 42:10, ESV And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.

FINAL JUDGEMENT.. By Nina Keegan

WAKE UP.. ARE YOU READY? ARE YOU PREPARED FOR FINAL JUDGEMENT? 

There  is a great awakening coming. There is an urgency that I feel led to write about..

We can't back down.. People are being greatly deceived! Suddenly everything is offensive.. So we shrink back.. We listen to the enemies new buzzword and we keep quiet.. "We certainly do not want to offend! 

What does God want from us and for us? 

God wants his people to have times of refreshing this is a new day, it's a year of restoration. It is time for God's people to flourish and to thrive in all areas of their lives,but moreover God wants you to thrive in your purpose.. Your purpose in serving the kingdom of God as an end time harvester. There is a great commission for us all; there are so many people being deceived there so many people that need to know the truth. The enemy prowls around like a thief in the night deceiving souls through the temptation of sin and sheer complacency.  We're so busy trying to not rock the boat, we don't want to offend anyone, we stay out of it and we keep to ourselves..we don't want to interfere ...it's all none of our business...

Does this sound familiar?  Or maybe it's more like.. I'm going to keep quiet I don't want those people to think I'm weird..

 What other people say about you is none of your business!! 

 Are we not at times being double minded? 

If you are a blood bought believer of Jesus Christ then you have a job to do!  But first ask yourself these tough questions?

Have you said the salvation prayer but you are still determined that you know how to judge what's good and evil in your own life? Are you deciding for yourself that certain sins are ok? WELL IF THIS IS TRUE FOR YOU, THEN JESUS IS NOT YET THE LORD OF YOUR LIFE..!!

Through salvation we must completely SURRENDER... Everything!! And make Jesus our Lord and Savior!! We cannot draw those boundaries of Good and evil for ourselves!! Stop creating new lines in the sand!! God will not be mocked!!

Are you just playing it safe? Do you really know the truth? Do you know where you'd go if you were to die tomorrow? Do you think your time in church on Sunday's makes you a "Christian"?  Are you really truly saved?  Do you even know what real salvation means? Are you attending a Spirit filled church?  Are there alter calls inviting you to give your whole heart to Jesus; to give your life and soul over to be born again in the name of Jesus? I for one do not want to leave anything to chance there is only one way..

The Bible is very clear that Jesus is the only way to spend eternity in heaven with our Father and  creator! 

John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Do not be deceived the Bible says in the end times even Christians will fall away through deception and lack of knowledge we must believe God at his word!

Do not waver.. THERE IS NO TIME!

Many people think they don't want to be saved because they don't want to play by the rules of the Bible( Gods Word) and that they'll just call on Jesus on their death bed ...there's only one problem with that theory, you don't know when you're going to spend your last day on earth.

When we check out from this planet what's going to be in your shopping cart at the checkout point? You will have to give an account for all those things.. There's not going to be a chance to put the all the items back that should not be in your cart. When we check out,  we must pay.. yes there will be a price to pay! 

Are you going to have unforgiveness in your cart, drug addiction, pornography, adultery, sex outside of marriage? Or maybe you just have a cart full of wrongly thinking you were just a good person and that's good enough even though you did not take the time to know Jesus..

The Bible says that God will then say that he did not know you.. this statement gives me chills!

Luke 13:27

"But he will reply, 'I don't know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!'

I want Jesus to point straight at me and say "Hey there she is, there's my girl,? I know her!" That is what I pray for us all!  Why leave this to chance?  This is urgent ...if you have not given your life over to Jesus, Do it now!

 Call on the name of Jesus and you shall be saved give your whole heart to Him now and live out your purpose in him!

Life is too short to get this wrong, make a decision today.. you are loved! You are so dearly loved by your Father and Creator. and he's been waiting for you.. he longs to have a  close personal relationship with you ..what do you have to lose? What's in your cart? 

Be a true disciple!! Do not be deceived!

True and False Disciples

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

The Wise and Foolish Builders

24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practiceis like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.

Romans 10:13

Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

Galatians 6:7-8 - Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.   

Proverbs 12:22 - Lying lips [are] abomination to the LORD: but they that deal truly [are] his delight.

Proverbs 10:9 - He that walketh uprightly walketh surely: but he that perverteth his ways shall be known.

Psalms 52:2 - Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs; like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.

Romans 12:2 - And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Galatians 5:16-26 - [This] I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.    

James 1:22 - But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.