Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Email | RSS | More

K.I.S.S (Keep it Simple Sweetheart) –Obedient to God

For most part my kids are very obedient and usually do what I ask them to. Being a parent is amazing because not only do you have to love and train your kids, but when they are able to walk and understand, you get someone to boss around. You know, like, Hi Simone, please get me the TV remote. Could you please grab me the cell phone in the Kitchen? Please grab me a drink from the fridge and so…on. How many parents can relate?

Think about it, am outside and Simone is in the house playing with her toys… I call out to her…: “Simone!” and she responds:

Yes, daddy! And then she waits for my instructions. I proceed to tell her to come or I end up shouting the instructions/ Request. If you ask me, I would say that is great because she responded, and waited for my instructions. Great kid…Right?

Unless it’s one of those moments where they pretend that they did not hear me- Pastor Jay preached on this a couple of Wednesdays ago.

But think about this…Same situation, I call her but this time instead of answering Yes daddy (which is perfect) – She says “Yes daddy, here I am”!

What just happened:

The first time I called her, she responded to me but she did not move or stop what she was doing. Even though it was a great respectful response and she gave me attention, she did not move or stop whatever she was in the middle of doing.

In some case, I would have to call her again if I didn’t not shout my instructions, in order for her to come and investigate why I called her.

Other time, especially if she was doing something fun with her sister, if I don’t tell her what I want, she will wait for a minute and then not hearing anything else from me, she will continue to play.

However, the second time, I called her she stops what she was doing immediately and comes over.

Her response “Yes daddy, here I am” can only mean one thing. She dropped everything she was doing and immediately came over and she is next to me waiting for me to give her instructions.

This is the same response God is looking for from you today. It’s a response that says to God, you called and I am here ready, willing and able for you to use or send me.

Hineni means – Here I am: Ready, willing and able” (A respond to a direct call from God)

Just like my daughter, she is ready to hear what my request is, she is willing to be obedient and more so, because she has spent time with me and known me.

She knows that whatever I ask her, she will be able to do it because I can never request her to go move the car to the garage because I have not equipped her with that knowledge yet! We have a great relationship that even if I said, go move the car, she would laugh and say that I am being silly. She knows my heart.

This is the same response that our Heavenly Daddy is looking for – He is saying I need you to be ready, be willing and know that whatever I have called you to do, I have already equipped you with everything that you need to do it.

And yes, I am also with you training and guiding you daily so that it can come to completion.

He that started a good work in you, will see it to completion”

God knew us before we got formed in the womb. That means when He decided to make you, He had a plan already in place that involved you.

He has been preparing you to this day and at some point soon He will call you so that you can fulfil your part of His greater plan.

The issue becomes when He calls us, we have no desire to listen to our maker or we are too busy to respond Hineni!

It’s a simple response of Hineni- We complicate stuff and before long, we talk ourselves out of what God is calling us. We feel that we need to do this and that. God is saying…K.I.S.S. All I need is a response of Hineni!

Genesis 22: 1-3

Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”  And he said, “Here I am.”

2 Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

3 So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.

When God called Abraham, his response was “Hineni. This means that Abraham has already decided that whatever God was going to ask of him, he was going to be ready, willing and able to do it. He was asked to go and sacrifice his only son.

I believe that for Abraham’s Faith in God to be activated, and for him to be able to say yes, I will sacrifice my son, I will do what you want Lord; it was all in his attitude even before God came calling.

He had declared beforehand that Whatever God asks, he would be ready, willing, and able. Hineni! So when the call came for him sacrifice his Son, there was no debate about this, his response was…Hineni!

A decision to be available has to be made before the testing occurs. You have to decide and declare today what your response will be when the Lord calls.

Remember, you were created for a time like this, and yes your call is just a few minutes away… you have to decide now before it’s too late. If you are waiting to make that decision at that moment of action, your body or mind or both will fail you.

Luke 21:25- 26

And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring: 26. men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

During the end times, whatever you think you know. Or the strength you have will all be shaken. That is why the Lord is saying – Now is the time to choose.

Today I ask you…Choose this day whom you will serve, for as for me and my house we will serve the Lord. No matter what happened our answer will be…. Yes, Lord! HINENI!!

What is your answer today?

• Simple Obedience

As I prepared this message, my heart was moved by Abraham’s faith… What would my response be if God asked me to sacrifice that which I hold so close and dear to me? That which is going to cost me the foundation of my future…my life, my generation…What would my response be…

See, it’s very easy to say, yes Lord send me… Please send me, waiting for that big commission, but my question today is … what is your answer in the things that God is working in your life today?

