Stephanie Okafor - Jesus: A Model of Obedience

The world does not need your perfection, it needs your obedience because the solution is not in your perfection. The solution is in your obedience. Welcome to block pod with me Stephanie okafor and this is your invitation to return to what matters the most, and that is your relationship with the Lord Jesus. Now, last week we were teaching about hearing and knowing God's voice, and on this episode, I'm going to build on that just a little bit. You know, it's so interesting because this episode actually felt more when I was just really sitting before the Lord. It was like there was a burden about the timing of this because sometimes the way I put them in order, I was not even factoring this topic, to be honest, and there was just this burden to really pick up from where we left off. And when we get into it, you would really understand why because on this we're gonna really talk about living, modeling really a life of obedience, because it's not enough to just say hear the voice of God, know the voice of God? But what do you do when you hear and what do you do when you discern his voice? Right? All of that matters, you know, Jesus would not just say follow me, He said pick up your cross and follow me. And why is that? Because sustain discipleship is the product of the embrace of death to flesh. You cannot sustain discipleship or sustain you know, being a disciple of Christ if you are not willing to die to your flesh, to die to the nature of the flesh. Right. And so picking up your cross and following him is the guarantee right because when you recognize what it means to pick up your cross and follow him, that the words that the Lord gives you does not fall flatting, does not fall, you know, return void in your life. And why mean in your life because when the Word of God says that you know what, God's world will never return to him void. Because if it's not a chief through you, it will be achieved just through someone else. If it's not someone in your lineage, your son, your daughter, it could be a cousin, it could be a stranger, a foreigner. Right, the word of God will always find expression somehow, there will be someone willing. I remember when one of the encounters I had, when the Lord showed me my calling, I literally had this experience that is similar to you know a story I've read in the Bible where I was with the Indian encounters, Like I was with a group of people and a voice literally said whom shall we send and who shall go for us? And I was over there. I was like me, me, me, pick me, pick me, pick me, and then they called me out. So this was what I was seeing in that encounter. Now why was that so critical? Because there were so many of us and he says whom shall we said? And I was like me, me, me, me me. So it was the availability and my willingness to respond is what activated the call. But there are many who also, I believe, would have the capacity to carry out what it is that the Lord was calling me to carry out. But if I was not available, if I was not willing, if I was going to be like you know what, God, I have other things I want to do. Is not falling in my timeline. He will find somebody else, right, And so you don't want that to be the case of your life, that there are things God set to you that never manifested through you because of your disobedience. Hearing the voice of God. Knowing the voice of God is not enough. You must be a doer of the word of God right, because true hearing, the completion of hearing, is in the doing right. And true discipleship embraces that God has authority over your life. So the Word of God governs every part of your life. And so let's get into James Chapter one. From verse twenty two to twenty four, the scripture says, but be doers of the word and not hearers, only right deceiving yourselves. That is weighty. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror. For he observes himself, goes away and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. You see, the word of God is truth. The more you grow in your relationship with Jesus, the more you begin to grow in the truth of who He has called you to be in him. And so to receive from Him and just be a hoarder of information is deception because you receive a word from the Lord and then you just continue life like you no transformation, no change, nothing. Here's the truth. That is not relationship. That is where religion kicks in, because you're just hoarding information, holding information and doing nothing with it. And why this is so critical is because if you're not a good steward of the revelation that the Lord has given you, your neglect of the instruction, your neglect of his direction, your neglect of what he is leading you and prompting you to do, will cause it to wither. You see, there are times that people would have a sensitivity to the things of God that it would even cause conviction in them when they have an awareness that wait, I shouldn't be going this way, I should be going that way, I shouldn't do this. I need to call this person and apologize the way I spoke. You're so sensitive to the nature of God that even when your life, even just when regular normal things about your life is outside of the nature of God, you are convicted by the Holy Spirit. You are sensitive to that conviction that you become the person to apologize first, even when the other person does not know what you did. You become the person that is like, Hey, I hit