Instant Obedience!

What Gives You the Right to Tell Me How to Live My Life?

Acts 10: 33”So I sent to you immediately, and you have done well to come. Now therefore, we are all present before God, to hear all the things commanded you by God."

Cornelius was the first gentile to be baptized in the Bible! Now he was no ordinary person, but an officer of considerable rank and figure of the army and a centurion. Further we are told that he was a godly man, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always. Further down that chapter we are also told that he was fasting and praying. Cornelius was a good man, and at the same time, a great man – a rare combination, though. However, Cornelius still had to know the way of salvation through Jesus Christ!

While Cornelius was fasting and praying, an angel appeared before him and said: ’Send your men to Joppa and bring Peter to your house and he will tell you what you must do.’ The words ‘he will tell you what you must do,’ caught my attention! Cornelius makes no delay, but immediately after the angel departs, he calls for his men and the next day they start their journey to Joppa. This is obedience! When Peter walked into the house of Cornelius, he tells Peter: “we are all present before God, to hear all the things commanded to you by God." I marveled at the humility of this army officer! God can only speak to listening ears! Despite his position and status, Cornelius was ready to humble himself to a stranger (Peter) and listen obediently to what he had to tell them. He had called his friends and close relatives to hear Peter preach. The result of this meeting is awesome, the Bible tells us that while Peter was preaching, the Holy Spirit came on them and they all started to speak in tongues. Since God had touched them, they were all also water baptized. Incredible!

Today, we live in a rebellious world, where people want to run their lives and would never want to be advised. Working women look at their husbands and roar: ‘why should I listen to you?’ Children look at their parents and say, ‘don’t interfere in my life.’ Church members tell their pastor, ‘who are you to advise us?’ Students tell their teachers, ‘ just teach, don’t you dare preach to us.’ People don’t want to obey traffic rules, they want to defy the law, overall there is disobedience and chaos right from parliament to pavement. We live in the midst of insanity! But let me tell you, the rare few that not only listen but also obey God, are the ones who would be blessed.

‘Please tell me what to do’ should be our motto and not ‘who are you to tell me what to do!’ Are you listening? The blessings that you get out of ‘ instant obedience’ is immeasurable!

• Immediately destroy all that is unrighteous and correct your life

• Remove bad and illicit relationships immediately from your life

• Married people! Listen! No matter what, be faithful to your partners! Obey God.

You know what, I did something really crazy after my encounter with Jesus, I have no inhibitions to share it with you guys; we used to buy a particular newspaper those days that was filled with cinema news and personal details of celebrities – I immediately issued notice for the newspapers to be stopped from the ‘next’ day. I am a nut for God!