When God sends you across your desk at work and tells you to tell your co-worker that God loves them? What is your response? Is your response Hineni…or are you letting fear hold you back!

How about when He asks you give up your hobbies so you can be home more to fellowship to your family.

Maybe He calling you to home school so that He can prepare your kids to be the next Elisha, Abraham, Moses. and the only way that possible is to isolate and conquer their hearts at home.

How about that thing that God has asked to stop doing since it breaks his heart… what is your response?

How are you going to answer to the greater work if your response today is short of Hineni!

God is going to ask you to do things that might look minimal to you and to others, but His grand plan requires you to be obedient in those minimal duties. – Think of Moses sister- What would have happened if she did not obey her mother’s request to go and watch over her brother?

You might play a small role, yet great one of raising the next Moses and it all starts with simple obedience- Here I am, send me! Hineni my Lord!!

We cannot afford not to just say yes, your matching orders are ready and God has been calling and waiting for you to say Hineni – You are ready, you are willing, are you Able Because you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you! Do you believe this today?

It was through this obedience that even when God called Abraham for the big test- He trusted God and did not push back.

Genesis 22:9-12

 Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. 10 And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

11 But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”

So he said, “Here I am.”

12 And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

Don’t miss this – Even in the middle of a great ask, one that is beyond anything we can imagine, Abraham is called by an Angel …and his response did not change …His response was still the same…Yes, Here I am Lord! Hineni!

I thought about this part and I wondered, what my response would be… How would my attitude be…? God, you are already taking all that I have…what else can You possibility want. You have my only child, God what else Lord. My health has already failed Lord, what else can I offer. My finances are depleted Lord, what else Lord! What else…

But see, the circumstance did not change Abrahams heart, He had already decided from the beginning that obedience was his only response.

We cannot give up in the middle of our trials because, this call might be different…it might be a call of rescue…

What if Abraham was driven by fear of what God would ask him next and did not answer the angel…

All God is asking today is to trust Him and not to look at your weakness. He is saying, if your response is Hineni- I will do the rest.

Watch me, part waters in the sea, Watch me feed you in the desert for 40 years, watch me close the mouth of the lions, watch me walk with you in the fire,  Watch me use you in a mighty way! Watch me!

Exodus 3:4

So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!”

And he said, “Here I am.”

Some of us can identify with Moses – He didn’t have it all together… In fact, he was fearful when he was called …But one thing was for sure…His response was Hineni! He was available, willing and able…

Moses did not immediately get up and go, he has a conversation with God, asking why him. He said that he was not eloquent speaker and his speech is slow. Yet, at the end of the story he leads the children of Israelites out of Egypt and to the promised land.

This evening I want to let you know that you may feel like you don’t have the strength to do what God is calling you for. But you do have a God who has it all planned out from the beginning to the end. And all he requires of you is when He calls that your answer be Hineni!

God is counting on you to go and lead people from captivity. He created you for this specific time and specific purpose. Are you Available, are you willing, are you able.

He has equipped you with everything you need.

And see you have to be willing to go. God will send you and it may not look pretty or comfortable…but you have to be willing to say, I am ready, I am willing and I am able….Because “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose”

Romans 13:11

And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.

• Reward

This obedience and readiness does come with blessings but the biggest of all is found in:

Isaiah 58:9

Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’

Abraham and Moses relationship with God was amazing. They had such a great relationship that they knew each other’s heart. God knew their hearts and they knew God’s heart.

God protected them, they spent time with God constantly seeking Him and having conversations with Him. They all had access to God’s heart.

I am amazed at how God and Moses interacted. God would tell Moses his plan even before they happen.

He would tell him, move Moses so that I can destroy these people. And Moses would plead for their lives. He listened to Moses. Moses on the other hand, would speak his heart to God…Lord why did you give me this people…they are not my children….

You too can have a great relationship with God where you call on Him and He answers Hineni!

You have to be willing to do what you have been called, even if it means just seeing the promised land from a distance. But this cannot compare the time and the bond that Moses had with God for 40 years.

If he was so concerned with getting to the Promised Land, he would have missed so much. We are so focused with where we are going that we miss what God is doing in our lives today.

He knew that he was not going to enter the Promised Land, yet to the last minute, he was still proving that God was still worthy.

Don’t you want a relationship where you call unto God and He says, yes Here I am.

I am in charge of 7 billion people in this world but my son or daughter is calling –Yes Simone- Hineni! Yes, Alissa, Yes, Eva Hineni! Yes, Kevin Hineni!

Yes my daughter, yes my son – Here I am ready, willing and able – Just for you! Just for you!

Keep It Simple Sweetheart… I am here with you!