Do You Have High Expectations

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. "Honor your father and mother," which is the first commandment with a promise. "So that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth." Ephesians 6:1-3 NIV

Good Morning Girlfriends:

There are many pressures in life as we see each day, in our own jobs, the things our children have to face each day at school, it can be a challenge to keep it all together. As reports cards would come out every quarterly of the school year, my advice to my children was to always do the best that they could do, work hard, study hard, and whatever mark they received on their report card was done and received to the best of their ability, that was all that was required. I was not a parent that demanded high marks in every subject, because I knew as I was growing up, each person excelled in certain areas, certain subjects and not so much in others. They were always encouraged to listen to their teachers as they worked hard during class time, that I would be proud of them for listening and obeying the rules at school as well as at home. Of course, we as parents cannot choose who our children have for friends, but we can only guide them to make good choices in that area as well.

Later on as years had passed by, I would run into childhood friends of my children, as we would catch up on how life was going and they would in turn bring up in conversation such as, how I didn't enforce my ideas on my children of what they should do with their life, that I had encouraged them to be and do what they felt they would be good at and wanted to in life. I encouraged them to pursue their own dreams and the best that they could be, and I would be there to encourage them in their endeavors.

As I was pondering this thought, this question ran through my mind, what does God expect from us, His children...it is the exact same thing that a parent expects from their child and that is obedience. This is the fifth commandment of the Lord, to honor our mother and father so that we will have a long life on this earth. When we are obedient to God, this is a form of worship to Him, it's a way to get closer to Him. As we become more and more obedient to Him, God is preparing and leading us as we are growing into the individual to be like Him.

Obedience is the key to receive the promises of God, just like when a child listens and obeys their parents, they will be rewarded with praise, or maybe a treat of some kind. Obedience is the key to one's success, because it demonstrates our faith and trust in God. When we are obedient to God, it is a sure way that unlocks blessings in our lives.

When we walk in obedience to God, it means that we are listening and obeying God and not man. Let's look at the scripture in 1 Samuel 15:24, where King Saul was confronted by the prophet Samuel, why he had not obeyed the Lord by destroying everything that God had spoken for him to destroy, King Saul had only destroyed the things that was worthless in his eyes and of no good, but kept some things that he saw as worth. When confronted by the prophet, he admitted that because he was afraid of his people, he did what the people had demanded of him instead of obeying God. This had upset God and God was sorry that he had made Saul King, found in 1Sam. 15:11.

There are many parents, many leaders, government and employers to obey, but God is the high ruler over all of creation. We need to obey God over any other person in this world. Over and over again in the Bible, God had sent prophets to speak to the people and the Kings in that time with a word from the Lord, and they had a choice whether to listen to the voice of God or not. Girlfriends, it is the same today, there are many Godly people in the world with wisdom that God uses, prophets that God still uses to bring forth a message, and we too have the same choice whether to listen or not, we do have a choice to obey as well. It has been my experience, that is is far greater to listen and obey than to be on the other side of things, just like it was as a child growing up under the rules and guidelines of a parent, Amen? If we want and expect obedience from our children here on earth, then we must be obedient to our heavenly father, in order to receive blessing from Him, wouldn't you agree?

Let's Pray,

Father God, I praise You Lord and I thank You Lord that You love Your children with an everlasting love, Your love is unconditional. That is why You have put guidelines in place for us as parents to follow as we are raising our own children, they are called the ten commandments. Lord, help us to be diligent in reading Your word each and every day, so that as we become stronger in Your word, we will become closer to the heart of our heavenly father. Lord, You are the greatest role model that we could ever have to follow. Let us continue to make a strong effort to walk in Your footsteps each day so that when the time comes when we stand before You, we will hear the words, "Well done my good and faithful servant," in the mighty name of Jesus I pray, Amen.

Be blessed sweet ones and pass the blessings on. I thank you in advance for passing this message on to others in which they may be blessed.