something from you. I need to share this with you. Hey, there's something on my heart. I need to tell you. I'm so sorry that I thought this. There's something that begins to feel unsettled when you start to express things that are not connected to the nature of who God is right, that is a sensitivity. But when you start to neglect revelation, that becomes to it starts to wither. The things that once convicted you no longer convict you. You can speak anyhow to a person and you have no conviction about how you spoke. Actually, you start becoming more affirmed in the disobedience. You start having excuses for disobedience. You start making up stuff, you're believing things, You're having conversations with people, and you're looking. You know, your need is now to be right, not to be christ Like. And what you don't realize is that there is a neglect of revelation that is happening in your life, and it's causing your spiritual senses to become dulled. So we cannot speak about hearing God if we don't speak about doing the things according to His word. You see, oftentimes there's so many excuses we may come up with. Even I remember just being in prayer about this topic especially. You know, there were just things that the Lord began to show me about people who you know, it's like God has put such great wisdom in your life, life based on your experiences, because experience itself is a teacher. There are things that you have experienced in life that the outcome of those experiences it brought you into just a wisdom about life, a wisdom about people, a wisdom about challenges and you know, situations and all these things. And there are things that the Lord has been calling you to start. I know right now, the you know, the social media space could seem saturated by podcasts, but there are people still call to your voice, and so maybe the Lord has been telling I couldn't. I literally kept seeing this in a vision, people that you know, things that were connected to their voice, podcast you know, things that had to do with almost like studies and programs, and just things that had an essence of them sharing from the revelation that God has even given them, whether you know, by the spirit of God or by the things that they have experienced in accordance to the will and purpose of God for their lives right. And these are things that have been burdens in your heart, and yet you keep pushing it back because you're like God, the time is not right. And there are people out there that have a need of the clarity that God has given you and you don't even realize it. And even outside of that space, what are the solutions that God has placed in you to birth? And you're holding it back because you're waiting for this right time and right condition and the fact that he revealed it to you. And not only did he reveal it you, because God can reveal with him, but the time has not yet come. But he's revealing to you that the time is now to begin to do something with it, the time is now to begin to implement it. And yet you keep pushing it back when you don't realize is that your life his neglecting revelation and it affects you more than you know. You know, when you think of someone, someone that always whose life just moves me, is the Apostle Paul. You know the apostle Paul in First Corinthians, verse four, I mean, chapter four, verse one, It says, let a man so consider us now he's revealing who he is as servants of God and stewards of the mysteries of God. Do you realize that even the things you'd know, you know that is revealed to you. You're supposed to be a good steward over it now. In the case of the apostle Paul, he's not just talking about things personal to him, but there are mysteries of God that was revealed to him. That's why even when he was inconvenienced, even when he was in prison in chains, when life, the circumstances of life was not that which would be convenient for the Gospel, Paul kept writing letters. Paul was a good steward with what the Lord has revealed to him, and so he was committed to the growth of the church regardless of how he felt, regardless of his situation. Many of the what we read the letters that Paul wrote that are now chapters in the Bible. Some of those letters were written while Paul was in prison. That is commitment. You have to embrace being inconvenience sometimes. You know this very podcast. If I hadn't my way, this would start next year because the timing of this was not convenient for me, and the Lord kept showing me this must begin now, and I'm like, Okay, Lord, we're gonna make it happen because I don't know who's on the other side. I don't know who's on the others who needs what could feel like Okay, when you sit with the Lord, this could come easy for someone else. It could be a matter of life and death. That there are things that they have been seeking to understand and seeking to know, and it's us on the other side of someone's obedience. You see. What I began to learn is that the world does not need your perfection, It needs your obedience because the solution is not in your perfection. The solution is in your obedience. So don't just be a hearer of the word, be a doer of it. You see. I believe that one of the reasons why you know, this episode felt like an interruption to my schedule of what we're supposed to do, was because, especially the times that we are in, it's so critical, so much is shaking and shifting. AI is literally changing the world as we know it. There many occupations