Obedience Without Hesitation

By Michael Youssef, Ph.D. Abraham did not hesitate to obey the Lord. He packed up everything and headed for the land of Canaan—no questions asked. God had spoken, and Abraham obeyed. Are we willing to do the same and step out obediently without hesitation? There will be times when the Lord instructs us to wait, and we must be willing to do just that—be still and wait for Him. Waiting is also a form of faithful obedience. Abraham was not perfect. He panicked and took matters into his own hands as he took his family to Egypt. What made sense from a human viewpoint was folly from God’s viewpoint. When we feel threatened, many of us do the same thing—we become fearful and take matters into our own hands. However, in times of crisis, we must remain steadily focused on Christ, watching and listening for His leading. Fear always challenges faith. When we divert from God’s plan out of fear, we end up in a foreign land, fighting a foreign enemy with our own resources. Like Abraham, we will make mistakes. We will take a wrong turn and end up in a place other that the one God has for us. However, the journey of faith begins at the Cross where Jesus died for our sins and where we can find eternal forgiveness for our souls. When we stray, the Cross reminds us that we can always turn to the Lord, asking Him to forgive us and to lead us on from that point. No matter where you are on your journey of faith, look to the Lord in faith for guidance and trust that He will always lead you in paths of righteousness for your ultimate good and His glory. Prayer: Father, I confess that at times I have allowed fear to cause me to hesitate to obey You. Forgive me for those times and help me to trust that You will not lead me astray. You are worthy of my complete obedience. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen. “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going” (Hebrews 11:8).

Trying To Please God

By Michael Youssef, Ph.D.



One of the greatest dangers that we often fall into is associating God with our earthly fathers. Whether your earthly father was gracious or harsh, you can never associate your earthly father with our heavenly Father.



I wonder how many people spend their life trying to please God, but feel they can never please Him enough. I wonder how many are laboring under a sense of failure because they feel that they cannot satisfy God.



I think of our religious friends, the Muslims, who bow and prostrate themselves five times a day until they develop a mark on their foreheads, which they wear with pride as a sense of accomplishment. They are trying to please Allah, but they have absolutely no assurance that they can ever please him.

I think of Martin Luther, the great reformer who ignited the Reformation in Europe. As a Dominican monk in the monastery, he was so overburdened with his sin and his unworthiness in trying to please God, he literally would go to the abbot of the monastery every hour on the hour for confession until the abbot got tired of him and said, “Stop coming back.”



Luther wanted to please God, but he couldn’t until he read the Scripture, opened the Word of God and realized that salvation is by grace alone. Then his life was transformed and he ignited the Reformation in Europe.



We spend all of this effort and hard work trying to please God, yet never feeling that God is pleased because we miss the meaning of the Word of God. Without faith, no one can please God.



Prayer: Father, thank You that no earthly father can compare to You. You are perfect and full of grace. Thank You for the reminder that there is nothing I can do to attain Your acceptance. Thank You that it is only by Your grace that we can be called Your sons and daughters. Amen.

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And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).