Good morning and welcome in everyone. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.
We have a sweet chocolate lab that has a toy that she absolutely loves to play with. Sometimes she will forget where she put it, but eventually we will find it somewhere in the house, in the yard or even up on the road. When she wants to play catch, she will come running up with her toy in her mouth, but many times when you reach out for it, she will quickly turn her head away, stepping back a few feet and resist the urge to give it to you. I tell her to “drop the toy” so we can go outside and have some fun, but she continues fighting to release it. She’s only hurting herself and missing out on the beautiful day, all because of her stubborn refusal to comply with my wishes.
The disciples of the Lord were preaching God’s Word to the people so they could be saved, but in order for that to happen, they needed to be capable of complying with the message that they were teaching. Comply means to act, or to be in accordance with someone’s requests, demands, requirements, and conditions or to be in submission to their wishes. In the Christian Life, it’s about being in complete submission to the will of God. Submission is a very hard word for many people to accept because it means doing the will of somebody else rather than their own.
Submission is found in the Lord’s Prayer when we say “thy will be done.” Without possessing the quality of submission, a person cannot please God. Without submission you can never do His will. Without submission you can’t walk in His calling and purpose for you. Without submission you can never become what He wants you to be. God reaches out to save us with one hand, but we need to reach out for it with a submissive heart.
James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
If you are submissive, you obey someone without disagreeing and arguing. Imagine telling your child to go do their chores before they go outside, but then they begin to argue with you. They really don’t want to do the will of their parents, so they try to fight their way out of it by arguing. The antonym of submission is resistance.
It’s like having two magnets in your hands. When you hold them one way they attract each other, but turn them around, and they push away from each other. Likewise, a submissive heart will draw close to God, ready to submit and obey, while a rebellious heart will push Him away and fight. This is not the way you treat people in authority. Parents don’t like it, the military doesn’t like it, a husband doesn’t like it, and God doesn’t like it.
Ephesians 5:22-23 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
Our God is a God of authority and He wants you to submit to those who have authority over you. This begins at a young age in a Christian home when a child is brought up to obey their dad in everything. He has been ordained by God to this position over His wife and household. He warns and rebukes them as needed for correctional purposes because he cares for them. To resist him is to resist the ordinance of God, which unrepented of will result in damnation.
Hebrews 13:17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.
True submission requires meekness and humility. If somebody truly is humble they will have the desire to be obedient to God and His will. Humble people will become submissive and faithful to the teachings and commands of Christ. If they fiercely refuse to submit, it’s because of their pride and a haughty heart.
When you are meek, you are overly compliant, completely yielding to those who have control over you. Meek people are obedient people. Jesus obeys the heavenly Father perfectly, displaying His perfect meekness in submission to Him. Scriptures teach that Moses was the meekest of all men, which means he was in complete submission to God’s will. To enter into eternal life; you must possess these qualities otherwise you will never come into compliance with scripture.
1 Peter 5:5-6 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
The virtue of humility is so important in our relationship toward God that it is spoken of numerous times in the Scriptures. Without humility people don’t feel sorry for what they’ve done wrong. They have no desire to do the will of God. Instead of feeling godly sorrow, they are filled with the fake laughter of an arrogant heart.
James 4:8-10 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
God sees everything and He rewards those who are truly humble before Him.
1 Peter 5:6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
Compliance to God’s will and directives requires humility. Compliance is the action or fact of complying with a wish or command. It is the act or process of doing what you have been asked or ordered to do. Christianity is about compliance to the commands of Jesus. It is the proof that we truly love Him in our hearts. It is the way of knowing that we are abiding in the Fathers love.
John 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
1 John 2:4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
1 John 3:24 And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him…..
Genuine Christianity will result in obedience to biblical teachings.
Romans 6:17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
Philippians 2:12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Abraham’s wife obeyed him as an example to all wives of faith.
1 Peter 3:6 Even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.
So if you ever pray the Lord Prayer think about what you’re saying when you say the words……
…..Thy Will be Done.
Let’s think about these things for right now, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody. ❤️
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