that are going to become irrelevant. There are many industries that are going to become irrelevant. Many things are going to shift. The economy is changing, and if you are hearing the word of God and not doing the things that He's sharing with you, you're going to be behind. Because when the world is shaking is when the Kingdom shines. Even brighter because people begin to recognize that while others are panicking, there are people of the Kingdom that are looking confident. There are people of the Kingdom that are bringing solutions. Why. They're sensitive to the voice of God, because they are good stewards of revelation. There's much problem solving that would happen through those of the Kingdom of God because they are sensitive to the voice of the Lord. They don't let things fall to the ground when God speaks to them. You know, for a couple of years, the Lord has always given me songs in my dream. Now, I'm not a singer, right and I'm not even a songwriter, but I would I would wake up and I will receive melody. I would literally hear people singing. I wake up and remember all the lyrics. I'll remember how the melody went. This has happened for over ten years. At least once a year this will take place. And last year there was this song I heard in my dream and it was so beautiful to me. And then the Lord showed. When I woke up and the Lord showed me, he says, this needs to be like, I need to get it done. And I began to pray because I'm like, Lord, now, I know you don't mean me, but you want this song to come out in the world. You want it. You want this melody to not just be luck up in a spiritual space, but to be birth into the earth. And I began to pray and I'm like, Lord, how should this go? What needs to happen? Who needs to be on it? And when the Lord began to reveal it to me, my role was just to steward what I heard and make it happen. And I've been so moved just seeing how you know, from the development of this because it's such a new space for me, because I'm like, I have nothing. I don't know anything that has to do with music production, none of none of it. But guess what, there are people that God has already placed in your life that could help you to bring forth what the Lord desires. And so all I did literally I was like, Okay, I'm going to write the lyrics as I heard in the dream. I'm going to record the melody and give it to the people that know how to do it. And when the Lord revealed the people and everyone the moment I spoke to them, I'm like, I'm like first of all, and I'm not the person that will say, hey, God told me you should do it. I'm like, hey, even though I have confidence in what the Lord showed me, I don't want you to feel manipulated by the phrase God said. And so what I would say is like, hey, this is what I'm sensing, but you pray about it. If it resonates with you, then great. If it doesn't, then maybe you know there's something about you that is symbolic to this record. Right. I'm not gonna make it like, oh yeah, you're the one. But why I'm sharing this is that literally everyone and I will go into the testimony of this at a later time, but every single person resonated so deeply with it, and you know the song is going to be ready by the time that the Lord showed me. It needs to be released. And I love this so much because again, it has nothing to do with me. He need to put my voice on it. I'm not the one producing it, none of that. It showed me that God was just looking for a willing vessel, that if I give you this, you will not let it fall to the ground. You would make sure that this happens. And because when you're someone who can be you can yield to the command of your Lord at any given time. You will start to experience favor with people in industries you have no parts of, because there are things that God desires to see in the earth, and he's looking for who's willing. And so when everything we see in our world begins to change at such a rapid level, now here's the sad part of life. You know, if you're only on social media, you're not engaging in world events. So you are, even in a natural perspective, you are dulled to the fact that the life as you know it will not be the same for too long. Things are shaking and things are shifting, but the Kingdom doesn't shake. When the world is shaking, the Kingdom stands. And so your obedience to the word of the Lord is what is going to set you apart in these times. Your obedience is what the world will be looking for, because that is where the solutions will be provided through. And you might be thinking that right now, the thing that God requires of you, it doesn't really mean anything to anyone. It's this little thing. It's not that big of a deal. But how you steward revelation matters. How you steward the little thing matters. If God will reveal to you the big things, if you would be a custodian of his mysteries for the times to come, if you will be a steward of his mysteries for what is about to take place. That there are solutions that God wants to release on the earth, and can he trust it to be released through you? You see, these are the times where the Lord begins to raise new new leaders, new voices. Why because they are afraid. They have been faithful in the dark and He can establish them in the light. They have been faithful with the little things that He's given them instructions. This came on me so strong because, for example, for those listening, you know, from the United States and even from those all over the