Obedience Brings Revelation

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For assuredly, I say to you,

whoever says to this mountain,

"Be removed and be cast into the sea,"

and does not doubt in his heart,

but believes that those things he says will be done,

he will have whatever he says.

Therefore I say to you,

whatever things you ask when you pray,

believe that you receive them,

and you will have them.

- Mark 11:23, 24




I delight to do Your will, O my God; 
Your law is within my heart.

- Psalm 40:8

After just ten days in my home city of Bacolod, I am back in Manila. 

I arrived here Wednesday morning to be with my daughter a few days before leaving tomorrow for Cambodia to be part of a Family Foundations International ministry trip in the city of Phnom Penh.

Obedient One is my only daughter. It's been ten years since she left home to begin working in Manila; therefore, I look forward to every opportunity to be with her.

Because we sleep in the same bedroom, as I listen to my audio Bible each morning, and play a worship song or two, she gets the bonus part of being able to join me in my morning devotions. 

This morning while we were listening to Ruth Fazal's violin music, I narrated to her the story of how Ruth received a violin bow from Jesus during the early days of the Toronto renewal meetings. A few years later, Ruth was given a second violin bow with specific instructions from Jesus that this bow was to be used for healing, righteousness, and forgiveness. (Watch video here.)

It was still early, so there was time to also tell her the story of how Dr. Gary Wood was killed as a young man in a car accident, and went straight up to heaven. While in heaven, he saw a room full of brand new body parts, which he understood right then and there, were to be sent to earth in answer to prayers for healing. Later, Dr. Wood was sent back to life and astounded all his doctors for the miraculous healing he received. He says he is a man on a mission, with an assignment to tell others that heaven is real, and that heaven holds the tangible answers to our earthly prayers. (Watch video here.)

Before long it was time for my daughter to get ready for work, and I went down to prepare our breakfast. 

At the breakfast table, Obedient One asked me a direct question:

Mama, if there is a room full of brand new body parts in heaven, and there are tangible answers to prayers for healing... then obviously God doesn't heal everyone. We have prayed for years for God to give you a brand new set of teeth, and you haven't received that yet. And obviously, Papa didn't get a brand new heart, because he died.

I knew what she was driving at.

Ever since she was a little girl, she has heard me say often that if we pray with faith in our hearts, believing that we have already "technically" received what we have asked for, the prayer shall be surely granted.

Thus her question.

I waited a few moments before responding. Quietly, I told my daughter that there are things beyond our human comprehension, and there are reasons why God doesn't always answer our prayers the way we want Him to. But because I trust Him so much, I am willing to wait for how things will work in my life, in accordance with what God knows is best.

We didn't have much time left to talk. After a few minutes, she had to leave to catch her train and go to work.

All I could do was ask God to speak to her heart, give her an answer that would satisfy her search for truth.

For the rest of the day I have pondered upon the truth of what trusting and obeying God means.

Having given my heart to Jesus during my early university years, more than 40 years ago, I have long understood that God operates under a different economy and time frame. There are times when He will grant answers to prayers, yet there are times when He won't.

Nevertheless, He is never unfair, He is good. 

Above all, He is always full of wisdom.

I am a firm believer in the spiritual and the supernatural. 

When God created man, His intention was for him to live out of his spirit; death was never in the picture. 

God's plan was for us to live out of a spiritual connection with our Maker, in a continuous flow of life from God to us.

Life was meant to be one of trust and submission.

But we are familiar with the rest of the story.

Thankfully, despite the inevitable eternal consequences of man's fall from grace, a Redeemer was sent, and we have been rescued.

If we have turned over the reins of our life to Jesus our Redeemer, following Him as Lord, we have been reconnected to the lifeline of God's sustaining grace. 

The relationship of trust is back in place. 

We have been redeemed and restored to a right standing with our Creator, and we have been given divine empowerment to naturally make the supernatural response of submission to His will and purpose.

We now have to power to choose life over death.

And yes, in our choices, we can trust God with the outcome of our obedience.

Obedience is the key and is shown in many ways.

It is seen in the way we respond to the difficulties and uncertainties we face in life. 

Will we make a first birth response, or a second birth response?

A first birth response, a response of the flesh, is to be in fear, in doubt, to be annoyed, or worse, to be embittered.

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, but that which is born of the Spirit is spirit, Jesus tells Nicodemus in John 3:6.

