Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Blessing of Obedience

Lately I have been learning a lot about obedience.  To me, there are two different types of obedience. The easy type, cleaning your room or washing the dishes, and the more difficult kind, being obedient even when its hard, even when it hurts, even when you would rather run as fast as you can in the other direction.  That type of obedience is an act of love and faith.  It comes from understanding that your life is not your own and that Christ knows what is best and will not lead you astray.  That’s the type of submission that God is bringing me to.


At church I serve in the prayer ministry.  To most people that doesn’t seem like to big of a deal but my closest s friends would tell you, for me, it’s a BIG deal.  I really struggle with my own confidence in praying for people.  It is something that is completely unnatural for me for whatever reason and not something that I willingly step into.  One Sunday morning this past fall someone approached me and asked me to pray for people during response.  They were in need of more ladies to pray with women as they responded to a message.  I was terrified.  Who am I that I should be standing alongside women praying with them as they encounter and respond to Christ.  As I made my way to the front God encountered me in ways that only He could.  I was overwhelmed by His Spirit, prompting, and peace as I listened and prayed with people throughout the service.  As God’s perfect timing would have it a prayer training started the following Thursday and I found myself obeying God’s calling to join the prayer team and go through the training.  I was about to step into a journey of necessary but hard obedience and submission to Christ.


Fast forward to a few weeks ago and I am sitting near the front during response at a 7pm service.  There were not many people coming up for prayer at the time so I was just sitting and watching.  All of a sudden a close friend of mine walked up, sat down next to me, and collapsed in my lap.  As I sat there, with a person I care about deeply, crying and clearly hurting in my arms I had no idea what to do.  I am sure the look on my face was of clear bewilderment.  I felt completely unequipped to help her or pray for her.  All I could do was hold her as she cried and pray silently in my heart that God would heal her heart and her pain.  As worship continued and I began to feel this unrelenting call to pray for her in a very specific way.  My initial reaction was NO WAY!  I was scared, I was hesitant, I wanted to run the other way.  But instead I reluctantly obeyed and began praying for precisely what God has placed on my heart.  The words were not my own.  There is no way that I could of said what needed to said or pray what needed to be prayed but God could and He did.  As we closed I stood up gave her a hug and we both returned to our seats.  Later that night I was overcome with my own fear, inadequacies, and hundreds of what if’s.  What if I prayed the wrong thing?  What if I said something that was so off base and so out of left field?  What if, what if, what if!  I fell asleep that night questioning my own obedience and if it had finally failed me.


But that’s the thing, God never fails me.  Acting out my obedience to Him might be hard, frightening, and often times the last thing I feel equipped to do.  But He is faithful.  He provides me with what I need to be obedient and to follow His ways.  Later the next day I received confirmation that what I had prayed was exactly what she needed.   It was the perfect thing at the perfect time. 

While obedience can sometimes be the hardest thing, often times it brings with it the biggest blessings.  Submitting to God is a constant struggle but as He breaks down each wall in my life bringing me to my knees I realize the blessings that come with them.  Blessings of the king and kingdom, something I would never run from.   

9 comments:

  1. Kate!!! :) love you my sister.

    I've seen how our culture is super hungry to possess information. Stay with me. We seek it foolishly so that it may enable us to operate more in tune with the outcome and circumstances that we desire. Not always of course, but it's just one of the many ways our culture puts up a wall to being conformed to Christ. We strive to be in utter control of the circumstances. While reading your post I totally related this to the fear of praying for someone. God desires for us to be conformed to His image is the exact reverse of our cultural comforts.

    I am so proud of you Kate. You trusted the presence and Spirit of God. You didn't have any pre-knowledge or anything to solidify your prayer in the moment. You are being conformed to His image.

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  2. this was such an encouragement to me. thank you for writing it. I am in such a hard spot, wondering all the what ifs, because I see NO fruit of my obedience. but you are right: God never fails me.

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  3. this is so awesome kate. i COMPLETELY understand, i feel exactly the way that you do. i'm on the prayer team too and there is always that feeling of inadequacy, but i think that it can be a healthy feeling. YES, alone, we are inadequate, but with the Holy Spirit speaking to us and for us, we have nothing to fear. also, on a more practical level, having someone come up and pray on your behalf is a blessing in itself. you are such a blessing :)

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  4. I am so excited that God is showing you in your obedience. This is sooooo cool! I am so excited that God is revealing himself to you. Keep it up girl! Oh and did I mention you are awesome!

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  5. Wow, your first paragraph = powerful...

    Second paragraph = so awesome. Praise Him for your obedience. Way to step out in faith. Love that God rocked you.

    "All you could do was hold her" and sometimes, all we need is to be held. Your willingness to pray over someone will never lead you to failure. Your words were not to glorify yourself, they were to be of God and I believe they were what the Lord wished her to heart. He used you Kate. I firmly believe this.

    Fourth paragraph: Can I get an AMEN please?!! :) :) :)
    This blog was powerful. Very powerful. Thank you for writing this Kate. Thank you for taking the time to share about obedience and the Lord's faithfulness. This is something everyone needs to hear.

    Love to you.

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  6. So encouraging. I had to recheck to see whose blog this was. No offense or anything, but I think your character goes a lot deeper than the impression I get of who you are when I'm with you. I guess that's the transformative power of the Holy Spirit when he works in us. It's just so awesome that all we need to do is be obedient, and see God work in us. Thank you for your example of being obedient and stepping out in faith.

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  7. Amen! Definitely something I need to reflect about in my own life. Obedience to what God is calling me. Thanks for sharing this.

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  8. this was a really good post kate i liked it alot :) obedience can be such a scary thing because a lot of times God calls us to be obedient in the areas where we are the weakest. That way He is glorified by strengthening us to do whatever He calls us to. mmm

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  9. Thanks for being obedient. I have been blessed several times by your prayers on Sunday nights. It is so encouraging to see how God is using you as you step out in obedience. Thanks for sharing this story :) Love you!

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