Does anyone else see a trend here?  Now that we are pumped full of faith, now that we have decided to take God at his word and believe that his promises are for real and that they are for us, what do we next? “Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful" (1 Cor 4:2). It is clear to me that in order for our faith to make any difference at all in this world, in order for us to know God more, we must obey his word.  So what specifically is God asking of us?  Simple.  That we obey his commands.  How do we know what his commands are?  Simple again.  They are in the Bible. I want you to know that I am talking to myself here more than anyone else.  I need a no-nonsense, severe, tongue lashing right now. All of this knew-found faith that I have felt growing inside me during these forty days will come to nothing if I don’t act on it.  If I put away my Bible and my devotion book, if I shut down my computer and shut off my alarm clock, I will fall back into the patterns of laziness and spiritual monotony that has all-too-often characterized my life.  To be honest, I’m scared spit-less of Day 41.  I wish it would never come.  I like this spiritual cocoon I’ve been in for the last six weeks. But I know that God is asking me to emerge from the cocoon and begin to use the new wings he has given me. Over the past six weeks, I have felt a desire growing within me to serve God with everything I’ve got, no matter what the cost.  I have realized that my view of God is so small.  I have realized that I have been selfish and arrogant.  And more than anything else, I have realized that more than anything else, I just want to know Him.  I want to see him as He really is in all His amazing big-ness, so I can put to rest forever my small, inadequate picture of who He is.  My devotions today spoke directly to my heart:  It is “by the discipline of obedience I get to the place where…I see Who God is…The promises of God are of no value to us until by obedience we understand the nature of God.  We read some things in the Bible three hundred and sixty-five times and they mean nothing to us, then all of a sudden we see what God means, because in some particular we have obeyed God, and instantly His nature is opened up….when by the obedience of our lives we say “Amen" to a promise, then that promise is ours" (Oswald Chambers).  Obedience is the key to knowing God.  We can accept his promises until the cows come home, but if we don’t obey his commands to love one another, to give to the needy, to forgive others, to be meek, to give our lives to him, and more, then this journey of faith we have been on might as well end right here.  Remember Jim said last Sunday that every promise has a premise?  Well, this is the granddaddy of all premises; it is the outcome of our faith and the key to really knowing God:  Obey.  Obey. Obey. 

Lord, I want to know you more.  Help me and strengthen me as I choose to obey you in every area of my life. Amen.

Continue to pray for your hopeless cases.