Don't be Stubborn

If anyone wants to follow in my footsteps, he must give up all right to himself, take up hid cross and follow me (Mark 8:34 – Phillips Translation).

 

In my message yesterday I mentioned that we must be willing to give ourselves and our willpower over to the rule of the Holy Spirit. We are the custodians of our will. Our will is a sacred thing that God will not overpower. The Holy Spirit has the ability to aid us in every department of life, but He waits for us to yield our will to Him. If we don’t, carnality will reign.

 

The largest challenge in any believer’s life is yielding their will to God and His Word. We so want our own way!

 

In 1 Samuel 15, King Saul was commanded by God to totally kill the Amalekites because of their wickedness and dealings with the Israelites in the past. Instead of doing exactly what God said, King Saul spared the best sheep and cattle to sacrifice as a burnt offering to the Lord, and he kept the Amalekite King Agag alive.

 

The prophet Samuel came to King Saul and made some very sobering statements when he found that Saul has deliberately disobeyed God in his stubbornness: So Samuel said: "Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams (1 Samuel 15:22).

 

The Samuel said something that applies to us today if we choose to stubbornly and willfully disobey God: Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols  (1 Sam 15:23- NLT).

 

When we choose to stubbornly go the way of the flesh when the Lord is clearly dealing with us to avoid it, and when we know what the Word says to the contrary of our premeditated action, then we are actually opening up a door for demonic intrusion into our lives! And that can bring deception that will callous and blind us to God and His ways.

 

This is happening all the time in our day. I’ve been walking with Jesus now for over 35 years, and I’ve watched as friends and associates over the years have chosen their own stubborn way instead of the way of God’s Word and will. There seemed to be no repercussions initially. But over a period of time, their calloused heart drew them away from God, and into one calamity or another. Life was never the same for them.

 

If their remains in you a stubbornness that must have its own way at the expense of God’s will, now is the time to deal with it before its costs you dearly. Go back and read the whole of 1 Samuel 15, and learn the sober lessons of King Saul. Disobedience and stubbornness will bring ruin.

 

As Michael Brown says, Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay! Yield you will to Jesus and ask Him to deliver you from willful disobedience!