Running From Obedience

[hldude]

“Running From Obedience”
By Zach Wood
Jonah 1:1-3 NLT
The Lord gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai: “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.” But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord. He went down to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping to escape from the Lord by sailing to Tarshish.


Imagine you are watching the World Series. There are 2 outs and the score is tied. This is so intense and everyone is on the edge of their seats waiting to see what happens at this crucial moment. The batter swings and there’s 1 strike. The batter swings again and now 2 strikes. The batter swings for the third time and cracks the ball way out into the outfield. But, what if the batter then starts running toward third plate? Could you imagine how the players and fans would react? They’d all be yelling “You’re running the wrong way!” Not only would the runner look foolish, but this choice would not win the game.

Now imagine a basketball player getting the ball inbounds and he starts going down the wrong side of the court. He goes up for lay-up and he scores…..for the other team! The player would also look foolish. Why? Because the player didn’t do what he or she was told to do! The player ran the wrong way.

Now, if we were watching these games on TV, we would drop our jaws and open our eyes wide and shout, “What were you thinking??” Who would be that foolish? Who would jeopardize a game like that and be so careless and do the wrong thing intentionally?

These things would be foolish of course, but before we point our fingers in judgment, don’t we do the same thing? I have read the Jonah story many times and I think to myself why he would flee like that? And then I look at my own life and I see so often how many times I have disobeyed God and fled from His commands. He has asked me to do so many things in life and I have disobeyed Him a lot and done my own thing. I ran my own way and I paid the price. Jonah ran and he sure paid the price for what he did. The Lord let him run and let him suffer the consequences.

Aren’t we so like Jonah? What are we running away from? Are we running away from a conflict we need to address? Are we running away from a marriage that we should stay and work out? Are we running away from a relationship with a friend that we need to sort out? Are we running away from a choice at work that we need to be strong about making?

What are you running away from right now that you need to face? What is God calling to do that you are intentionally going the opposite way? Obedience is always the most successful way.

 

[GodsVoice]

“Running From Obedience”
By Zach Wood
Jonah 1:1-3 NLT
The Lord gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai: “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.” But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord. He went down to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping to escape from the Lord by sailing to Tarshish.


Imagine you are watching the World Series. There are 2 outs and the score is tied. This is so intense and everyone is on the edge of their seats waiting to see what happens at this crucial moment. The batter swings and there’s 1 strike. The batter swings again and now 2 strikes. The batter swings for the third time and cracks the ball way out into the outfield. But, what if the batter then starts running toward third plate? Could you imagine how the players and fans would react? They’d all be yelling “You’re running the wrong way!” Not only would the runner look foolish, but this choice would not win the game.

Now imagine a basketball player getting the ball inbounds and he starts going down the wrong side of the court. He goes up for lay-up and he scores…..for the other team! The player would also look foolish. Why? Because the player didn’t do what he or she was told to do! The player ran the wrong way.

Now, if we were watching these games on TV, we would drop our jaws and open our eyes wide and shout, “What were you thinking??” Who would be that foolish? Who would jeopardize a game like that and be so careless and do the wrong thing intentionally?

These things would be foolish of course, but before we point our fingers in judgment, don’t we do the same thing? I have read the Jonah story many times and I think to myself why he would flee like that? And then I look at my own life and I see so often how many times I have disobeyed God and fled from His commands. He has asked me to do so many things in life and I have disobeyed Him a lot and done my own thing. I ran my own way and I paid the price. Jonah ran and he sure paid the price for what he did. The Lord let him run and let him suffer the consequences.

Aren’t we so like Jonah? What are we running away from? Are we running away from a conflict we need to address? Are we running away from a marriage that we should stay and work out? Are we running away from a relationship with a friend that we need to sort out? Are we running away from a choice at work that we need to be strong about making?

What are you running away from right now that you need to face? What is God calling to do that you are intentionally going the opposite way? Obedience is always the most successful way.

Since the only way to be obedient to God is to hear his voice, most people are obeying other people who don't have any idea who God is. Some people think they have to be obedient to the words they read in a book called a Bible but the Bible can't tell whether or not you're actually being obedient or not. This is why God said to listen to his voice and obey his commandments. He has an actual voice that can be heard in the mind but most people are more interested in the thoughts from the deceivers than listening for the voice of God within them. Until they actually hear the voice of God, they will continue being obedient to each other with the voices of the deceivers.

 

[Not_Now.Soon]

“Running From Obedience”
By Zach Wood
Jonah 1:1-3 NLT
The Lord gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai: “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.” But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord. He went down to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping to escape from the Lord by sailing to Tarshish.


Imagine you are watching the World Series. There are 2 outs and the score is tied. This is so intense and everyone is on the edge of their seats waiting to see what happens at this crucial moment. The batter swings and there’s 1 strike. The batter swings again and now 2 strikes. The batter swings for the third time and cracks the ball way out into the outfield. But, what if the batter then starts running toward third plate? Could you imagine how the players and fans would react? They’d all be yelling “You’re running the wrong way!” Not only would the runner look foolish, but this choice would not win the game.

