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LESSON 26

Obedience: The Key to Divine Prosperity, Part 2

If they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures.

Job 36:11

Notice that God says, If they obey and serve (me), they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures. But if they obey not, they shall perish by the sword, and they shall die without knowledge (vv.11-12).

The Lord told me, “Son, My people are suffering financially in this day and time simply because of three major factors: 1) disobedience, 2) rebellion, and 3) lethargy.

Let’s consider these three for a moment. First, DISOBEDIENCE. God has told us what to do, but we have said that it won’t work. He has told us how to do things HIS way, but we have said, “But Lord, the evening news says…”

God is telling us one thing; the world is telling us another. We stand in the very strategic position of choosing which one we are going to believe. And many times, because of a lack of commitment to God’s way, we lean to the world’s way.

Let me ask you something. Do you have children? If so, do you demand obedience from them? Is it well with them when they obey? and not so well with them when they don’t? The Bible says, Honour thy father and thy mother…that it may go well with thee (Deuteronomy 5:16). When they were younger, I would tell my kids every time they were disobedient, “It is not well with thee.” If there was any scripture my kids knew, it was Exodus 20:12, Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

Or my paraphrase, “It won’t be well with thee unless thou obey the Papa!”

I demanded obedience from my children. It displeased me when they were not obedient. They were corrected and disciplined. We sat down together and talked about what was right and wrong.

I would be a hypocrite if I demanded obedience from my children and then disobeyed God myself. Wouldn’t I? What kind of an example would that be for my children?

When you fail to obey God, you are disobedient. Once you realize that you’ve been disobedient in any way and have been told to correct that disobedience and you still refuse to obey, then you are no longer just disobedient – you are rebellious. Disobedience leads to REBELLION.

Disobedience is what happens when you tell your child to do something around the house, and he doesn’t do it. That is simple disobedience. However, if you point out to him what he was supposed to do and clearly instruct him to do it – and how to do it – and he still refuses to obey, then his disobedience has become rebellion.

There is no way you can talk God into blessing rebellion. Many times the reason we have not known the kind of prosperity that God has made available to us is because there are areas in our lives in which we have been disobedient, and it leads to rebellion. And there is no way God can bless that.

But you know the cure for disobedience and rebellion, don’t you? Repentance! That’s all it takes. Repentance. If we turn to the Lord in sincere repentance, He will forgive us and cleanse us.

LETHARGY is another thing that has run rampant in the Body of Christ: laziness and slothfulness.

Did you ever notice that in many churches there is usually one guy who is so turned on that he wants to do everything? The pastor asks for people to get involved, but few will. But here’s this guy who is just a “go-getter.” He pops up and says, “I’ll do it, Pastor!” So he does it.

Before you know it, he’s doing this job and that job and the other job. No matter what the need is – teaching a Sunday School class, keeping the nursery, cleaning the restrooms – this guy is right there to do it.

Did you ever notice how everything gets piled on that one person? Why is that? Because you’ve got a multitude out there who are lazy.

I know a young man who used to work with our ministry a few years ago. The first time I met him, I knew he was one of those rare kinds, one who will do anything to get the Word of God, one who just can’t get enough of it.

He was so hungry for the Word. This young man wanted to work with us. At the time, we didn’t have any positions open, so he said, “I’m just going to stay around here, if you don’t mind. I won’t get in the way; I just want to be around where I can get hold of the Word of God.”

He started coming to our church. Every time I saw him, that guy was taking notes. He took notes on everything that was preached constantly. He’d study and study.

Well, a few months went by, and one day, our office manager said to me, “You know, we need another maintenance man. We need somebody to clean up around here.”

I said, “Well, there’s a young man here who asked for a position some time back. You might check with him and see if he’s interested.”

Now, most people who come around wanting a job want to start at the top; they want to preach or be president of the organization. But they talked to this young man, and he said, “I’ll do anything.” So, he came to work, and the first thing they had him doing was work outside on the grounds. They put a hoe, a water hose, and some clippers in his hand and told him, “Let’s get this place looking nice.”

He was out working when I drove up, and I thought he was somebody from outer space. He had a cassette recorder about 18 inches long strapped to his side, with headphones on his head and wires running all over his body. He had some of my tapes playing all the time he was working.

One day, he came in with a piece of wire wrapped around his neck, which stuck out in front of his face. He had some scriptures on it so he could read them while he was hoeing. It was quite a sight.

Now, I’m not telling you to do that. I’m not suggesting that you go to the extreme. This guy was desperate. He wanted the Word, and he didn’t care what he looked like or what people thought or said about him. Some folks thought he was absolutely nuts. He did look like a nut. But, you see, he had made up his mind that he was going to get the Word and didn’t care what it took to get it! He just kept obeying God and doing what God said to do. Right now, praise God, he’s the pastor of a very, very successful church. God has prospered the man.

WHEN YOU GET DESPERATE ENOUGH FOR THE WORD THAT YOU WILL OBEY GOD NO MATTER WHAT, THEN YOU’RE GOING TO SPEND YOUR DAYS IN PROSPERITY AND YOUR YEARS IN PLEASURES.

It’s important that we realize these things and that we make the decision that whatever we see in God’s Word, we will do! We must make the commitment that whatever God says to us by the Holy Spirit, we will do and that we are not going to be disobedient, rebellious children but pleasing to our Father.

I have never regretted my decision to live by God’s Word. Neither will you. In order to reap the benefits, however, we must be obedient. Say this out loud, “If I obey and serve God, I shall spend my days in prosperity and my years in pleasures.” Now stand firm on that promise, and you will see it come to pass in your life!