Chapter 36 - Obedience

Chapter 36 focused our attention on Obedience in 7 Bible passages, as follows:

Matthew 8:18-22
Luke 1:26-28
Deuteronomy 26:16-19
Matthew 10:32-42
1 Samuel 15:12-15
Matthew 19:16-30
Acts 15:17-29

Invocation:

“…Grant that I may direct all my knowledge, my whole capacity, all my happiness, and all my exertions, to please you, to love you, and to obtain your love for time and eternity. Amen.” (Thomas à Kempis in The Imitation of Christ)

Hymn:

The hymn for Chapter 36 was “Trust and Obey” by John Sammis. (If you are not familiar with the song, just Google the hymn name and you will get multiple sources to read and/or hear it, as well as its history.)

Benediction:

“Speak, Lord, for your servant hears. Grant me ears to hear, eyes to see, a will to obey, a heart to love; then declare what you will, reveal what you will, command what you will, demand what you will. Amen.” (Christina Rosetti in Little Book of Prayers)

Meditation Selections:

The meditation selections included excerpts from the writings of Phillips Brooks, Emilie Griffin, Stephen F. Winward, Georgia Harkness, Tilden H. Edwards, Thomas R. Kelly, C. S. Lewis, Oswald Chambers and Thomas à Kempis. (Googling their names may give you some insight into their backgrounds and experiences, if that's of any interest to you.)

Some of the interesting quotes from the meditations included:

• “The great danger facing all of us … is that we may fail to perceive life’s greatest meaning, fall short of its highest good, miss its deepest and most abiding happiness, be unable to render the most needed service, be unconscious of life ablaze with the light of the Presence of God – and be content to have it so.”
• “Prayer is, after all, a very dangerous business. For all the benefits it offers of growing closer to God, it carries with it one great element of risk: the possibility of change.”
• “… to define prayer is no simple matter. … Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God, for things agreeable to His will.”
• “Come and taste the fruit of obedience.”
• “Begin where you are. Obey now.”
• “Do at once what you must do one day. … Duty is imperative; it must be done. … (Do not) compel God to compel you.”
• “The golden rule of understanding spiritually is not intellect, but obedience. … spiritual darkness comes because of something I do not intend to obey.”
• “ ‘Ye call me Master and Lord’ – but is He?”
• “Independence belongs to God, who has made man dependent on others that his subordination may be to him the means of his sanctification. I will therefore form myself upon the model of my submissive, dependent, and obedient Saviour, and dispose of nothing in myself, not even of my own will.”

What do any of these quotes (or any of the meditations in Chapter 36 not quoted) mean to you? Please post your responses to the blog site:
(http://lhcndeeperlifeclass.blogspot.com/).

Thanks for your participation.
John