If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: Isaiah 1:19 KJV
Two of the sweetest words in any language are, “I will.”
And I believe that for a follower of Jesus, “I will” are some of the loveliest words you will ever speak to your King and Savior.
These words are not only sweet to our Savior’s ears, but if you think about it, those two words can be sweet to our ears as well.
Think about it…
If you have been praying for a long time; waiting for God to move some mountains for you and give you the “go ahead” on your hopes and dreams? What are the two words that you are longing to hear God speak?
Isn’t it “I will!”?
So, have you been asking Him for green lights?
Have you been waiting, and praying, and believing for miracles?
Then, are not those words, the very ones you want to hear most in answer to your requests?
Conditional vs. Unconditional
There are many promises we can claim for ourselves in the Bible.
Those of us who have followed Jesus for many years know that there are many unconditional promises in our bibles.
These are the promises that God will answer “Yes!” to, no matter what the circumstances might be.
For example:
Concerning unconditional promises, God has promised to never again destroy man from earth by way of a flood (Gen. 9:11). It matters not whether man is obedient to God or in utter rebellion to God, He has promised that He will not destroy man from the earth by a flood.
Ah, but then there are the “conditional promises,” such as today’s scripture:
If you have a willing heart to let me help you,
and if you will obey me, you will feast on the blessings
of an abundant harvest. Isaiah 1:19 TPT
The footnote to this verse says:
Isaiah 1:19 Or “the best of the land.” For the believer today, this is the land of grace that the meek inherit. The best of the land is the fruit of the life of Jesus (Gal. 5:22, the harvest of the Spirit)...
It is simple
We often tend to make complicated–what God has made simple.
Choices in following Jesus usually are simple–but they are not always easy.
Sometimes, we are presented with a choice or a decision that is not easily made, and that breaks our heart.
But, if Jesus is our FIRST LOVE and if He is clearly the One asking?
Then “I will” is our only obedient option.
If God is asking you to follow and obey Him, the answer He wants to hear is a simple, “I will.”
“Those who aren’t following Jesus aren’t his followers. Its that simple. Followers follow, and those who don’t follow aren’t followers. To follow Jesus means to follow Jesus into a society where justice rules, where love shapes everything. To follow Jesus means to take up his dream and work for it.” ~ Scot McKnight
Crossroad choices
I have had to make some very hard choices on my road of discipleship.
“Not often, but every once in a while, God brings us to a major turning point — a great crossroads in our life.” ~ Oswald Chambers’
Crossroad choices are sometimes agonizing choices.
I only realized that fact after the fact as God taught me how crucially important those obedient choices were for my destiny.
I will confess to you that I have struggled many times over these crossroad decisions.
There have been some with lots of tears, because yes, sometimes crossroads can be painful.
They can be very costly, too.
But didn’t Jesus warn us to, “…count the cost.”?
In looking back, I can now say that I have been GLAD in the end that I followed, even though I really struggled at times to obey.
Remember, no matter how difficult our choices may be, there will always be the presence of Jesus to dry our tears, and bind up our wounds.
When we finally get to heaven, and He shows us THE BIG PICTURE–with all the why’s and wherefore’s that we don’t see now?
I think we’ll find that following Jesus will then make perfect sense and bring us the greatest joy with many, many, eternal blessings.
Women With Destiny 