Obedience Is Everything
The narrow path is ridiculously narrow - and modern "freedom" leads to spiritual death
In an age where "freedom" has been perverted to mean license for self-destruction, where individualism reigns supreme, and where the word "obedience" has become almost profane, Christianity stands in stark opposition with a simple truth: obedience to God is everything.
This isn't popular. It won't trend. But it's the single thread that runs through every general of the faith who moved in supernatural power - from Lester Sumrall to Smith Wigglesworth, from John G. Lake to Norvel Hayes to Reinhard Bonnke to Apostle Delmar Coward Jr. The characteristic that unites them all? Unbelievable obedience in a time of extreme deviancy.
The Great Misconception
Modern Christianity has infinite ways to get it wrong. We use our free will to sow seeds of spiritual death while believing we're being "free in Christ." But what is Christianity really? Strip away the denominations, the programs, the comfortable middle-class religious performances - what remains?
Obedience.
Not blind obedience to human authority. Not religious legalism. But radical, immediate, complete obedience to the voice of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.
The Generals Knew the Secret
When I study the generals of the faith - those who saw the deaf hear, the blind see, the lame walk, even the dead raised - what initially caught my attention was their power. The signs, wonders, and miracles. But dig deeper and you find the source: they were captive to obedience.
John G. Lake's Hundredfold Consecration
Lake taught that "a hundredfold consecration to God takes the individual forever out of the hands of all but God." He understood that Jesus learned obedience through suffering (Hebrews 5:8-9), and we must walk in the same obedience. Not just avoiding sin, but actively following the Spirit's guidance moment by moment.
Smith Wigglesworth's Complete Surrender
Wigglesworth declared: "You can go to church all your life... but still you will be captive to your past unless you make the decision to yield and obey every time God shows you something." He taught that we're either captive to the Word or captive to the world - there's no middle ground.
Kathryn Kuhlman's Total Yielding
Kuhlman's ministry exploded when she reached the place where "you have surrendered your will to the will of God and two wills become one will." This wasn't giving up - it was giving over. Complete surrender to the Holy Spirit's leading.
Norvel Hayes' Seven Years at the Dump
After encountering Jesus in his car, this millionaire businessman spent seven years serving at the city dump, ministering to the most broken people. God told him: "My son, be faithful to me here and I will promote you." Obedience meant leaving $4,000 a week to serve "from stinking shack to stinking shack."
The Biblical Foundation
Acts 5:32 - "And we are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him."
The Holy Spirit is literally given to those who obey. No obedience, no power. It's that simple.
But what does this obedience look like? Peter is saying that those who heed the gospel message of repentance from sin and faith in the sacrifice of Christ will begin to live lives of obedience to God's commandments, and thus He gives them His Spirit.
Though Jesus says "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" (Luke 11:13), the Bible further qualifies this with conditions:
God will give His Spirit only to those who have demonstrated in attitude and behavior that they have repented. Then they must be baptized and obey His commandments. No one who continues to live a lifestyle apart from God's law has received the Spirit of God or has the power of God working in him.
Acts 2:38 - "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."
This gives two basic requirements for receiving the Holy Spirit:
- Repentance - a deep and genuine feeling of remorse over having committed sins, bringing about the suffering and death of Jesus Christ
- Faith in the sacrifice of Christ (baptism is an outward confession of this faith)
True repentance brings about an earnest desire to obey God. A truly repentant person will immediately begin striving to obey - not perfectly, but oriented toward obeying God. The changes in their life are the "fruits" that demonstrate genuine repentance (Luke 3:8, Acts 26:20).
John 14:15 - "If you love Me, keep My commandments."
Love isn't a feeling. It's obedience.
1 Samuel 15:22 - "To obey is better than sacrifice."
God values heart obedience over religious performance.
Luke 9:1 - Jesus gave the disciples "power and authority over all devils" - but it only manifested through obedience to His instructions.
The Narrow Path Is Narrower Than You Think
The narrow path isn't just about avoiding sin or doing "Christian things." It's about your specific calling, your specific obedience to what God is telling YOU to do. You can't retrace Lester Sumrall's steps and become Lester Sumrall. But you can obey with the same intensity, the same immediacy, the same completeness.
Each person has a ridiculously narrow path - not just staying within the bounds of Scripture, but walking in precise obedience to the Holy Spirit's leading for your life.
The Modern Rebellion Against Obedience
Our culture has redefined liberty as license:
- License to destroy yourself with drugs
- License for sexual deviancy
- License to rebel against all authority
- License to be your own god
The word "libertarian" has been perverted from its original meaning of responsible freedom to mean anarchistic self-destruction. Modern individualism says "I do what I want." Christianity says "I do what God wants."
This is the great tension. This is why genuine Christianity is increasingly incompatible with modern Western culture.
Earning Anointing Through Obedience
Can anyone raise the dead? My teachers say you need specific revelation - the rhema word from God giving you authority in that moment. It's not a formula. It's relationship. It's trust. It's proven obedience.
The level of anointing correlates with the level of obedience. We can become more or less "general-like" based on our willingness to immediately obey, completely surrender, and trust God absolutely.
Why Obedience Unlocks Everything
Obedience is what allows you to:
- Unlock the fullness of faith
- Feel the full power of the Gospel
- Have deep relationship with the Holy Spirit
- See the Holy Spirit move through you to bless others
- Walk in supernatural authority
The Holy Spirit wants to hang around obedient people. He's looking for vessels who will say "yes" before they understand, who will move when He says move, who will speak when He says speak.
The Cost and the Reward
Obedience is expensive. It cost:
- John G. Lake his medical practice
- Smith Wigglesworth his plumbing business
- Oral Roberts his reputation
- Norvel Hayes his executive lifestyle
But look at the return:
- Millions saved
- Countless healed
- Dead raised
- Nations transformed
- Eternity impacted
The Bottom Line
You can have all the theology, all the church attendance, all the religious activity - but without obedience, you have nothing in the eyes of God. The generals of the faith understood this. They didn't just believe in Jesus; they obeyed Jesus. Immediately. Completely. Regardless of cost.
In a world drunk on false freedom, swimming in deviancy, celebrating rebellion - the call remains:
"If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me" (Matthew 16:24).
That's not bondage. That's the only true freedom. The freedom that comes from being exactly who God created you to be, doing exactly what God created you to do.
Obedience isn't just important. Obedience is everything.
"The obedient always obey God when He first speaks. It is these whom God will use for His glory." - Smith Wigglesworth