world, you may have heard that there are different prophetic words that have gone out about these times. You know, things about blackouts, things about just the economy shutting down, not being able maybe to even access your bank. That these things could happen, right, And there are some of us like even when when I heard some of these things, you know, I was going to prayer, and I remember when the Lord began to confirm to me that we're going to experience a time where literally you might have a blackout for days. Right the you know what we saw during COVID where the grocery stores are literally going to be empty. That this is going to happen now when I don't know, right, But when I heard those prophetic words and I began to pray about it myself, it was confirmed to me. And many people have prayed about these things and it was confirmed to them, and maybe even when they were listening or just watching, something jumped in their spirit that this is true. Now, for those people, I want to use you as an example. What have you done with what you know? Have you stored up anything, even one thing? Is there any change that you made even though you know it to be true that this is going to happen. What have you done with what you know? And I'm using that as an example to show that it's not just how quick we are to say no. If God tells me to do this, I'm doing it. But even in our day to day lives, there are things that the Spirit of God begins to reveal to us to do. And have we been faithful with the instructions of the Lord. Have we been good stewards of the words that he gives us? Because you see in a time of shake, and it's not for believers to be afraid. It's not to create a sense of you know, despair or anything like that, because when you are connected to the source, I mean, how can you be afraid of something to come? When the God you serve is already in the future. He is in the past, present, and the future. He is He's Alpha, he's Omega, He's in all things. And so when you're connected to him, there is a revelation that comes from him to prepare you for what you don't know. But the question is what do we do with what has been given to us? What do we do with the instructions given to us? And is that could that be the reason that perhaps your sensitivity to his voice has become dulled. One of the questions that people often ask me is, Stephanie, how do I actually study the Bible? When we desire to go deeper, sometimes it can feel a little intimidating. And I'm here to tell you about an amazing Bible study too, and it's called Logos. It's an incredible app that helps you engage with scripture in a more meaningful way. So, for example, you can type in what does the Bible say about holiness and it will give you scripture, scholarly insights, historical background, and so much more. Logos helps you to understand what you're reading and why it matters. So, whether you're new to the faith or you've been following Jesus for some time, this is going to help you study the world with so much confidence. And we have received such an incredible gift for every plog pod listener. You can use lagus today for free for the next sixty das. All you have to do is go to lagus dot com. Backshot stephanied to get started. Now let's go back into the episode. See here's what I've learned about times when God is silent. Disobedience exposes your lack of reverence for God. And here is what Psalms twenty five, verse fifteen says. The secret of the Lord is with those who fear him, and he will show them his covenant. And so what is it saying? There are dimensions to the voice of God, to the wisdom of God, to the leading of God, to the mysteries of God to the solutions that need to be birth on the earth through you know, just your being able to hear the voice of God. And it only comes to those who fear the Lord. And that word fear has to do with reverence. It's not like I'm scared of God, but I have reverence for God. And so when you play with That's why I always say that disobedience is a deception in of itself. We try to make it cute and it's like, oh man, I'm gonna do it next week. You know. We try to do all this, like make it like, you know, a fancy, like we laugh over it and all of that. But what you are actually revealing is that you have you lack reverence for God, so his words don't carry weight to your life. And you might not realize that in those moments, it's actually dulling your sensitivity to him. It's actually removing you from alignments with the pace in which he's moving. You see what we talk about walking with the Lord. If you're walking with somebody and there's and you don't have agreement into the destination, you're gonna walk apart from each other. And that's what it looks like when we begin to disobey, because in disobedience, now I'm walking apart from you. And there are things that the Lord shares that It's like whispers. You cannot hear a whisper from a distance. It requires proximity, and you cannot have proximity if you're not aligned. And so this episode, honestly, it's really more so of a charge because if you're going to be a disciple of Jesus, you're going to be a doer of his word. So let's not just spend time in wanting to grow, in hearing his voice, in discerning his voice, because what you're just what you will become is a hoarder if you're not willing to do the work, if you're not willing to do what his word reveals for you to do. And where do you start? Start in his written word, there are things you