A second birth response is to be led by the Spirit, in obedience trusting that God knows best. 

This matter of obedience is the foundation stone of our relationship with God.

Adam and Eve were provided everything they needed, but they were tested in the area of obedience.

Abba Father guarantees blessing and revelation... but only as a natural result of obeying Him.

Deuteronomy 28 highlights the blessings God promises to give Israel if they choose to obey.

If... because obedience is a choice, a choice that brings with it good consequences.

Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God. (Read the rest of the passage here.)



Blessing after blessing is promised as a result of obedience. 

If you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the good of the land. 
- Isaiah 1:19


For the past 15 years, I have been involved in a global ministry that aims to re-establish a culture of blessing in the lives of families.

I have come to understand in my own experience what blessing means. 

The word blessing comes from the Hebrew word baruch which is translated "empowered to prosper."

The blessings for obedience enumerated in Deuteronomy 28 guarantee exactly that - the Israelites' obedience will position them for prosperity to flow in their lives.

On the other hand, disobedience, a refusal to obey, results in being cursed, the opposite of being blessed. 

The word cursed is associated with witches' spells and everything bad that a person can wish upon his worst enemy.

But in reality, to be cursed, simply put, means that we have no divine protection. We are on our own. God is not in the picture. We are left to fend for ourselves, and to deal with the consequences of our own choices in our own strength and power.

That, to me... is really a scary place to be.

Anybody in his right mind would be smart enough to choose obedience. 

Obedience guarantees that heaven is on our side, God is helping us to succeed, to prosper, to be favored.

The past months have not been easy for me. Much of this roller coaster emotional journey has been the topic of my blog posts since the start of the year. I must admit I have made some wrong emotional responses, living out of my flesh rather than flowing out of my spiritual connection with God.

And I have had to repent many times.

But I am thankful for the lessons God has been patiently teaching me about obeying Him in my responses, and trusting Him for the outcome.




The past few months, there have been doors of ministry opportunities that have opened up before me. It would have been easier for me to remain safely huddled within my cocoon of fear, waiting for the storm to pass.

However, in all the years I have known Jesus, I have seen that the safest place on Planet Earth is right in the center of His will.

Once again, obedience is the key.

And so I have chosen to respond in obedience... saying Yes, Lord... I will go where You send me.

I will tend to the affairs of Your kingdom. I will be Your ambassador... Your messenger... to bring hope, to speak truth, to be an agent of healing.


These things are said in humility, in submission, and in trust.

My daughter's question this morning was a good reminder. There are many prayers of ours that are still waiting for answers.  Abba Father is in the process of making my faith stronger, giving me the desire to trust, and to obey.

Years ago God taught me that obedience is not a religion of works. Obedience is a position of trust.

Early this month, I was in Cagayan de Oro, a city in the southern part of our islands. Together with our team, we went in response to God's invitation to minister God's healing in that place.

It no longer comes as a surprise to me that the time we spent there was awesome. We got connected to some of the most beautiful, generous group of people I have ever met.

Yet another vital link in the kingdom connection has been forged.


Tomorrow, my friends David, Tina, and I will be leaving for an overseas ministry trip - another opportunity to be ambassadors of God's grace, healing, and blessing, in Phnom Penh.

All God is asking for is a willing and obedient heart, and He opens doors to more kingdom opportunities.

My devotional passage early this morning was in Haggai 1:7, 8. Thus says the LORD of Hosts: "Consider your ways! Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified."

What a clear confirmation of the journey of obedience that I am on this year. There is an ongoing call on my life to build His temple - whether it be on a global scale, at the national level, a small community of believers, my family circle, or my own personal temple - God makes His desire clear.


A few more passages were impressed on my heart about obeying God: 

Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. - Matthew 6:33

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. - Galatians 6:7-9


I am looking forward to what God has already prepared to pour out in response to obedience.

There will be open doors and new kingdom connections.

Shackles of doubt, fear, and oppression will be broken.

Provision for the journey.

Encouragement and strength.

Hope.

Specific guidance, fresh revelation, light for the next step, and answers to prayers.


God's word to Jeremiah:

Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.

See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms,

To root out and to pull down,

To destroy and to thrown down,

To build and to plant.

- Jeremiah 1:10

What a privilege!

I am humbled, and I say, Here I am Lord, send me.