obedience

If you have made Jesus Christ your Lord, protection belongs to you. In fact, what you know from the Word of God will save your life. If you build God’s promises of protection and deliverance into your heart and life, you can live in this world with all of its danger and still feel secure.

In 1 Peter 2:18, God commands us to give due respect and honor to our masters—or our employers. In 1 Timothy 6:1, we see this again, “All who are under the yoke as slaves are to regard their own masters as worthy of all honor so that the name of God and our doctrine will not be spoken against” (NASB). That is the purpose of honor—to stand out as God’s children among those in the world. There are plenty of people who show dishonor to employers, but we shine His light when we honor and submit to those in authority over us.

The Biblical instruction to judge ourselves was given in 1 Corinthians 11:31: “For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.”

This scripture was given as an important part of understanding how God disciplines His children. If we don’t understand the truth about God’s discipline, we may give Him credit for bad things that happen in our lives.

The truth is, God did not make angels and man imperfect. God created them to have a choice. And that is where the opportunity to choose against God entered in.

Many churches and ministries honor God by tithing from the money they receive. And there is scriptural precedent for this. In Numbers 18:26-32, the Levites were instructed to take a tenth of the offerings given to them and return it as an offering to the Lord. In addition to that, they were to give freewill offerings from the tithes given to them.

There is an exciting benefit from tithing as a ministry. The church or ministry that tithes reaps the same blessings as do individual tithers!

Actually, what we are experiencing are the results of a principle that has been with us since Creation—the law of sowing and reaping: “Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from the seeds sown from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up” (Galatians 6:7-9).

There are countless scriptures in the Bible that warn us of the power of our words to dictate the direction of our lives. Even in the secular world, it doesn’t take much to see that those who speak positively seem to a have a life that follows, and the same is true for those who always speak negatively. You’ll notice those who say, “I get the flu every year,” do in fact get the flu every year! It’s no coincidence.

First of all, you must start being moved by faith. You can’t get anything accomplished as long as you allow fear and worry to dominate your thinking. Stop the negative flow by starting to think and talk what the Word of God says about your children instead of dwelling on the problems you see in their lives.