begin to read that begin to bring conviction into your life about areas of unforgiveness, areas of bitterness, right areas where envy my show up, jealousy, areas that expose this gluttony. Start there that the moment the Lord begins to minister to you through his word, that you respond And as you continue and you grow in revelation, be a good steward of it, and the Lord will entrust you with more. You see. One of the things that I'm so confident that's going to happen in times to come, there's going to be a shift of people who have always known this one thing. You've always known this industry, but because of the times that are changing, those industries are going to collapse. But you don't have to wait for it to collapse before you know your next that you can have strategy from the Lord now about how to navigate your life. Because look, life also has some practical things to it. If you're going to have a family, if you're building something, whatever the case might be, there are things that require resources, right, and so if you're going to be not just you know, a good prayer partner, but if you're going to be a good disciple, then it's about wholeness in every area of your life. You cannot just say you know what I'm you know, I just love to pray, love to pray, love to pray, love to pray, love to pray. But when it comes to the things that you know will cause you to be a good leader in your home, one that will take care of your family. You neglect that, No, because there's wisdom for you. The more I spend time with the are there things that I'm on learning and learning? There are things that I'm realizing that way, No, God wants us to be better in how we steward these things in our lives, steward our health, steward our finances, steward our relationships. If you make it all spiritual, you also forget that you are soul, you are a body. There are things you're called to have responsibility over. There are things you are called to be a good leader over. And what we often would just kind of put on the umbrella of a spiritual life, not realizing that the Lord wants us to prosper in all things. And for many people, I've had this weight on my spirit. Laziness has crippled you. Laziness has crippled you, and it's showing up in your spiritual life, and it's showing up in your natural life. Because if you're active in your spiritual life, if you're not religious, if you're in relationship, and there are things the Lord begins to show you to do. You see, there are some people that even in your adult age, the Lord will require you to go back to school. This is a practical thing. Their industries, there are things he wants you to learn about because he wants you to get into those fields and do not hide behind, you know, whatever self righteous excuse, because you don't realize their avenues, that the Kingdom is going to reveal itself, especially in the place of problem solving. That when people begin to ask about who is that CEO? What company is this? And in an interview you begin to share the gospel, You'll start to say, see the purpose of God unfolding, and why he told you to go back to school, and why he told you to take that program, and why he told you to shift that industry to go into a new industry. You see something I've learned. You might often hear me talk about my husband. There's so much I learned from him. My husband is in tech and I have seen that through. You know, one of the things he told me that he loves is when people that he works with it's their birthday. Because he works with a lot of people that don't know the Lord. A lot of them are Buddhist or you know, just different things they worship and believe in. All kinds of things, right, he says, But he always loves it when it's someone's birthday because he begins he sends them a prayer scriptures and he says, for your birthday, I pray that you will come to know the Lord Jesus as God. He prays for his you know, his partners and the people. You know, his cowork is on all of them. And God begins to give him revelation and he will tell them things that will happen, and they actually happen, and he will tell them. He says, the Lord Jesus revealed to me that is whatever, whatever, whatever, This is something he wants to do. And they will laugh, they're like, oh man, no, no, no no, And then it happens. What is he doing because he says, he realizes that God has put him in tech for so in what he does, he's so excellent with his job because he's like excellence will reveal the standards of God. But then in that place he's sharing the gospel. Sometimes I would eavedrop when he'll be talking to you know, any upper, when I tell you any and every opportunity, he loves it. Anytime if I have to travel to minister because the moment they say, hey, how's everyone doing. You know, maybe they have a meeting and he's like, yeah, you know, my wife is traveling to go and preach Jesus next week. You know, have you guys heard about Jesus? And he's so excellent in his job they can't deny him. And every time they'll ask him men and I've seen it, I've seen. I love what I learned, even about the Lord by watching him, because he might go, he might struggle with maybe there's something that he needs to figure out and the clarity hasn't come to him. I would literally watch my husband walking around praying in the spirit. He just starts speaking in tongues and then boom, the solution comes to him and he's like, wait, I got it, I got it, and he would go and it would work the way