God sets a standard for His called and chosen. The higher the calling, the greater the degree of obedience required. Before He uses the called to a higher realm of serving Him, He will test them deeply.
In 1 Samuel 15:3, God commanded King Saul, “Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.”
However, Saul did not fully obey God. In 1 Samuel 15:9, “But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs–everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.”
Disobedience is evil in God’s sight. Samuel told Saul in 1 Samuel 15:19, “Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?”
Samuel further added in 1 Samuel 15:22-23, “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has rejected you as king.’
Saul disobeyed because of the fear of his soldiers. He told Samuel in 1 Samuel 15:24, “I have sinned. I violated the Lord’s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the people and so I gave in to them.”
As a result of Saul’s disobedience, Samuel said to him in 1 Samuel 15:28, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors–to one better than you.”
God’s calling upon our life is a treasure that we must value and honour.
In Hebrews 12:16-17, the Lord said, “See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. Afterwards, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears.”
It takes humility to obey the voice of God and obedience is a mark of true Sonship. A man of God wrote:- “God is not pleased by religious activity. He is pleased by faithful works and our obedience to Him. When we start to fear the people leaving more than we fear God leaving, we departed from true faith.”
Our obedience to God had offended many in the past when we had to take drastic action to remove a co-worker from leadership’s role or taking some other nasty decisions. However, God is pleased with our obedience. As a result, the manifest presence of His glory never departed from us. Instead, the ministry has grown from faith to faith, power to power and glory to glory.
Our host in China, whom we met for the first time, gave me a prophetic utterance that God is well pleased with my obedience and shared a testimony how the fire surged through him during the meeting vide the link below:-
May the Lord be glorified through this sharing!
Paul K. P. Ang
Arsenal of Fire Global
May 11, 2019
上帝为祂所呼召和拣选的器皿设定了一个标准。呼召越高，所需的顺从程度就越大。在祂使用祂所呼召的器皿在更高的层面侍奉祂之前，他会深深地测试他们。
在撒母耳记上十五章3节，上帝吩咐扫罗王说：“现在你要去击打亚玛力人，灭尽他们所有的，不可怜惜他们，将男女、孩童、吃奶的，并牛、羊、骆驼，和驴尽行杀死。“
然而，扫罗并没有完全顺服上帝。在撒母耳记上十五章9节，“扫罗和百姓却怜惜亚甲，也爱惜上好的牛、羊、牛犊、羊羔，并一切美物，不肯灭绝。凡下贱瘦弱的，尽都杀了。”
在上帝看来，不顺服是邪恶的。撒母耳在撒母耳记上十五章19节告诉扫罗，“你为何没有听从耶和华的命令，急忙掳掠财物，行耶和华眼中看为恶的事呢？“
撒母耳在撒母耳记上十五章22至23节进一步补充说：“耶和华喜悦燔祭和平安祭，岂如喜悦人听从他的话呢？听命胜于献祭；顺从胜于公羊的脂油。悖逆的罪与行邪术的罪相等；顽梗的罪与拜虚神和偶像的罪相同。你既厌弃耶和华的命令，耶和华也厌弃你作王。”
扫罗因为害怕他的士兵而不顺服上帝。他在撒母耳记上十五章24节告诉撒母耳说：“我有罪了，我因惧怕百姓，听从他们的话，就违背了耶和华的命令和你的言语。”
由于扫罗的不顺服，撒母耳在撒母耳记上十五章28节对他说：“如此，今日耶和华使以色列国与你断绝，将这国赐与比你更好的人。“
上帝对我们生命的呼召是我们必须重视和尊重的宝藏。
在希伯来书十二章16至17中，主说：“恐怕有淫乱的，有贪恋世俗如以扫的，他因一点食物把自己长子的名分卖了。后来想要承受父所祝的福，竟被弃绝，虽然号哭切求，却得不着门路使他父亲的心意回转。这是你们知道的。”
我们必须谦卑才能顺服上帝的声音，顺服是真正的儿子的记号。一位上帝的仆人写道：“上帝并不喜悦宗教活动。祂因我们忠心的行为和顺服祂而喜悦。当我们开始害怕人们的离开比我们害怕上帝的离开时，我们就背离了真正的信仰。”
过去，当我们顺服神而作出一些严厉行动和将我们的同工从领导层中除去时，我们冒犯了许多人。然而，上帝喜悦我们的顺服。结果，祂荣耀彰显的同在在从未离开过我们。相反的，我们的事工已本于信以至于信，力上加力，荣上加荣。
我们在中国第一次见面的东道主，给了我一个启示性的话语，他说上帝喜悦我的顺服。以下链接是他分享他在聚会时神的火焰涌入他的见证：-
https://youtu.be/NXQUQHNoNjw
愿主通过这个分享得到荣耀！
洪光炳
环球烈火军火库事工
2019年5月11号
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