ONE PRAYER – DIFFERENT ANSWERS?

Janie had been disobedient and refused to follow her mother’s instructions. Wanting her to learn the importance of obedience and necessity of prayer, her mother sent her to her room to ask God to help her. In a few moments she returned to the kitchen where her mother was preparing the evening meal.

“Mom,” she announced, “I prayed about my disobedience.”

“Good,” said her mother. “Did you ask God to help you to be a good girl?”

“No, Mom, I didn’t,” she answered. “Instead, I asked Him to help you put up with me.”

Jesus said something important about obedience: “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.” There is always a connection in Scripture between love and obedience. Again, He said, “If you love me, you will obey my commandments.”

If we say that we love God, we will show this love by being obedient to God. When we look at the life of Jesus, we see a relationship between a Father and His Son founded on love and reflected in obedience. His life set the standard for us to follow.

It was His sacrificial life that ultimately showed us what it means to obey the Father. When we waver in our obedience to Christ we need to examine our lives to make certain that what we say is seen in what we do.

Prayer:  Help us, Heavenly Father, in our struggle to be obedient to You. We know that selfish temptation often overwhelms us – but give us strength to persevere. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Scripture For Today: He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” John 14:21