Now imagine a basketball player getting the ball inbounds and he starts going down the wrong side of the court. He goes up for lay-up and he scores…..for the other team! The player would also look foolish. Why? Because the player didn’t do what he or she was told to do! The player ran the wrong way.

Now, if we were watching these games on TV, we would drop our jaws and open our eyes wide and shout, “What were you thinking??” Who would be that foolish? Who would jeopardize a game like that and be so careless and do the wrong thing intentionally?

These things would be foolish of course, but before we point our fingers in judgment, don’t we do the same thing? I have read the Jonah story many times and I think to myself why he would flee like that? And then I look at my own life and I see so often how many times I have disobeyed God and fled from His commands. He has asked me to do so many things in life and I have disobeyed Him a lot and done my own thing. I ran my own way and I paid the price. Jonah ran and he sure paid the price for what he did. The Lord let him run and let him suffer the consequences.

Aren’t we so like Jonah? What are we running away from? Are we running away from a conflict we need to address? Are we running away from a marriage that we should stay and work out? Are we running away from a relationship with a friend that we need to sort out? Are we running away from a choice at work that we need to be strong about making?

What are you running away from right now that you need to face? What is God calling to do that you are intentionally going the opposite way? Obedience is always the most successful way.

It really is bizarre. In the mist of all the other prophets we know of in scriptures, that advise kings, and put kings in place by God's choosing. Where they prophesy to nations, and perform miracles in obediance to God. Even to be a public sign to Isreal by what they do, and explain what the meaning behind their actions really means. All of them from Nathan to Zechariah. They have such grand and wonderful things in the line of their obediance to God.

But Jonah had to be dragged to obediance, and explained his reasoning of running because he thought God would forgive the people he was sent to. And that because of this he would not be known as a great prophet. His selfish pride almost cost a grand city's forgiveness from God. As a christian who holds to God's forgivensss, this prophet strikes me with such a strangeness compared to the other great men of obediance.

Thank you for sharing this hldude, and pointing out that we should look at our own running away issues, so that we don't do the same kind of thing that Jonah almost did.

 

[daninthelionsden]

Since the only way to be obedient to God is to hear his voice, most people are obeying other people who don't have any idea who God is. Some people think they have to be obedient to the words they read in a book called a Bible but the Bible can't tell whether or not you're actually being obedient or not. This is why God said to listen to his voice and obey his commandments. He has an actual voice that can be heard in the mind but most people are more interested in the thoughts from the deceivers than listening for the voice of God within them. Until they actually hear the voice of God, they will continue being obedient to each other with the voices of the deceivers.

I agree with some of what you are saying but I also know that part of obedience is studying the Word of God to show ourselves approved. The Word is alive. That's why you can look at a verse one day and it may seem pointless or not applicable and then see that same passage years later and it just jumps right off the page and into your heart. Don't ever underestimate the power in the Word.

 

[GodsVoice]

I agree with some of what you are saying but I also know that part of obedience is studying the Word of God to show ourselves approved. The Word is alive. That's why you can look at a verse one day and it may seem pointless or not applicable and then see that same passage years later and it just jumps right off the page and into your heart. Don't ever underestimate the power in the Word.

It's not the written words that are guiding you to certain scriptures. Those IN Christ are guided to the scriptures to prove our testimonies are accurate and true. Those people who listen to the deceivers are guided to the scriptures that satisfy the deceivers. The Devil knows the same scriptures that those IN Christ are guided to by the Holy Spirit but the Devil doesn't understand the deep meanings of the prophecies. This is how I can tell who is IN Christ and those who are being deceived by the deceivers.

 

[Brother Mike]

It's not the written words that are guiding you to certain scriptures. Those IN Christ are guided to the scriptures to prove our testimonies are accurate and true. Those people who listen to the deceivers are guided to the scriptures that satisfy the deceivers. The Devil knows the same scriptures that those IN Christ are guided to by the Holy Spirit but the Devil doesn't understand the deep meanings of the prophecies. This is how I can tell who is IN Christ and those who are being deceived by the deceivers.

You talk a lot about deception and hearing and following the wrong things. The Word though has power to bring to pass what is written. Like Col 1:9 if you meditate on it.

However, I question your ability to hear also. You have the LRO taking a Earth rise shot of earth from 249,000 miles away. It's actually to scale this time. To bad it's a badly done 3d model though of a fake earth with fake moon surface.

Here is a recolor (NASA replaced the space background to hide the projection booth lines (1992-2001) of the 1972-73 picture. Notice anything wrong about the size of the earth? NASA blew it again.

View attachment 10584

The Written Word does guide us into all things as the Spirit and Word agree and the Word divides what is soul (Our thinking) and spirit. (Heb 4:12)

 

[GodsVoice]

You talk a lot about deception and hearing and following the wrong things. The Word though has power to bring to pass what is written. Like Col 1:9 if you meditate on it.

