I was intrigued this morning with a message by Pastor Robert Morris of Gateway Church in Texas. I listen to him each weekday morning via podcasts as I walk on my treadmill. His dramatic title was "The Two Secrets Of A Breakthrough In Your Life." I thought to myself, "Secrets? I wonder what they are." Excited to learn something new about victory in my life, I listened intently as I exercised. From his opening statement he said, "Here’s what they are, pray and obey."
You are not supposed to give away the secrets at the beginning of your message. How will you keep people listening to the rest of what you have to say? Well, I have just done the same thing here, and don't you find yourself wanting to know more?
Although I could simply rehash what Pastor Morris said this morning in his podcast, I can more easily convert it to what you hear at Calvary every week, "Hear what he says, do what he says." This simple truth possesses guaranteed victory in it every time. However, that being said, we need to understand a few of the things that lead us astray from this simple plan for victory in our lives.
The first problem, believe it or not, is our ability to learn. When we really don’t know what to do, we will submit ourselves to prayer and obedience to what God reveals to us. However, after he has shown us, we grow smarter. Then next time a similar situation arises in our lives, instead of pray and obey, we resort to repeating what he showed us the last time. Now we are not obeying an answer to prayer, we are simply copying what we did the last time. This is using our judgment and ability instead of walking in obedience.
Many times in our lives we use natural ability and personal intellect instead of seeking an act of obedience to the Lord. Usually we are only willing to obey, once we have exhausted all we know to do ourselves. Therefore knowing what to do can impede our ability of seek God and respond in obedience to his voice.
The second problem is when what God shows us goes crosswise of our own understanding. We might not agree with God’s estimation of the situation or we might not be willing to do what he says. This can be because of fear, a lack of understanding, or simply an unwillingness to give what he says to give, e. g., time, resources, effort, etc. We know what God has spoken to us, but we begin to try to find an easier or less sacrificial way of accomplishing it. Like Saul, when he didn’t kill everything pertaining the the Amalekites.
“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.”
1 Samuel 15:22
Thirdly, there are times when we do not clearly understand what the Lord is saying. These are times we are supposed to seek godly counsel, but instead, again, we rely on our earthly understanding and experiences to guide us, rather than simple obedience. We will hesitate and negotiate with the Lord, trying to settle on terms, like it’s some kind of agreement between us and him. It’s not. Obedience has to be taken at face value. God will explain if we really don’t understand. However, he always asks for obedience in every answer he gives us. That’s why the Bible talks about fully obeying. Saul made the mistake of partially obeying the voice of the Lord. Too often we obey just enough to get immediate results, instead of pressing on to full victory.
Pastor Morris used the story of King David going out against the Philistines in two separate battles. In 2nd Samuel Chapter 5 we read.
“17 When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel,
they went up in full force to search for him,
but David heard about it and went down to the stronghold.
18 Now the Philistines had come and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim;
19 so David enquired of the LORD, “Shall I go and attack the Philistines?
Will you hand them over to me?”
The LORD answered him, “Go, for I will surely hand the Philistines over to you.”
20 So David went to Baal Perazim, and there he defeated them.
He said, “As waters break out, the LORD has broken out against my enemies before me.” So that place was called Baal Perazim.
21 The Philistines abandoned their idols there,
and David and his men carried them off (burned them - KJV).
22 Once more the Philistines came up and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim;
23 so David enquired of the LORD, and he answered,
“Do not go straight up, but circle round behind them
and attack them in front of the balsam trees.
24 As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees,
move quickly, because that will mean the LORD has gone out in front of you
to strike the Philistine army.”
25 So David did as the LORD commanded him,
and he struck down the Philistines all the way from Gibeon to Gezer.”
2 Samuel 5:17-25
Notice carefully the two situations David faced with the Philistines. In the first battle, when David prayed, the Lord said attack them directly. In the second battle, David was instructed through prayer to circle around them. However, in both instances verse 25 says, “So David did as the LORD commanded him.”
He didn’t copy his efforts, he didn’t tell the Lord he could handle it from there on, no, he prayed and obeyed in each situation. I pray we can learn from this also. Our first act of obedience this year IS to pray. Prayer is our act of obedience to the Lord for this season. As we pray, he will reveal more, but we must learn this simple plan for a breakthrough for our church and our individual lives — pray and obey.
As God begins to reveal the pathway to “pursue, overtake and recover all” the enemy has stolen from us, we must not become proud or ambitious. We must return to the Lord after every victory, thank him for it, and receive our next assignment.
Yes, there are times the Lord will let us fail. This is to remind us that our understanding, our perspective, and our ability fall far short of simply obeying his commands. Only in a life submitted to prayer and obedience are continued victory and breakthrough available for us.