it came to him. So there was I'll share this story really quick. So sometimes they have these meetings that could go on for about ten hours. Literally everybody's on the call for like ten hours because there's something key that needs to be solved, and you know, because what he does affects a lot of things, right, And I remember one day they were planning even showed me the time that was allocated for this meeting, But the Lord gave him the solution just like that. The meeting lasted less than thirty minutes and people were shocked, like, how did you come up with that solution? And he never misses an opportunity to tell them about Jesus. Why am I sharing this with you? Be a good steward in everything the industry you're in the industries, you might be shifted into whatever the Lord is telling you to do. Learn this, learn that, get back in here, get to school, start the podcast, start the business. Whatever the instruction is. Yield to it. The revelation and the thing God shows you, yield to them that through it you would reveal Christ. You will reveal Jesus. It may not make sense to you now, but it will make sense to you in times to come. And so I charge you with this, to live a life that you hear, hear, hear, hear, hear here and you don't do is religion, it's not relationship. Relationship brings transformation. Religion just causes arrogance. For relationship is what transforms you. And to be a doer of the word Jesus modeled a life of obedience, because he modeled that for us, that this is how we ought to live. And I cannot wait to get into next week's episode with you because we're going to be talking about Jesus the image of the Father. And there are many questions I know people normally have about how could Jesus be the how could Jesus be God if he prayed to the Father, shouldn't be you know all these things. But Jesus lived a life on earth to model who we ought to be. So when you see Jesus modeling a life of obedience, if you're going to be accurate in your walk with God, you should model what he modeled obedience submission reference for the Father. So until next week, I cannot wait. But if you have not received the Lord Jesus as your personal Lord and savior, then I want you to just stay a minute. I want to pray with you. But if not plugging with us next week, if you're watching this, then I believe that there is a hunger in your heart. There is something that has moved you with a desire to want to make Jesus Christ your Lord and savior. Now this is not just a decision that we make out of being convinced by something. But there is a conviction of the whole spirit that ministers to us that I need to be saved from this path of destruction that my life has been on. I need to be saved from this sinful nature to come into life, to receive the life of God. Salvation is about an exchange that the Lord has put that sinful nature on the cross when we believe what Jesus did, when we believe that he died and he was raised up with all victory and all power. You see on the cross. Jesus took captivity, captive. That's what the Word of God says. And what is that captivity Everything that has tried to keep you bound, including that sinful nature that we have received as from the fallen man. You see, when man fell, he took on the nature of sin. And that is the image that every other man has been born into. But in Jesus you have righteousness. You can be made righteous in Christ. And salvation is to be saved from death into life, to come out of bondage into freedom. And so I want to pray with you, but I want you to know that as you say yes, to the Lord. You are saying yes to his life. You are saying yes to the ways of Jesus. You are saying yes for Jesus to live in and through you. Your body, your life becomes a home for the Holy Spirit. And he wants to express the nature of Jesus through your life. And so just join with me in prayer because this will be the start. But salvation is a journey and we're gonna have There's gonna be a link in the description, especially if you are listening to this or you're watching this from YouTube, You're going to see this in the description, and I want you to click on that because it's going to help guide you into things about what comes next, how to study the Bible, just little things that are going to be very beneficial to your walk with the Lord. And so I just want you to pray with me, Lord Jesus, and just repeat after me. And when I say repeat after me, it's not just for you to just use words and they're empty before you. After this prayer, meditate on those words and just really ope, have a moment of personal prayer with the Lord and let the Holy Spirit minister to you beyond what I could do. And so just repeat after me, Lord Jesus, I confess with my mouth as I have believed in my heart in this moment, that indeed you are the son of God, that when you came to the earth and you were crucified on the cross, that you put to death my sinful nature. And as I receive you, I receive your life. I receive the righteousness, the righteous nature that you have brought to give me. I exchange the sinful nature for the righteous nature. And so, Lord, come into my life and make my life your home. Have your way in and through me. Whatever is in me that is not pleasing to you. Convict me of these things. Lord, that I will not identify with the way of the flesh, but I will come in agreement with the way of life. I choose life. I choose you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen,