15th July 2006- Obedience: No Small Thing

Obedience: No Small Thing
By Kenneth Copeland

Do you ever have seasons in your life when it seems like every time you go to church and every time you spend time in prayer and every time you open the Bible, you receive a revelation from God? I do. Spiritually, everything will be going great. I'll be higher than a Georgia pine. Then, suddenly, something starts to happen. I start drying up in spiritual things.

It seems like it doesn't make any difference what I pray or how much I read the Word, I can't get anywhere spiritually. I'm so dry my spirit's creaking!

That used to baffle me. I didn't know what the cause was. I didn't have any sin in my life. I'd taken care of that. I was still praying. Still meditating. Still acting on and confessing the Word. But instead of getting results, I was getting nowhere. I'd stand in front of my mirror and confess faith over and over again and the only thing that happened was that my voice got tired!

If that's ever happened to you, may I make a suggestion? Backtrack and find the last thing God told you to do that you didn't do--and do it! It's probably nothing big. Just a seemingly small thing. But, believe me, those minor disobediences will dry up the flow of the Spirit just like the major ones will.

Most of us don't realize that. We'll get on our knees and say, "Oh Lord, I want to go to China for You. I'll go to Africa. I'll go to Russia." But when God says, "Go next door," we just shrug it off.

"I can't do that," we'll say. "That guy next door doesn't like me. Besides, I want to be like Brother Schambach and get a big tent."

If you've done something like that, repent. Then pick up where you left off and do what God directed. And from now on, remember, no matter how insignificant God's instructions may seem, obeying them is no small thing! It's those simple acts of obedience that will make your spiritual house stand...or fall. All the small things combined become the direction of our lives.

• Point to Ponder: No matter how insignificant God's instructions may seem, obeying them is no small thing.

• Scripture Reading: Luke 16:1-10

• Verse: But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete." (Luke 6:49)

• What you can do about it: If you're living by the spirit and yet getting no results, backtrack and find the last thing God told you to do that you didn't do--and do it!

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Scripture Reading (Luke 16:1-10)

16:1
Jesus told his disciples: "There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions.
16:2
So he called him in and asked him, 'What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.'
16:3
"The manager said to himself, 'What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I'm not strong enough to dig, and I'm ashamed to beg--
16:4
I know what I'll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.'
16:5
"So he called in each one of his master's debtors. He asked the first, 'How much do you owe my master?'
16:6
"'Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,' he replied. "The manager told him, 'Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.'
16:7
"Then he asked the second, 'And how much do you owe?' "'A thousand bushels of wheat,' he replied. "He told him, 'Take your bill and make it eight hundred.'
16:8
"The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.
16:9
I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
16:10
"Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.
New International Version

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