It costs less to obey than to pray. The Bible says, “To obey is better than sacrifice…” (1 Samuel 15:22). Think about a couple that has crisis in their home for instance, the woman is praying daily for peace, she takes her husband’s name to every prayer group in town and anoints his picture until one can’t even see a trace of the image any more. But when the husband gives her an instruction, she feels too big to submit.

There is no devil anywhere that needs to be bound! If she could just obey the law of submission, she may never need to say one more prayer concerning her husband. That means as she is confessing, “I have the peace of God in my home, for when He gives peace no one can make trouble”, she is also professing it by practicing what the Word says, submitting to her husband and doing as a wife should do in the home.

When that step of obedience is taken, God looks down from heaven and turns the man’s heart to love her and to be a proper husband and father in the home.

The same goes for the man. If he would shower his wife with love just as the Word of God says in Ephesians 5:22, God will through His Word, supply whatever the wife is lacking and then harmony abounds!

What moves God is not your prayer but your obedience. That is what commits Him to answer you even before you call. Many think that they can use their prayers to substitute their obedience, it is not possible! If only you will obey God for the things you are praying to Him about, your life would never be the same again. Get delighted in the commandments of God! Let everything He says be convenient for you!

It Pleases God

Nothing pleases God like obedience. That is why, all through the Bible you will discover that the foremost requirement to receiving God’s blessings is to diligently hearken to His voice and obey His commandments The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 12:13:

“…Here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole [duty) of man” (NIV).

The peak of our walk with God is pleasing Hi when God can look down from heaven and say, ” I am pleased with you.” That was all He said about Jesus at His baptism: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). He didn’t say, “This is My beloved Son, a miracle worker.” 

Neither did He say,”This is My beloved Son, a prosperous man.” Rather, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” No matter how great a miracle worker you are or how prosperous you are, if you are not pleasing God, your relationship with Him is not yet approved.

Our fathers in the faith were blessed, not because they prayed for blessings but because they pleased God with their lives. Look at this:

“And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.” Genesis 5:24

“By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” Hebrews 11:5

God was pleased with Enoch, so He took him. He didn’t allow him to see death, which is what every mortal man should naturally experience. Abraham also, because be obeyed God’s instruction, God was impressed and among other things He said to Abraham, 

“By Myself have I sworn… for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven…” (Genesis 22: 16-18).

What prayer did Abraham pray to quality for such a blessing? None! He simply pleased God by his obedience. Note that God said, “…Because thou hast done this thing.” Not “Because thou hast prayed about this thing.” There is a level of blessing that your prayers cannot obtain but by pleasing God by your obedience, it comes with ease. You enter into a realm of ceaseless blessings where you don’t have to make confessions over your empty pockets before your needs are met.

There is always something you must do to please God for Him to be moved to bless you. So, every time you come across a promise in the Word of God, look out for the instructions you must obey to commit God to fulfill that promise in your life.

What Is Obedience?

To obey God means to be dominated and overwhelmed by Him and His word; to hold Him in high esteem and to have high regard for His word. It means to take His word as the final authority over your life and to respond to it’s demands. I have na found a more comprehensive definition of faith the

‘obedience to God’s word. When you obey God you are simply saying, “Lord, I trust in You.” That is faith at work! 

As you begin to take steps in obedience to God, fear may attempt to creep in, but keep following, don’t let fear hold you down! You may not see the workability of the instruction from the onset or even in the middle of the way, but continue to the end and watch what God will do.

Obedience is a result of your conviction concerning the person and the integrity of God’s word. It is judging God faithful. Simply put, the deeper your understanding of God, the easier and the more excited you would be to obey Him.

Let’s look at the qualities of obedience that make it a vital force in the operation of faith….

This text is an extract from the book “THE LIFESTYLE OF FAITH” written by David O. Abioye. 
We invite you to read the following article “SPEAK, DOUBTING NOTHING!“.