Life Capsule for Today Date: 19th April, 2024
Theme: Obedience (6)
Memory Verse: 1 Sam 15:22b
22 …. Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams KJV
Topic: Obedience and submission
Text: 1 Peter 2:13-14
13 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; 14 Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. KJV
Words of the Ministry:
Throughout the week, we have been considering the subject of obedience, we learnt that
Obedience is a show of love towards God and that it comes with a price. We looked into the importance of obedience and that it can’t be called obedience if it is not perfect. Yesterday we also shed light on delegated authorities and why we must obey them in the Lord, we made a list of 4 categories namely family, church, business and government. A careful reader must have noticed our emphasis on obeying each category in the Lord. Our obedience should be absolute only if such instruction is in line with our faith, that leads to the matter of submission.
God in his wisdom has given us the bible as a guide to help us make right decisions concerning to what extent we obey authorities. Be it a direct revelation from God or from a delegated authority, we must always look into the scriptures to consider what the bible says. Many claim they have a direct revelation from God asking them to do certain things opposites the revealed truth of the bible so likewise some individuals find themselves in situations where their bosses or even the government commands them do carry out instructions contrary to the bible. We need to realize as we would be seeing from scriptures that while our submission to delegated authority is absolute, our obedience to authority is not, in other words, there is room for disobedience to authority when it contradicts our belief but such disobedience should be in total submission, we must be willing to suffer the consequence of our disobedience as that is part of the price we must pay as believers. It is therefore a call to long suffering, persecution and endurance that leads to greater rewards.
We see the bible giving instructions to children, asking them to obey their parents in the Lord, in other words, they are to do what the parents command provided it doesn’t contradict God. Today we see parents encouraging their children to worship their family idol, daughters to date certain unbelieving men for monetary gain or even deny Christ for certain selfish reasons. Same with marriage, the bible encourages the wife to submit to her husband but not to obey them in everything, any command that goes against the bible must be disobeyed. Delegated authorities in the Church are also to be obeyed when in line with the bible, Paul said the Church should follow him as he follows Christ (1 Cor 11.1), should he deviate from Christ, they must stop following him.
Servants are also meant to obey their masters as though they are serving Christ (Eph 6.5), our service must be as to Christ and what contradicts the words of Christ must be disobeyed. We see examples like Daniel and his 3 friends disobeying the king yet in submission. His 3 friends were ready to die in the fire for their faith in God so was Daniel willing to enter the lion’s den for what he believed. There are times we experience conflicts choosing between the Lord and his delegated authorities, at such times we must choose the Lord and be ready to suffer for what we believe, Matt 10:28 “28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” KJV. May the Lord grant us light. Join us next week Sunday for Peniel April edition by 4pm. Christ is our LIFE.
Bible in one year: 2 Sam 21-22. For further fellowship send us an email on godmanvideos@gmail.comor visit our youtube channel: @godmanmedia. You can also interact with us by dropping your comments on our facebook page. Our physical meeting, Word feast comes up every Wednesday by 5pm and Prayer Gym every Saturday by 7am while PENIEL comes up once a month, every last Sunday of the month from 4pm to 6.30pm at Suite A10, Ahser Office Complex, beside Living Faith Church, Opposite Hassan Stores, Arab Road, Kubwa Abuja.