one of the handfull of books currently occupying my time is andrew murray's "school of obedience". it's a grand piece of work on God's heart cry for our motivation in obeying Him. LOVE LOVE LOVE. true, connected, living, breathing relationship.
obeying God's commands and pleas for things such as deeply trusting Him with the plans of our lives, finances, friendships and family, sexual purity/waiting in faith for a spouse, a disciplined thought and prayer life, truly loving all deeply and from the heart, sacrifice, determined focus on Him and the eternal, etc. etc. etc. and to trust and obey in all these and much, much more
with your heart and not just a dry, cold, logical head thing.
anyway, in the portion i took in last night, he writes:
"
the life of obedience is impossible without the continual fellowship and continual teaching of our Father (
John 10:17-18, Heb. 5:8).
Only when His continual presence as the Eternal and Ever-Present One is believed and received, just as The Son of Man believed and received it, there is hope in obeying such commands as 'taking every thought captive', 'pray continually', 'be joful always', to hope, etc... the expression 'obey the commandments' is very seldom used in Scripture; it is almost always, 'obeying Me' or obeying or harkening to 'My voice'. with the commander of an army, the teacher of a school, the father of a family, it is not the code of laws, however clear and good, with its rewards or threats, that secures TRUE obedience; it is
the personal living influence wakening love and enthusiasm. it is the joy of even getting to hear the Father's voice that will give the joy and strength necessary for anyone to truly obey, from the heart. it is the voice that gives power to obey the Word;
the Word without the LIVING voice does not avail anything..."
ya know, as i read this immediately i had in my heart this bold, stark contrast of the foster kids i have worked with vs. loved, nurtured, confident biological kids. these past couple years has flat-out proven this point to me in a huge, huge way. i see it in foster kids over and over again: they either tend to obey their present parent figures or adults out of a legalistic, false, and shallow motivation to get approval and fill up massive voids that can never be filled by such means, or they just altogther ignore and despise the authority figure of the present moment because they have no respect, love, deep heart connection or genuine enthusiasm to comply with the requests of yet another adult whom the child assumes will just up and leave them, like all the countless others have.
and as i read that it broke my heart. because i realize how often i live like an unanchored, swaying, insecure foster kid of God's and not in light of my one and only TRUE 100% of the time identity ... HIS.
