Copyright 2o22 Theresa Harvard Johnson

I remember when I let fear, slothfulness and a whole lot of other self-sabotaging behaviors guide me. I was in my youth in Christ back then. I was growing, developing, learning and found quite a bit of grace — like we all do — through that process.

But when I matured (fully understanding obedience and disobedience in my own walk), I found myself standing in inner struggles that I was fully responsible for exerting my obedience over. I had to realize that it was up to me to “beat this flesh in submission” by obeying God… in-spite of myself. I had to choose to overcome by putting action to prayer and prophetic insight.

The Children’s Bread

OBEDIENCE is a critical part of the children’s bread. Every day, it is MY responsibility to give the Lord something to work with. Why? Well, we must understand that in the earth – we live on a kind of time line.

For example, something we may be assigned to do among the people of God IS TIED TO the assignment, purpose or destiny of someone else. So, my obedience… can be a ripple through that timeline of my life and those that I am destined to impact knowingly or unknowingly.

So when we, in our mature places, GO TO SLEEP on the Lord… we run the risk of missing critical timelines that not only impact our lives but the lives of others.

We need to be reminded that there were people in the Bible who failed to seize their opportunities for whatever reason… and the Lord raised up others in their place.

God is carrying out a plan

Please know that God didn’t REPLACE them… as if they were dispensable. Rather, He saw that they were going to do things there way despite him. As a result, HE HAD TO MOVE ON because the assignment was critically important.

Mordecai said this to Esther: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise FROM ANOTHER PLACE, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:13-14)

In Romans 11 Paul tells the people about how the Lord stopped contending for Israel because of the people’s disobedience and raised up a Gentile nation to manifest His promise… knowing it would move Israel to jealousy.

When Esau despised his birthright, God gave it to his brother.

When King Saul failed to obey God after countless opportunities, he moved forward through King David.

After Eli’s sons lost their mind, the Lord favored Samuel…. and raised him up.

While God loves us despite ourselves, some assignments MUST BE SHIFTED because the lives of other people are at stake… and things need to get done.God has a plan He is working out, an end goal. In a time when believers are overly sensitive and walking out of extreme places of familiarity with the Lord, we mut remind ourselves of teachings like this.

Choice leads this conversation

We can choose whether our destiny is fulfilled with our cooperation in heaven and earth RIGHT NOW…. or we can wake up one day and find we have missed Him.

You see, we have an internal prophetic time clock positioned on the inside of us. EVERY BELIEVER has the power to identify that urgency or immediacy when the TIME IS NOW to move forward. Don’t miss it.

The Lord doesn’t expect us to KNOW how to do everything at once. We simply have to be a people that can take baby steps and stay consistent in heart, mind and action.

I have been an Esau in my life because of my own fear and poisoned thinking. I have missed God on some things that I CAN NEVER RECOVER…. but one or two hard lessons was enough. I learned how to do things AFRAID and UNSKILLED…. until I grew into those places WITH HIM HOLDING MY HAND.