The Role Of Obedience In Healing

Let me talk a bit more about obeying God. I am going to use an example from my own life that is sort of a humorous story. I want you to understand a little bit about what I am talking about before I ask you to make a commitment to sign away your life to God here, so I will share this experience with you.

One day I was in a rare furniture store, and they had this beautiful roll-top desk, and I really wanted this desk. I really loved this desk, I really had to have this desk and it cost a lot of money. I can't remember the exact amount, so for the purposes of this story, let's say it was $5,000.

I started saving up for this desk. Instead of going out to lunch with my co-workers, I took my lunch money and I put it in my desk fund and I brought the little sandwiches from home and ate at my desk by myself so I could have my desk. I sowed into that desk for like over a year and I put money in from other sources to, like if somebody would give me money for my birthday, it would go into my desk fund. I cannot tell you how badly wanted this desk.

I would go to the furniture store about once a week and I would visit the desk. I would check to make sure it was still there, and I would lay hands on the desk and ask that on one be allowed to buy it before I saved up the money. I claimed that desk as mine, and I did so in Jesus' name. I am sharing this to give you an idea of how badly I wanted the desk! I saved up for over a year!

Now, there was a friend of mine who got engaged. Let's call her Lynn (not her real name) and let's call her fiancé Ron. Ron was the pastor of this teeny little fledgling church plant. The church only had about thirteen people in the whole congregation, and some of them were kids. As you can imagine, there was not much money in the church, and it could not afford to support Ron, so Ron lived by faith. You have met the type--they have no income, yet God meets every one of their needs, and that is pretty awesome. Well, Ron and Lynn got engaged, and it was all wonderful.

I went with Lynn to Ron's church to hear him preach because he was her fiancé. I got to know him a little better, and he seemed like a really nice guy, although I did not know him very well. They were happy together and their future looked very bright. But then tragedy struck. They decided to go shopping for their engagement ring. They went to the store and they tried on different rings and they finally found the perfect ring. But then they looked at the price tag, their hopes were dashed to the ground. It was very expensive, much more than they could afford.

They were very disappointed about that. Lynn called me and she said, "I am so discouraged. We found the perfect ring but we could not get it and I am so sad." I said, "Oh, is not that too bad, I am sure you will find something in the price range that you can afford." She said, "Well, the cheapest rings they had were out of our price range as well." I said, "Oh that is too bad and I am so sorry."

I got off the phone and sat down to do my devotions. I started reading the bible and God spoke to me. He said, 'Teresa, give Ron the money to get that ring." And, I said, "Excuse me God?" I thought I got that 'stray thought' out of my system, so I went back to reading the bible again. Then God spoke to me again and said, "Teresa, give Ron the money to buy that ring!"

Now here is the problem--I had the money to give to Ron. I almost had enough money to buy the desk that I had been saving for a whole year for. I wanted the desk! But God was saying, give the money to Ron. My response was "Satan, I rebuke you in the name of Jesus"--but it did not go away. "Teresa, I want you to give Ron the money to buy the ring."

Now I realize I am using finance as an example. The "cost" to obedience might not be financial for you, but there is always a cost to obedience. It might be in the area of a relationship, maybe an unmarried Christian lady is dating an unsaved man and God says, "No you cannot marry him, he is not a believer." Is that costly? You bet it is!

Or maybe God is saying, "This relationship with this friend of yours is dysfunctional, you are fighting all the time, I want you to walk away from the relationship." Or maybe it is the other way around and God tells you to stay in a relationship you hate so, that you can be His witness there.

Or perhaps God is saying, "I want you to take on this person who is so needy that he is going to consume all of your time, they are going to drive you nuts, they are going to complain all the time, but you are going to love them until My life enters into them." Is that costly?

We do not know what "costly" will look like, but you will know when it hits you. And for me, giving Ron the "desk" money was very costly. I wanted that desk so bad; I saved for it over a year, and I did not even go out to lunch with my co-workers. I really wanted that desk, and God was saying 'Teresa take the money for the desk and give it to Ron so he can buy the ring.'

And, what was even worse, I could not tell him where the money came from because God said, "just say it is from Me."

"But, God, it is my money!!"

"Don't I own everything that you own? Did not you tell Me that you would give everything you have to Me? Well, I want some of it."

Well, I never thought God would take me up on it when I prayed that prayer. Yeah, commitments to God are great until God actually calls them in. So, not only did I have to give Ron the money, I could not even tell him that it was from me.

I struggled with this for a while, then I finally decided that this was really God commanding me to do this. Then I had to decide if I was going to obey Him or not. Did I love God enough to do what He told me to do even when I definitely wanted to do something different?

I really liked this desk! Did I really have to give Ron the money? Then John 14:15 would come to me: "If you love Me, obey Me." Alright! After quiet a struggle, I finally decided to obey God.

It was a Saturday morning, and God told me to get the money out of the bank and give it to Ron--not a check, I had to go get cash out of the bank in hundreds. It takes a lot of hundred dollar bills to make five thousand dollars, and I had this thick pile of money. I remember thinking, "I hope I don't get robbed while I am carrying all of this cash!"

On the way to Ron's apartment, I stopped by the furniture store to say goodbye to the desk. I prayed over it one last time, "Okay, I release you in Jesus Name; someone else can buy you now. Bye."

I went to Ron's apartment and was about to knock on the door. Just before I knocked, I told myself, "If he doesn't answer the door, I am going right back to that furniture store and I am getting the desk! I am putting the last little bit on my credit card!" So, I knocked on the door and hoped he would not answer. At first it seemed like I was going to get my wish, because there was a long delay before he opened the door.

He had one of those chains across the top that only lets the door open a few inches. So, He cracked it open, looked out at me and said, 'Yes?' He did not even open the door all the way when he saw me.

I said, "Well Ron, God told me to give this to you". I handed him the envelope but I did not tell him what was inside. "God told me to tell you that He loves you and that He will take care of all your needs and this is from Him for you to get the ring for your fiancé."

Ron reached out through the little crack and took the money and said "Thank you very much." Then he closed the door.

I was left standing there. I was obedient and now I was substantially poorer, and he did not even invite me in! So I stood there on the porch for a few seconds and cried out "God! He didn't even invite me in!"

God said, "What is the big deal, you did what I told you, didn't you?"

Was that it? I thought maybe angels would come and minister to me, but it wasn't like that at all. I didn't even get a pat on the back from God for my costly obedience. It had been such a big deal for me to make the decision to obey God--but when I obeyed, neither Ron nor the Lord made a big deal out of it.

I remember wiping my brow and thinking, "Boy, I sure hope that really was God who told me to give the money to Ron!"

There is more to this story, where God confirmed to me that it really was His command. That happened the next day at church, where I heard Ron tell the story from his perspective in his sermon on "trusting God."

I will share his side of the story with you in our next lesson.