Lesson 74: Obedience the Path to Power in Prayer, part 2
Let us seek to enter into the spirit of what the Savior teaches us. There is a danger in our evangelical religion of looking too much at what it offers from one side, as a certain experience to be obtained in prayer and faith. There is another side which God’s word puts very strongly, that of obedience as the only path to blessing. What we need is to realize that in our relationship to the Infinite Being whom we call God who has created and redeemed us, the first response that should encourage us is that of subjection: the surrender to His supremacy, His glory, His will, and His pleasure, ought to be the first and uppermost thought of our life. The question is not, how we are to obtain and enjoy His favor, for in this the main thing may still be self. But what this Being in the very nature of things rightfully claims, and is infinitely and unspeakably worthy of, is that His glory and pleasure should be my one object. Surrender to His perfect and blessed will, a life of service and obedience, is the beauty and the charm of heaven. Service and obedience, these were the thoughts that were uppermost in the mind of the Son, when He dwelt upon earth. Service and obedience, these must become with us the chief objects of desire and aim, more so than rest or light, or joy or strength: in them we shall find the path to all the higher blessedness that awaits us.
Just note what an important place the Master gives it, not only in John 15, in connection with the abiding, but in John 14, where He speaks of the indwelling of the Three-One God. In John 14:15 we have it: “If you love me, keep My commandments, and the Spirit will be given to you from the Father.
Then verse 21: “Whoever has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me;” and he shall have the special love of my Father resting on him and the special manifestation of Myself.
And then again, verse 23, one of the highest of all the exceeding great and precious promises: “If a man loves Me, he will keep My words, and the Father and I will come and dwell with him.” Could words put it more clearly that obedience is the way to the indwelling of the Spirit, to His revealing the Son within us, and to His again preparing us to be the dwelling, the home of the Father? The indwelling of the Three-One God is the heritage of them that obey. Obedience and faith are but two aspects of one act—surrender to God and His will. As faith strengthens for obedience, it is in turn strengthened by it: faith is made perfect by works. It is to be feared that often our efforts to believe have been ineffective, because we have not taken up the only position in which a large faith is legitimate or possible—that of entire surrender to the honor and the will of God. It is the man who is entirely consecrated to God and His will who will find the power come to claim everything God has promised to be for him.
Prayer: O Lord, reveal to us, we pray, how with all the hosts of heaven, and with Your Son on earth, and with all the men of faith who have glorified You on earth, obedience to God is our highest privilege, because it gives access to oneness with Himself in that which is His highest glory—His all-perfect will. And reveal to us, we pray, how in keeping Your commandments and bearing fruit according to Your will, our spiritual nature will grow up to the full stature of the perfect man, with power to ask and to receive whatsoever we will.