However, I question your ability to hear also. You have the LRO taking a Earth rise shot of earth from 249,000 miles away. It's actually to scale this time. To bad it's a badly done 3d model though of a fake earth with fake moon surface.

Here is a recolor (NASA replaced the space background to hide the projection booth lines (1992-2001) of the 1972-73 picture. Notice anything wrong about the size of the earth? NASA blew it again.

View attachment 10584

The Written Word does guide us into all things as the Spirit and Word agree and the Word divides what is soul (Our thinking) and spirit. (Heb 4:12)

All the false images of the world are from the deceivers and those who worship them are deceived of the truth.

Deuteronomy 4:
8: “You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;
9: you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Why are you so concerned with an image I used for my avatar instead of hearing the voice of God and obeying his commandments?

 

[GodsVoice]

By the way, that passage in Hebrew 4: 12 is totally interpreted incorrectly by people who don't know what the word of the Lord is. The word of the Lord is the same exact thing as the voice of the Lord that was heard in the mind of all the saints, apostles or prophets who were then forced to write down the words formed in their minds. This is how all the original scriptures were written. What happened after those original writings were written was done by unspiritual men who added their own laws and traditions to produce the Bible. This is why the Bible should never be trusted as the true word of God. The only way to the truth is to listen to the word ( voice ) of the Lord within the mind and obey all his commandments. Once a servant has been justified through the process of confession and repentance of sins and have witnessed several miracles by God, then the servant is ready to start testifying on God's behalf by writing down the words formed in the mind. Eventually, God uses the servant to speak for Him those words put in the mind like he did with Moses and Jesus.

Exodus 4:
10: But Moses said to the LORD, "Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either heretofore or since thou hast spoken to thy servant; but I am slow of speech and of tongue."
11: Then the LORD said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?
12: Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak."

John 12
44: And Jesus cried out and said, "He who believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me.
45: And he who sees me sees him who sent me.
46: I have come as light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.
47: If any one hears my sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.
48: He who rejects me and does not receive my sayings has a judge; the word that I have spoken will be his judge on the last day.
49: For I have not spoken on my own authority; the Father who sent me has himself given me commandment what to say and what to speak.
50: And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has bidden me."

God had Isaiah and all most of the prophets write and speak for Him. Isaiah is not God but he spoke these words for Him.

Isaiah 45
5: I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I gird you, though you do not know me,
6: that men may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other.
7: I form light and create darkness, I make weal and create woe, I am the LORD, who do all these things.
8: "Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the skies rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation may sprout forth, and let it cause righteousness to spring up also; I the LORD have created it.

The prophet Hosea had to write these words for God.

Hosea 13
4: I am the LORD your God from the land of Egypt; you know no God but me, and besides me there is no savior.

None of these prophets had to study the scriptures to get to know God but because of the spoken stories by the prophets of Noah, Abraham, Israel, Joseph and then to Moses, the potential prophets heard these stories when they were young so they did get to believe there was a God before God actually spoke words into their mind to get their attention. This is the moment called "faith".

 

[Brother Mike]

All the false images of the world are from the deceivers and those who worship them are deceived of the truth.

Deuteronomy 4:
8: “You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;
9: you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Why are you so concerned with an image I used for my avatar instead of hearing the voice of God and obeying his commandments?

Ya, Ok, if you say so. I would stick with NASA (Never A Straight Answer)

 

[GodsVoice]

Ya, Ok, if you say so. I would stick with NASA (Never A Straight Answer)

False images don't concern me anymore now that I know who I am in Christ. But on the way to the truth, sometimes those images can be deceiving. Now I know where they all came from.

 

[smaller]

But Jonah had to be dragged to obediance, and explained his reasoning of running because he thought God would forgive the people he was sent to. And that because of this he would not be known as a great prophet. His selfish pride almost cost a grand city's forgiveness from God. As a christian who holds to God's forgivensss, this prophet strikes me with such a strangeness compared to the other great men of obediance.

It is good that you picked up on that. Jonah knew that God would give the outcome of repentance. It was a foregone conclusion in Jonah's mind.

Jonah 4:2
And he prayed unto the Lord, and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.

In a very bizarre turn of events, Jonah actually saw that it was "better" for God to be angry, and to kill them instead, just as it would be better for himself.

3 Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.

God then reasoned with Jonah with the "gourd." Causing it to grow and give shade/comfort, then killing it.

This form of reasoning is absolutely identical with Paul's reasoning in 1 Cor. 15:42-46.

Thank you for sharing this hldude, and pointing out that we should look at our own running away issues, so that we don't do the same kind of thing that Jonah almost did.

Jonah also shows the fact of "internal resistance" and even "anger" at this current "life's construct" of God, knowing the outcome above, as noted.

The fact IS, in this current life, we do all bear this internal resistance, which cannot obedient in this current life.

Jonah's expressions were that God would end his own binding to that disobedience. And that happened, in Gods Own Timing.