Developing the Habit of Obedience

Thomas A Kempis wrote: “The enemy is more easily overcome if he is not allowed to enter the door of our hearts, but is resisted [outside] the gate at his first knock.”

That’s easier said than done. How do you say no to Satan, not just sometimes but all of the time? How do you say yes to God, not just sometimes but all of the time?”

That is the essence of obedience—or as Paul calls it in Ephesians 6:14, “putting on the breastplate of righteousness.”

Whether you know it or not, you and I are in a battle—a death struggle with our adversary, the devil. The stakes are high. Our enemy’s goal is to destroy everything important to us.

Fortunately, God has equipped us with everything we need to defeat Satan’s plan to destroy our lives. In Ephesians 6, we find the six strategies—Paul likens them to weapons—we must utilize to win our fight with the enemy.

First, he refers to putting on the belt of truth—that is, recognizing and replacing wrong thoughts with God’s thoughts.

The second piece of armor is called “the breastplate of righteousness.” For a soldier, the breastplate was that piece of metal covering the vital organs of the body. For Christians, the breastplate that protects them against Satan’s attacks is “Righteousness.”

Now “righteousness” is part of the Christianese dictionary. People use the word without understanding what it means. Remember, the Bible uses “righteousness” in three ways: self-righteousness, imputed righteousness, and practiced righteousness. Practiced Righteousness is just another name for obedience.

Paul is saying that obedience to God—doing what you know you should do—actually protects you from Satan’s plan to destroy your life. How?

1. The Value of Obedience

• Obedience Protects Us from the Consequences of Sin
• Obedience Protects Us from Doubts about Our Salvation
• Obedience Protects Us from the Loss of Rewards in Heaven
• Obedience Protects Us from Satan’s Further Entrance into Our Lives

2. The Development of Obedience 

• Appreciate the Power of Habits (2 Peter 2:19)

Too often, we tell Christians that the secret to obedience in difficult situations is to ask “What Would Jesus Do” and then act accordingly. The only problem is that if we wait until we are in the midst of an attack from the Enemy—or our own corrupt nature—to “do what Jesus did,” it’s too late to experience success. 

Jesus’ amazing and automatic obedience in the middle of a life crisis was the result of His habits of solitude, prayer, meditation in God’s Word, and obedience in the smallest details of life. The Christian who expects obedience to come easily when under attack is as doomed to failure as the athlete who ignores the disciplines of diet, exercise, and training, yet expects to perform well in the game.

• Choose Discipline over Deliverance (1 Timothy 4:7-8)

Let’s be honest for a moment. Most of us prefer the miraculous to the mundane. It is easy for us to wrap our natural aversion to spiritual disciplines such as Bible study, prayer, financial sacrifice, and obedience in a cloak of spirituality. We seek a one-time fix-it prayer or ecstatic experience that will forever deliver us from the “demons” of lust, addictions, or laziness. Even if such specific demons do exist, removing them through an act of exorcism does not ensure that they will not return.

I believe Satan must laugh out loud as he watches some Christians who attempt to “bind Satan,” “defeat the demons,” and “deliver Christians” through their hyperkinetic antics.  

Cultivating the disciplines of personal prayer, reading God’s Word, confession of sin, and consistent obedience threatens Satan’s plan for you more than any exorcism or service of deliverance.

• Perform an Obedience Inventory (Nehemiah 10:28-39)

The great evangelist Charles Finney once observed, “The man who is convicted of one sin is convicted of all. But the man who is convicted of all sins is convicted of none.”  

Putting on the breastplate of righteousness requires more than simply resolving “I will be more obedient to God.” Real and lasting change requires repentance (a word that means “a change of mind leading to a change of direction”), but genuine repentance requires specificity. 

For example, when the Old Testament priest Ezra confessed his and the Israelites’ sins to God, he identified three specific ways they had sinned against God and also made three specific commitments to remedy their disobedience. 

They had allowed their children to marry unbelievers, they had neglected the Sabbath, and they had failed to contribute to God’s work. Therefore, Ezra made three specific commitments of what he and the people would do to correct their disobedience.

Ezra understood that the usual “forgive us our many sins and help us to do better” kind of prayer didn’t make it past the ceiling of the Temple. 

I encourage you to consider the “Life Grid” below. Ask God to reveal to you one thing He would like for you to stop doing and something He would like for you to start doing in each of these six areas:  

No doubt you are thinking, “But there are so many things I should ‘stop’ and ‘start’ in each area. I don’t know where to begin.” Remember, “He who is convicted of all sin, is convicted of no sin.” The road to effective and lasting change begins with a first step. 

• Decide that Obedience Is Possible and Profitable (Romans 8:2)

Don’t fall for one of Satan’s most insidious lies: “You have to sin.” Disobedience is not inevitable. One of the primary benefits of the Holy Spirit who resides in you is your ability to “Just say no” to sin.

God has provided us with the power to obey. We must provide the willingness to obey. 

Have you come to the realization that the long-term consequences of disobedience overshadow any short-term pleasure sin offers?  

Do you believe, really believe, that God’s plan for your life and eternity is better than Satan’s?  

Do you desire to protect yourself from the painful consequences of sin, doubts about your relationship to God, regrets over the loss of rewards in heaven, and Satan’s further control of your life? 

If so, you can “put on the breastplate of righteousness” right now by doing that one thing you know would please God in each of the above life areas.  

God has already supplied you with the desire … all you must supply is the decision.