A week ago today when I was journaling and asking Jesus what He wanted me to know from Him for today, I heard Him ask me when I was going to listen and obey Him fully? I like to think I do this fairly well, which I have. But, Jesus is not OK with my “fairly well”. He is asking for the “fairly” to be taken out of the equation. He seeks for me to replace fairly with full–full well.

I have written much of late about this process of learning about the significance of God’s Holy Spirit living in me and finding God’s Strength/Power from this residence in me. It is incredible to start putting together all this means. When trust and faith are placed in front of all willfulness/selfishness, one starts on this path of obedience. It is truly taking I Corinthians 10:13 to the test. This verse says, “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”

When I’m tempted to tell The Holy Spirit, “not now” or something along that line or “I just want to stay with what I’m doing, I can do that later, just remind me.” I am disobeying. I’ve always looked at this verse from the lens of some self-gratification/selfishness. Yes, these are common to man, but just as common to man is ignoring a nudge to do whatever is being done presently. The JOY of the Lord being my strength is never found in my selfishness–only in my obedience. Today, living a week in obedience has given me great JOY as I write this. It is no surprise either that obedience that is “full well” has no sense of one not getting their way. Instead, it is full JOY!