John Bevere - Obey God to Completion
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Develop a discipline in your heart that you will obey God instantly and finish what He tells you to do. Congratulations, you’ve gotten through Chapter 27—I’m so proud of you! Thank you for faithfully journeying through this book. Now, let’s talk about trembling at God’s Word. Remember, it is a manifestation of holy fear. We tremble at His presence; we tremble at His Word. What does it mean to tremble at His Word? It means we obey God instantly. It means we obey when it doesn’t make sense. It means we obey even if we don’t see a benefit. It means we obey even if it hurts, and it means we obey to completion. Almost complete obedience is not obedience at all.
How many times have I encountered people who told me that God asked them to do something but they haven’t finished it yet? How often have we heard God speak to someone and they say, «Well, you know, I’ve been thinking about it. The Lord’s really been dealing with me about this for a couple of months,» and they laugh about it, but it’s actually no laughing matter. Develop a discipline in your heart that you will obey God instantly and finish what He tells you to do. King Saul did 99,99% of what God asked him to do. He killed probably 100,000 Amalekites, but he saved one alive. He killed every blemished, foul, and sick animal, but he saved the best so he could give it to the people to sacrifice.
I give the reasons for why he did that in the book, and it’s very important that you understand it was a self-serving reason. He did 99% of what God told him, yet Samuel came along and said he had rebelled against God. It is important that Jesus becomes the one who inspires us because the writer of Hebrews says to watch His life and study it. He went all the way to that cross. Remember, He had chances to get out of it. He said, «Father, if there’s any other way this can be done, please let it be done, but not my will but Yours.» He said to Peter, «I could call 2,000 angels right now, and they would deliver me out of this,» but Jesus stayed with what His Father told Him to do all the way to completion.
That is why Peter tells us to arm ourselves the way Jesus armed Himself; He was determined to obey God. I would love to see this for your life—your number one priority is to obey God. When we’re baby Christians, we obey God because we don’t want the consequences of disobedience. However, the more we fear God, the more we deeply love Him. We become more fearful of disappointing Him than of disobeying Him, which is a higher level. When you embrace this fear, your priority becomes to fulfill everything He has created you to do.
I want to encourage you to finish what God tells you to do. Let me conclude with the words of Jesus. He says to us in Luke 17:10, «When you have done all those things, listen to the words: all those things which you are commanded, say, 'We are unprofitable servants; we have done what was our duty to do.'» Let me tell you, what’s important is that we fulfill the will of God on this Earth. In doing so, we will be greatly rewarded.